Seabrook, NEW HAMPSHIRE

LAWSUIT and why teachers are no longer considered professionals.
Finally settled after a year. And, God knows, how much money.

Oct 12, 2007 - Dianne Dunfey, a Seabrook Middle School 7th grade social studies teacher, is suing the district and the school principal for alleged retaliation for her refusal to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The lawsuit was filed by Meyer and by the National Education Association-NH on Dunfey's behalf, according to Steven Sacks, a staff attorney with NEA-NH in Concord. NEA-NH and the local Seacoast Education Association support Dunfey in the case, Sacks said.

As well as legal advice, NEA-NH is helping to support Dunfey's case financially.

CASE SETTLED October 31, 2008 - School District Attorney Debra Weiss Ford of Portsmouth advised in court documents the case was settled on Oct. 31. An agreement for entry of judgment or a stipulation of dismissal is to be filed with the U.S. District Court by Dec. 3.

The terms were not known as of Friday. The newspaper tried to reach her attorney. National Education Association New Hampshire Attorney Steve Sacks, who also represented Dunfey, was out of the office on Friday.

Teacher Strikes

It must be a new school year. There are teachers on the picket line.

WASHINGTON
On August 22, the Seattle Times urged, "Don't Strike, Teachers".
It's illegal in Washington for teachers to strike. Bellevue School District, teachers voted in June to strike on Sept. 2 — the first day of school — if a tentative contract is not agreed to by then. Similar rumblings emanate from the Snoqualmie and Northshore school districts.

Teachers and other school employees received an 8.1 percent pay raise over the current biennium. Last year they received a 3.7 percent increase, this year it is 4.4 percent.

Sept 2 - School's out in Bellevue as teachers hit picket lines, canceling school for 16,000 students.

PENNSYLVANIA
Sept 2 - In Tuscarora, Pennsylvania, teachers are on strike. The district has approximately 165 teachers and 2,700 students. State Rep. Todd Rock (R) sponsored legislation called the “strike-free education pact.” The bill went to the labor relations committee in July 2007 and has not emerged from that committee for a vote.

Souderton Area School District (PA)
Sept 2 - A teacher's strike began yesterday after teachers and the school board failed to reach an agreement on health care plans among other things. They're asking for a four-year deal with an average pay increase of 8 percent.

Live Oak, CALIFORNIA

Political Games

September 1, 2008 - Two teachers, officials in a local teachers' union, were denied tenure. They claimed it was because of their union activities. A judge ruled against them in court.

Now the school district is seeking $10,763 in sanctions against the teachers. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for September 19, but the union has filed an appeal of the July 18 Sutter County Superior Court decision with the Sacramento-based Third Appellate District Court.

Sanctions would, as the school district attorney wrote, "discourage these kinds of political games in the future."

Attorney Thomas M. Griffin, who represents the school district, argued for sanctions by stating that the tenure case "is an action by the union to 'play tough,' demonstrate that it can get results for its members, teach the district a lesson for the perceived discontent of the superintendent with union activities, and punish the district, costing it a good deal of money."

-------------------------
SCHOOL INFO: The Nuestro Elementary School District has two schools and 259 students in grades K-8. Source: GreatSchools.net

Total per pupil expenditure = $6,637
Total state per pupil expenditure =$10,805

It's a small district and the School Accountability Report Card (PDF) shows they have 7 teachers in the entire district. Teacher salaries are on page 9. They are from the 2005-06 school year because fiscal information available provided by the state is always two years behind the current school year, and one year behind most other data included in the report.

Teacher salaries in 2005-2006 were <----- for 180 days of work*
Starting teacher = $37,039
Mid-range teacher = $44,787
Highest teacher = $48,095

* Based on avg. school calendar. Not counting sick days.
Elementary teacher Annual hours = 1393 or 174 days
in a 2004 National Compensation Survey.(Line 152) U.S. Dept. of Labor

Taxpayers
Median household income in the Live Oak is = $32,285 <--- for avg. 250 days**
Unemployment is 8%
With a population of 7,563

** 40 hrs a week x 50 weeks.
Not counting sick days. Counting two weeks vacation.
Standard used in business.

The superintendent is also the principal. The comparison between taxpayers and the teachers they employ does not include job security, paid retirement, accrued sick leave that can be sold back, personal holidays or paid time off given to teachers for their union activities.

Hard-ball political games played by unions cost school districts money that could be better spent on education. It costs districts tens of thousands of dollars to fight tenure actions and the endless appeals that the unions are prepared to finance to cow districts into wariness, then capitulation to every petty complaint.

Look at the frugality of the district. It's called careful stewardship of taxpayer money.

Middletown, OHIO

Teachers union president arrested, accused of having inappropriate relationship with 17-year-old student. Also under investigation for relationship with another student.

Sentenced to three years in prison and registration as a Tier III sex offender for life.

May 16, 2008 - David Wagner, 32, a history teacher at Madison Junior/Senior High School, was arrested on two counts of sexual battery for allegedly "engaging in sexual activity" with a 17-year-old female student.

