New York City charter school teacher charged with sexually abusing student

A teacher at a New York City charter school has been charged with sexually assaulting a student whom he allegedly had been grooming for several years.

Cesar Sanchez, 39, a science teacher at KIPP Washington Heights Middle School, began making sexually suggestive comments to the girl several years ago when she was in fourth grade, reports the New York Daily News.

Authorities say the accuser, now 14, told them that Sanchez began making “sexually suggestive and lewd comments” starting when she was in fourth grade. By the time the girl was in the seventh grade, Sanchez was groping her, prosecutors charge. The alleged abuse stopped temporarily when classes went remote in March 2020, but Sanchez touched the girl’s breast and pushed his crotch against her in Feb. 2021, according to the complaint.

Sanchez has been charged with sexual conduct against a child and endangering child welfare. 

The school’s principal, Danny Swersky, was terminated soon after Sanchez’s arrest for failing “to follow KIPP NYC’s procedures or meet KIPP NYC’s expectations in how he handled this matter,” according to an email superintendent Jim Manly sent to parents.

KIPP is a nationwide network of charter schools, with eight elementary, one high, and nine middle schools in New York City.