Arkansas ‘2022 Teacher of the Year’ Had Sex with Student in Her Office

An Arkansas teacher was sentenced to 58 days in jail and six years probation for engaging in sexual activity with a student in 2010.

Leah Queen was arrested in September 2022, but she did not plead guilty until Wednesday, KNWA reported.

The 2022 Teacher of the Year began her relationship with the then 17-year-old before his senior year when she was 31 years old, according to the affidavit. She met him after a basketball game and began spending time with him after school hours. At the time of the affair, Queen was a physical education teacher at Gentry Intermediate School.

Court documents reveal that Queen had sex with the minor in her office, in a school bathroom, and in her home. Her ex-husband said that he caught Queen in bed with the student on multiple occasions. The former student’s parents and another teacher corroborated the victim’s claims.

There is no statute of limitations on sexual assault of a minor in Arkansas.

At the time of her arrest, Queen was teaching third through fifth graders and had been with the Gentry School District for more than 20 years.

Queen received multiple awards during her teaching career, and in 2019, one of her students nominated her for a Golden Apple Award presented to her by a local news station. She shared her gratitude for the recognition with KNWA.

“When I was a girl in the second grade, I had a teacher who did not make me feel like I was very much,” Queen said. “I just wanted to love my babies. I have a passion and drive for this and they love me back,’ Queen told the station while accepting her award.”

An analysis conducted by Fox News found that at “least 349 kindergarten through 12th-grade educators were arrested on child sex crimes” in 2022.

A Department of Education report from 20 years ago revealed: “9.6% of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career.”