AND THAT'S JUST NOVEMBER !!!

Interested Participant, a blogger who does a great job of publicizing the issue, sums up the Women in Trouble - 41 blog entries for November 26 alone. They include neighbors, teachers, counselors, travelers, and a crime scene investigator.

Traded like hockey cards - CANADA

Barrie, Canada - At the trial of David Carswell, 54, of Midhurst, a teacher at the Ferndale Woods Elementary School, a police detective testified that he recognized some of the images of children who were "coveted" collector items on the teacher's computer.

"For example, I've seen this particular girl before -- there might be about 20 images of her out there. It's called a series," Schambers said.

"I don't mean to minimize it, but they trade them just like hockey cards."

Carswell was one of 40 people in Ontario who were found to have bought child pornography online.

Australia

Nov 27, 2006 - From the Australian:

A detailed dossier of the Education Department's 104 dismissed teachers, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, reveals for the first time the disastrous outcomes for students when the wrong people enter classrooms.

And that's only in New South Wales - total population 6 million.

Falmouth, MASSACHUSETTS

Nov 28, 2006 - David Berglund, 42, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. FBI agents discovered between 150 and 300 child pornography images on Berglund's computer. The images were primarily of naked prepubescent boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

A physics teacher at Falmouth High School. He also was a volunteer with the Boys & Girls Club of Cape Cod where he was banned after video taping children [boys] on a beach last year.

Federal authorities found him through investigation of an online website that supplied child pornography. Berglund had paid $125 for membership.

U.S. Attorney's Office - Massachusetts press release.

Licensing

The Albuquerque Tribune reports that the state Department of Education is working to speed up the process of revoking teaching licenses. The process started earlier this year and "to date, the department has revoked the licenses of 17 educators and suspended three others.." Ten of the 17 involved sex crimes, pornography and sexual relationships with students. Compare that effort with previous efforts.

The cases investigated by the department's Ethics Bureau have increased significantly since 2004 when there were only five revocations and one suspension. In 2005, there were eight revocations and four suspensions. The department has plans to add an in-house investigator to handle the increasing caseload instead of hiring private investigators.

New Mexico, unlike many states, does not require districts to report allegations to the state Department of Education. A bill that would require principals and superintendents to report their investigations of teacher misconduct to the state will be introduced in January.

Currently, the department's Ethics Bureau is investigating 104 cases of teacher misconduct, CdeBaca said. "Those include 27 cases carried over from 2005."

The New Mexico Department of Education site is a model of efficiency and completeness. Educator Ethics is a prominent link on first page and the Ethics Bureau Services pages are comprehensive. The only complaint might be that the Ethics Newsletter is dated April 2006. It seems to be the only one ever written.

Ethical Training

Nov 30, 2006 - KCCI 8, Des Moines, Iowa, ran a two-part investigation of Education. They found "nearly 90 Iowa teachers were found to have had inappropriate relationships with students in the past decade."

Data show there are about 33,000 teachers in the state and every year about 10 have their licenses suspended or revoked for inappropriate relationships.

By percentage, it is a low number, but not if you are a victim or have a child who has been victimized. However, teachers are being trained in ethical behavior with their students. Only not consistently.

Most school districts in Iowa remind teachers of ethics during yearly in-service days, it's up to colleges and universities to educate teachers on ethical behavior in the first place.

Which is why of us think that when teachers are convicted of crimes involving students, their colleges and universities ought to be cited.

Sapulpa, OKLAHOMA

Nov 29, 2006 - Jeff Thompson, 33, special education teacher and a football coach at Sapulpa High School, was arrested and charged with rape of his 3-year-old daughter.

The alleged abuse is said to have happened over several days while the little girl visited her father last Christmas.

Thompson was released later Monday on a personal recognizance bond issued by Creek County Special District Judge Richard Woolery. In dissolving the requirement for the $40,000 bond, Woolery stated, “The court, having some knowledge of the case, believes the warrant to have been recalled.”

Let's hope this was just a messy divorce filthy accusation.

UPDATE: (Dec 7) - The newspaper calls it "case confusion" but it's more like incompetence. Police interviewed Thompson in January after a complaint by his wife. The detective recommended charging Thompson and sent the reports and an affidavit to the District Attorney's office in January. An arrest warrant was issued July 7th, six months later. But Thomspon was not arrested until November.

Fairfield Harbour, NORTH CAROLINA

Nov 30, 2006 - Edward Julian Greenberg, 77, a retired school teacher from New York, was arrested and charged with statutory rape. He is accused of assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

List 99

In England they maintain a List 99 — a secret register of men and women who are barred from working with children by the Department of Education and Skills (DfES).

More than 80 years old, it is maintained by the Children's Safeguards Unit at the department and contains the names, aliases, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers of all those forbidden to work with children in schools, social work and voluntary settings.

There are currently 4045 names on List 99, the vast majority of which are barred indefinitely from working in schools.

The history of Sex Offenders Law can be found here.
More

Cohoes, NEW YORK

Nov 29, 2006 - Candice Lambert, 41, special education teacher, pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny . She taught at Harmony Hill Elementary School in Cohoes for a decade before going on disability leave saying she had terminal cancer. She received more than $110,000 from New York's Teachers' Retirement System.

From The Telegraph story: She was named one of the "Schoolhouse Heroes" by The Telegraph for her struggle against cancer. "There was no cancer, Lambert admitted when she was fired in Bedford for teaching without a certificate in her earlier job in Brookline."

Her story began to unravel because of a dispute with the parents of a special education student. The parents learned that she did not have the required teaching certificate. At a legal hearing in May 2005, she said under oath she did have that certificate, but under another name.

