Edison teacher charged for party at her place; drunk teen hospitalized
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A first-grade Edison schoolteacher was arrested and charged with child endangerment after an alleged booze party at her home led to life-threatening levels of intoxication for a 15-year-old.
Tracey Harding, 50, of South Brunswick, was arrested after the Friday night bash, police said. The incident did not involve her students, according to police. Harding has two teenage children of her own, according to an online public profile.
South Brunswick police said they were called at about 11 p.m. that night by a different mother who wasn't able to get in touch with her son. The other woman's son, 15, was at a birthday party at Harding's Homestead Lane home. The woman, who was not identified, tried calling her son over and over again, and eventually someone else picked up his phone. That person said told the mom that her son was "sleeping," police said.
The woman grew concerned. She called Harding's home, police said, and Harding, too, told the mother that the boy was sleeping.
Harding then allegedly went downstairs and, finding the boy face-down on the basement floor, told him to "sober up and get up," police said. Nobody at the home called for medical assistance, according to police.
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Concerned, the boy's mother decided to go to Harding's house to see for herself, police said. She called 911 on her way over. Officers arrived on scene to find the 15-year-old "semi-responsive and heavily intoxicated," according to police. Several other teens were in the house, police said.
The boy was taken to Saint Peter's University Hospital by the Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad.
The teens had been drinking vodka, beer and other alcohol, police said. The 15-year-old boy's blood alcohol level was at life-threatening levels. He was released from the hospital after a few hours.
"As a parent or a guardian you have a responsibility with underage drinking and you face penalties if you allow it to go on in your home," Chief Raymond Hayducka of the South Brunswick Police Department said in an email. "No one in this home contacted police or EMS to get this teenager help when he was in distress. This could have ended in tragedy if not for one Mom's intuition."
Harding is a teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Edison.
"Upon learning of the arrest, the employee was immediately suspended pending further investigation," schools superintendent Richard O'Malley told NJ Advance Media.
Harding is the third Lincoln Elementary School teacher and the fourth Edison teacher to face punishment after alleged out-of-classroom misconduct. In December, it was revealed that tenure charges had been filed against three Edison teachers, including two at Lincoln, for a lewd chat that insulted special needs students.
Police are investigating who provided the booze, how much Harding knew about what was going on under her roof, and whether other underage alcohol parties have taken place there.
Harding was arrested Saturday and released on $2,500 bail. Officer Domenick Delucia and Officer Gerald Sarno investigated for South Brunswick police.
Harding did not respond to a message from NJ Advance Media seeking comment.
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