Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Laugh of the Day
It's just a thought, but maybe Elizabeth Logan should consider an insanity defense.
Las Vegas, NEVADA
At a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to go to trial, the defense witness may have been the best prosecution witness.
Oct 31, 2007 - Mamie Hubbard-Washington, 64, is a special education teacher at Doris Reed Elementary School. She was arrested, accused of abusing several autistic children.
The sole defense witness today was the former** assistant principal who testified he did not see any physical or verbal abuse. The prosecution quickly established that he spent five to thirty minutes in the room.
Prosecutor Vicky Monroe inquired, "So, you were in there five to thirty minutes but for the other five-and-a-half hours of the day you didn't know personally what was going on in the classroom, did you?"Cheung also helped to hire the teacher and also says
Former Assistant Principal Randy Cheung paused and then replied, "I don't know personally."
he personally investigated at least two complaints by teacher's aides who testified previously that they witnessed the abuse first-hand. But Cheung says he found the complaints to be invalid even after parents took their concerns over his head to Clark County School District officials.He elaborated,
"Parents will do that all the time. They will call the region office or superintendent because they have a concern and they want something to be," Cheung continued.** No explanation of why he is "former" assistant principal. The aides testified previously.
Vicky Monroe inquired, "They want something to be done about it? Is that what you were about to say?"
Randy Cheung replied, "No, no, no. That's not... now you're leading!"
Both the defense and prosecution rested their cases Wednesday.
Jan 31, 2008 - Hubbard-Washington will be going to trial this summer. In the meantime, Clark County School District has now been named in a civil lawsuit alleging that administrators failed to remove an abusive teacher even after the abuse was officially reported by those who witnessed it first-hand in the classroom.
Bradenton, FLORIDA
ARRESTED: Jan 18, 2007 -
James Goodbrad, 25, a first-grade teacher at McNeal Elementary School teacher was arrested on a lewd-and-lascivious-molestation charge.
He is alleged to have molested a 15-year-old boy when the boy stayed the night at Goodbrad's home. Goodbrad resigned.
GUILTY PLEA: Sept 15 - Goodbrad pleaded guilty to lewd or lascivious molestation. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 31
Left: Latest picture of Goodbrad
SENTENCED Oct 31 - Goodbrad was sentenced to year in jail - not prison - and five years of sex-offender probation. He complete must also complete 50 hours of community service.
Prosecutor Cynthia Evers recommended to the judge that Goodbrad spend 51 months in prison.
Goodbrad, according to testimony during the hearing, was sexually abused when he was younger.TT - It's pretty much a given that anyone who would think any community would benefit from the services of a convicted sex offender would also decide to depart from a prison sentence.
[Circuit Judge Janette] Dunnigan said she departed from a prison sentence for reasons including a doctor's testimony that Goodbrad was at a low risk to reoffend, and because he showed immediate remorse for the Jan. 15 molestation at his Bradenton home.
Also, Dunnigan said, Goodbrad had "no record of act of suspicious manner" towards anyone else.
Are other offenders meant to fake remorse convincingly so they, too, can be spared a prison sentence? If that's the message in the sentencing, it's a poor one.
Say what?
Oct 31, 2007 -
Maybe he was misquoted, but authoring a study on the effectiveness of a "redesigned” teacher-preparation program surely should have prepared the author better than to say,
“That ain’t true in this state. We pay bounties to get people,” Noell said.
- in defending the new program against a charge that it is designed to eliminate experienced teachers.
Honolulu, HAWAII
Oct 31, 2007 - Marc Fossorier, 43, a highly regarded University of Hawaii professor, was arrested, accused of trying to seduce what he thought was a 15-year-old Pearl City High School student. His online chats were with a police officer.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge of first-degree electronic enticement of a child.
"I was trying to help the girl," Fossorier told KHNL television while the police escorted him to a cellblock. "I was trying to meet her and say that what she was doing was wrong."He told the fake 15-year-old that he was 35.
Oberlin, OHIO
Oct 31, 2007 - Patrick Knoble, 36, a vocational teacher at Wellington High School, was found guilty of making threats against a school board member and the school superintendent.
He took the stand in his own defense, which, apparently, wasn't a good idea.
His attorney argued that Knoble was just venting and he had a Constitutional right to make the statements. But [Oberlin Municipal Judge Thomas]Januzzi said that the 9th District Court of Appeals has recognized that the protection of speech does not protect all speech, or “there would be no valid menacing statute at all.”
