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Amira Sa'Di
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By HEATHER VOGELL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/17/05
Amira Sa'Di resigned from her job as a Clayton County math teacher
before being put in jail for a relationship with a 17-year-old
student.
But a 30-year-old former math teacher in Clayton County is talking
about her relationship this summer with a 17-year-old student.
Though the affair landed her in jail and cost her a job, Amira Sa'Di
said she has no regrets.
"Basically, I feel you can't put an age on love," she said.
For those who find such liaisons puzzling, psychology offers possible
explanations, said Nadine Kaslow, professor at Emory School of
Medicine and chief psychologist at Grady Memorial Hospital.
A younger boy may want to be mothered. An older woman may feel less
mature than her years. He may find intimacy with an authority figure
exciting — and that may turn her on.
Either could truly have fallen in love, Kaslow said, and "you don't
want to minimize that."
Risks arise, however, whenever a couple has an unequal power
relationship, she added.
"I don't think that's ever healthy for people," she said.
Earlier this month, Clark married a 15-year-old boy whose baby she is
carrying. But the Hall County resident was charged with child
molestation because of his age. She remains in jail.
He is in a juvenile detention center on an unrelated matter, but told
a CBS 46 reporter that the affair was consensual. "She's done a lot
for me, you know. She's been good to me," he said.
The nuptials have angered the boy's grandmother — and child advocates.
A 15-year-old is rarely ready to parent, said Dee Simms, child
advocate for Georgia.
"Children getting married period is of great concern," she said. "It's
sad."
Sa'Di said she and the teen met in 2004. His brother is related to her
by marriage.
They began a relationship after he spent the night at her home at a
family reunion in July, she said.
The two had sex once and oral sex once during encounters that occurred
in cars in his neighborhood, according to Sa'Di and a police report.
Both live with their mothers.
After Sa'Di began teaching at Mundy's Mill in August, the student's
mother found a letter Sa'Di had sent him and reported the relationship
to authorities.
This week, the mother provided a copy of a handwritten letter signed "Amira"
to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The newspaper is not using her or
her son's name because it does not identify victims of sexual offenses
unless they agree to be named.
"I'm annoyed with myself because there are suddenly men everywhere
trying to talk to me, and I keep chasing you," the letter begins.
Sa'Di said the Mundy's Mill principal recommended that she resign.
Before hiring her, the district had run state and national criminal
checks on her — and they came up clean, said spokesman Charles White.
Clayton County police charged Sa'Di with sexual assault under a state
law that seeks to prevent people in authority from taking advantage
sexually of those in their care. The law says consent is not a defense
when the perpetrator has disciplinary authority over a victim who
attends a school.
Sa'Di said she believed the relationship was permissible because she
had looked up the law on the Internet and read a section that says
teens 16 and over can consent to sex.
She said the student pursued her aggressively at times, and was not in
any of her classes.
"It was a spiritual thing," she said. "I love him."
She posted bond and was released Sept. 22. A restraining order bars
her from him.
The teen's mother says her son wants nothing to do with Sa'Di. She
said his grades have slipped since the affair.
"She is madly in love with my son. I fear for my son's safety," the
mother said. "When he gets off the school bus, he's in this house."
The mother wants to know whether Sa'Di took the job at Mundy's Mill to
see her son.
"I honestly think she's sick," the mother said. "To strike up a
relationship with a child inside of a school and you feel you have not
done anything wrong? That is absurd."
Sa'Di said she did want to be closer to the teen, but was not certain
he attended Mundy's Mill when she took the post. He wasn't the reason
she accepted the job, she said.
She's a Georgia Tech graduate with an engineering degree who decided
to teach after a few years in the business world. She lives in College
Park and also has taught at Camp Creek Middle and Westlake High in
Fulton County.
She said she continues to tutor students privately and wants to open a
private school.
The 17-year-old was the first student she has ever had a relationship
with, she said. Because she looks young, boys have flirted with her,
she said.
"I've had feelings for one of my students I tutored before, but I felt
it was inappropriate because of the relationship," Sa'Di said. "It's
all about being ethical and doing the right thing."
Indeed, psychologist Kaslow said professions such as her own offer
ethical guidance discouraging authority figures from entering
relationships with subordinates.
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