Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Oops she did it again: Background-check anyone?

Tamara Hofmann, 48, isn’t charged with a crime. Her 20-year-old boyfriend is. Sixto Balbuena, Hoffman’s former student, is charged with stabbing Samuel Valdivia, Hoffman’s 18-year-old student-lover, to death upon finding them together Hoffman’s bedroom.

With one lover dead and another jailed Ms. Hofmann may find herself lonely. She is not subject to criminal charges for sleeping with Valdivia, technically an adult at 18. Nor was Hoffman charged for engaging in a “suspected” sexual relationship with Balbuena, only 17 at the time, according to a 2006 Chandler police report.

Hofmann will likely face disciplinary action at El Dorado High School in Chandler, Az., where she was Valdivia’s math teacher. But what is to stop her from taking another student under her tutelage? Taking on young male students appears to be a pattern for Hofmann: one that causes her few consequences. After all, she secured a position in the Math Department of El Dorado High School after leaving her teaching position at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Az. when allegations surfaced that she was sleeping with Balbuena, a 17-year-old student.

Background-check anyone?

According to Sgt. Joe Favazzo, of the Chandler Police Department, Hofmann is under investigation for “potential misconduct” regarding her inappropriate relationship with Valdivia. However, since Valdivia was 18 when they were together, it is unlikely that Hafmann can be charged with criminal conduct – after all violating workplace prohibitions, like “No Sex with Students,” will only get you fired if no law is broken in the process.

Here's hoping the 48-year-old seductress finds herself with early-onset menopause. Perhaps that would curb her predatory appetite for her young male students. Until then, the Arizona Department of Education may want to consider revoking her teaching credential for “moral turpitude” or some such offense.

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