18 TV Show Teachers Who Would Have Been Legitimately Arrested In Real Life

    Looking at you, Ezra Fitz.

    Kelly Martinez
    by Kelly Martinez

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Note: This post contains mentions of sexual assault and grooming.

    1. Geraldine Grundy from Riverdale

    Ms. Grundy and Archie hooking up
    The CW

    Ughh, Grundy. I know it's not her real name, but I hate what Riverdale did to the sweet, elderly version of Grundy we knew in the comics. To some credit, the show did eventually attempt to frame the relationship as wrong, but the scenes of her and Archie hooking up in the car and at Sweetwater River are still uncomfortable to watch.

    2. Erza Fitz from Pretty Little Liars

    Aria and Ezra tell her parents they're together
    Freeform

    Honestly, I still don't understand why Pretty Little Liars decided to make Ezra and Aria one of the big couples on the show. In the books, Ezra is arrested for hooking up with a minor and that's that — Noel is actually Aria's main love interest in the books. But the show portrayed their student-teacher relationship as some star-crossed, epic romance, and they even get married at the end. Watching PLL now as an adult, I realize Ezra is just a creep.

    3. Mr. Gitten from Ginny & Georgia

    Ginny talks about how women get mixed messages on how they're supposed to be, Mr. Gitten tells her to calm down and that she's being "aggressive"
    Netflix

    Oh brother, this guy STINKS. There probably isn't anything we could actually throw him in jail for, but he certainly deserved to be fired. Not only was he bad at his job, but he wasn't subtle about his prejudices — don't even get me started on how he treated Ginny and singled her out for being the only Black girl in the class.

    4. Will Schuester from Glee

    Mr. Schue plants weed in Finn's locker to blackmail him into joining Glee Club
    Fox

    He's not as blatantly terrible as a lot of the teachers on this list, but let's be honest — Mr. Schue did a lot of creepy, and sometimes illegal, things at McKinley. From planting drugs in Finn's locker to blackmail him into joining New Directions to performing sexually suggestive songs with his students, this guy would be a walking flag IRL.

    5. Sue Sylvester from Glee

    Sue kicks Quinn off the Cheerios for being pregnant and calls her a "disgrace"
    Fox

    Look, I know a lot of the fun of Glee is embracing the show's absurdity and not taking it too seriously, and there's no doubt that Sue was fun to watch. But can we talk about how awful Sue would be as a high school coach in real life? The woman literally made her living by bullying students. I can still hear her calling out "Wheels, gay kid, Asian, other Asian," in my head.

    6. Matt Oleander from Degrassi: The Next Generation

    Matt brushing Paige's cheek and hair seductively
    CTV

    Blarghhhh, Matt. The age difference between him and Paige may not have been astronomical, but she was still a teen, he was still her teacher, and it was still creepy. Just a big "nope" all around!

    7. Winnie Oh from Degrassi: The Next Generation

    Ms. Oh and Sav make out
    TeenNick

    The Ms. Oh-Sav relationship is one of those plots that gets creepier to look back on as I get older. When I watched the show as a teen, I remember thinking they were kind of cute and that it was fine since Sav was 18. Now the whole plot just makes me cringe — Ms. Oh had no business hooking up with her literal student. I'm still not sure what exactly they were trying to accomplish with this storyline, honestly.

    8. Grant Yates from Degrassi: The Next Generation

    Mr. Yates and Tristan hook up in school closet
    TeenNick

    Geez, Degrassi really had a thing for student-teacher relationships, didn't it? At least they framed the teacher's actions as being gross and predatory for once, though. Not only did Grant have an inappropriate relationship with Tristan, but he also tried to grope Winston and was creepy to Miles too. The only thing I think Degrassi messed up on with this storyline was having Maya apologize to Tristan for reporting Yates when she actually did the right thing.

    9. Rachel Carr from Gossip Girl

    Rachel and Dan about to kiss
    The CW

    Okay look, I know Gossip Girl is supposed to be about terrible people doing terrible things. But having the drama teacher hook up with Dan still squicked me out. We were supposed to feel bad for Rachel because Blair was mean to her, but like...she was sleeping with her student?!

    10. Tamara Jacobs from Dawson's Creek

    Tamara sleeps with teeenage Pacey
    The WB

    I'll take "storylines that didn't age well" for $500, Alex. Tamara clearly knew the relationship was wrong since she initially told Pacey they couldn't be together, but then she just...slept with him anyways? It's a lot creepier to think about when you remember Pacey is supposed to be, like, 15 here.

    11. Chris Suiter from Beverly Hills, 90210

    Chris driving Andrea and Brenda around
    Fox

    God, this episode made me angry. At first I thought maybe Chris was like 18 or 19, but nope — he was a grown man hanging out with his teenage students. He crossed so many boundaries with Andrea and Brenda in general, but the worst thing he did was take Andrea on a date and then reveal that he had a girlfriend and was only trying to get Andrea to "open up as an actress." 

    12. Miles Cannon from 90210

    Miles sexually assaults Naomi and tells her nobody will believe her
    The CW

    Honestly, I usually have to skip the Mr. Cannon episodes because the storyline was just too much. Naomi initially lied and told her friends that he sexually harassed her, but then he went on to actually rape her and used her past lies against her. 

    13. Claire Wilson from A Teacher

    Kate tutoring Nick
    Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection

    I know the literal point of the show is that Claire grooms her student, Eric, and that it's gross and wrong, but I couldn't not include her on the list. She did get arrested on the show — although Eric was 18, it was still illegal for her to have a sexual relationship with her student — but she didn't stay in jail for long. 

    14. Miss French /The She-Mantis from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

    Miss French putting her hand on Xander's shoulder
    The WB

    To be fair, Miss French wasn't the real Miss French here — like Ms. Grundy, she was an imposter who stole an older teacher's identity. But anyways, the woman was LITERALLY a giant praying mantis who tortured and sexually abused students. Forget jail, her entire existence needed to be obliterated. 

    15. Nick Chavez from One Tree Hill

    Nick and Brooke realize he's her teacher
    The WB

    I always forget about this storyline for some reason. Nick didn't know Brooke's real age when they first went out, but once he found out that she was in high school and that he was her teacher, he just...kept dating her? He did eventually get put on leave from the school at least, but still. Yuck.

    16. Alaric Saltzman from The Vampire Diaries and Legacies

    Caroline kisses Alaric's cheek
    The CW

    Honestly, the whole Alaric-Caroline storyline creeps me out. I know he had no say in his twins being planted in her womb, but her being his former student and carrying his babies was just weird. The two of them subsequently becoming romantically involved and almost getting married was too damn much. Oh, and Alaric also sucks as headmaster in Legacies — he can't keep these kids under control for anything.

    17. Martin Harris from Cruel Summer

    Kate at Martin's house putting her head on his shoulder
    Freeform

    Unlike most of the entries on this list, Martin was specifically written as an abuser and his "relationship" with Kate is very clearly portrayed as grooming. However, he still deserves a spot on this list for being the absolute WORST vice principal of all time. It doesn't get much worse than literally holding one of your students hostage in your basement for months.

    18. And finally, almost every single teacher on the Gossip Girl reboot

    Jordan takes pictures of underage students undressing, Kate says she "doesn't want to" use the pictures but they're "either in this or not"
    HBO

    Yeah, the Gossip Girl reboot teachers are...creepy, to say the LEAST. I understand they want to have the upper hand over their students and not get "bullied" by them, but taking semi-nude pictures of them and sending the material around just crosses so many lines. Kate deserves everything she has coming!

    Did we miss any terrible TV teachers? Tell us in the comments!