Update: Jan 23, 2007 - Lambert was sentenced to one to three years in jail.

Farmingham, MISSOURI

Nov 28, 2006 - Bethany Sherrill, 25, was sentenced to 90 days in jail and placed on probation for two years after entering an Alford plea (no contest) to charges of first-degree sexual misconduct.

The plea is not an admission of guilt but an acknowledgment of sufficient evidence for a conviction.

Then there is this written at the time of her arrest.

Previous to the arrest, the school district and administrators had declined to investigate when another teacher sent them a picture of Sherrill and the victim. Her father-in-law, Mike Sherrill, was the president of the school board at the time.

Fresno, CALIFORNIA

Nov 28, 2006 - William Cockerham, 61, was sentenced to four years in prison and ten years probation after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

The Fresno Pacific University biology professor told a federal judge that he had an addiction to adult pornography that led him to kiddie porn.

Wattsburg, PENNSYLVANIA

Nov 29, 2006 - A French teacher at Seneca High School pleaded no contest to inappropriately touching a 15-year-old boy. Matthew Weaver, 21, entered the plea to indecent assault.

Richmond, CALIFORNIA

Nov 29, 2006 - Treico Holland, 22, a security worker at De Anza High School, was arrested accused by police of having unlawful sex with a minor and lewd and lascivious acts with a child, a 14-year-old female student. He had previously worked as a substitute teacher for the district.

The suspect is the son of Dorris Holland, principal at Madera Elementary School in El Cerrito. Holland is the third De Anza employee in three years to spend time in jail on allegations of sex with children.

UPDATE: (Dec 31, 2006) A plea was delayed until Jan 3rd.

San Diego, CALIFORNIA

Nov 29, 2006 - Elementary school teacher Paul Stewart Nelson, 24, was sentenced to one year in custody (that he will be allowed to serve in a work furlough program) and ordered to register as a sex offender.

He was arrested in an internet sting after sending a lewd video of himself to a what he thought was a 13-year old girl.

Phoenix, ARIZONA

ALL CHARGES DROPPED FOR LACK OF EVIDENCE.

Nov 27, 2006 - Darrell Begay, 34, math teacher at Lowell Elementary School, was arrested, charged with sexual abuse and kidnapping. Since then, the principal of the school has resigned and was accused of not following policy by not alerting the school board of this and previous accusations.

In 2003, Begay received a memo from the same principal, Trujillo, ordering him "not to touch students" after two girls reportedly came forward with complaints saying he touched their chests as he put stickers on them.

According to the reports, the principal met with a group of girls and told them, "It didn't matter because they did not have breasts and it should not bother them."

The principal, Alice Trujillo, resigned for (ostensibly) unrelated reasons. In the police reports, there were allegations Trujillo sent e-mails containing adult-oriented pictures.

UPDATE: Dec 15, 2006 - Charges were dropped against Begay. Barnett Lotstein, special assistant county attorney, said prosecutors don’t have sufficient evidence to pursue a criminal conviction. The county attorney’s office has asked Phoenix police to further investigate the incident. If more evidence is found, Lotstein said prosecutors will reconsider the case.

ALL CHARGES DROPPED FOR LACK OF EVIDENCE.

Lindoln, ILLINOIS

Nov 28, 2006 - Thomas J. Gallagher, 22, was sentenced to 180 days in jail and four years of probation after pleading guilty to one count of criminal sexual abuse of a victim 13 to 16 years old, a Class 2 felony. He was a Lincoln Elementary School track coach but had resigned last winter. The relationship began after his resignation.

Raleigh, NORTH CAROLINA

Nov 22, 2006 - Khalid Chahhou, 35, a first year Spanish teacher at Smithfield-Selma High School resigned after a student found an anti-US message embedded in a word puzzle. Some students started uncovering strange words in the process.
"There were words like 'kill,' then I saw it said 'destroy America,'" Eric Herrera said.

Chahhou, a native of Morocco, assigned the puzzle to his class.

Chahhou, who also teaches Arabic at a religious school affiliated with the Islamic Association of Cary, told WRAL in a telephone interview that students got the wrong message from the assignment.

"When I made the assignment, I was upset and angry about a story I recently saw on the news. If any message appears, it is more of a message to myself, not to my students. I never meant to hurt or upset any students or parents," he said.

Greenville, SOUTH CAROLINA

Nov 2, 2006 - He "had a terrible lapse in judgment” is how David Russell Thiem, 30, described it. pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault and battery and was sentenced to two years probation for relations with a 15-year old student. He was a ninth-grade teacher at Eastside High School. He was ordered to register as a sex offender.

National Have Sex With Your Teacher Month

January 2006 was declared National Have Sex With Your Teacher Month at blog Gene Expression. Compiled from Interested Participant archives for the month.

Rochester, NEW YORK

Nov 21, 2006 - A teacher who was arrested and charged with sexual abuse was fired after his arrest but before a grand jury cleared him. The school district lost its latest court fight to keep a teacher’s aide cleared of sex abuse charges from returning to the classroom.

The school district was told to rehire the teacher by an arbitrator. Previously, the school district had paid $67,000 to settle a lawsuit by the family of the boy. They had charged that the teacher had been previously warned.

Cedarsburg, WISCONSIN

Nov 25, 2006 - Firing a teacher can be costly. The Cedarburg School District has spent $100,000 to oust a teacher who viewed pornography on a school computer where some 1500 images were found. The teacher is represented by a teachers union attorney.

See sideline to the right for how expenses add up.