Wagner is also under investigation for an inappropriate relationship with another student - an 18-year-old female. Police were tipped off May 11 that Wagner had been sending text messages to the 18-year-old. That student said the text messages from Wagner were not sexual in nature.
Wagner is on paid leave. Wagner was elected president by the Madison Education Association for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years.
Full Name: David Jaimie Wagner

GRIEVANCE DENIED July 23 - The Madison Board of Education voted this week to deny payment to former coach David "Jamie" Wagner for his softball coaching contract for the 2007-08 school year.Wagner filed a grievance earlier this month to collect about $3,300 plus interest for his coaching contract, according to records obtained from the school district through an open records request.

The board unanimously voted this week to deny the grievance and, if necessary, move to arbitration rather than settlement.

GUILTY PLEA July 24 - Wagner pleaded guilty to one count of sexual battery. As a part of the plea, Wagner will surrender his Ohio teaching certificate.

His arrest came after police began investigating Wagner for sending sexually explicit text messages to an 18 year-old student. The current allegations arose after police started the first investigation.

Wagner also will be classified as a Tier III sexual offender that will require him to register with the sheriff's office every 90 days for the rest of his life when he is sentenced on August 28.
Wagner's wife and parents were present in the courtroom.

TT - Not one story about his guilty plea mentioned his election as the teachers union president.

SENTENCED August 28 - Wagner was sentenced to three years in prison Wagner has also been classified as a Tier III sexual offender, which will require him to register with the Butler County Sheriff's Office every 90 days for the rest of his life.

The victim's father told Wagner, "You are every parent's worst nightmare."
[No mention in that story either that he was teachers union president.]

Jonesboro, GEORGIA

STORY OF THE WEEK - First school district decertified since 1969.

New York Times: (August 28)

A county school system in metropolitan Atlanta on Thursday became the nation’s first in nearly 40 years to lose its accreditation, and the governor removed four of its school board members for ethics violations.

TT - But they only have half the story.

Don't all school school board members go to dinner with the teachers' union leader? And you wonder why this school district is about to lose their accreditation for ethical violations?

August 20, 2008 - The Clayton County School Board members are appearing before a state Administrative Hearing judge to address allegations that they violated state laws when they put the district’s accreditation at risk. If found to have violated any laws, Gov. Sonny Perdue can remove the board members.**

[TT -** In March, Perdue signed a bill that would let voters oust board members if a district loses accreditation. In effect, it meant he wouldn't have to take the heat for taking over the school district to impose accountability and respectability. The law is ludicrous because the same people who voted the present board into power will not look for better candidates. This new tactic of having an administrative hearing is a means of ejecting the board in a last-ditch effort to avoid losing accreditation.]

At the hearing, school board chairwoman Michelle Strong (pictured above) testified that she had dinner with John Trotter, the chairman of Metro Association (teachers' union) , about five times in the past two years. Also attending was Boardmember Norreese Haynes, (who is Executive Director of that same teachers' union, pictured left in his booking photo) and Boardmember Rod Johnson sometimes attended the dinners, Strong testified. She couldn’t remember if any other board members were present. She testified that she couldn’t remember if any board business was discussed.

The board removed Haynes in March after police found he didn’t even live in Clayton County. Johnson resigned last week.

TT - In February, Hayes was arrested for assaulting a man who described himself as Haynes' "live-in boyfriend of five years."

Johnson's bio that used to appear on the District web page along with his picture, makes no mention of his wife being a Georgia state representative.

Reverend W. Rod Johnson was elected to the Board of Education in November 2004. Rev. Johnson has served the Clayton County community in a number of capacities: as pastor of Ambassadors for Christ Church, as a first lieutenant in the Army Reserve at Fort Gillem, and as a congressional aide to Congressman David Scott.

He is an educator in the Atlanta Public School System. Rev. Johnson holds a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from the University of Buffalo, a Master's degree in Education from Florida International University, and a certificate in administrative leadership from Georgia State University. Rev. Johnson's wife, Celeste, is a choral instructor in Clayton County Public Schools. He has one daughter, Genesis

His wife, Celeste Johnson, a state representative from District 75, is on the Children and Youth Committee, Interstate Cooperation Committee, and Legislative and District Reapportionment Committee. Her sponsored legislation. (Of particular note is this proposal.)
Her Bio
----------------------------
TT - The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) will decide by Sept. 1 if Clayton schools remain accredited. It is the second time in five years their accreditation has been threatened. In 20 years, only three school districts have lost their accreditation. ( Biloxi, Miss.; Hartford, Conn., and Duval County, Fla.)

If you want to know what will happen if a union completely controls a school district, this is it.

Rod Johnson's wife is state Rep. Celeste Johnson (D-Jonesboro) who collected a paycheck as a teacher from the district while she was at the Capitol, instead of taking leave. She later paid the district back $1,858.

BODYGUARD Boardmember Johnson hired a bodyguard who used to be a school resource officer. This was after the man was fired by the school and subsequently indicted for - allegations of touching two teenage female students while working at a Clayton school. The bodyguard was Kenneth Jerome Alexander, fired from the district in 2004 - on allegations that he had inappropriate contact with two teen-age girls.

