A former Ohio school superintendent was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting two students when she was a high school principal, according to reports.

Laura Amero, who was the head of Windham Exempted Village Schools from 2015 to 2017, received the maximum sentence allowed under state law on Monday after the judge dismissed the disgraced educator’s claims that mental health issues were to blame for her actions, the Record-Courier reports.

“I can’t understand how this keeps happening with teachers, principals, superintendents,” Portage County Common Pleas Judge Laurie Pittman said of sex misconduct cases involving students. “You know you’re going to get caught.”

Amero, 35, of Austintown, stepped down as superintendent in June 2019 following her arrest in April. She tearfully apologized in court after pleading guilty in November to two counts of sexual battery and sexual imposition, admitting that she had sex with a 16-year-old student and tried to get intimate with another boy while she was principal of Windham Junior/Senior High School, WFMJ reports.

“Nobody goes into the field of education to hurt their students,” Amero, who is pregnant, said Monday. “I never imagined I would hurt my kids but I did. I allowed lines to be crossed that never should have been crossed.”

The former educator appeared to show remorse as her husband, parents and in-laws watched in a show of support.

“There was no purpose other than I let lines cross,” Amero replied. “There is no one to blame but myself. I got caught up, I let myself come down to their level.”

In addition to 10 years in prison, Amero will have to register as a Tier III sex offender — the most severe designation, in which an offender must register their address every 90 days — and pay a $500 fine, the Record-Courier reports.

Amero’s attorney, meanwhile, argued that Amero should have received probation since she confessed and has continued mental health counseling, which will end once she reports to prison April 1.

The former principal, who is due to give birth in mid-March, may be allowed to start her sentence later so her child is not born behind bars, the newspaper reports.