A now-former female teacher and coach in New Caney Independent School District was sentenced to four years in prison for having sex with a student.
Samantha Shea Cummings was convicted of improper relationship between educator and student, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison.
She was sentenced Tuesday in a Montgomery County district court.
Cummings, who was 35 at the time, was having sex with a 17-year-old female student at New Caney High School.
She was allowed to resign after misconduct allegations were reported.
District police arrested Cummings in January 2023.
She was a first-year culinary arts teacher and track and volleyball coach.
State records show Cummings’ teaching certificate was issued in June 2022 and is now under review by the Texas Education Agency.
Two other female teachers recently received probated sentences for the same crime, causing Texans to question whether women receive lighter punishments than men for having sex with students.
An increasing number of females are among the hundreds of Texas school employees charged with sex crimes involving students and other children.