Another former board member, Duncan, who was appointed to the interim post in July, spent more than $2,887 on personal security to escort her to high school football games and other night functions. More than half of that money went to -- Kenneth Jerome Alexander.

Board member Sandra Scott demanded a football coach highlight her son in tapes. When he refused, he was fired.

The SACs report on the district eerily referred to the union control of the district. (pg 20)

"During the course of the investigation, it became increasingly clear that an elusive negative outside external force has not only permeated a significant segment of the Board of Education but has also infiltrated key leadership positions within the school district.

Previous TT coverage. Here Here Here
Jan 2008 Ethics Resolution of the board.
The SACs report contains dozens of ethical violations.
-----------------------------------
DISTRICT INFO: The Clayton County Public School System is the 113th largest school district in the United States and the fifth largest in Georgia. Just 12 miles south of Atlanta, Clayton County covers 142 square miles and is home to over 270,000 residents.
-----------------------------------
At the board meeting where Haynes was removed from the board (the vote was 5-3) many parents spoke out.

"Five hundred million dollar budget -- and those kids can't take books home," said one parent. "That's criminal."
------------------------------------
HEARING RESULTS - Recommendation to remove board members
August 27 - Administrative Judge Michael Malihi of the Office of State Administrative Hearings said Wednesday that Michelle Strong, Sandra Scott, Lois Baines-Hunter and Yolanda Everett should be removed for violating Georgia’s Open Meetings act and the state ethics code.

The probative evidence shows that the respondents have violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act, have violated the board’s code of ethics for board members, and have engaged in conduct unbecoming of a board member and in breach of the public trust,” Malihi wrote Perdue Wednesday in his ruling.

He said he found repeated Open Meetings violations and egregious behavior by board members, including name-calling and verbal attacks. He was also critical of outside influence from leaders of two rival teachers unions.

Clayton Schools lose their accreditation.
August 28 - From the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

The stunning loss of accreditation for Clayton County schools left students, parents and residents reeling Thursday at the realization of “worthless” diplomas, dashed college dreams, depressed home values and an exodus of families.

The troubled 50,000-student district will become the first in the nation to lose accreditation since 1969.

The loss of accreditation came hours before Purdue ordered the removal of four school board members. The decision by the national Accreditation Commission was unanimous.

As many as 2,000 students failed to return to the district this school year, and officials expected more would leave for other districts.

GOVERNOR REMOVES BOARD MEMBERS (belatedly)
August 27 - Governor Purdue issued an Executive Order removing four member sof the board. The Executive Order also formally removed Rod Johnson (TT - See above.)and Norreese Haynes who had previously resigned or been removed.

Union Infighting.

August 20, 2008 - The Chicago Teachers Union's executive board voted to expel vice president Ted Dallas following allegations of financial improprieties. The vote was 34-2 to convict him of "financial impropriety." The vote to expel was 31 -5.

Dallas, who is on a leave of absence from teaching at Wells High School, has been at odds with President Marilyn Stewart over how union money has been spent since she took office in 2004. In court papers filed a few months ago, Dallas countercharged that Stewart mismanaged the union's finances and spent about a half-million dollars on food over a 12-month period.

The union said he improperly used union money to pay himself for sick days and meals.
----------------------
TT - Chicago Public Radio provided amazing 20 sec. insight. "Teachers Union Trial a Sign of Infighting"
The feud started last year. That's when word got out the union had spent millions of dollars in surplus funds and had gone into debt. Dallas says the trial against him is retaliation for accusing the administration of mismanaging that money.

Corruption Watch

The trial to watch.

August 19, 2008 - The trial of Alabama state Rep. Sue Schmitz will never be a HBO movie, but it will make huge waves in Alabama where criminal corruption in education and the two-year college system has shaken the roots of the corrupt political establishment.

Schmitz is among 43 legislators who had financial ties to two-year colleges from 2002-2006. The legislators, their close relatives or businesses received work from the system during the period, in most cases after the lawmakers were elected. A newspaper investigation found 13 legislators who were presently employed in Alabama community college system.

Schmitz is accused of taking $175,000 from the community college system for a federally-funded job she never performed. Even her firing from the position by the new Chancellor was a show of hubris. She claimed fair dismissal rights as if she was a teacher. Chancellor Bradley Burnes responded to her arrest and the year and a half legal duel with the teachers' union.

A federal investigation of the two-year system has resulted in agreements to plead guilty by a former state representative and a former two-year college chancellor. Two current legislators, one of them Schmitz, have been charged.

THE FIRST DAY was the testimony by former two-year college Chancellor Roy Johnson, 62, who testified that in 2002, Alabama Education Association Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert and Speaker of the House Seth Hammett asked him to help find work for Schmitz.

The reason given was because she had a difficult work situation in Madison County, where she was struggling to balance her daily duties as a teacher and as a member of the Alabama Legislature. Johnson said he contacted the then president of the Central Alabama Community College and asked him to find a job for Schmitz.

[In 2002, she was forced to leave the Madison County teaching job when after the school district told her in 2002 she would have to take leave without pay for days she worked in Montgomery on legislative business. Link is to previous entry.]

At the time when Johnson contacted the Central Alabama Community College, the program had no openings and was struggling for money. Johnson said college officials, "wanted some assurances that we would fund that position and I gave those assurances."

