Merrill Middle School paraprofessional charged with sexual assault

Jennifer K. Woldt

Oshkosh school district teacher’s aide Lindsey Quednow was charged Friday with repeated sexual assault of a child following an investigation of a relationship with a 14-year-old student.

Quednow, 26, is also charged with three counts of child enticement and one count of sexual exploitation of a child. Quednow, of Oshkosh, was fired by the school district late Wednesday following her arrest by Oshkosh police.

An Oshkosh school district teacher’s aide is expected to be charged Friday with having sexual contact with a 14-year-old student.

The 26-year-old woman was arrested at 4 p.m. Wednesday after authorities were contacted by school officials who suspected an inappropriate relationship between the woman and the student, said Officer Joe Nichols, a spokesman for the Oshkosh Police Department.

The investigation determined sexual activity between the woman and the student began in July and ended in August. The woman was arrested on suspicion of repeated sexual assault of the same child, sexual assault of a student by a teacher and possession of child pornography. Oshkosh Northwestern Media is not naming the woman because she has not been charged with a crime.

Superintendent Stan Mack II said the aide was fired late Wednesday. He said the woman, who was beginning her fourth year working with special education students, had no known school-related connection with the victim.

“They had no connection other than (being) in the same building,” Mack said. “It happened purely in the community over the summer.”

Mack said state laws require district employees to report behavior they think is suspicious. Teachers from another school saw the woman with the student and notified their supervisor.

“The child protection mandatory reporting requirements were followed exactly,” Mack said. “All the right things happened.”

Winnebago County District Attorney Christian Gossett said he expects to file charges against the woman Friday. She is being held in the Winnebago County Jail.

Mack said the district conducts criminal background checks on all potential new hires in compliance with state law. Although he had not personally checked the woman’s employee file, Mack said the district would not have hired or continued to employ the woman had there been any indication of past criminal activity or inappropriate relationships with students.

He praised the teachers and administrators who handled the situation, calling them “courageous” for doing the right thing.

“We instruct all employees to be observant, and when they observe what may be a one-on-one relationship between an adult and a student, to report it,” Mack said. “Had our teachers and staff not been attentive and reported this, we might not have heard about it.”

Source: thenorthwestern