“The statements made (by Knoble) were not protected free speech,” Januzzi ruled.
Knoble's teaching license was revoked in March. He still faces trial in December on two counts each of theft and theft in office in connection with charges he failed to account for up to $5,000 he oversaw as adviser to the Wellington High School Future Farmers of America.
MRSA
Staph Infections in schools. Crisis or awareness? These are only a few of the 100s of stories online in the last week.
Sacramento (CA)schools Oct 31, 2007
Warnings alarm parents. "This is not Ebola virus."
Maryland schools Oct 18, 2007
Study says Baltimore has the nation's highest MRSA infection rate. MRSA is a type of staph infection that's penicillin resistant.
Arizona Oct 31, 2007
Resistant 'super bug' found in 2 Chandler schools. "very treatable when detected early."
Nassau and Suffolk Counties (NY) Oct 31, 2007
A 12-year-old Brooklyn boy and a 17-year-old Virginia high school student died this month after contracting MRSA infections.
Tennessee Nov 1, 2007
Date is one found on the Letter to parents of elementary school about two possible cases.
Columbia, Georgia Oct 30, 2007
Eleven pupils and students in nine Columbia County schools have confirmed cases of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. CDC advises they can attend school if infections are covered.
Davenport, Illinois Oct 30, 2007
Two cases.
Manchester, NJ Oct 30, 2007
Athletes have the highest risk. Precautions.
A figure widely quoted in many stories is from the Centers for Disease Control is that more than 18,000 people died of MRSA infections in 2005. By comparison, there were 16,000 people who died of AIDS in the same year.
HOWEVER, the CDC figure is for those who died during hospital stays and 85% of all invasive MRSA infections were associated with healthcare. About 14% of all the infections occurred in persons without obvious exposures to healthcare.
The CDC has an information page about Community-Associated MRSA. Community-associated cases were less than 12% in 2003, although the figure varies by geographic region and population.
It's education, basic sanitation, early treatment and awareness.
Educational Adequacy
Oct 31, 2007 - A New Blog on Educational Adequacy was found at Columbia Teacher's college.
You can make your own judgement about the Campaign for Educational Equity, but the fact that they are a group that seeks to have funding established through the courts via litigation, bypassing budget and spending oversight of the legislative process, is reason to question them closely.
"Education equity" like all "equity" issues in race, multiculturalism and gender are not aimed at equality but the pre-determined outcome desired by a single group in a society where we have already decided that the rule of law enacted by our elected representatives suits us just fine.
Because, ultimately, laws can be challenged by citizens. The judicial imperiums that activists want serves to bypass our role in that, too. In fact, that's why they do it.
Because they are the "smart" people.
Inept
It's Guam but dealing with bureaucratic ineptness is the same.
Oct 31, 2007 - Terry Jo Huber, 36, an English teacher at John F. Kennedy High School was arrested by police for allegedly selling the drug 'ice' in a hotel parking lot.
Stunningly, Huber was allowed to return to the classroom just days after his arrest. Guam Public School System (GPSS) Spokesman Gerry Cruz says that Huber was placed back in the classroom because the crime he was charged with was not violent in nature.
Parents were concerned and contacted the news service.
The news that Huber was teaching again reached GPSS Superintendent Luis Reyes, who stated on Newstalk K57’s "The Patti Arroyo Show," that effective immediately, Huber will be transferred to the central office.
Nov 28 - A John F. Kennedy High School teacher previously arrested on drug charges is back in the classroom. Guam Public School System spokesperson Gerry Cruz confirmed that Terry Jo Huber is back at work after an investigation on his case was completed.
Cruz declined to comment, however, on whether Huber offered to enter a drug rehabilitation program. But, he added, adverse action is possible pending the results of Huber’s criminal case
Kingston, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Sentenced to 7 1/2 years to 15 years in prison.
INDICTED May 9, 2007 - Kenneth Lang, 60, a D.J. Bakie Elementary School teacher, was indicted last October on three counts of rape of a child for allegedly coercing a boy into sexual acts more than 20 years ago.
Lang faces 15 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. He is accused of molesting the boy several times in Hampton between June and September 1986, according to indictments made public yesterday.
