A former art teacher from Bay Shore High School, John Kennedy, 53, has been arrested for allegedly stalking an 18-year-old former student. The student reported seeing Kennedy following her from her home in Bay Shore to an undisclosed location in Selden on Thursday morning and subsequently called 911.
Suffolk County police arrested Kennedy at his home in St. James on Thursday evening. He had previously been accused of raping the student inside his classroom. The student, who was 17 at the time of the alleged abuse and a senior in Kennedy's art class, had been in a sexual relationship with him. Although the student was of legal age of consent in New York, her lawyer, Andrew Silvershein, argued that the relationship was inherently exploitative due to Kennedy's position of power as a teacher.
The arrest for stalking occurred just over a week after the student filed a lawsuit against the Bay Shore school district. The lawsuit alleges that the district failed to protect her from Kennedy, whom she described as a "serial sexual predator," and ignored warning signs of his behavior.
Kennedy was first exposed by the press in October after he was placed on administrative leave following the revelation of his affair with the student. A previous police investigation into the allegations was closed due to a lack of criminal evidence at the time.
Bay Shore Superintendent Steven Maloney stated that the district acted promptly upon learning of the allegations, placing Kennedy on administrative leave, barring him from campus, and notifying the police. "The district acted swiftly once it learned of the allegations and immediately placed Kennedy on administrative leave, barred the creep from campus and alerted Suffolk police," Maloney said.
This incident is the third high-profile case involving alleged sexual misconduct by teachers in the Bay Shore school district. In November 2024, the district was ordered to pay $25 million in damages in a case involving retired third-grade teacher Thomas Bernagozzi, who was accused of sexually abusing students over several decades. A jury found that the district had ignored repeated warnings about Bernagozzi, and over 50 former students have since come forward with accusations. Additionally, Marcus Johnson, a teacher's assistant at the high school, was charged in 2017 with raping a 15-year-old student.