Largo, FLORIDA

Nov 14, 2006 - Described as "The offense [was so] brazen, so egregious that Pinellas School Board member Linda Lerner almost laughed as she read the account aloud."

Sharion Thurman, 56, Gibbs High School teacher "with a long history of work troubles" had falsified hundreds of student ballots in an attempt to get her niece elected homecoming queen in September. Despite a 20-year record includes numerous reprimands for poor judgment, insubordination, misconduct and disparaging remarks, she was given a 25-day unpaid suspension. Once the sponsor of the student council and junior class, Thurman has been removed from all school activities

The Tampa Tribune points to other questionable board discipline actions. But surely board member Linda Lerner's quote is a clue.

Mar 18 - Thurman is still certified to teach in Florida. Letter to the editor about the suspension and what it says about the Board of Education. Thurman got EducationWonks' Wanker of the Day Award.

Detroit, MICHIGAN

Nov 6, 2006 - Ryan T. Fawkes, 31, a science teacher in the Detroit Public Schools, was arrested and charged with one count of using a computer to accost and solicit a minor, a 10-year felony, and two counts of using a computer to disseminate sexually explicit matter to a minor, a 4-year felony. He sent sexually explicit webcam images of himself to someone he thought was a 13-year-old boy in an attempt to seduce the child.

Fawkes is also head coach of the Plymouth-Canton Hockey Association's Midget-level (ages 15-16) travel team. He has been suspended from both positions.

Tulsa, OKLAHOMA

Nov 1, 2006 - Frank Leon Rombach Jr., 50, a pre-school kindergarten teacher at Union Public School, was arrested on a complaint of indecent exposure. He allegedly exposed himself to an undercover police officer in a restroom at a public park where undercover officers were investigating complaints of lewd acts by adult males in the bathroom.

Canton, OHIO

Nov 28, 2006 - Bradford Lee Dean, 27, R.G. Drage Career Education Center teacher, was sentenced, placed on five years of intensive supervisory probation, fined $2,500 and classified as a sexually oriented offender in an plea agreement.

In addition, Judge Lioi ordered Dean to complete 500 hours of community service, a program for sex offenders and a program for drug and alcohol abuse. He pleaded guilty to sexual battery for having consensual sex with an 18-year-old student. A charge of corrupting another student with drugs was dropped as part of the agreement.

The judge admonished him.

``I don't want you to think for one second that because there is no jail time that that diminishes the inappropriateness of your conduct,'' Lioi said. ``You were placed in a position of trust as a teacher. You have not recognized apparently that there are certain boundaries that are not to be crossed. This indicates the lack of a moral compass.''

“You were placed in a position of trust,” Lioi told Dean. “You no longer deserve to be a teacher.”

Dallas, TEXAS

Nov 26, 2006 - Background checks - In 1992, a Dallas Morning News investigation found 185 district employees who had felony criminal histories despite a 1989 law that authorized background checks on new employees. Nothing seems to have improved and a review process allows many to keep or get jobs despite criminal backgrounds that should be intolerable.

This year, DISD [Dallas Independent School District] reviewed several employees' backgrounds after The News asked if those people had gone through the district appeals process. Two were recommended for termination, and at least two – with indecent exposure charges – resigned, records show. School officials said they had used the newspaper's public records request to review their own employees' backgrounds.
"If they did something that was inappropriate, regardless of how we find out, we have to check it," Dr. Hinojosa said.

The district does know about at least 85 current employees with criminal records – 23 of them teachers.

Of the 85 current employees who won appeals to keep their jobs, most had committed offenses like driving while intoxicated, misdemeanor theft, fraud and offenses related to drugs. Some, though, had aggravated assault, prostitution, public lewdness and burglary on their records.

From the Athens Review: July 20, 2006 - "For the fifth time in less than a year, the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department is working a case concerning a teacher alleged to have been involved in a sexual relationship with a student.

Mission Viejo, CALIFORNIA

Nov 27, 2006 - Arrested on suspicion of having sex with one of her male students. - Alyssa Anne Johnson, 31, English teacher at Trabuco Hills High School.

Milipitas, CALIFORNIA

Nov 15, 2006 - Taylor Nelson, 30, English teacher at Milpitas High School teacher, was arrested and charged with distributing harmful matter to a minor for inappropriate e-mails to a student via the MySpace Web site.

Macon, GEORGIA

ARRESTED Nov 14, 2006 - Daniel McClendon, 53, substitute teacher at Westside High School was arrested on a child molestation charge for a relationship he is accused of having with a 15-year-old student. McClendon is accused of having sexual contact with a girl on and off school grounds beginning in April when she was 14 years old.

Full Name: Daniel Eugene McClendon

ARREST and NEW CHARGES Oct 10, 2007 - McClendon, who was scheduled to appear in court in December (2007) on child molestation charges, was arrested Wednesday and charged with two new counts of the same nature. He was taken into custody and is being held without bond.

McClendon, of Glen Holly Drive in Lizella, had been out on bond for charges of child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes from November.

Those charges, for which McClendon had turned himself into authorities, were brought after the parents of a female Westside student discovered sexually explicit e-mails from McClendon to their daughter. He is accused of having sexual contact with the girl, then 14, on and off school grounds beginning in April of last year.

Hofmann could not confirm whether the new charges relate to a separate victim or the same girl.

McClendon, who was never a full-time employee with the Bibb County School System, was terminated from work on Nov. 7, 2006, after schools officials learned of the previous allegations.
Source: The Telegraph (Macon)

Rockport, INDIANA

Nov 20, 2006 - Lisa Stuteville, 35, a teacher at Rockport Elementary, was arrested for fraud and theft of school funds.

