Nancy Misenti arrived at the East Hartford school system last week wearing a dress with a low neckline and more makeup than the typical teacher. Rumors abounded that she was a transsexual.

She left her substitute teaching assignment an accused child molester, charged Friday night with fourth-degree sexual abuse and risk of injury to a minor. At least four elementary school students in two schools said she touched them improperly, in some cases in their genital areas, authorities said.

Misenti, in a series of interviews, has denied the charges against her, saying she did nothing more than hug students and rub their arms and shoulders at times. She said whispers about her sex helped to amplify the accusations and led to mistreatment by police after her arrest.

She also said she is a victim of overreaction by students and adults in the same school building where a music teacher hid years of sexual assaults against children until 1992.

"I feel like the victim of some ugly prejudice. Horrible, venomous prejudice," Misenti said.

Authorities said that neither her sex nor the town's scars from the Gary A. Booth case played a role in the charges against Misenti, and that the case is a simple matter of sexual misconduct properly reported and investigated.

Either way, both factors have combined to publicly ignite Misenti's case beyond the question of what she allegedly did.

Although the specific allegations against Misenti have not been made public - or told to Misenti - sources in the school system and the police department said she was accused of placing her hand down the pants of a third-grade boy.

"The concern that we have in this case is for what happened, and not anyone's sexual orientation or anything like that," said school board chairwoman Hilde Mayranen.

Misenti, 33, underwent sex change surgery sometime after she she graduated from the University of Bridgeport law school in 1984, according to published documents. She declines to discuss the matter.

Misenti became a substitute teacher last year after a divorce. Wednesday, she was assigned to a Grade 3 class at Mayberry. There, she said, she comforted a pupil who had been hit in the arm by hugging him and rubbing the arm.

The next day Misenti was assigned to fill in for a special education reading teacher at the Norris elementary school. During the day, a Mayberry student complained that Misenti had put her hand down his pants, authorities said.

School officials immediately investigated. At the same time, they said, more complaints arrived from Norris. Misenti was dismissed from her post there.

Warrants are being prepared for her arrest on more fourth-degree sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by three boys, police said Monday.

A Norris School third-grader, speaking at his home Monday in the presence of his mother, said Misenti placed her hand on his back under his shirt during an afternoon class. "Then she put her hand in my pocket and she touched my you-know- what," the 9-year-old said.

The boy's allegations had been reported to police, his mother said, but he had not yet given a statement as of late Monday. It was unclear whether his account was one of the three other cases against Misenti.

Another boy, a sixth-grader at Norris, said that he witnessed what was described as inappropriate behavior by Misenti, including Misenti asking a girl whether she needed help going to the bathroom.

"She tried to touch me in my private but I pushed her away," said the 12-year-old, speaking in the presence of his parents.

Neither boy told any adult about the events until Friday. The 12-year- old said he and about 15 other students were taken to the office of the principal, Richard Quinn, to discuss what had happened.

In West Hartford, where Misenti worked recently as a substitute teacher, a school official said Monday that Misenti was told she would not be brought back. Other teachers had complained of her bizarre behavior, the official, Timothy Dunn, said. The complaints did not involve sexual misconduct, he said.

Misenti said the Norris students' claims were ridiculous.

"Kids that age, third graders, are very impressionable, and once you get them going, they sometimes feed into the frenzy," Misenti said.

Since then, students at Mayberry and the other local schools have had such training as a video entitled "Red Light, Green Light," designed to make sure they alert an adult when improper touching occurs.

Misenti complained that she is placed under a microscope, but continues to wear low-cut dresses and heavy makeup. Her appearance, she said, "is an attempt to defuse the rumors" that she's not a real woman.

"This is not just a simple attempt to weed out molestation," she said. "This is an attempt to rid the system of something that they believe does not belong in the schools."

A person's status as a transsexual is, like race and religion, not allowable grounds for job discrimination under state laws.

School officials, speaking privately because the case is in court, said they believe Misenti should, perhaps, choose another profession.

Meanwhile, Misenti said that she is upset that police have not told her the exact accusations against her, and that a detective repeatedly asked her about her birth name, even after she told him Nancy Misenti is her only legal name.

She also said that police would not allow her to make a telephone call until Saturday morning, nearly 12 hours after her arrest, and that they made fun of her.

Chief James W. Shay said the case was handled properly. He said that police are not obliged to tell a suspect more than the charges, and that he doubts her contention that she was berated. "She knows what she did," he said.