Madison Daniel Hand High teacher charged with sexual assault of student Woman’s arrest stems from investigation that began at Hand High in January

Allison Marchese Allison Marchese Photo: Facebook Photo Photo: Facebook Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Madison Daniel Hand High teacher charged with sexual assault of student 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

MADISON >> A teacher at Daniel Hand High School turned herself in to police Thursday on charges that she sexually assaulted a student.

Allison J. Marchese, 37, was charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury or impairing the morals of a child. She was released from custody after posting $100,000 bail.

Marchese’s arrest stemmed from an investigation that started at Hand in January, a Madison police spokesman, Sgt. Joseph Race, said in a press release.

Officials announced in January that a staff member at Hand had been placed on administrative leave while police investigated the sexual assault of a student, but they did not identify the staff member at the time.

Marchese is on leave from her job at Hand, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice confirmed in an email Thursday. She is listed on the school district’s website as an English and language arts teacher and also as the adviser for the yearbook.

Scarice said the district “is moving forward immediately with the personnel process regarding her employment.”

He said that with regard to the arrest, the district is bound by state law that allows a teacher to be suspended “without prejudice” pending termination.

“I find the alleged conduct of this teacher vile and disgusting,” Scarice said in a statement. “The bond of trust between a professional educator and a student is fragile and precious. The violation of this bond is nothing less than reprehensible.

“The district will take the most aggressive actions possible to see to it that any individual who abuses this bond is removed from the profession and brought to justice,” he said.

Marchese’s husband, Robert Marchese, also is a teacher at Hand, Scarice confirmed.

If Allison Marchese is found to have engaged in sexual conduct with a student, Scarice said she should face “the full force of the law,” saying that such acts leave a stain on the entire teaching profession and are “unspeakable.”

Under state law, second-degree sexual assault is a felony that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. If the victim is under 16 years of age, the maximum sentence is 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. The law states that anyone found guilty of that charge must be sentenced to at least nine months imprisonment that cannot be suspended or reduced.

The risk of injury charge Marchese faces also carries a potential 20-year sentence and a fine of up to $20,000 if she is convicted.

Few details about what had happened were immediately available, but Scarice said in his press release that a student had reported the sexual misconduct on Jan. 7 and that police and the state Department of Children and Families were notified later that day.

Race said earlier this month in an interview with the Shoreline Times that within the hour after detectives arrived at the school to begin the investigation, word about it had spread around the community, especially on social media.

Several posts were made on the anonymous smartphone application Yik Yak, which is popular with high school and college students around the country. The anonymous posts named both the alleged underage victim and Marchese in January. The posts also included explicit details about the incident.

Race said no one at his department monitors social media sites on a regular basis, but he did see some of the posts, many of which included false information.

“I did see a few that people were sending me, snippets of things on different websites, that were so outrageously false,” Race said. “There was one that was like three paragraphs long and I literally don’t think there was shred of true information in the entire thing. Everything about it was completely false.”

Marchese, of Deveron Drive, is scheduled to appear Feb. 24 in state Superior Court in New Haven to face the charges. It was not immediately clear if she has an attorney. A message was left Thursday afternoon at the home telephone number listed for Marchese.

Sarah Page Kyrcz contributed to this story.