Stuteville was the coordinator of the Destination Imagination program, which is an extracurricular program where students travel to participate in competitions throughout the area. During the course of the investigation, Priest was able to determine that on Stuteville committed theft on four separate occasions and committed fraud on a financial institution.

She is alleged to have even stolen money that raised by selling candy. Lisa K. Stuteville, 35, 5018 West Eureka Road, Rockport, IN
4 counts of Theft, Class D Felony
1 count of Fraud on a Financial Institution, Class C Felony

Cottonwood, ARIZONA

Nov 17, 2006 - Kathlyn E. Hayes, 46, 4th grade teacher at Cottonwood Elementary School, was arrested on charges of possession-use of dangerous drugs and two counts of child abuse. after a raid at a home she shared with a car salesman, Craig Steven Loisy, 39. He was arrested in the raid while she was taken into custody at the school.

The search of the home turned up methamphetamines and paraphernalia, sheriff's officials said. Both suspects reportedly admitted smoking meth Wednesday night in the presence of Loisy's two nine-year-old daughters.

UPDATE: Nov 28, 2006 - the case has been moved to Prescott.

Bayonne, NEW JERSEY

Oct 10, 2006 - Lengthy New York Times story on Diane West, now 52, Bayonne High School guidance counselor, arrested in 2001. She entered a relationship with a 15-year-old student in 1980, becoming pregnant by the 11th grader, and eventually married him.

She went on to seducing another boy that resulted a lawsuit that revealed the extent of the malfeasance and administrative indifference that resulted in no jail time.

SENTENCED to probation on Oct 28, 2005.

Brownsboro, TEXAS

Nov 24, 2006 - Former Brownsboro High School biology teacher Donald Gene Dudley, 44, was sentenced to nine years in prison . Dudley was found guilty of one count of sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony. The verdict stemmed from numerous incidents of sexual contact between Dudley and a 16-year-old female former student beginning July 15, 2005. [Emphasis mine.]

At the time of his indictment, Dudley was one of three Brownsboro teachers alleged to have had sexual contact with students. Former Brownsboro ISD Director of Bands Daniel Burns was convicted on charges of being involved in an improper relationship with a student and tampering with a government witness. Another teacher, Andrew Malone, was convicted of a misdemeanor for a similar offense.

Dudley was previously convicted of child sexual assault with the same victim on June 8. On June 9, he was sentenced to five years of probation and fined $2,500. Immediately after the [first trial] sentencing, the jury reported they’d intended to sentence Dudley to 10 years in jail and five years of probation afterward.

Update: Jan 10, 2007 - Dudley pleaded guilty to a charge of indecency with a child and was sentenced to eight years. The sentence is to run concurrently with sentencing last year.

Freehold, NEW JERSEY

Nov 24, 2006 - Christopher F. Novelli, 31, was arrested after police pulled him over and found nine bags of cocaine. Novelli teaches social studies at Freehold Intermediate School. He is charged with possession of cocaine and remaining in a public place with purposes to purchase drugs. After his arrest, he was released on a summons.

Canada

Nov 15, 2006 - Teacher misconduct is not limited to the U.S. A CTV - Canadian television expose on the Ontario College of Teachers who are in charge of teacher discipline reveals that the self-regulating body isn't doing such a fantastic job.

An analysis of the public records on the Ontario College of Teachers' website revealed 10 other teachers who've also admitted sexual misconduct -- and still have a license to teach. Those teacher's acts included kissing, sexual touching and even having intercourse with teenage students. Most of them were suspended, then later got their licenses back.

The CTV Whistleblower program notes

Ontario and British Columbia are the only provinces where teachers are now entirely self-regulating. In all others, the Minister of Education has the final say on whether a teacher keeps their license. In Ontario, CTV News found the 11 teachers -- who've admitted sexual misconduct and still have licenses. B.C. told us there are 13 teachers there, who lost licenses for similar reasons, but only temporarily.

I can find no investigations online in any internet search for U.S. teacher misconduct and how credentialing and licensing are handled behind closed doors.

Mullica Hill, NEW JERSEY

Nov 18, 2006 - Melanie Minniti, 35, who taught catechism classes at Holy Name of Jesus Church in Mullica Hill, worked at a day-care center in Mickleton, and was a homeroom mother at Harrison Township Elementary, was sentenced to five years probation in connection with two child molestation charges. There was no explanation for the extraordinary plea agreement considering she pleaded guilty.

One of the victims, now a teenager, told Minniti in court she was comforted to know the woman would have to register as a sex offender so others would know what she had done.
"Megan's Law might be a stupid law to you," the girl said. "But it means so much to me."

Bennington, VERMONT

Nov 18, 2006 - Charges of child pornography possession were dropped without prejudice against Alan H. Baker, forestry teacher at the Southwest Vermont Career Development Center. School officials found child pornography on his classroom computer and evidence Baker had used the computer to visit Web sites that displayed child pornography.

Dropping a charge without prejudice means the charge may be filed again. The Vermont Department of Education, which revoked the accused man's teaching certification, said it would not return it to him.

Poughkeepsie, NEW YORK

Nov 6, 2006 - Steven Rubinstein, 50, assistant principal at a New York City high school, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for trading child pornography and for attempting to entice two underage girls to meet him for sexual activities.

In imposing the sentence, US District Court Judge Colleen McMahon said Rubinstein is “every parent’s nightmare” because he was part of the educational establishment, working with children daily and had a perverse sexual interest in young people. She described his conduct as “vile.”

