"ANOTHER SCHOOL TEACHER GOES CRIMINAL"

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

SCHOOL TEACHER IN SEX SHOCK

By DOUGLAS MONTERO and ERIC LENKOWITZ

CHERYL REYNA

A married high-school teacher has been busted for allegedly engaging in steamy lesbian sex with an underage student - sending shock waves through the halls of their private religious institution in Queens.

Cheryl Reyna, 32, who teaches Spanish at Martin Luther HS in Maspeth, was arraigned yesterday on a slew of sordid sex charges and a count of endangering the welfare of a child. She was released on $5,000 bail.

"Obviously, we're shocked," school spokeswoman Kelly Westfal said. "Our main concern is with the welfare and safety of our students."

Sources said Reyna, a stocky blonde, was a close pal of the mother of the girl, who was 16 at the time their alleged illicit sex trysts took place. The teacher even went on vacation with the family, they said.

Reyna was the girl's adviser in the school Spanish club, and both went on a class trip to Spain during the 2002-03 school year, according to the school's yearbook.

But their alleged tryst is believed to have been confined to a three-month period ending last October, law-enforcement sources said.

The affair came to light after the parents of the girl, who is now 17, grew suspicious, and the girl eventually confessed to the sexual relationship, sources said.

Reyna, a teacher at the school since 1997, was put on suspension with pay Friday after the victim's parents revealed the relationship to school officials, who then called police.

Some students said they weren't stunned by the news. "They were always together," said Cheryl Stubbs, 16, a junior. "They just had a close friendship that was awkward for a student and a teacher."

But one irate parent asked why school officials weren't monitoring the teacher-student relationship.

"If all the kids knew about this and they're talking about it, how come the school didn't know about it?" said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

"And if they did know about it, how come they didn't do something earlier?"

School officials said Reyna has a clean record and was popular among the students.

"There is nothing in her past to indicate that there would be a problem - that's why everyone is shocked," school director Ben Herbrich said.

Reyna's lawyer, Richard Leff, said his client "disputes that there was an improper relationship."

A man who identified himself as Reyna's husband at the door of their 60th Place apartment in Maspeth told The Post his wife is "doing OK," but refused to speak further.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona

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