By 2005, her supervisor at federally-funded program complained that Schmitz "simply did not show up for work. In fact, she never did.

But what is already interesting is who had asked Johnson to provide the job for Schmitz.

Paul Hubbert, the executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association is the head of the state's largest teachers union. The union is usually referred to as "the politically powerful Alabama Education Association" by Alabama newpapers. Hubbert, writing August 11 in the Montgomery Advertiser, compared not allowing state employees to also hold public office to a new kind of segregation ("In Alabama we have a sordid history of denying groups political rights. For decades blacks and women were denied the right to vote and the right to run for public office.)

He denied there was such a thing as "double-dipping."

House Speaker Seth Hammett told a federal jury today he arranged the funding for a job with the CITY program for state Rep. Sue Schmitz. He said he was approached about Schmitz's employment situation by Dr. Paul Hubbert, executive director of the Alabama Education Association. He later talked to Schmitz about funding for a job with the youth program.

IN OTHER NEWS: The wife of former Shelton State Community College president agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges. Melinda Kay Umphrey, 58, was employed as a coordinator at the Alabama Fire College, which was on Shelton State's campus, at an annual salary of $40,000 but performed no legitimate work. She was paid $127,594 in salary and received benefits valued at $29,139.

----------------------------
BACKGROUND
See Patronage (how the system works)
See Double Dipping in Alabama
See Double Dipping (state school board bans the practice, finally.)
Hard-hitting Press-Register editorial about Paul Hubbert and the Alabama Education Association and their opposition to reform and their lust for power that concludes, "The leaders of the AEA talk about education, but they believe in power. They may be about to discover that even their power has limits. "
---------------------------
September 8 - The trial ended in a mistrial.
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FIRE COLLEGE DIRECTOR SENTENCED October 30 - The former director of Fire College, W.L. Langston, 66, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after his conviction on multiple charges. He was also ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the state.

Langston helped set up tens of thousands of dollars in contracts and scholarships for his children and those of administrators who run the state's two-year college system, records show.

Langston's actions offer more insight into how the fire college was managed and how he spent some of the millions in state funds the college received each year. Most of the college's $6 million budget comes from the state's education fund.

The Fire College is part of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education, and the senior Langston was on the payroll of Shelton State College as executive director. He also headed a private foundation that was supposed to support the Fire College. His son was also sentenced after pleading guilty to charges that he was paid thousands of dollars for a bogus work contract.
------------------------------
October 31 - Alabama Press-Register editorial, "Fire College director deserves his sentence"

New Focus

August 18, 2008 - From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, comes this story about the new leadership of the American Federation of Teachers, "Women plan new focus leading teacher unions."

The American Federation of Teachers has recently elected female candidates to all three national posts, a first for a major U.S. labor union.

And if the new leaders have their way, students, teachers and parents will see a difference in the way schools are run, owing in part to an understanding of the obligations many women have of juggling jobs, children and other tasks.

Randi Weingarten, the new union president, wants change.

She wants schools to focus more on teaching than testing and plans to prod local officials to look at "the whole child, what we should be doing to improve not just math and reading proficiency but to help improve a whole child.

""We need bottom-up, real solutions so kids in St. Louis and Kansas City have a level playing field," she said. That could include extending hours so high school students who have a job can attend classes at night, providing some health care services at school or offering classes for parents who need a GED.

At the local level, there is the St. Louis Teachers Union.

Mary J. Armstrong, president of the 2,100-member St. Louis Teachers Union, says the leadership changes are "historic" and send a clear message about the role of women. Armstrong has long pushed for much of what Weingarten is advocating, including taking into account socioeconomic, nutritional, home life and other aspects of a student's life.

She now hopes to gain momentum in St. Louis, including for her desire to examine — and reverse — a rising dropout rate among black male students.

In Missouri, the American Federation of Teachers has 6,000 members — two-thirds of them in St. Louis and Kansas City.
----------------------------
TT -Interesting article but no mention of the fact that the St. Louis School District was taken over by the state in 2007 after the Missouri Board of Education stripped the district of accreditation for poor academic performance and malfeasance. Kansas City is facing the same scrutiny (again.) Entry

Kansas City previously lost their accreditation in 1999. Both districts have been academic disasters and financially mismanaged for decades. Taking Over Bad Schools Entry

Don't miss this article on how the international relief organization Feed the Children delivers school supplies to children in -- Kansas City and St. Louis. And compare that to how the Kansas City school district spends their money in "A money mess bites hard in KC classrooms."

legal fees are off the charts, five times the average per-student costs of other districts, reflecting a troubled district that has been “under siege,” attorney Maurice Watson said.

A lot of those fees have gone to fight succession movements from outlying districts that no longer want to be part of the Kansas City Public School system and the costs of a revolving door for school superintendents.

The St. Louis public school system's cumulative debt in 2006 was almost $25 million, according to the State Board of Education, and it had six superintendents since 2003.

Declining enrollment is a polite way of referring to the mass exodus from Kansas City schools. Schools in Kansas City and St. Louis are so badly run that they are the only districts in the state who are allowed to have charter schools. The Kansas City Star urged the district to "cut bloated management." (And transportation. And maintenance costs.)

