Teacher sentenced to four months in jail for having sex with s

PLATTE CITY, Mo. -- A former learning disabilities teacher was sentenced to four months in jail and five years probation for having sex with a 14-year-old student.

Platte County Circuit Judge Owens Lee Hull Jr. on Friday also ordered Rachelle L. Hernandez, 31, not to have any unsupervised contact with children under 18, to forfeit her Missouri teaching license and to receive counseling. She also must perform 100 hours of community service.

Hernandez pleaded guilty May 10 to four counts of statutory rape of the boy, who was a student at Plaza Middle School in the Park Hill School District, just northwest of Kansas City, Mo. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to dismiss four counts of statutory sodomy.

Next week Hernandez faces sentencing on a second-degree statutory rape charge in Clay County involving the same boy when he was 15. Hernandez also has pleaded guilty to that incident, which took place in her Oakwood home while she was on bond in the Platte County case.

During the 3 1/2-hour hearing Friday, psychologist Gregory Sisk testified that Hernandez was unlikely to harm other children.

Hernandez apologized to the boy, who was not present, and his mother.

"I do accept full responsibility. ... I just want the chance to go on from here," she said.