A dean at a Bronx charter school responsible for student discipline was charged with rape Tuesday over accusations she had sex with a 15-year-old student, officials said.
Grace Trinidad, 34, a dean of discipline at New Visions Advanced Math & Science High School, befriended the teen and repeatedly invited him to her home in the South Bronx, according to cops.
During their most recent encounter, Trinidad and the student were watching movies when they began kissing and performed oral sex on each other, authorities allege.
They also had full intercourse in a meeting in August, prosecutors said at her arraignment in Bronx criminal court early Wednesday.
According to prosecutors, the 15-year-old only spoke up about the abuse on Monday, and that Trinidad allegedly told the teen to destroy all the texts, explicit photos and videos that they had exchanged — and to deny any relationship.
At her arraignment, Trinidad, a single mother with a 13-year-old and 7-year-old daughter, slumped in her chair, her hair hiding her face at one point, and sniffled through the proceeding.
Both her parents, who were acknowledged by prosecutors but not identified, were sobbing in the courtroom.
Her defense lawyer said Trinidad had been the victim of domestic abuse, but called her record as an educator “unblemished,” and declared that she has “the support of both her family and her community.”
Bail was set at $10,000.
Trinidad’s parents declined to comment outside court.
Detectives from the 40th Precinct were alerted to the abuse after the boy and a classmate told the principal what happened, sources said.
Trinidad was arrested at her home after questioning Tuesday, and charged with rape in the third degree for having sex with a minor, criminal sex act and endangering the welfare of a child.
School officials told the Daily News they launched an internal investigation on Tuesday, and based on the initial results, fired Trinidad.
“We are horrified by recent allegations of completely inappropriate and unlawful interactions between a staff member and one of our students,” New Visions spokesman Jefferson Pestronk said. “The safety of students in our schools is our top priority. We have stringent internal policies in place to protect the safety of our students.”
Jose Gustavo, 25, said he knew Trinidad from growing up in the neighborhood and called her “a wonderful human being.”
“She’s good people,” he said. “I don’t know what happened here.”
Gustavo said Trinidad took over the apartment from her mother after she died.
Students outside the charter school Tuesday afternoon said they’d heard about the allegations but were uncomfortable talking about them.
“It was unexpected,” said one teenage boy. “It’s just messed up that it even happened. There’s a line between school and outside, and personal life — and she crossed it.”
New Visions is one of several high schools located in the old John F. Kennedy High School building in Spuyten Duyvil.
The school opened in 2011 and enrolls almost 500 students. Trinidad’s Facebook account lists her starting a job as dean at the John F. Kennedy building in 2017.
New Visions for Public Schools operates eight charter schools in the city.
Trinidad is listed on the charter school’s website as a dean coordinator for discipline. According to an Education Department survey, less than half of the school’s teachers said discipline was maintained in the charter school in the 2018-19 school year, compared with 75% of teachers citywide.
A retired science teacher who now works part-time at one of the schools in the John F. Kennedy building and declined to provide her name called the allegations “awful.”
“I hope it’s not true,” she said. “Most teachers are very protective of their students. I feel like a mother hen.”