Lang faces charges in two states. He pleaded not guilty to the Massachusetts charges. He has been suspended since last fall. The molestations began when the boy was 7 and Lang met the boy through family friends.
GUILTY PLEA & SENTENCING Oct 31 - Lang pleaded guilty to six counts of felonious sexual assault and two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault for molesting a boy from 1983 to 1986. He was was sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison, of which the judge guaranteed he would serve at least the minimum.
As part of the plea agreement reached with the state, and approved by [Rockingham Superior Court Tina] Nadeau yesterday, Lang gave up his right to ask for a sentence review or a sentence reduction after serving two-thirds of his time.The judge praised the the victim for having "remarkable inner strength" and coming forward.
Chapel Hill, NORTH CAROLINA
Apr 20, 2007 - Travis Thompson, 39, arrested and fired by the school board for allegedly taking advantage of a 13-year-old girl.
Thompson is charged with taking indecent liberties with a child and indecent exposure. The incident took place at McDougle Middle School where Thompson is a special education teacher's assistant.. The girl’s parents notified school officials last Friday.
The teen told officers the incident happened in February while Thompson was working as a substitute teacher.Last month, Thompson was hired full-time to work as a teacher’s assistant in the exceptional education program.
GUILTY PLEA AND SENTENCING Oct 31 - Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of indecent exposure to a minor. He was sentenced to two years' probation, ordered to pay a $200 fine and ordered to submit to a mental health assessment. He also must register as a sex offender.
After his arrest, Thompson went on WTVD Channel 11 news and admitted acting inappropriately. He said the girl had given him a lap dance, which she vehemently denies.
Travis Lee Thompson, 40, of Efland was watching the girl, who had been punished with in-school suspension at McDougle Middle School in Carrboro in February. When they were alone, Thompson made sexual conversation, which made the girl uncomfortable, said Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Perez.Thompson said he deeply regretted his lapse in judgement.
At one point, the girl noticed Thompson standing near a file cabinet exposed.
"She looked over at him, saw it, told him he should put it away and left," Perez told Superior Court Judge Michael Morgan..
Eugene, OREGON
Jury verdict: Guilty of 15 counts of sexual abuse of two students.
Sentenced: to 2 years in prison, 5 years probation, and registration as a sex offender for life.
ARRESTED: Mar 16 - Curtis Buell, 25, a Churchill High School teacher, was arrested Friday on charges of sexual abuse.
A grand jury indicted Buell on 17 counts of sexual ab
use. Police spokeswoman Melinda Kletzok confirms that Buell is a former Churchill teacher and the police have been investigating him since last October.
Mar 20 - KPIC investigated and found his MySpace page before it was taken down.
Then, with a quick Internet search, we were able to find Buell's my space page just before it was taken down.While it may seem crazy and unreal for a teacher to describe himself as influential and sexy on the my space page where he communicated with students, here Curtis Buell writes directly to them, saying "hey kids Uncle Curti back again."Detective Ted Williams with the Eugene Police Department tells us, "victims were forced one way or another to do something they didn't want to do."
In addition, KPIC says There is a lot of information police won't share because it could compromise the case. But they tell us there could be other victims at Churchill as well as at North Eugene High and Madison Middle School where Buell was a student-teacher.
TRIAL: August 15 - Buell's trial has started. The prosecutor said Buell placed more than 1,000 phone calls to one of the victims and "several hundred" to the other at all hours of the late evening and early morning.
The case came to light after one of the victims told her boyfriend a few details, which led him to tell his parents, who then called police and school officials. Both of the girls initially denied Buell had touched them inappropriately.
DELIBERATIONS: August 22 - The jury is deliberating. During the course of his five-day trial in Lane County Circuit Court, two counts were dropped and a first-degree count that carried a mandatory six-year, three-month prison term was reduced to a lesser charge.
GUILTY VERDICT: August 22 - The jury found Curtis Neal Buell guilty on 15 counts of sexual abuse of two 17 year old female students That's 11 counts of sex abuse in the third degree and four counts of sex abuse in the second degree.
He will have to register as a sex offender. He will be sentenced October 17.
SENTENCED Oct 31 - Buell was sentenced to two years in prison, followed by five years supervised probation and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Frenchtown, NEW JERSEY
Oct 30, 2007 - The Delaware Valley Regional High School District Superintendent resigned amid financial misconduct allegations, and the board passed information to the prosecutor's office. He was suspended with pay Sept 11.
