MURDER

While sexual misconduct is the most common reason for dismissal and drugs are No. 2, murder is probably the best guarantee of losing any credential appeal.


BAKERSFIELD, California
We are not following the trial of vice-principal Vincent Brothers with the same dedication as the local media. But we keep updated on the delays.

Accused of killing his wife, their three children and his mother-in-law, the theatrics and grandstanding in the courtroom would have made Johnny Cochrane proud. Certainly the 150 motions made by the attorneys would have pleased the heck out of him.

The murders happened on July 8, 2003. Brothers was arrested in April 2004. Local coverage has been extensive. There was a sidebar on how really hard it was to photograph him. And then there's a "who's who in the Vincent Brothers murder trial." And drawings of the layout of the house.
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LAS VEGAS, Nevada
It's hard to tell when John Watson will go to trial. They are predicting January. He was arrested for the death of his wife. The body was never found, but prosecutors think they can convince a jury.

The retired Ontario, California math teacher has a colorful history, only just recently uncovered, but it really casts doubt on the usefulness of those background checks. Now that he's got spare time, he is writing to the newspaper.

Did we mention that he confessed to raping and killing a hitchhiker in 1967 and had threatened Richard Nixon?
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LANSING, Michigan
One of the saddest cases is Anthony Dixon, an assistant principal at a middle school. He shot and killed his ex-wife's boyfriend, the boyfriend's brother and another man. Then he took his own life. He was 34 years old. Eight children lost their fathers.
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AUGUSTA, Georgia
Tracey Harley will spend the rest of her life in jail afer pleading guilty to the murder of her husband last April. She was sentenced Mar 16. She was a third-grade teacher. We could find little information about the trial. She apparently had help in the murder.
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KILGORE, Texas
Eight months after her conviction for killing her husband, Sharon Daniels was sentenced to 10 years. The jury convicted her but they deadlocked on the sentence. We aren't sure who sentenced her.
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JACKSON, Mississipi
Elicia Hughes was convicted of the murder of her husband who was insured for $250,000 and was philandering which led her lawyer to speculate that someone- not his client - had reason to shoot him. Six times. A month later, a circuit judge ordered a retrial. The jury was not "race neutral."
She has her own cheering section. We get e-mails from her supporters: You, Go, Girl!
No date for the retrial yet that we know of.
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LEXINGTON, Kentucky
Arraigned on murder charges, Courtney Bishop, is accused in the death of her 1-month old son. Bishop is 24-years-old. She looks like the neighbor girl down the street.
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The point of this is, that these teachers, obviously, are not representative of teachers as a whole. Murder isn't something we encounter often with a teacher as the perpetrator. But this is how a site would be if we really wanted to go for sensationalism instead of just dealing with facts.

The public has a right to know and newspapers are not as eager to follow up as they are to cut and paste a press release from the police department or the arrest report from the County Sheriff. Rather than the lurid story, we try to follow up and with the help of some very nice readers who send us links, we inform those who want to know the disposition of a case.

It manages to anger some posters who start out with the, "He didn't do it; but if he did, she deserved it. She was a slut who ...." Those posters usually end up being as hurt and as confused as the student. So if you think we enjoy this, you would be dead wrong. No one does.

For all the Miss Plunkett's in the world - teaching can still be an honored and noble and decent profession where children are safe from predators and horn dog teachers, drug addicts and drug sellers. No one wants that more than decent teachers.
We just have to weed out the bad ones. Information is the best tool.