With over 20,000 child sex criminals in Australia, there are strong calls for a public sex offenders register to be introduced.

A former US school superintendent has been jailed for sexually assaulting two teenage boys when she was a high school principal.

Laura Amero, 35, a former head of Windham Exempted Village Schools, Ohio, received the maximum jail term of 10 years.

Amero stepped down as superintendent in June 2019 following her arrest in April that year.

The disgraced teacher is currently pregnant and due to give birth to her child in March and will begin her sentence in April so her baby is not born in jail, The Sun reports.

She apologised in court after pleading guilty in November to two counts of sexual battery and sexual imposition, according to reports.

She admitted 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 between 2015 and 2017.

According to WFMJ, Amero told the court during sentencing: “Nobody goes into the field of education to hurt their students.

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“I never imagined I would hurt my kids but I did. I allowed lines to be crossed that never should have been crossed.

But when Portage County Common Pleas Judge Laurie Pittman asked her of the purpose of the assault, she said: “There was no purpose other than I let lines cross.

“There is no one to blame but myself. I got caught up, I let myself come down to their level.”

The Record-Courier reports how the judge dismissed her claim that mental health issues were to blame for the assaults.

“I can’t understand how this keeps happening with teachers, principals, superintendents,” Judge Pittman said. “You know you’re going to get caught.”

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In addition to her jail term, Amero is ordered to register as a Tier III sex offender.

The most severe of registers, the law requires the offender to register their address details every 90 days.

Amero was also ordered to pay a $US500 ($A744) fine.

Her lawyer, meanwhile, argued Amero should have received probation since she confessed and has continued mental health counselling, which will end once she reports to prison on April 1.

She has also been barred from returning to teaching for life.

This story first appeared in The Sun and has been reproduced with permission