ROCKLAND, Mass. -- An Abington elementary school teacher pleaded not guilty to rape charges Friday after allegedly having sex with a boy numerous times, beginning when he was 13.
Christine A. McCallum, 29, of Rockland was released on $10,000 personal surety bond after her arraignment in Brockton District Court, where she pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape for the alleged incidents in Abington.
She was scheduled to be arraigned later Friday in Hingham District Court on four additional counts for the alleged rapes in Rockland.
McCallum has been fired from her job as a fifth grade teacher at Woodsdale Elementary School in Abington, Superintendent Peter G. Schafer said Friday.
"Mrs. McCallum is longer an Abington public school employee," Schafer said in a statement. "We are aware and are deeply concerned about the disturbing allegations against her, and we will be fully cooperating with the authorities."
Rockland Police Chief John Llewellyn said officers from his department and Abington police arrested McCallum at her home Thursday night.
Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz said McCallum, who is married, was working as a teacher's aide and tutoring the Abington boy's younger brother when the relationship began. Cruz said the father of the boy, now 16, went to authorities recently after he found some correspondence between his son and McCallum.
"The allegations are very disturbing, when you are alleging that a grown woman in a position of trust ... is allegedly having a sexual relationship with a child," Cruz said.
In court, Assistant District Attorney Michael Scott said McCallum had become like a surrogate mother to the boy, who was being raised by a single father. He said that relationship progressed to kissing and sex after McCallum plied the boy with alcohol.
But McCallum's attorney, Frederick McDermott, said there was no evidence his client ever had sex with the teen. He said she acted as the boy's surrogate mother, but that relationship ended in July 2007 after she caught the boy stealing liquor from her home.
McCallum was ordered to stay away from the boy, his family, and all children under 16, to wear a GPS tracking device and to surrender her passport.
A telephone message left at a number for a Christine A. McCallum in Rockland was not immediately returned Friday.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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