Ontario Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sex Crimes Involving Minors
/Warning: This story depicts graphic descriptions of sexual misconduct involving minors.
Ontario Grade 8 teacher Kelly-Anne Jennings has pleaded guilty to luring and child pornography charges after a court in Peterborough on Thursday morning.
Photo courtesy of the Port Hope Police Service.
The former teacher was arraigned on six charges from incidents in 2023. These included child luring, creating child pornography and distributing sexually explicit material to a minor. Teenage boys who were Jennings’ students were named as the victims.
The 41-year-old was first charged with one count each of sexual interference and sexual assault on Aug. 21 last year. This occurred after police stated that a male student told his mother about inappropriate physical contact with a teacher during a class trip. An additional three complainants came forward, leading to further charges, according to Port Hope Police.
On Sept. 4, she was given several additional charges:
Distributing Sexually Explicit Material to a Person Under 16 years of age x3
Luring a Person Under 16 years of age by means of Telecommunication x7
Access any Child Pornography x2
Invitation to Sexual Touching under 16 years of age x2
Makes, Prints, Publishes or Possesses for the Purpose of Publication any Child Pornography x2
A statement in an e-mail was released to parents and guardians following the Sept. 4 charges:
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We are reaching out to share some extremely difficult news regarding a situation that we know will be deeply concerning for our school community.
Late this afternoon, Port Hope Police Services issued a media release indicating that Grade 8 teacher Kelly-Anne Jennings has been arrested and charged with a number of serious charges related to former students.
We understand how upsetting this information is for our students, parents/guardians and staff. Please know that the safety and well-being of our students is always our top priority. We take all allegations of staff misconduct very seriously, and Board staff have been cooperating fully with the police throughout their investigation.
As the matter is now before the courts, and because the allegations involve minors, we are unable to provide any specific details about the nature of the charges.
However, we can confirm that Ms. Jennings has been removed from all Board workplaces and prohibited from any contact with students indefinitely.
Port Hope Police Services is encouraging any further victims or witnesses to contact the Port Hope Police Service in person, via phone at 905-885-8123 or via email at phps@phps.on.ca.
We know that situations like this can be distressing, and we want to assure you that additional mental health support will be available at the school this week and for as long as necessary for any student who may need it.
We also encourage you to have conversations with your children about respecting the privacy of potential victims and witnesses and being cautious about sharing unverified information online or through social media.
To support you during this time, the Board’s mental health team has recommended the following resources:
How to talk to children about difficult news: Guidance from the American Psychological Association on discussing sensitive topics with children.
https://www.apa.org/topics/journalism-facts/talking-children
How do you know if you should be concerned about your child’s mental health: A tip sheet from School Mental Health Ontario to help parents identify signs of distress in their children.
https://smho-smso.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tip-Sheet-How-Do-You-Know-If-You-Should-Be-Concerned.pdf
Protecting children through education and prevention: Resources from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection on safeguarding children.
https://protectchildren.ca/en/resources-research/#resources
In addition, we would like to remind you that Northumberland Hills Hospital offers a walk-in counselling option for children, youth and adults (aged seven and up) on Tuesdays, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Thursdays, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at NHH’s Community Mental Health Services office located at 1011 Elgin Street West, Suite 200, Cobourg.
24/7 support is always available through the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868 or by texting CONNECT to 686868.
Please feel free to reach out to me directly at the school by phone (905) 885-4583 or contact126@pvnccdsb.on.ca if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your understanding and support as we work together to maintain a safe and caring environment for our students.