By resigning, he avoided the possibility of having tenure charges filed against him by the school board. He remains eligible for his pension, which would amount to an estimated $38,919 per year.
He came to Delaware Valley in 1994 from the Moonachie school district, where he was also business administrator. He was charged with theft and official misconduct stemming from his work in that Bergen County district. He was tried there in 1997 and acquitted.
Wyckoff, NEW JERSEY
Oct 30, 2007 - The Feds have indicted Glenn O'Neill, a Wyckoff school director of facilities, with two counts of mail fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to overcharge the district to get a contractor to install window curtains at his home. The FBI wired the contractor.
Interestingly, O'Neill is said not to be the subject of the investigation that led to his arrest.
The judge ordered O'Neill to surrender a shotgun and .38-caliber handgun to police within 24 hours.
Press Releases from the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey are a never ending source of information about elected officials in that state. You can find press releases from all their offices at the Contact Information page.
Memphis, TENNESSEE
Oct 30, 2007 - FEDERAL PROBE School board members testified in front of a grand jury in the federal probe into Memphis City Schools. Federal investigators are questioning a $50 million school building contract for which a Shelby County Commissioner was paid consulting fees to help a construction firm win the contract to build three new city schools.
AUDIT There is also an internal investigation into Memphis schools cafeterias where 343 tons of food - $600,000 worth of food was thrown away. And it cost them $9,000 to do it. And there were multi-million dollar losses. A preliminary audit shows James Jordan, spent more than $83,000 for new furniture and Direct TV for himself and other employees. Jordan and his staff work in a building that was just built and furnished in 2003.
Jordan also spent another $86,000 for out of town trips and professional development.
And the audit shows purchase orders were kept under $10,000 to circumvent state law that requires a fair bidding process. Jordan resigned under pressure Oct 11.
School Board Commissioner Rev. Kenneth Whalum wants to know why Jordan's superiors weren't aware of the problems.
"One of them is now the superintendent in Boston and the other just announced he's leaving for Boston," he said. "So where does the buck stop and who is responsible?"
That explains the Boston Globe interest in the probe.
Quick look at the preliminary audit found at WREG 3.
Preliminary Audit found at WREG 3.
Hawley, MINNESOTA
Oct 30, 2007 - Gregory Nelson, 44, a high school wrestling coach, was sentenced to 90 days in jail for sending lewd text messages to a female high school student and discussing inappropriate topics with her.
Nelson earlier pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct of a public official and one count of making obscene or harassing phone calls. Other charges were dismissed as part of a plea bargain.
Nelson told the judge what he did was "stupid and irreponsible."
“It was more than stupid and irresponsible, it was criminal,” [Judge Galen] Vaa replied, adding the court found the behavior outlined in court papers “extremely concerning.”
Full Name: Gregory Scott Nelson
Ocean City, NEW JERSEY
GUILTY PLEA Oct 30, 2007 - Thomas 'Truck' Harris, 52, admitted that he molested a young boy in 1991 when he was the boy's baseball coach. He pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual contact, a third-degree crime, involving a 13-year-old boy. He will be sentenced Nov 16.
JURY VERDICT: On June 13, an Atlantic County jury found Harris guilty of sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal sexual contact in connection with the abuse of another victim. Harris befriended the 12-year-old victim and his family through their church affiliation. He was sentenced to 18 years for those charges.
Harris was found to be a repetitive and compulsive offender by evaluators at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center at Avenel, which treats sex offenders.Superior Court Judge Michael A. Donio called Harris a "manipulative, cunning, deceptive con-man extraordinaire who is a classic child predator."
Assistant Prosecutor Marian Ragusa said Monday that Interpol, the international policing organization based in Belgium, is also investigating Harris in connection with child abuse cases in the Phillippines.
SENTENCED - Sentenced to 18 years in prison. No early release. He will serve 85% of his sentence. Source: New Jersey Superior Court Conviction Records found at the Daily Journal Link
Holland, MICHIGAN
Oct 30, 2007 - Kevin Wolters, 36, a boys soccer coach at Holland Calvary Schools, was sentenced to 270 days in jail for using a computer to accost a child for immoral purposes and using a computer to disseminate sexually explicit material to a minor.