Schools in St. Louis and Kansas City are miserable and costly failures. It is surreal and ludicrous to want to "look at the whole child" when public schools can't even provide basic education. And it certainly doesn't help when a major newspaper in the state pretends nothing is wrong that a little cheerleading can't fix.

The pity, the absolute tragedy, is that there are four generations of school children from those schools who have been denied a decent education and the opportunity to escape from a soul-destroying poverty pit where political patronage is the game and education is just the cash cow.

The best, the very best, they can hope for is a Katrina-like disaster that will allow them to abandon the city and find a less corrupt place to live.

Shiocton, WISCONSIN

Teachers' union treasurer accused of theft.

Dec 28, 2007 - Tracy S. Stelter, 45, a special education teacher for the Shiocton School District, was charged with one count of felony theft for allegedly taking $9,000 from the funds of the Shiocton Education Association where she worked as treasurer from 2002 to 2007. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing.

NOT GUILTY PLEA Feb 21, 2008 - Stelter pleaded not guilty. Trial is scheduled for for May 20.

PRE-TRIAL SCHEDULED - May 6, 2008
TRIAL SCHEDULED - May 20, 2008

GUILTY PLEA May 23 - Stelter pleaded no contest to a charge of felony theft for taking funds from the teachers union. Stelter paid the money back shortly after the theft was discovered. The prosecutor is recommending Stelter receive three to six months in jail.
She is scheduled to be sentenced July 21.

SENTENCED Stelter was sentenced to 10 days in jail and three years of probation.

Court Ruling

Another blow against public integrity.

July 31, 2008 - Spokesman Review editor Steve Smith on "A stunning ruling."

By now, I hope you have seen the story today on the Washington Supreme Court ruling protecting the names of teachers who have been accused of sexual misconduct. (Link here)

It's a pretty amazing ruling. If I read it correctly, it even provides the districts cover if officials choose not to notify police agencies of accusations even though they are so-called mandatory reporters.

In my view, this is another example of bureaucrats being given the power to hold back information critical to the public.

Some will argue the ruling protects the privacy of the accused until charges are substantiated. But who decides the charges have been substantiated, or even properly investigated? [Emphasis ours.] And in cases of sexual abuse by teachers, publicity is often what brings victims forward to provide the substantiation?

If there is a balance to be struck, I believe it ought to be struck in the public interest. Read the dissent for more on that view.

In any event, this ruling, like other recent decisions against public disclosure, is sure to lead to calls for legislative action. But it will take real legislative oomph to overcome the powerful teacher lobby.

----------------------------------
The news article linked to states that the high court ruled Thursday that identifying teachers in unsubstantiated cases violates the teachers’ right to privacy. A lower court had previously ruled that the information should be disclosed in cases where school districts’ investigations were insufficient.
----------------------------------------
The case is:
Bellevue John Does 1-11 v. Bellevue School District No. 405
docket number 78603-8.

Opinion here PDF
Dissent here PDF

Moreover, the majority’s analysis fails to account for one of the underlying purposes of the PRA—accountability of public agencies. Because the majority decides that a teacher’s identity is not disclosable where the misconduct is unsubstantiated, and rejects the idea that the adequacy of a school district’s investigation has any bearing on disclosure, the majority leaves school districts free to control whether an accused teacher’s identity must be released by controlling the scope and depth of its investigation.

Drawing the line for disclosure at records relating to unsubstantiated allegations fails to recognize the immense pressures on school districts. First, school districts come under pressure from the teachers and their associations to withhold teachers’ names. At the same time, if the school districts vigorously pursue allegations of sexual misconduct, they face the threat of lawsuits from students and their parents. - from pg. 11

A school district can effectively control whether an accused teacher’s identity must be released by reaching an agreement with the teacher exchanging resignation for silence. - from pg. 12.

Placing the power in the hands of school districts to control, to any extent, whether disclosure is required is incompatible with the PRA. - from pg. 14 [Bolding ours.]

Monroe, NEW JERSEY

Oct 12, 2007 -
Victoria Blevins, 23, a physical education teacher at Monroe High School, has been charged with sexual assault of a female student and official misconduct.

She was arrested after the mother of a former female student at the school found an instant message on a computer suggesting that the student and teacher were having an inappropriate sexual relationship.

She was being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Anyone with tips should call Monroe Township Police detective Jason Grosser at (732) 521-0222, Ext. 147 or investigator James Kelly of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes Unit at (732) 745-3600.

NOT GUILTY PLEA Feb 8, 2008 - Blevins was in court but did not speak. A not guilty plea was entered on her behalf by an attorney for the New Jersey Education Association, the statewide teachers' union.

GUILTY PLEA April 18 - Blevins pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of harassment Thursday after the victim in the case recanted. The student continues to contact Ms. Blevins. Blevins agreed to give up her teaching certificate. She can eventually reapply for it through the state.

Her attorney, G. Robert Wills of Princeton, a network attorney for the state teacher's union, said Blevins intends to join the military. She will be sentenced July 18.

