News of the shocking arrest brought a mix of frustration and disgust at the Stephen Decatur Middle School in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
"I think that is horrible. We need to protect our children. It just makes me wanna cry," one person said.
Police say a 42-year-old teacher, Claudia Tillery, raped a 6th grade boy, who attends the school, and allegedly gave him both drugs and alcohol during a two year relationship that actually began when the boy was only 12 years old at Tillery's apartment building in Crown Heights, where neighbors say she lived with her own 2 children.
According to the Department of Education, Tillery taught 6th grade humanities at Middle School 35 for the past 15 years. Her salary - $85,000.
While the alleged crimes did not happen on school grounds, it was little comfort to parents whose kids were in the same building as Tillery, day after day.
"It makes you think twice and kind of worry about your own children, and just keep a tighter hold and speak to them more, and say, well, are you ok?" parent Taneshia Boone said.
A spokeswoman for the department told us, Tillery has been removed from the classroom and, pending the outcome of this case, she'll be re-assigned.
