STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A widely admired and much-liked English teacher at Tottenville High School lost her job in December, after a city probe determined she had engaged in an intimate relationship with a student.

The suspected salacious affair reportedly started out as subtle flirtation, escalated with the exchange of nearly 7,000 text messages and culminated in at least one steamy rendezvous.

Olympia Filosa was 26 years old last May when a photo she apparently snapped of herself in front of a full-length mirror, wearing only lingerie and a pouty, come-hither expression, began circulating throughout the high school -- prompting the probe by the Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) for the New York City School District.

"Filosa reported that a thumb drive containing her personal photographs was either stolen or replaced," according to the findings by the office of the SCI, which recommended her dismissal.

The student, whose age was redacted from the investigation paperwork, allegedly told investigators that the sexual tension between himself and the teacher began to grow during the 2010-11 school year, and he would make her mixed CDs of music.

A review of their phone records shows they texted each other 6,950 times; she called him 16 times, and he called her six times between late December 2011 and May 2012.

After this racy photo of Olympia Filosa began circulating through Tottenville High School, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District launched a probe that culminated with her being terminated.

On May 3, the two moved past talk, according to the investigation: "Student A explained that he arranged for Filosa to pick him up in his neighborhood on Staten Island and she then drove to a quiet parking lot where they had the sexual encounter."

But even after hundreds of students had seen the seductive snapshot and heard rumors about the alleged affair, and with the investigation under way, Ms. Filosa finished up the school year at Tottenville.

TRANSFERRED TO B'KLYN

In September, she was transferred to Park Slope Collegiate High School; the next month, she was reassigned to the so-called rubber room, and in December she lost her $56,048-a-year job, according to the city Department of Education.

Ms. Filosa began her teaching career in February 2008 as a substitute teacher at Tottenville and was hired full time in August of that year.

"I don't want to be just a good teacher. I want to be an exceptional teacher," Ms. Filosa said after being named a Rickel Teaching Scholar when she was a liberal arts and science major at the College of Staten Island, entering her junior year.

Ms. Filosa could not be reached for comment by the Advance for this report, and "through her attorney, declined the opportunity to speak with investigators," according to the paperwork sent to Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott in October, recommending she be terminated as a teacher and never be rehired by the Department of Education.

NO ARRESTS

Law enforcement sources could find no information of any arrests in connection with the episode.

Meanwhile, students Wednesday outside Tottenville High School unanimously praised Ms. Filosa's teaching skills and enthusiasm in the classroom and said losing her as a mentor would be a major loss for the school.

"She was the best teacher; she listened to you and really inspired you," said senior Lauren Rucci, who had Ms. Filosa as an English teacher the previous year, and credited her for helping her get over her shyness about reading, especially aloud.

"She encouraged everybody; she was great, she got everybody to participate; the whole class was happy with her." She and most of her friends had seen the racy photo of the teacher, but they did not dwell on it or on rumors of the affair.

Many students said they knew the student had been a senior, who moved out of state last year.

"She got us to read and to like being in school; if you had a problem you could go to her and she would help," said junior Christian Olsen, who had also had Ms. Filosa as a teacher last year, and described her as bubbly, outgoing and empathetic. "The other things, what people were saying that happened, most people didn't really care about."