A science teacher at Northwestern Middle School in Zachary is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. 34-year-old Ellarea Silva is currently on leave after her arrest on Thursday. Zachary Police Chief David McDavid says the relationship appeared to be a summer fling.
“From everything we saw, none of these incidents happened at the school. A lot of the incidences happened during the summertime but were not at the school. I won’t go into the case further because we are not going to try this case in the media,” said McDavid.
Investigators are combing through the evidence on the student’s cell phone.
Silva was arrested Thursday after nearly a week of suspension without school leaders elaborating as to why. City councilman Lael Montgomery is rallying supporters calling for the resignation or removal of Principal Debby Brian as a result. The Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP is expected to back Montgomery, but McDavid says there was not a cover-up in the investigation.
“At no time did we hide anything because of pigmentation or any type of thing that was noted in the media or on social media,” said McDavid.
McDavid says they are asking parents to talk to their children to see if Silva’s actions extended beyond this one child.
“We have put out a notice to everybody on our Facebook page and through the investigation, if their child has any other incidences involving this teacher, we asked them to call us, relay the information, and we will start the investigation on that,” said McDavid.
Silva’s bond is set at $225,000. Silva faces several charges including indecent behavior with a juvenile, carnal knowledge of a juvenile and oral sexual battery.
