Wichita high school staff voiced concern about teacher’s conduct months before arrest

Administrators at North High School were made aware of concerns that a teacher had an inappropriate relationship with a student at least a year before the teacher was arrested and charged, an affidavit shows.

Nicole Hernandez, who goes by Nikki Baird, was charged in May with four felony counts of having unlawful sexual relations with a student. According to the affidavit filed earlier this month, the student was 17 and was enrolled at North, where Baird, 30, was an art teacher.

An investigation began after a Wichita police detective assigned to the Exploited and Missing Child Unit was given a tip on May 19 to check out an Instagram post. The post indicated a USD 259 educator, Mrs. Baird, had an inappropriate relationship with a former Wichita school district student. A copy of the post was provided to investigating officers by a security employee with the district.

That was well after a teacher at North brought concerns to Principal Kristina Murray during the 2023-24 school year that Baird was spending too much time with the student, according to the affidavit. The concerns were handled internally by another school administrator. The affidavit does not say how the concerns were handled.

When the North principal became aware of the police investigation against Baird in May, Baird “admitted to Murray that she got too close” with the student “and crossed boundaries,” according to the affidavit. Baird initially said she had an emotional relationship that started after the student graduated, but later told Murray it started when seniors still in school. Court records show the offense date for all four charges against Baird occurred before the student’s graduation.

Wichita Public Schools would not comment on the allegations, saying the district does not address legal matters involving former staff members. Baird was initially put on paid administrative leave after her arrest; the district confirmed she is no longer employed there. However, she was still listed on the school’s staff page on July 25.

The Wichita Eagle contacted Baird and her attorney for comment but has not received responses.

The student, who is now an adult, said in an interview with the detective that Baird was his middle school art teacher before being hired as North High’s art teacher.

The affidavit contains allegations that she groomed him throughout his sophomore, junior and senior years of high school.

“He described how she befriended him, then isolated him from others,” the affidavit read.

Here is what is alleged to have happened according to the affidavit:

What began as private interactions in Baird’s classroom before and after school escalated to physical contact when the student entered his junior year. The teenager said it “started as Baird touching or rubbing his back or shoulders” before she began asking for and making him give her hugs. The student said he and Baird began spending a lot of time together during the school day and after the final bell, often alone in her classroom or office.

Baird gave the 17-year-old her personal cell phone number and the two began exchanging text messages, initially about school and school-related subjects and later about more personal topics.

“Baird messaged him about how her marriage was struggling,” the affidavit read.

She also began writing him notes. The tone indicated that the writer, Baird, had romantic feelings for the student, according to the affidavit.

“One letter said, ‘I hope and pray one day I get the chance to be with you’ and ‘I know that I love you,’” the affidavit read.

Halfway through the student’s senior year, Baird asked him to go to an arts center with her to pick up some frames. Baird asked the student’s mother for permission, which she gave. During that visit, the teen said Baird reached over and held his hand. After a visit to an art museum together, Baird wrote the student and his mother thank you notes for allowing him to go with her.

Later, at school, Baird began kissing the student on the neck when she hugged him. She then arranged for the two to meet again outside of school property, near 13th and Amidon, where Baird “kept asking him if he wanted her to kiss him,” according to the affidavit.

“He said he was nervous and eventually said, ‘yes,’” the affidavit read.

The next day at school, Baird told the student he couldn’t tell anyone and made him promise to keep their interaction a secret. According to the teen’s interview, she instructed him to “act normal.”

As the student approached graduation, interactions between the two intensified. The student told investigators that Baird inappropriately touched him and instructed him to touch her after an art show in Wichita. During his last week of school, Baird invited the teen to her office two or three more times and instructed him to touch her while saying “things to encourage him to continue touching her,” the affidavit read.

The night of North’s graduation ceremony, Baird told the student to meet her in a random neighborhood where she asked if the teenager wanted to have sex with her in her Jeep.

“(The student) said he was nervous and felt pressured. He said, ‘yes,’” the affidavit read. “ … She (Baird) said things similar to ‘It’s okay’ and said they won’t get in trouble because he graduated.”

Afterward, Baird offered the student alcohol from under a car seat. The 17-year-old said no.

Later, while North High classes were still in session but seniors were no longer in class, Baird met up with the student multiple times — sometimes three or four times a week — to have sex in the back seat of her Jeep, according to the affidavit.

After the teen graduated, Baird texted him nude photos of herself, according to the affidavit, some of which he saved “knowing he could use them as evidence of what she did.” The teen said there were additional sexual encounters as well.

The teen eventually stopped communicating with Baird after he “understood the relationship he had with Baird was inappropriate and he had been manipulated by Baird,” according to the affidavit. She came to his place of work repeatedly and once left candy on his car while it was parked in his driveway.

After disclosing what happened to his family, the teen provided the nude photos sent by Baird, as well as her handwritten notes, to investigators, according to the affidavit.

Baird was arrested on May 22. She made her first appearance in court last month and was released from jail after posting a $50,000 bond. She is due in court again on July 28.