The parents of a 14-year-old New Jersey girl reportedly molested by her female teacher and mentor are suing — and have released disturbing new details on how the educator allegedly groomed their daughter with sex talk, then groped her breasts in a school hallway.
The accusations have ripped the Marlboro, NJ, community apart, enraging some parents who claim the district and police mishandled the case and were slow to act.
Jenna Sciabica, a special education language arts teacher, fondled the girl on March 13 in Marlboro Memorial Middle School, the family alleged in court papers filed May 1 in Monmouth County Superior Court.
The pupil was walking to class when Sciabica “just happened to be standing in the doorway of her own classroom” and called the student over, the family claimed.
The teen walked over to Sciabica, “who then began fondling and rubbing the girl’s breast with
one hand. She was poking, touching, massaging, and rubbing the breast,” according to the court papers.
The teacher then took the back of her hand and placed it on the girl’s forehead “to imply [the girl] was getting hot.”
Sciabica then “used both of her hands, and began rubbing … poking, and inappropriately touching both of [the teen’s] breasts,” the family alleged.
“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,” according to court papers.
The girl then blocked Sciabica’s hands, “pulling them off her breasts,” and ran down the hallway, where another teacher who witnessed the incident heard Sciabica yell for the girl to “come back here I want to feel and touch them again.”
April 16 meeting, according to video seen by The Post. instagram @jenna0685
The assault “was … caught entirely on camera,” according to the filing.
Sciabica “was already familiar” with the girl because she had been tutoring her younger siblings, who have special needs, for more than a year, the family said in the complaint.
The teacher also “would routinely and openly engage in sexually explicit and flirtatious conversations with female students at the school in her classroom and in front of other teachers,” the family contended.
Another girl, who has not joined the lawsuit, claimed Sciabica repeatedly tried to get her phone number, the filing claims.
That student alleged Sciabica would discuss other teachers’ and men’s penis sizes and “would openly talk about her own sex life to her 10-14 year old students,” the complaint says.
The second girl reported Sciabica’s “inappropriate conversations” to the school guidance counselor, but nothing was done, the family charged.
Sciabica is a “predator,” the alleged victim’s mother told the Marlboro Board of Education at its April 16 public meeting. The board, the mom alleged, “failed to prevent the atrocity that happened down that hallway.”
A day after the meeting, and more than a month after the incident, Marlboro police charged the suspended teacher with one count of harassment — a misdemeanor.
In addition to Sciabica, the lawsuit filed this week names the school district, the school board and the Marlboro superintendent.
It seeks unspecified damages.
Additional defendants are accused of lying about the incident and the probe or making defamatory or libelous statements.
“We believe this lawsuit clearly … is a baseless defamatory accusation which is nothing more than a money grab,” Sciabica’s attorney, Mitchell Ansell, told The Post. “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.”
The attorney called the parents’ claims that Sciabica was “sexually grooming” their daughter “absolutely outrageous.”
He added: “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.”
The attorney for the plaintiffs did not return messages.