UNCOOPERATIVE VICTIM & REDUCED CHARGES July 18 - Charges against a former Monroe High School gym teacher accused having a sexual relationship with a female student have been reduced because the alleged victim has refused to cooperate with investigators, prosecutor said in court today

SENTENCED Blevins was sentenced today to three years probation for a disorderly persons charge of harassment. Blevins apologized for the affair sordid sex with the girl and said she planned to enter the military.

Cedarburg, WISCONSIN

How can the Minneapolis Star-Tribune write a whole article about a fired teacher going to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to get his job back and forget to mention he was the teacher's union president?

Fourth time in 13 months that the case has moved from one court to another.

May 5, 2008 - Robert Zellner has been fighting to get his job back for two years. The case was to go to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but now his lawyer wants the Appeals Court to hear the case.

Zellner was fired in 2006 for having pornography on his computer. Twice. He took his case to an arbitrator who ruled the teacher should have been reprimanded but not fired.

The school board refused to rehire him so he sued, but he lost when an Ozaukee County judge overturned the arbitrator's ruling. Zellner then appealed to the state Court of Appeals. That court decided April 2 to ask the state Supreme Court to handle the case. However, Zellner's attorney, Jia Jonen, now wants the case returned to the Court of Appeals.

The Star-Tribune speculates,

Jonen's move may be related to the recent Supreme Court election. Her request came 10 days after Justice Louis Butler Jr. — a candidate who was heavily supported by the state's largest teachers union — was defeated. Circuit Court Judge Michael Gableman won the seat, an outcome observers say could tip the balance of power on the high court.

-----------------------------
TT - Surely the Star-Tribune remembers when the newspaper sued to gain access to a CD with the images and data collected from Zellner's computer so they could pronounce that -- there was no proof he viewed all of them. TT Entry

They were given access by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The ruling is still online. Zellner's legal objection to having the CD released to the newspaper was because the porn images were copyrighted.

You won't read about the arbitration ruling, however, as a judge ruled the arbitration hearing was confidential, ostensibly because of private medical information about Zellner. Zellner was the head of the teacher's union and Jonen is a union-supplied attorney. (Both facts in this article.) Zellner is suing the school district for $9 million. TT Entry

UPDATE May 15 - The Wisconsin Supreme Court sent the case back down to the appeals court. It was the fourth time in 13 months that the case has moved from one court to another.
At issue is whether a judge can overturn a federal arbitrator’s decision, particularly when both parties involved agree to abide by that decision.

IN A VICTORY FOR RATIONAL THOUGHT, THE
APPEALS COURT RULED July 23 - The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the state Court of Appeals upheld the firing of former Cedarburg teacher Robert Zellner. In the ruling issued this morning, the Waukesha-based appeals panel backed the decision of an Ozaukee County circuit judge who had upheld Zellner's firing. The appeals court said that Zellner exhibited immoral behavior and that immoral behavior, as a strong public policy concern, is a basis for a court to take the rare step of overturning an arbitrator's decision.

THE SWEET SPOT from the story:

Jina Jonen, who works for the Wisconsin Education Association Council in Madison, said she was disappointed and concerned that the decision would lead to more court challenges of workplace disputes that are now decided more quickly and less expensively through binding arbitration.

"The ruling opens the door as to whether courts are going to start reviewing arbitrator's findings, and that's contrary to Wisconsin law," she said.

They're deciding whether to appeal. [TT - To a newly-configured conservative court? We don't think so.]
---------------------
TT - The case is Cedarburg Education Association v. The Cedarburg Board of Education
Appeal No.2007AP852
Decision dated and filed July 23, 2008. PDF

The Appeals Court based their finding on the Racine County decision and found that "Our supreme court recently confirmed that when an arbitration award violates the law or a strong public policy, the arbitrator has exceeded his or her powers and the award must be vacated."

Furthermore, where relevant law or public policy is ignored, the arbitrator has exceeded his or her powers (pg. 6)

In particular, they questioned the arbitrator’s conclusion that the record did not support the school district’s claim “that an immoral behavior is automatic grounds for termination.” (pg 7-8)

"We are not convinced that Zellner’s tenure and stealth provide sufficient counterweight to the public policy against immoral conduct in schools."

August 22 - In what the Journal says is "what could be the final stage of Robert Zellner’s 2 1/2 -year quest to get his job back" Zellner has asked the state Supreme Court to decide his pornography-related termination case. Again.
TT - See our Timeline and review.

Union Classroom Antics

The picket signs said “Fair Contract NOW!” on one side, and “Do the Right Thing!” on the other side. Displayed in their classrooms, on the windows, desks and walls.

July 1, 2008 - Teachers in Wisconsin now have a "right" to post signs in classrooms supporting their side in a labor dispute, according to the state Court of Appeals.

The Milwaukee School Board filed the appeal after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Hansher affirmed a decision by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission that the board had not established sufficient reason for banning the signs.

The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, the union representing the teachers, suggested that the signs be posted after attempts to reach a contract agreement for 2003-’05 failed. The teachers began wearing buttons during the school day that stated “attract and retain” in March 2004. A month later teachers displayed two-sided, 11x14-inch signs in their classrooms on windows, desks and walls.

