There are millions of teachers in the US. We hear of a few cases every year. Put things in perspective. There is likely no more of this than in the general public. By far, most teachers take their jobs and their responsibility of in loco parentis very, very seriously. What kind of idiot would risk a career to scew a 16 year old when he/she can go out anywhere and find an 18 year old?
Isn't necessarily a matter of age. Here in Missouri any teacher (or other mentioned professions) may NOT have sex with students. Even if they meet the AoC. Laws of this sort are akin to 'hate crimes' so I'm not sure it's just. If ya meet the age requirement, that should be it. But there are more than a few 18yo students.
Sexual contact with a student.
566.086. 1. A person commits the crime of sexual contact with a student if he or she has sexual contact with a student of the public school and is:
(1) A teacher, as that term is defined in subdivisions (4), (5), and (7) of section 168.104;
(2) A student teacher;
(3) An employee of the school;
(4) A volunteer of the school or of an organization working with the school on a project or program who is not a student at the public school;
(5) An elected or appointed official of the public school district; or
(6) A person employed by an entity that contracts with the public school district to provide services.
2. Sexual contact with a student is a class D felony.
The overall hypocrisy of AoC laws is shown with qualifier=laws like this:
Marriage to victim, at time of offense, affirmative defense, for certain crimes.
566.023. It shall be an affirmative defense to prosecutions pursuant to sections 566.032, 566.034, 566.062, 566.064, 566.068, and 566.090 that the defendant was married to the victim at the time of the offense.
If you're married then, there's no concern about the effects of sexual activity. And since you can marry at 15 with parental consent (here in Missouri anyway,) and 15's the issue here, the arbitrary nature of such laws is clear. Apparently something magical happens if you get a marriage license rendering concern over maturity and such moot.