US teacher took student into locked bathroom, then handed him money: investigation

Loeffler resigned while the investigation was ongoing and later refused to be questioned

A former prodigy at the Bronx High School of Science who became a chemistry teacher in the city resigned last year after an investigation revealed she had an inappropriate relationship with a male student at her Manhattan high school.

Shoshana Leffler, 37, and her twin brother Abba, former star students at a Bronx high school, were both among the top 300 semifinalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search.

After studying at Princeton University and New York University, she took a teaching position at the city’s Department of Education in 2019.

However, in February 2023, Loeffler, then 36, was captured on video escorting a 17-year-old male student into a locked bathroom at Fort George Health Professions and Sciences High School in Manhattan. She was later seen giving the teenager a sum of money.

“Because Loeffler resigned from DOE without providing any explanation, what happened in the bathroom can only be conjectured,” Anastasia Coleman, special commissioner for city school investigations, said in a report. ” new york post.

SCI reports that surveillance cameras captured Loeffler “conversing” with the unnamed student at 10:35 a.m. Tuesday, just a minute into fourth period and when the teen “should have Go to class”.

According to media reports, a vice principal discovered the two and reprimanded Loeffler for inappropriate close contact. But Loeffler didn’t end the conversation there. She took the boy to the fifth floor of the building.

Investigators concluded that there they “found a private room where security cameras were unable to record them” – an employee bathroom with a lockable door.

They were in the bathroom for 7 minutes. The call was interrupted after another staff member arrived to use the facility and found the bathroom locked. After the staff member left, Loeffler and the teen were photographed leaving separately.

The next day, Mr. Loeffler met the student again in the stairwell and saw her “handing [him] He pocketed what looked like money and left the stairwell together. “

However, investigators found no evidence of contact between Loeffler and the boy in the teacher’s phone records.

According to media reports, the student was unwilling to testify about the incident. Loeffler withdrew while the investigation was ongoing and later refused to be interviewed, leaving the nature of their relationship a mystery.