When released from prison, he will be placed on five years parole.

Meridian, MISSISSIPPI

Nov 9, 2006 - Latonya Davis, 29, a math teacher and assistant coach at Kate Griffin Junior High, was arrested and charged with lustful touching of a child. Police said Davis was involved in a consensual relationship with an underage female. She was fired.

The charge "lustful touching of a child" applies when the offender is over 18 and the victim is under 14. Authorities say the student was at least 12 years old.

Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA

Nov 13, 2006 - David Grant Gray, Los Angeles Unified School District music teacher, was convicted in March 2005 of four counts of sexual molestation of a child and two counts of physical abuse of another child. He was sented to 21 years to life in prison. A state appellate court upheld the conviction, rejecting his claim that errors were made in his trial.

It is probable that Gray's credentials have not yet been revoked. The Mercury News reports that the California State Commission on Teacher Credentialing can take as long as two years to investigate and rule on complaints. UPDATE: 11/27/06 search reveals credential suspended.

The Mercury News has followed up on several Palo Alto teacher problems.

Canyonville, OREGON

Nov 9, 2006 - Brian William Miller, 30, pleaded no contest in Douglas County Circuit Court to three misdemeanor counts of harassment, which involves the offensive physical contact of sexual or other intimate parts, but does not rise to the level of a sex offense.

Judge Joan Seitz said she could not determine whether Miller’s actions were based on crossing boundaries or grooming victims. “You may or may not be a pedophile,” she said. The judge sentenced him to two years of probation under her watch and ordered him to undergo a sex offender evaluation. If the evaluation determines Miller needs treatment, he must undergo the program.

In the meantime, Miller is not allowed to have contact with minor females without another adult present, the judge ruled. He also cannot have contact with the three victims, among other stipulations. Explaining that the issue is all the more serious because Miller was in a position of trust, Seitz also sentenced the man to 10 days in jail for each harassment count.

As an anonymous poster said, "ANY teacher who didn't know that it was inappropriate to take students of the opposite sex into private, have them remove clothing to "measure" a sexual part of their anatomy is too STUPID to be teaching anybody!"

Olathe, KANSAS

Nov 17, 2006 - Terry L. Wright, former volley ball coach at Shawnee Mission East High School, was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison, after being found guilty of aggravated liberties with a child, rape of a child under the age of 14,and unlawful sexual relationships with someone under the age of 18.

Wright has married one of the women involved in the charges.

"Any time an adult man has sex with somebody 14 or under, that's bad enough, but when it's a teacher or a coach, it's despicable behavior, pathetic behavior, and we're just not going to stand for it," Assistant Johnson County District Attorney Scott Toth said.

The District Attorney was especially critical of the school district for their delay in reporting.

Patterson, NEW JERSEY

Nov 18, 2006 - Jodi Thorp, 39, Patterson social studies teacher and mother of three was sentenced to one year in jail for fondling a 14-year-old boy.

Authorities allege that Thorp had more than 20 sexual encounters between June 2001 and October 2002 with the boy.

As part of that agreement, Thorp must register as a sex offender under Megan's Law, which requires her to notify police of her home address upon release from prison. She also is permanently banned from teaching in New Jersey.

The assistant prosecutor noted, "Above all, any reputation she forged as a teacher or educator is squandered," Foy said. "She betrayed and violated the trust a parent put in a teacher when they give care of a child over to a teacher." Posted comments are critical of the light sentence given the fact that she engaged in sex with the boy more than 20 times. And if she had been a man, she would be in prison for much longer than one year.

Flora, ILLINOIS

Nov 18, 2006 - Dennis Wayne Casolari, 56, sixth-grade teacher at a Flora, Ill., school, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for attempting to engage in an illicit sex act with a minor and for being in possession of child pornography.

Casolari had taught in the Flora School District since 1996, He resigned after his arrest in May. He was arrested in May after driving to Carmel, Ind., to meet who he thought was a 13-year-old boy for the purpose of engaging in a sex act.

Omaha, NEBRASKA

Nov 17, 2006 - Gene Boeka, 54, a Central City high school coach and history teacher, was sentenced Friday to a year in federal prison for robbing an Omaha bank.

The relatively light sentence of one year is partly due to his clean record. Other circumstances, including the adverse effect a long prison term would have on his family that includes a 12-year-old son with severe medical difficulties.

Classify as sad.

Leesburg, FLORIDA

Nov 24, 2006 - Ron White, 65, science teacher at Carver Middle School, was sentenced to five years in prison on child pornography charges resulting from an FBI sting operation. White pleaded guilty in federal court to e-mailing pornographic images of children to an undercover agent he met in an online chat room. Police found 600 pornographic images of children on his computer.

From the Orlando Sentinel: White was elected to the City Commission in 1987, became mayor in 1989, and was re-elected every two years until he retired in 2004

Venice, FLORIDA

Nov 3, 2006 - Thomas E. Berntsen, 41, Venice High School teacher, was sentenced to 12 years in prison fter pleading to charges of lewd or lascivious molestation of an 11-year-old boy. The plea came two weeks before his trial was to begin.

In September, former VHS coach James LaMorte, Sr., 64, was sentenced to 21 years for having sex with former male students 25 years ago. He is currently incarcerated.

Former Garden Elementary School Principal Mark Cook is serving two life terms for having sex with his former male students 25 years ago.

Nov 5, 2006 - School bus attendant Amber Hamilton, 20, was charged with three counts of showing obscene material to minors.
Hamilton is the fourth district employee to be charged in a sex-related case in the past three years.

