There are stories that make you angry. There are stories that make you sad. And then there are stories that leave you sitting there wondering what in the world is wrong with people.
The recent allegations involving two Wisconsin educators have left me feeling exactly that way.
In Eau Claire, former North High School teacher Nadia Horn, now 23, has been charged in connection with alleged sexual relationships involving three male students. The original charges were filed in March 2026, with additional charges involving a third student filed in July. According to investigators, the students were minors, including boys who were 15 and 16 years old. Horn was terminated by the Eau Claire Area School District in March.¹ ²
Then, in October, we learned about another disturbing case in Bonduel.
Kaitlyn Hintz, 32, an associate principal at Bonduel Middle/High School, was charged with repeated sexual assault of the same child, second-degree sexual assault of a child, and child enticement involving a female student. According to the criminal complaint, the alleged relationship began when the student was 15 and continued into the following year. Hintz was placed on administrative leave. Her preliminary hearing, initially scheduled for October 27, was postponed until February 2, 2027.³ ⁴
Both women have been charged, and both are entitled to due process. An arrest or criminal charge is not a conviction. But the allegations themselves are deeply disturbing, and they raise some questions that I think we, as parents and as a society, need to be willing to discuss.
What is happening to people who are supposed to protect our children?
These aren’t mistakes. These are violations of trust.
I keep coming back to one thing: These are adults.
These are people who understand the difference between right and wrong. They understand the law. They understand professional boundaries. They understand that children are vulnerable and that adults have a responsibility to protect them.
They also understand what happens when someone is caught sexually abusing a child.
They risk their careers, their reputations, their families, their friendships, their freedom, and potentially every relationship they’ve spent their lives building.
And yet, they allegedly proceeded anyway.
How?
Do they believe they’re different? Do they convince themselves that what they’re doing is somehow a relationship rather than exploitation? Do they think the child is mature enough to understand? Do they believe they’re in love? Do they think they won’t get caught?
I genuinely struggle to understand the thought process.
A student looking up to a teacher, trusting an administrator, seeking advice, or needing emotional support is not an invitation to cross a sexual boundary.
It’s an enormous responsibility.
And when an adult uses that trust to create a sexual relationship with a minor, the responsibility for that violation belongs to the adult. Not the child.
Not ever.
The statistics are disturbing.
We often hear about child sexual abuse in terms of isolated cases, but the numbers show that this is a much larger problem.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- At least 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 20 boys in the United States experience child sexual abuse.
- Approximately 90% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the child or the child’s family.
- Many children never report their abuse, meaning the actual numbers are likely higher.⁵
And what about female perpetrators?
We sometimes have a difficult time reconciling the idea of women sexually abusing children because society has traditionally viewed sexual predators as men.
But women can be perpetrators, too.
A study examining more than 51,000 substantiated child sexual abuse cases in the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System from 2018–2019 found that approximately 7.6% of identified perpetrators were female.⁶
That means female-perpetrated abuse is less common, but it absolutely exists.
And boys can be victims just as girls can.
We need to stop treating this as a problem that only happens to certain children, in certain families, or at the hands of certain types of people.
It doesn’t.
Is it mental illness? Is it pedophilia?
This is one of the questions I keep asking myself.
Is there something psychologically wrong with someone who sexually pursues a child? Is it a mental illness? Is it an inability to control impulses? Is it an attraction they cannot change?
The answer is more complicated than I initially thought.
Pedophilic disorder is a recognized psychiatric diagnosis involving persistent sexual interest in prepubescent children. Under the clinical diagnostic criteria, this generally refers to children age 13 or younger.⁷
That’s an important distinction because the Wisconsin cases involve adolescent students. We cannot automatically label either woman as having pedophilic disorder based on the allegations.
Someone can sexually exploit a teenager without having pedophilic disorder. Sexual abuse can involve many different motivations, including sexual interest, entitlement, power, distorted thinking, and the exploitation of an unequal relationship.
And having a mental health condition does not automatically make someone sexually abusive. Most people living with mental illness are not predators.
I don’t think we can diagnose either of these women from news reports. We also shouldn’t assume that a psychiatric diagnosis explains or excuses criminal behavior.
But I do think we need to understand what leads someone to sexually exploit a child, because prevention matters.
Don’t they understand what they stand to lose?
This is perhaps the part I have the hardest time understanding.
We live in an age when these stories travel across the country in a matter of hours. Names, photographs, criminal complaints, court documents, and news reports circulate on social media almost immediately.
How can someone not recognize the consequences?
How can someone working in a school, surrounded by children every day, convince themselves that an inappropriate relationship with a student is worth risking everything?
Do they think they’re in love?
Do they convince themselves the student is mature enough to make that decision?
Do they believe their feelings are more important than the child’s safety?
Or do they simply believe they are going to get away with it?
I don’t have those answers.
But I do know that the possibility of losing a career, a marriage, a family, or a reputation should never have to be the primary reason someone decides not to abuse a child.
The reason should be much simpler:
Children are not available for adult sexual gratification. Period.
And if someone recognizes that they have an attraction to children or urges they fear they might act upon, they need professional help before anyone gets hurt.
Can someone like this be rehabilitated?
This is another question worth asking.
