Ex-teacher accused of groping student sues NJ girl’s family, calling allegations ‘unfounded’

A former Monmouth County teacher accused of abusing a 14 year old girl has filed a lawsuit against the student, her family and school officials after the teacher said the “baseless” allegations destroyed her career.

Jenna Sciaticaa former special education teacher, filed a countersuit last month in Monmouth County Superior Court, denying the unnamed family’s allegations. The student’s family sued the teacher earlier this year after the girl’s mother spoke at a school board meeting and accused the teacher of sexually assaulting her daughter.

Sciabica was later charged in municipal court with harassment by offensive touching, following a month-long investigation by police. She was scheduled to appear at the hearing in the case on Thursday.

The lawsuit against Sciabica alleges that the family “demanded the Marlboro School District to pay them $5 million or they would sue.”

The school district denied the claim, the lawsuit said.

Sciabica has also filed a defamation suit against school staff and more than a dozen people who made claims about the case online, including in a YouTube video and through Facebook comments.

“Ms. Sciabica was a dedicated educator and community member, and it is disgraceful how she was treated by her friends, colleagues and others who rushed to judgment without knowing all the facts,” said Layne A. Feldman, the attorney from Sciabica.

“As a result, her reputation has been ruined and she will likely never work in her chosen career again,” Feldman said. “She has received bomb threats at her home. This is completely inexcusable.”

Marlboro school officials did not respond to a request for comment. The family’s attorney, Nimi Ameri, also did not respond to a request for comment.

“Ms. Sciatica is the victim here, but so is the minor child at the center of this complaint, whose parents sacrificed her anonymity in the service of their greed,” Feldman said. “Ms. Sciatica may never regain its reputation, but we are hopeful that our efforts will bring it justice.

Sciabica was charged in April with harassment by offensive touching, a minor disorderly persons offense. An attorney representing Sciabica during Thursday’s hearing in the case could not immediately be reached.

In April, school officials sent a letter to the community saying Sciabica was no longer in her position after she was accused of inappropriate physical contact with the student in a school hallway at Marlboro Memorial Middle School in March.

The district’s letter followed a dramatic statement at a school board meeting from the girl’s mother.

“My daughter was sexually abused at this school,” the mother told the school board. The woman stood by her husband and claimed that school officials failed to protect her daughter from the teacher and mishandled the incident.

“She abused my daughter,” the mother said of the teacher. The alleged sexual assault was captured on surveillance video and another teacher witnessed the attack in the school hallway, the woman said.

The 14-year-old was also forced to go to Sciabica’s classroom where she was being taught after the alleged incident, the girl’s mother said.

In May, the family has filed a lawsuit against Sciatica and school officials, alleging that a video shows Sciatica fondling the student’s breast in the hallway in full view of another teacher.

The lawsuit also alleged that Sciabica repeatedly made sexual comments in front of her students, who were between the ages of 10 and 14, including inappropriate comments about other teachers at the school and her own sex life.

Sciatica was a tutor and was known to the teen’s family, the complaint said. Sciabica gave private lessons to the girl’s two younger brothers. The girl also attended school in Sciabica’s classroom.

In her countersuit filed last month, Sciabica denied inappropriately touching the girl and making sexual comments to students. She considered the girl a daughter or niece because of her friendship with the girl’s mother, her lawsuit said.

“There was absolutely and unequivocally nothing sexual about their relationship and to suggest otherwise is completely inaccurate and frankly disgusting,” the lawsuit said.

The incident in the school hallway was related to a conversation the week before, when the girl tried on her eighth-grade dance dress at home while Sciabica was home and the dress did not fit properly on her chest, the complaint said.

The following week, in the school hallway, Sciabica asked if the girl had borrowed a shirt from her and “pulled some fabric on the chest of the shirt and felt the shirt,” according to the complaint.

She also tapped the girl’s chest twice, for no longer than a second, and asked, “What has mother decided?” about the dress, the lawsuit said.

The girl “giggled and stomped her feet” and responded that her mother was taking delivery of the dress, the lawsuit said.

The video showing the incident shows that no groping occurred, the lawsuit alleges.

The teacher who witnessed the incident tutored the girl, but at about half the rate Sciabica was paid to tutor the girl’s siblings, making her jealous of Sciatica, the lawsuit alleges.

There had been no previous complaints of sciatica during her 16-year teaching career, her lawsuit said.

Sciabica was forced to resign, lost her term and is in danger of losing her pension, the complaint said. She is also in danger of losing her teaching credential, the newspaper said.

“She has received credible death threats and numerous unwanted messages from real pedophiles and creepy men,” the lawsuit said.

NJ Advance Media Staff Writers Tina Kelley And Eric Conklin contributed to this report.

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Brianna Kudisch can be reached at [email protected].