A Boston Public Schools teacher is off the job after he allegedly engaged in “sexual communications” online with as many as six girls across the country, according to authorities.
John Gavin, a 34-year-old teacher at Josiah Quincy Upper School, has been placed on leave after Brookline Police arrested him at his condo early Friday morning for allegedly exchanging explicit photos with 12- to 17-year-old girls on Discord, police said in a statement.
None of the identified victims are from Massachusetts, police said. Gavin had allegedly communicated with girls identified to be living in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.
“It is alleged that during some of these conversations, Gavin disclosed that he is a school teacher, enticed the girls to send nude photos of themselves, and sent photos of himself,” Brookline Police said in the statement.
Gavin is charged with enticement of a child under 16, dissemination of material harmful to minors, enticement of a child under age 18 to pose in a state of nudity, and possession of visual material of a child depicted in sexual conduct.
The Brookline resident, arraigned in Brookline District Court on Friday, is being held on $50,000 cash bail. If released, Gavin will face a slew of conditions.
They include being placed on GPS with an exclusion zone of the Josiah Quincy School and required to stay away and have no contact with the victims, and no contact/communication with children under age 18.
Gavin would be required to surrender his passport and not be allowed to leave Massachusetts, while not using social media or applications that allow for texting such as Discord, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Boston Public Schools said it took action against Gavin immediately.
“The safety and well-being of our students is always our highest priority,” the district said in a statement. “After learning about this arrest today, Boston Public Schools immediately placed the individual on administrative leave. According to law enforcement, the current charges are not related to BPS or BPS students.”
Gavin worked at the Roland Hayes School in Brookline as a paraprofessional in 2020, from January through August of that year, police said in a release.
The Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School in Hyde Park hired Gavin as a teacher in August 2022, passing all of the school’s background checks, Executive Director Farida Mama Graham wrote in a letter to families.
The school’s records “also show that no complaints were ever filed by parents, students or staff against this teacher during his time of employment,” Graham added. Gavin resigned last August before taking his current position at Josiah Quincy School.
“Incidents like these provide an opportunity to remind your children of the dangers of engaging in online chat rooms and other interactive platforms,” Graham wrote in her letter, “and to encourage them to speak up if they receive inappropriate communications from an adult.”
“We know this is a shock to our close-knit community,” she added.