A special-education teacher at Oceanside High School has been placed on paid administrative leave after police arrested her Thursday on suspicion of having an unlawful sexual relationship with a former student, a school district spokesman said Friday.
The teacher, Kelly McKenzy Watson, 34, met the teenage boy at New Haven Youth and Family Services in Vista, where she worked from September 2010 to August 2011, according to San Diego police Lt. Anastasia Smith, of the department's Sex Crimes Unit.
"They met when he was a student of hers, and they later forged a relationship which was inappropriate and illegal," Smith said.
The lieutenant said it appears the relationship started after Watson left her job at New Haven last August. New Haven is a residential school that works with at-risk and troubled teens.
Although the teacher and student first met in North County, San Diego police investigated the case because the suspected crimes took place in San Diego, Smith said. Police opened the case after receiving a tip about Watson and the teen on July 30, she said.
Watson posted $45,000 bail and was released Friday; her arraignment is set for Aug. 20, according to the San Diego County district attorney's office.
She was arrested on suspicion of unlawful sex with a minor and oral copulation with a minor.
Oceanside Unified School District spokesman Steve Lombard said Friday that the district placed Watson on paid administrative leave Thursday pending the outcome of the criminal investigation. Watson was hired in August 2011, he said.
In an emailed statement to the North County Times, New Haven's executive director, Doreen Quinn, said the staff and supporters of her organization were "shocked and saddened to learn of the alleged relationship."
"However, we are confident, based on our own investigation and the information we have received from law enforcement, that no sexual relationship occurred during the teacher's or student's time at New Haven," Quinn wrote.
According to the organization's website, New Haven Youth and Family Services provides "academic, social, emotional and behavioral intervention as well as career technical education and life skills development for youth 12 and up and their families."
Quinn did not respond to a request for the number of students at New Haven's operation in Vista. However, a profile of Quinn on the San Diego Daily Transcript website states that New Haven and its sister school, North County Trade Tech High School, provide education, job training and housing to more than 100 adolescent males.
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