Is there treatment for people who experience sexual attraction to children? Can someone who has these attractions learn to manage them and never act on them?
According to clinical literature, treatment does exist.
For people diagnosed with pedophilic disorder, treatment may include:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy to address distorted thinking and develop strategies for managing urges.
- Individual and group psychotherapy.
- Treatment for other coexisting psychiatric conditions.
- In some circumstances, medication to reduce sexual urges.⁷
There is no simple cure, and treatment outcomes vary. Long-term treatment and monitoring may be necessary.
But there is an important distinction between treating someone who recognizes their attraction and voluntarily seeks help before harming anyone and rehabilitating someone who has already sexually abused a child.
Prevention is critical.
People who recognize that they have inappropriate sexual interests need to be able to seek qualified, confidential professional help before they offend. Society should take that seriously, not because we want to excuse predators, but because preventing a child from becoming a victim is always preferable to responding after the damage has been done.
Accountability for people who commit these crimes must remain a priority.
What happens to the children?
And this is where my anger really settles.
We spend so much time discussing the accused. Their names. Their photographs. Their careers. Their court appearances. Their potential prison sentences.
But what about the children?
What happens when a student discovers that an adult they trusted was using that relationship for sexual purposes?
What happens to their ability to trust teachers, coaches, counselors, administrators, or other adults?
What happens to their understanding of healthy relationships?
What happens when they grow up and begin processing something they may not have fully understood when it happened?
Childhood sexual abuse can have lasting psychological and physical consequences. Survivors may experience anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, difficulties with relationships, and challenges with trust and self-worth.⁵
And not every victim processes the experience in the same way.
Some may recognize immediately that something was wrong. Others may defend the adult, feel emotionally attached, or even believe they participated willingly.
That doesn’t change the adult’s responsibility.
A teenager can have feelings for a teacher. A student can believe they are in love. A child can even insist that they don’t feel victimized.
None of that makes the adult’s behavior acceptable.
The power imbalance is real, whether the child recognizes it at the time or not.
And the consequences don’t necessarily end when the criminal case does.
This is why parents have to pay attention.
As a parent, these stories scare me.
I have sons. And these cases are a reminder that boys are not somehow immune to sexual exploitation.
We spend a lot of time teaching our children about stranger danger, online safety, and the people they should avoid.
But what if the person is someone they already know?
What if it’s a teacher?
A coach?
A school administrator?
A family friend?
Someone who has earned the trust of the child and the family?
The CDC estimates that approximately 90% of child sexual abuse is committed by someone the child or family knows and trusts. That statistic alone should change how we approach conversations about child safety.⁵
We need to teach our children that no adult should ask them to keep inappropriate secrets, communicate with them in sexually suggestive ways, or make them feel responsible for an adult’s emotions or behavior.
We need to make sure our children know they can tell us anything, even if they think they’ve done something wrong, even if they are embarrassed, and even if the person involved is someone we know and respect.
And we need to listen.
Not dismiss them. Not automatically defend the adult. Not assume that someone with a respected profession or a good reputation couldn’t possibly do something terrible.
Because predators don’t always look like the people we imagine.
When does this end?
I don’t pretend to have all the answers.
I don’t know what motivates someone to sexually pursue a child. I don’t know what combination of psychological, behavioral, and personal factors leads someone to cross that line.
But I do know that we cannot continue to minimize female perpetrators simply because they are women.
We cannot excuse sexual abuse because a child supposedly had feelings for the adult.
We cannot confuse grooming with affection or exploitation with a relationship.
And we cannot allow the conversation to become so focused on the accused that we forget the children whose lives may have been permanently changed.
Teachers, administrators, coaches, and other adults who work with children are entrusted with something incredibly important.
Our children.
That trust should mean something.
I am disgusted by the thought of an adult deliberately taking advantage of a vulnerable child. I am disgusted by the betrayal of trust. And I am heartbroken for the young people who may now have to spend years trying to understand and process what happened to them.
I don’t care whether the perpetrator is male or female. I don’t care how respected they were in their profession or how many people thought they were wonderful.
Children deserve to be safe.
They deserve adults who protect them, not adults who exploit them.
And if someone knows they have sexual urges toward children, I hope they seek professional help before they ever act on them.
Because the measure of our society shouldn’t be how quickly we punish someone after a child has been victimized.
It should also be how seriously we work to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Our children are not responsible for protecting themselves from adults who should know better. That’s our responsibility.
Sources & References
1. WEAU News, March 30, 2026. Charges filed against North High School teacher.
Read the article
2. WEAU News, July 15, 2026. North High School teacher faces more child sexual assault charges.
Read the article
3. WBAY News, October 21, 2026. Bonduel associate principal formally charged with child sex crimes.
Read the article
4. WTAQ News, October 27, 2026. Preliminary hearing delayed for Bonduel associate principal accused in student sex case.
Read the article
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About Child Sexual Abuse.
Read the CDC report
6. Comartin et al. Female perpetrators of child sexual abuse: A review of the clinical and empirical literature – A 20-year update. Research examining substantiated U.S. child sexual abuse cases, including the 7.6% female perpetrator finding.
Read the research
7. Merck Manual Professional Edition. Pedophilic Disorder – Diagnosis and Treatment.
Read the clinical reference
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