The union later encouraged teachers to display the signs more visibly, particularly during parent-teacher conferences, along with letters from the union. The commission and the Appeals Court found that the signs did not constitute political advocacy activities that are banned by School Board policy.

The Appeals Court decision was written by Judge Wedemeyer.

“The board cannot discriminate against concerted teachers’ activity by issuing a blanket prohibition on union-related signs while permitting a variety of other non-instructional materials to be posted by teachers, which has been left to the personal discretion of the teachers.”

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TT - The case is Milwaukee Board of School Directors v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, Docket #2007AP000840 PDF

Drug testing - Hawaii

July 1, 2008 - Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle said she does not believe the teachers union and the state Department of Education have been unable to reach an agreement on implementing random drug testing because of funding.

"It wasn't that they just had one more thing they wanted to tweak to implement the program. They wanted to go back to the beginning and negotiate what was already been negotiated," Lingle said.

It has been nearly a year since Hawaii's teachers signed a new contract that included an 11 percent pay raise and random drug testing for public schoolteachers.

June 30 was the deadline to draw up a drug testing policy but the Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Association have been unable to reach an agreement.
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TT - The teachers voted 61% to accept random drug testing in a vote that the union said too close to call.

Previous entries: Entry Entry Entry Entry
Hawaii Board of Education Refuses to pay for drug testing Entry

In exchange for the 8% increase , the union "agreed" to random drug testing. Sorta.

As part of a new contract, HSTA agreed to work with the Department of Education to develop a random drug and alcohol testing program for all teachers that would be implemented by June 2008. There's the loophole, and you knew there had to be one if the union agreed to drug testing. The union will help develop the drug testing policy.

Take the union guy

So cozy.

June 28, 2008 - Washington teacher's union backs Dorn for Superintendent (AP brief found at Mason County News)

The Washington Education Association has endorsed Randy Dorn for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Yesterday's announcement comes about a month after the teachers' union's first candidate _ Richard Semler - dropped out of the race because of his wife's health problems.

Dorn is executive director of another union, the Public School Employees of Washington, as well as a former legislator, teacher and principal. That union and Semler also have endorsed Dorn. He will be running against current schools superintendent Terry Bergeson, who is running for a fourth term. The WEA says the state education department needs new leadership.

Years ago, Bergeson was president of the teacher's union.

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TT - Dorn is also a motivational speaker. His website is here. His bio is here. And HB106 examined by the Evergreen Foundation.

Semler is superintendent of the Richland Schools who dropped out of the race in May.

He became known statewide for his work with the Richland School Board advocating against the high stakes Washington Assessment of Student Learning tests, citing cost, scoring, validity and reliability issues.

His election platform also included establishing measurable learning standards, ensuring adequate funding for basic education and improving teamwork among state leaders with a hand in education funding and policy.

The Washington Education Association, which represents 81,000 educators statewide, including teachers, publicly declared a loss of trust in Bergeson at its recent annual convention.

Daytona Beach, FLORIDA

Union and teachers helping to sue student.

June 17, 2008 - A teacher suing a student and her mother for false accusations is being helped by Volusia Teachers Organization that has collected donations from other teachers to help him pay his legal fees to pursue the lawsuit.

Michael Hackley, a teacher at Silver Sands Middle School, filed the suit for up to $15,000 in damages in county court last fall. The teacher says were deliberately false accusations that he touched the girl inappropriately. The girl and her mother filed a countersuit -- also for up to $15,000 damages -- in April claiming the daughter has suffered embarrassment, emotional distress and mental anguish.

The State Attorney's Office declined to prosecute Hackley on a battery charge. The school district and Florida Department of Education found no reason for disciplinary action. Union president Andrew Spar said,

"I think this is pretty much precedent-setting," Spar said of the lawsuit. "There should be accountability on the part of parents and students that they're being truthful and honest and not just crying wolf" when accusing a teacher of wrongdoing.

It could be any U.S. state

Thank God, it's Canada. #689

June 9 - Quebec's largest school board has been ordered by the courts to rehire a teacher who is a convicted murderer.

Jean-Alix Miguel, an amateur kickboxer, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1990 after beating his common-law spouse to death. He served seven years in prison. A year later, he was hired as a teacher by the Commission scolaire de Montréal. When the school board found out about his past in 2004, they fired him. The teachers' union filed a grievance on his behalf.

You won't believe the rationale of the arbitrator and the courts. Teacher unions are the same everywhere.

Teacher Code of Conduct

Speaking about delays.

June 8, 2008 - The Arkansas Education Association wants the state Board of Education to delay voting on a new code of ethics for Arkansas educators.

The teachers union say they support the new code but wants the board to postpone implementing it so the Department of Education and school districts have time to inform teachers about it.

TT - Not found at the story, the union objections are contained in a June 5, 2008 letter to Ms. Diane Tatum, Chairwoman of the Arkansas State Board of Education:

The AEA believes that later effective dates are necessary for the proper implementation of the Rules. The AEA is convinced that the Rules will work best if the Arkansas General Assembly passes two laws before they become effective.

