HUDSON, WI – A 24-year-old elementary school teacher in Wisconsin was apprehended Wednesday for allegedly engaging in inappropriate behavior with her fifth-grade student, just a few months shy of her wedding day.
The accused, Madison Bergmann, was reported by the mother of the 11-year-old student after overhearing her son’s phone conversation with Bergmann. The parents discovered explicit text messages between the teacher and their son, which led the boy’s father to confront the situation at River Crest Elementary School with printouts of the disturbing exchanges.
The text messages reportedly revealed Bergmann discussing several instances of inappropriate contact inside the classroom, during lunchtime or after school hours. The charging documents also accuse Bergmann of expressing her enjoyment of the child’s touches and their inappropriate interactions.
In addition to the text messages, police discovered a folder in Bergmann’s bag, labeled with the student’s name, filled with handwritten notes detailing their encounters. One of the notes reportedly contained a confession from Bergmann, expressing her understanding of the inappropriate nature of their relationship.
The duration of the alleged abuse remains unclear. Bergmann informed investigators that she received the boy’s phone number from his mother in December, during a winter break trip with the family to the Afton Alps. This was around the same time Bergmann got engaged to her longtime boyfriend, as per her social media posts.
Upon inquiry about the text messages, Bergmann requested her attorney. Following the allegations, Bergmann was placed on administrative leave and prohibited from contacting any students, parents, or staff in the district, as per the Hudson School District’s immediate response.
According to her social media posts, Bergmann was due to get married in July, less than three months after her arrest. She started teaching at River Crest Elementary in 2022, a fact she celebrated with a classroom picture on her Facebook page.
The charges against Bergmann include one count of first-degree child sexual assault. She was released on a $25,000 signature bond.