Shippenburg, PENNSYLVANIA

Nov 17, 2006 - Richard W. Gibbs, 63, Shippensburg University professor, is in Florida awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania, Ohio or California where he is wanted in connection with child molestation charges.

Gibbs was charged in Cumberland County with 14 counts of possession of child pornography. He also faces charges in San Diego County, Calif., of molesting a child, and 10 counts of gross sexual imposition in Ohio for allegedly molesting a child while living there in the 1980s.

An initial warrant for Gibbs' arrest was issued in June, but he had fled the area. He was later captured at a home in Harker's Island, N.C., and taken into custody. He posted bail, but failed to show for his July 31 extradition hearing.

Gibbs was captured Oct. 12 in Bocas Del Toro, Panama, where he was working at the Big Bamboo Bar and Grill under the name Wesley Alonzo, a name derived from relatives' first and middle names. U.S. Marshal David Siler said Gibbs was trying to "fit into the culture."

He was transported to Miami-Dade Oct. 15 by Panamanian authorities, where he remains in custody without bail.

U.S. Marshal's report a prior conviction. Gibbs was convicted in Warren County, PA in August, 1987 for molesting a 12 year old boy during a sponsored church camping trip while acting as a chaperone. Gibbs served 6 months for this offense."

UPDATE: Dec 2, 2006 - Gibbs will stand trial in Ohio before being tried in Pennsylvania. (Dec 30) Trial is to start Jan 10.

Erie , PENNSYLVANIA

Nov 4, 2006 - Dennis Vickery, 61, a Villa Maria Academy teacher, described as "baby porn teacher", was sentenced to 10 years, 5 months in prison, a $25,000 fine, followed by 10 years probation after his release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender and participate in a mental health and sex offender treatment program and cannot associate with children under 18 years old, unless they are supervised by an adult.

He was found guilty of transferring child pornography images. Police discovered 100,000 pictures of child pornography on his computer. Thirty of them were images of infants in sexually explicit acts. The infants were as young as 12-months-old. He was caught by an AOL staff who discovered the images being sent under his screen names "wickeddady69" and "naughtypapa."

PA School Watch reports that Vickery was "the 3rd Villa Maria employee to be arrested for child molestation or pornography acts. DA Brad Foulk says there is no connection between the three." Kevin Kulhanek plead guilty to molesting a 12 year old girl while he was a coach at Villa. Megan Fecko, an English teacher at Villa Maria, was charged with molesting a 15 year old girl. Link See PA School Watch list of Pennsylvania disciplined teachers.

UPDATE Nov 14 - From a GoErie story: Kulhanek was sentenced to from three years and four months to eight years in state prison.

Fecko was sentenced to to six to 20 months in Erie County Prison, followed by 20 months of probation.

Blountville, TENNESSEE

SENTENCED
Nov 17, 2006 - Roderick Dean Dye, band director at Sullivan Central High School, pleaded guilty earlier this year to sexual battery by an authority figure and seven counts of statutory rape was sentenced to four years.

The former teacher’s defense attorney argued earlier that Dye had paid a high price already.
"He’ll be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. The profession he loved is over. He’s already suffered a great loss," Lynn Dougherty said. Dye is out on bond while they appeal the sentence.

Visalia, CALIFORNIA

Nov 18, 2006 - Elizabeth Stow, first year English teacher at Tulare Western High School, was given a suspended sentence of nine years after being convicted of having sex with three students. She was alternately given a sentence of one year in jail, five years probation and must register as a sex offender.

Stow will begin her one-year sentence in about a month, which could be served either under house arrest or in prison. Prosecutors were not happy at the sentence.

Prosecutors, however, expressed concern that the sentence would send a message that sexual activity between teachers and students is not a serious offense.

"I think there's a certain leniency when a suspect is female versus male. The law doesn't see any difference," said Deputy District Attorney Sara Bratsch.

A Fresno Bee story no longer available says she was the second Tulare teacher arrested on sex charges this year. Unable to find other information. MSNBC has links to other teacher misconduct stories.

UPDATE: Dec 20, 2006 - Tulare County Superior Court Judge Walter Gorelick has ruled that Stow will not have to register as a sex offender.

Ellisburg, NEW YORK

Nov 14, 2006 - Michael VanWormer, (shown) 37, science teacher and coach at South Jefferson Central School District, was sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years probation after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 14 year old girl. The girl's parents had complained to police.

VanWormer's brother, Gerald, pleaded guilty to sodomy, third degree, in 2001, for an incident involving a 16 year old girl. At the time, Gerald VanWormer was a teacher in the Watertown school district.

South Lyon, MICHIGAN

Oct 31, 2006 - Edward F. Baldwin, (Edward Baldwin) 53, a South Lyon High School teacher, was sentenced to 3 to 15 years after pleading guilty to a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. He pleaded guilty to six felony sexual assault charges on the day his trial was to begin in Oakland County. He admitted to three counts each of second- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct, both 15-year felonies.

Downey, CALIFORNIA

Nov 19, 2006 - Two women have filed a lawsuit alleging that administrators failed to conduct an adequate investigation when one of their mothers came forward with concerns against Michael Griffin, a teacher who taught government and economy at Downey High School. Griffin is accused of having "sexual liasons" with the two girls in 2004. He was placed on unpaid leave in December 2005, 10 months after the lawsuit was filed

The lengthy article on teacher misconduct includes some startling facts.

According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 367 teachers accused of sexual misconduct lost credentials in the past five years. The commission does not keep data about teachers accused of sexual relations with students, but 86 percent of the teachers who lost credentials from 2001 to June 2006 were accused of crimes involving children.

