WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Washington Post’s 2011 teacher of the year remains in jail charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old student at Oyster Adams Elementary School.

Giovanni Pena, 31, appeared in court briefly Friday and agreed to postpone his initial hearing until next week. Until then, he will remain jailed on criminal sex charges stemming from allegations he touched a fourth-grade male student inappropriately during the 2013-14 school year, WTOP reports.

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Police responded to Oyster Adams Elementary School June 1 after Pena’s former student came forward with allegations, and arrested the teacher the next day after he allegedly admitted to his misdeeds, according to the news site.

The child said Pena – who is reportedly a close family friend – touched “both private parts” while he was in the teacher’s class.

“The boy also told investigators that Pena sent pictures of his private parts to the boy over the messaging app SnapChat. It’s also believed that in addition to being his teacher, Pena was a close family friend and had traveled on vacation with the boy,” WTOP reports.

Specifically, the student said Pena touched his penis, buttocks, and thighs through his clothes on several occasions during class last year, WJLA reports.

“The complainant disclosed that while sitting at a desk in class, the defendant would touch the complainant’s private parts on top of his clothing,” court documents state.

Pena taught English at the Oyster Adams bilingual school since 2008, and won the Post’s “teacher of the year” award with a nomination by his union in 2011. Before that, he taught second and third grades, according to NBC Washington.

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Police interviewed Pena at his home June 2, and the teacher allegedly confessed to touching the boy and allowing the boy to touch him over their clothing, as well as sending the child an inappropriate picture, NBC and WTOP report.

School officials issued a brief statement last week announcing they removed Pena from the school.

“The safety of our students is a top priority. As soon as we became aware of this situation, we acted promptly to remove the teacher from the school and fully cooperate with MPD in this investigation,” the statement read, according to WTOP.

“We are focusing our attention on supporting our students and school community. As this is an active police investigation, any questions should be referred to (Metropolitan Police Department).”

Some parents, however, are removing their children from the school in response to the allegations.

“I’m troubled and disturbed like everybody else in school,” parent Evgenia Sorokina, who pulled her daughter from Pena’s class last Wednesday, told NBC Washington. “My daughter is scared.”

The Washington Post issued a three-paragraph brief about Pena’s arrest last week, but one reader was quick to point out it neglects mention the newspaper’s endorsement of Pena as teacher of the year.

“Post ought to always look at their own archives. No mention that this was the DC teachers Union nominee and awarded by the Post as DC ‘Teacher of the Year’ in 2011?” commenter ChrisMd wrote. “You would think the Post would know the people it itself has celebrated.”

Others were not the least bit surprised by the allegations.

“Another week, another public school pedophile exposed,” ZZammit posted. “Seems like a weekly event, except when it’s a biweekly event.”