The Board needs the authority to issue subpoenas in licensure appeal hearings, and legislation is necessary to provide an exemption from the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act that prevents the public disclosure of investigative information and records upon which no final action has been taken. Both measures are essential to the effective and successful operation of the Rules.

Subpoenas are a red herring. What they are advocating is an exemption from the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act for actions "when no final action is taken " so that when the educator - as many do in such hearings - opts for a settlement agreement that couples voluntary surrender of the teacher's license with nondisclosure, no one else will learn of the wrongdoing.

Why should wrongdoing be hidden just because someone admits it?

From 4029tv : (April 7, 2008) Teachers Shred Proposed Code of Conduct

The 13 page document outlines the code of ethics, but teachers said they are afraid they could potentially lose their license for things like drinking a glass of wine or not paying their debts on time the way the code is written now.

AND.

Many said they are worried the code is too broad and will make it too easy to revoke a teacher's license for moral matters.

TT - The media rarely distinguishes between teachers in the classroom and the choreographed performance of union activists who may, or may not be, teachers.

There are standards in the Code of Conduct: [Emphasis ours]
1. An educator maintains a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom.
2. …maintains competency regarding skills, knowledge and dispositions concomitant to his/her organizational position,subject matter and /or pedagogical practice.
3. …honestly fulfills reporting and contractual obligations associated with professional practices.
4. …entrusted with public funds and property honors that trust with honest, responsible stewardship.
5. …maintains integrity with students, colleagues, parents,patrons and businesses regarding gifts, gratuities, favors and additional compensation.
6. …keeps in confidence student records, personnel records, standardized test material and other information covered by confidentiality agreements.
7. …factually and appropriately presents the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and unauthorized / illegal drug use during the course of professional practice and in accordance with current state
law.
8. …abides by local, state and federal laws.

Professional Licensure Standards Board members are appointed by the state Department of Education and are "peers" of the educator. Members

June 9 - The Arkansas Board of Education approved the new code on Monday.

Teacher Misconduct - Canada

Letter from the Ontario (Canada) Catholic Teachers Association to their membership.

June 5, 2008 - A letter to the union's members was entered as evidence Thursday in the trial of F.J. Brennan teacher Mark Baggio.

Dear Colleague,

It has come to our attention that several teachers have been participating in interviews with police investigators recently. If you have not yet done so, you may be called and asked to participate in an interview in the future. For your information you are not obliged in any way to participate in an interview with investigators. If you wish to participate voluntarily, that would be your choice.

You should know that you have the right to end an interview at any time. Your may want to end an interview if you feel like you are not being treated properly and/or if you feel intimidated in any way or for any other reason. Also keep in mind that you as a teacher should not give "opinions" or offer professional "judgments" of your colleagues. You should stick to the facts as they pertain to the case at hand and not offer extraneous information or speculations.

Where interviews occur at work sites, we have a concern that an "interrogation" may be a form of harassment or intimidation. Our employer has a duty to maintain a work environment free from harassment. We have raised this issue with the Human Resources department and we are awaiting their response.

TT - Baggio, 34, is on trial charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual exploitation and two counts of corrupting a child in relation to two girls he is alleged to have had sexual relationships with between 2000 and 2005, beginning when the girls were 14. The girls were students of Baggio's at F.J. Brennan Catholic high school. He was arrested in December 2005.

Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA

Teachers in one of the worst school districts in the country are planning to walk out in protest over state budget cuts.

June 5, 2008 - The Los Angeles Unified School District will be in court Friday to ask for a restraining order to try and stop a walkout by 40,000 teachers.

The action comes after the state Public Employee Relations Board earlier this week denied the district's request for an injunction against United Teachers of Los Angeles, the 48,000-member teachers' union.

Teachers are planning to spend the first hour of school on Friday on picket lines to protest a projected $353 million cut in state funding for the district for the upcoming school year. The union says teachers will not be paid for that hour.

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TT - The state is running at a $17 Billion - with a B - deficit and legislators are yet to approve the 2008-2009 budget. That budget is also projected to be $10 - $15 Billion - with a B. Much of that is due to declining revenues due to the subprime mortgage problems and a decline of up to 15% in home values. California chronically depends upon deficit spending and long-term loans in the billions to finance their spending sprees, but tighter markets and a poor credit rating mean they can no longer borrow that kind of money on the bond market.

The Los Angeles Times reported in February that state revenues have been in such rapid decline that fiscal analysts warned California was in danger of not having enough cash on hand to pay its bills by this summer. Governor Schwarzenegger is candid about the reasons: If education, health and other state services were spent responsibly within their budgets, there would be no budget crisis.

The governor’s solution is to balance the budget by borrowing $15 Billion -with B - against future lottery proceeds and changing the lottery to make it more profitable - that is, if anyone is willing to fork over the money to spending junkies.

To get Wall Street to lend the state the $15 billion against a modernized lottery, Californians would have to pay $23 billion to $30 billion in interest and other borrowing costs over the next 30 years.

Click on the picture at this story to see protesting teachers. This is how Greatschools.net rates Compton schools, a city that is the gang and crime capitol of Southern California.

Teachers in schools that rate 3, with 1 being the lowest, don't deserve a raise. They aren't earning what they're paid now.