A former Kansas ‘teacher of the month’ is set to face trial for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a student, including repeated sexual encounters in the ‘back seat of her Jeep.’
Nicole Hernandez, 30, also known as Nikki Baird, was arrested in May on four felony counts for unlawful relations with a 17-year-old, which allegedly began while he was a sophomore, according to KSNW News.
The arrest affidavit, obtained by the outlet, alleges that Baird gradually groomed, manipulated and ‘isolated’ the student from friends and family before the relationship turned sexual in early 2024.
On Tuesday, a judge determined there is enough evidence for the high school art teacher to face trial on all four counts, officially moving the case to the next stage.
Suspicions initially surfaced during the 2023–2024 academic year at Wichita North High School, when a teacher alerted Principal Kristina Murray that Baird was spending an excessive amount of time with a student, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Wichita Eagle.
Court documents state that another administrator handled the concerns internally but they offer no explanation of what, if anything, was done. For more than a year, the matter went nowhere.
The probe into Baird did not begin until May 19, when an officer from the Exploited and Missing Child Unit was tipped off about an Instagram post suggesting a relationship between the art teacher and a former Wichita district student.
When Principal Murray became aware of the active investigation, she allegedly told police that Baird had admitted to her that she had ‘gotten too close’ to the student.
According to the affidavit, Baird admitted she had ‘crossed boundaries’ and told Murray that it was nothing more than an emotional relationship that began after the student graduated.
She later walked back her claim and allegedly clarified that the relationship began while he was still a senior.
Court records have also revealed that all the alleged conduct occurred before he graduated, according to the outlet.
The student, now an adult, told detectives that Baird had been his middle school art teacher before later teaching him at high school.
The arrest report detailed several accusations of Baird grooming the victim during his sophomore, junior and senior years, starting with private interactions in the classroom.
‘He described how she befriended him, then isolated him from others,’ the documents read, as reported by The Wichita Eagle.
The affidavit revealed that private meetings in Baird’s classroom before and after school hours allegedly snowballed into physical contact by the student’s junior year.
Baird allegedly began touching or rubbing the teen’s back or shoulders and asking for – or in some cases, insisting on – hugs.
The victim told investigators that he and Baird began spending significantly more time together during the day and after the final bell, often alone in her classroom or office.
The alleged misconduct allegedly moved off campus when Baird gave the 17-year-old boy her phone number, leading to texts about school-related matters.
Messages soon turned personal, with one exchange in which the teacher allegedly confided to the teen that her marriage was struggling, according to court records.
Texts then developed into written notes, many allegedly revealing Baird’s romantic interest in the student.
According to the affidavit, one letter read: ‘I hope and pray one day I get the chance to be with you.’ In another, Baird allegedly wrote: ‘I know that I love you.’
By the student’s senior year, Baird allegedly took the relationship off school grounds for face-to-face meetings. Midyear, she allegedly asked him to go with her to an arts center for an errand.
After getting his mother’s approval, the student joined Baird on the trip, during which she held his hand for the first time, the documents state.
Following a second solo trip to an art museum, Baird allegedly wrote notes to both the student and his mother, thanking her for letting him go.
The physical contact then allegedly ramped up at school, with Baird kissing the teenager on the neck during hugs and attempting to plan meetings off school grounds, where she repeatedly asked ‘if he wanted her to kiss him.’
‘He was nervous and eventually said yes,’ the affidavit read, according to The Wichita Eagle.
The teenager told investigators, as noted in the affidavit, that Baird insisted their interactions be kept secret and told him to ‘act normal.’
He also revealed that as graduation drew near, Baird had both touched him inappropriately and told him to reciprocate the same for her following an art show.
During his last week of school, she allegedly invited him into her office three times and ordered him to touch her while ‘saying things to encourage him to continue touching her.’
Then, on graduation night, Baird allegedly told the victim to meet her in an unsuspecting neighborhood and asked if he wanted to have sex in her car, according to the affidavit.
‘The student said he was nervous and felt pressured,’ the documents read.
While the underage student allegedly agreed to the encounter, Baird reportedly made manipulative remarks such as, ‘It’s okay’ and claimed they ‘won’t get in trouble because he graduated.’
After the encounter, she allegedly offered the victim alcohol from under her car seat, though he refused.
At the very end of the school year, with senior classes finished, Baird allegedly met the teenager three to four times a week to engage in more sexual activity in the back seat of her Jeep.
Once the victim officially graduated, he allegedly began receiving nude photos of Baird, according to the affidavit. He also told investigators that additional sexual encounters occurred during that time.
The teenager saved some of the images ‘knowing he could use them as evidence of what she did,’ according to The Wichita Eagle.
He eventually cut all communication with his former art teacher after he ‘understood the relationship he had with Baird was inappropriate and that he had been manipulated.’
Even then, the affidavit alleges that Baird repeatedly went to his workplace and, in one instance, left candy on his car while it was parked in his driveway.
According to the documents, the former student confided in his family, providing them with Baird’s alleged nude photos and handwritten notes – all of which were later sent to investigators.
Baird was arrested on May 22, made her first court appearance and was released within days after posting a $50,000 bond.
Her arraignment is now scheduled for December 19.