The two girls were suspended for taping Griffin in 2004 in connection with their complaints.

UPDATE: Dec 21, 2006 - The lawsuit has been settled. To date, no criminal charges have been filed against the teacher. However, the California Commission on Teaching Credentialing has been notified about the case.

Centennial, COLORADO

Nov 20, 2006 - Todd Bennethum, 45, a Thunder Ridge High School science teacher, is scheduled for a pre-trial conference in connection with child abuse causing bodily injury for hitting a child with a yardstick. No other details available.

Bennethum was convicted of assault 4 years ago after pleading guilty of hitting a softball player after a game. He later reversed his plea and was given a deferred 12-month sentence of unsupervised probation.

A Douglas County Schools spokesman said officials didn't think that conviction warranted firing at the time.

Nov 21 - Bennethum resigned.

McFarland, WISCONSIN

Nov 22, 2006 - Christina L. Dibbert, 28, a first grade teacher at McFarland Primary School, was arrested and charged with "stealing credit cards and credit card information from friends, co-workers, her father and about 50 customers at a restaurant where she also worked to buy more than $14,000 worth of a prescription painkiller over the Internet."

The McFarland School District also checked logs from the computer Dibbert used at McFarland Primary School and found she had made similar purchases there, the complaint states.
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March, 27, 2007 - PLEADED NO CONTEST to issuing worthless checks. Sentenced to 3 yrears probation, 5 years probation on misappropriating ID charges.

RESTITUTION HEARING -April 28, 2008

Troup, TEXAS

Oct 6, 2006 - Samuel Tony Sutton, (Tony Sutton) a science teacher and girls basketball coach, was sentenced to 35 years for sexually assaulting two girls. He received 15 years for aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old and another 20 years for sexually assaulting a 15-year old girl.

He was sentenced to 18 years in prison last year for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in which a bar bouncer was stabbed. Another man is facing charges in connection with the rape. Rodrickius Wallace is accused of helping hold one victim down during the sexual assaults.

Palo Alto, CALIFORNIA

Nov 10, 2006 - William Giordano, 59, Jordan Middle School gym teacher, was sentenced to four years for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student for three years. The girl reported the relationship to the police. He pleaded guilty earlier in the year to the ten acts of having performed a lewd act on a child.

The relationship occurred in 1991. From the Mercury News: "There is no question that what I did was totally wrong," the former physical education teacher at Jordan Middle School said in court. "Not an hour goes by where I don't beat myself up." It wasn't the first time he was involved with a student.

The former teacher also admitted to having a sexual affair with a 13-year-old girl beginning in 1980, but because of the statute of limitations, that relationship was not included in the trial.

LAWSUIT Oct 5 - A former Palo Alto student has won a $260,000 settlement in her lawsuit against the middle school teacher who molested her more than a decade ago, but she was forced to drop her claim that school officials did nothing to stop the abuse.

The Palo Alto Unified School District successfully fought its way out of the lawsuit by taking advantage of a legal technicality: The student failed to file a claim - the precursor to a lawsuit - against the district within six months of being molested by former Jordan Middle School teacher William Giordano. The problem: Like many young abuse victims, she didn't come forward until many years later.

Recent changes in California law allow child victims of molestation to sue for damages years after the abuse. But a recent California Supreme Court decision in a similar school abuse case said that didn't relax the standard that victims must file claims within six months of the abuse against governmental agencies, including school districts.

If she had been a private school student, the limitation wouldn't have applied.

"This just killed us," said attorney Chuck Smith, who is representing the woman who is now 30 and living in Pennsylvania with her husband and two young children. "If you applied that decision to a 6-year-old who was molested by a teacher, she'd have to tell someone when she was 6 1/2."

AND,

In recent years California lawmakers have extended the legal deadline, or statute of limitations, for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file claims for damages. Advocates say that many victims don't come forward immediately to report their abuse because they are ashamed, or in some cases they don't even realize until they are older that what happened to them was wrong.

The same argument led legislators to grant a special one-time exemption in 2003 that was intended to help hundreds of people bring claims against the Catholic church for abuse by individual priests. And under current law, victims of childhood abuse can bring a lawsuit up to the time they are 26, or within three years from the time they realize they were abused.

But that doesn't override the state law that requires victims file an administrative claim first - within six months of the alleged abuse - when a government agency is sued. Although it's possible in some cases to seek a one-year extension, victim's advocates say that's is a big hurdle for someone abused by an employee of a school district.

"It's one of those shields that government has put up, to make it more difficult to bring a claim," said Rob Mezzetti II, a San Jose attorney who has represented numerous victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Steelton, PENNSYLVANIA

Nov 21, 2006 - John Neumyer Jr., 28, a 7th grade math teacher at Northern Middle School, pleaded guilty to charges of improper contact with a 13-year-old female student. He was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to surrender his teaching certificate.

He had been charged with indecent assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor. He had explicit online conversations with the girl.

Freehold, NEW JERSEY

Nov 18, 2006 - Anthony F. Spinato, (Anthony Spinato) 25, a music teacher at South Amboy Catholic high school, was sentenced to seven years in prison after admitting to sexually assaulting two students in Middletown. Both girls were age 16. He also will be subject to the provisions of Megan's Law and community parole supervision for life.

Earlier this month, another McCarrick teacher was charged with child pornography possession.
The school has suspended the teacher, James Kazanjian, 51, of Carteret.

Milford, PENNSYLVANIA

Nov 21, 2006 - Harvey Matthews, 59, a teacher at the Shohola Elementary School, was sentenced to eleven and one-half years to twenty-four years for crimes committed against former students. Matthews was also held as a “sexually violent predator” under Pennsylvania’s version of Meghan’s Law.

