New Jersey teacher groomed, groped her 14-year-old female student: lawsuit

On Wednesday, the parents of a 14-year-old girl in Marlboro, New Jersey, who claimed that a female teacher molested their daughter at school, filed a lawsuit with the Monmouth County Superior Court against the teacher and school officials seeking unspecified damages. 

According to court documents obtained by the New York Post, special education language arts teacher Jenna Sciabica was accused of groping the young girl in the hallway at Marlboro Memorial Middle School on March 13, 2024. 

The suit claimed that the girl was walking to class when Sciabica "just happened to be standing in the doorway of her own classroom." It said that after the girl walked over to her, Sciabica "began fondling and rubbing the girl’s breast with one hand. She was poking, touching, massaging, and rubbing the breast."

The family alleges that Sciabica then "used both of her hands, and began rubbing . . . poking, and inappropriately touching both of [the teen’s] breasts." The suit added, "As this was occurring, Jenna Sciabica had a gratifying smile on her face while [the teen] was frozen still, with her hands at her side completely frozen in shock." 

After the young girl pulled away and ran down the hallway, the suit claimed that another teacher heard Sciabica yell to the girl, "Come back here I want to feel and touch them again.” It also claimed that the whole incident was caught on film. 

The suit also noted that a second girl who declined to be part of the suit reported the teacher would openly discuss "her own sex life to her 10-14-year-old student," and when she reported the "inappropriate conversations" to a school guidance counselor nothing was done about it.

Sciabica knew the young girl well because the family brought her into their home to tutor the girl's younger, special needs siblings for over a year. 

In a statement to the Post, Sciabica's attorney Mitchell Ansell said, "We believe this lawsuit clearly, is a baseless defamatory accusation which is nothing more than a money grab." 

He added, "The woman who filed this frivolous lawsuit welcomed my client into her home and treated her like family for the past three years. She wanted my client to be actively involved in helping to raise her daughter. They treated my client as if they were her aunt.”

Ansell said the accusations that Sciabica sexually groomed the 14-year-old were "absolutely outrageous." He noted, "My client has faithfully and professionally taught students for the better part of 15 years. She has an unblemished record and has received countless messages of support since these charges have been brought. We are confident that when all of the facts and relevant evidence are heard in a court of law, and not on social media, the truth will come out and my client will be completely exonerated.”