37-year-old Canandaigua Academy teacher Marla Gurecki-Haskins surrendered to police yesterday in the small Western New York town of Canandaigua on charges related to sexual conduct involving three male students.
Gurecki-Haskins, who has been teaching for fifteen years, pleaded not guilty to one felony count of disseminating indecent material to a minor, and three misdemeanor counts of official misconduct and endangering the welfare of a child. The teacher is on leave from Canandaigua Academy and among other charges, stands accused of performing oral sex on a student in a classroom during school hours.
Gurecki-Haskins is also accused of using cell phones for “sexting” with students and engaging other forms of “electronic communication” during the incidents. A local police representative encouraged parents to speak to children about racy “electronic communications.”
“Parents need to be very vigilant with e-mail communication, what websites their children are going to, and their phones. I don’t know how far-reaching this incident was. Hopefully no other students were affected, but certainly as a parent I would sit down with my child and have a candid conversation,” says Canandaigua Police Chief Jon Welch.
Police say they were unable to charge Gurecki-Haskins for rape or “serious sex crimes” because the age of consent in New York is 17.