He had been found guilty in July. Three students testified how he placed his hands underneath their clothes while they were in his third grade class. Each of the students was between seven and eight at the time. The incidents happened between 1997 and 1999. Matthews was convicted of the crimes of Aggravated Indecent Assault, Indecent Assault and Corruption of Minors.

Matthews had been warned by the school district prior to the incidents in a memo telling him not to have any physical contact whatsoever with students because of prior complaints about his touching female students. The crimes for which Matthews was convicted occurred in the next two years after the memo was sent.

Redwood City, CALIFORNIA

Nov 23, 2006 - Neal Sato, 35, physical education instructor at Central Middle School, was sentenced to six years in prison after he pleaded no contest to inappropriately touching and videotaping female students as they changed gym clothes.

The case was brought to San Carlos police by an eighth-grade student at the middle school who said Sato had secretly videotaped her while she changed her clothes. The victim said Sato told her she had to change her clothing in his office because the locker room was too crowded.

After the girl came forward, police detectives obtained a search warrant for Sato's home and seized two video cameras and two computers, which yielded more than 100 deleted files of girls changing into sports uniforms, and several images of child pornography.

Canon City, COLORADO

Nov 23, 2006 - Jennie Overstreet, 33, sixth grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School was sentenced to two years to life with lifetime parole after accepting a plea deal.

She originally faced 19 counts including sexual assault on a child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor but pleaded guilty to just two of the counts against her last month. At least six students or former students said Overstreet gave them drugs or alcohol, showed them pornography and engaged them in sexual activity. Her lawyer said Overstreet suffers from attention deficit disorder, depression, and alcohol and drug addiction.

The boys were ages 13 and 14. Overstreet has two children. Both are living with their father in Kansas. The trial revealed lurid details of her sex life.

Statesville, NORTH CAROLINA

Nov 22, 2006 - Donald Williams, 48, a teaching assistant at Statesville Senior High School, was arrested on charges of having indecent relations with a 15-year-old student.

Also arrested was Jane Banks, 28, who is a"lleged to have engaged in what's described as unlawful sexual activities with the victim several times over the last year." She was described as an accomplice.

Police report that Williams met the boy on the street in downtown Statesville and asked him to work for his lawn mowing service. But as their relationship developed, deputies say Williams exploited the boy sexually at least seven different times and even delivered the victim to Banks for the same purpose. Investigators said Williams waited until he had a relationship with the teen's family before he assaulted the boy.

From the Charlotte Observer: The sheriff's office is continuing to investigate allegations that Williams provided the teen with drugs in exchange for sexual favors, which could bring more charges. This is the second Lake Norman-area incident involving a school district employee and student in less than a month.

Former East Lincoln High teacher John Tyler Beatty, (John Beatty) 28, of Smith Pond Drive in Denver, N.C., was charged with four counts of sexual activity between school personnel and student, and three counts of taking indecent liberties with a student by school personnel on Oct. 24.

Richmond, VIRGINIA

Nov 23, 2006 - Wallace Ford, Jr., 27, a math teacher at Henrico High School, was arrested for drunk driving and carrying a loaded 44-magnum. While searching his car, police found a gun under the driver's seat. "Police say the serial number was partially scratched off and ended up being traced back to a stolen gun in Charles City County in 2004." He's charged with DUI, possession of stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, and altering a serial number on a firearm.

Ford is on administrative leave while the charges are being investigated.

Berrville, VIRGINIA

Nov 22, 2006 - Frederick Anthony Ciampi III, (Frederick Ciampi) 31, of Berryville, a dance teacher at the Blue Ridge Studio for the Performing Arts in Berryville, was found guilty Oct. 27 on four out of five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to court records. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor is considered a misdemeanor.

He was sentenced to serve a total of 25 days in jail and was fined $1,600.Ciampi is now on two years of unsupervised probation and is eligible for work release. The probation is conditional on good behavior and Ciampi's having no contact with the victim or the victim's family, according to court documents.

Santa Ana, CALIFORNIA

Nov 4, 2006 - Terry Lee Shields, 51, school bus driver, was charged with 52 felony counts of child molestation, of three girls , one of them 4 years old, and photographing the attacks, kidnapping, and child pornography. Police found 10,000 images on his computer.

Divernon, ILLINOIS

Nov 2, 2006 - Kourney Mullen, 22, special education teacher's aide, was arrested for an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old special education student.

In Illinois the age of consent is 17. But it does not apply if someone is in a position of authority.

Update Feb 2 - From blogger Interested Participant: Mullen was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty. She admitted she took explicit pictures of herself with a cell phone and electronically sent them to the teenager last October.

Mullen also was fined $500 and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation and complete any recommended treatment.

Newark, NEW JERSEY

Nov 3, 2006 - Hassan Vann, 29, music teacher at West Side High School in Newark, was indicted on charges of of sexually abusing a male student who now has AIDS. The age of consent in N.J. is 16. It is alleged that the student was 14 when the encounters began.

The victim claims they were active from Sept 2000 to June 2004. The student plans to file a lawsuit against Vann and the school district. Vann was in a Washington Post story. dated Oct 4, 2004 Ironically for his work with youth. In 2005 a Daily Targum story alleges that Vann was allowed to keep his job for three years after reported sexual abuse of minor that was reported April 2002. After the 2002 police report, Vann was hired at a school a few miles away because the state Department of Education was not informed.

Feb 2, 2007 - No updates avaible from major search engines or news article site.