He was caught in an Internet sting by the Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Wolters earlier was sentenced to a jail term in the Detroit area for contact with the Macomb task force. He admitted he was hooked on "Internet sex," and thought he was soliciting sex from two 14-year-old girls to whom he sent sexually explicit images of himself.
He was also placed on five years' probation and must register as a sex offender.
Lehigh Acres, FLORIDA
ALL CHARGES DROPPED and RECORD EXPUNGED.
Oct 30, 2007 - Charges dropped and record expunged for Florida teacher.
Sex charges have been dropped and the arrest has been expunged against a Lehigh Acres teacher.TT - He is unnamed because we never previously reported the arrest.
[The 24-year-old teacher] had been arrested November 9, 2006 and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation. He had been accused of sexual assault of a female student under 16 according to a Lee County Sheriff's office report.
The State Attorney's office reduced the charge to misdemeanor battery in January, according to court records. The misdemeanor charge has since been dropped. too.
The State Attorney's office ordered the Lee County Sheriff's Department to expunge all information concerning the arrest or criminal history record against [the teacher].
Raleigh, NORTH CAROLINA
Oct 30, 2007 - In an unusual move, school authorities released the confidential personnel file of a teacher.
Earlier this year the teacher was disciplined for inviting a controversial speaker to his Social Studies class at Enloe. Monday he asked the school board to clear his employment record that's been blemished because of this incident.It's the first time the district has released personnel records on a teacher in 20 years.
He's also fighting for his old Social Studies job at Enloe, to receive back pay and to have a 12-page reprimand by superintendent removed from his personnel file. Instead the school board released his personnel file.
In the personnel files released Wednesday morning Superintendent Del Burns wrote Escamilla's students, "did little or no work in the class, did not have assigned textbooks, did not have homework and rarely read from the textbook."The board released the files to defend their actions in transferring the teacher to another school. The move was strongly opposed by the teacher and supporters. The teacher says attorneys on both sides agreed not to release the file. The school board denies this.
The report goes on to say Escamilla was "unable to produce grades for most of your classes at mid-term."
Burns added in the report that several incidents "suggest a pattern of ridiculing students whose beliefs or backgrounds differ," from Escamilla's. At that point in the report Burns suggested transferring Escamilla to Mary Phillips High School, "Despite serious doubts about your [Escamilla] fitness to teach in the Wake County Schools."
His principal's review is filled with unsatisfactory remarks saying he lacks structure, gave students little to no work and they often watched films, including a sex education movie in world history class. He says he was teaching about AIDS in Africa.
The teacher is thinking about suing for slander.
Background story of controversy is titled, "E-mail thanks enemy of Islam" Sub: "The teacher seemed to bless evangelism."
Also see site supporting Escamilla and timeline and links to many documents, including his 2006 evaluation and 2007 evaluations. They are especially worthy of comparing. The fact that the school board released only the part of his file that included their criticism of him since the "controversy" seem particularly unfair. In response, Escamilla has released documents to the newspaper and online showing his awards, including certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. He also appeared in the 2005 edition of “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.” .
TT - It makes you wonder if he had slandered Christianity, campaigned for gay rights for third graders, called for the downfall of the American government, had sex with every female in the classroom, if his personnel records would have been released. One suspects they would not have been.
The union disagreed with the release of portions of the teacher's personnel records.
The controversal speaker? A local Christian Egyptian who spoke out against Islamic violence.
Gig Harbor, WASHINGTON
Oct 30, 2007 - Scott M. Bender, a school bus driver for the Peninsula School District, was arrested and booked for investigation of two counts of first-degree child molestation.
According to a statement of probable cause, the investigation began last week when the girl's mother contact a teacher at the school and said her daughter told her that she had been touched inappropriately by Bender.The girl is four-years-old.
The child told a police investigator that alleged abuse occurred on the bus after she was picked up at her bus stop on October 9. When interviewed by Pierce County sheriff's detectives, the documents say Bender initially denied all of the allegations but later admitted to exposing himself to the girl.
Oct 31 - Bender pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors contend he touched the girl inappropriately and had her touch him, according to charging documents.
Bender told detectives he exposed himself to the child to show her the difference between boys and girls but denies there was any touching involved, the charging documents state.
Dothan, Alabama
Trust Us With Your Children
August 23, 2007 - A 47-year-old Rehobeth Middle School teacher was suspended for three days for after being arrested on a charge related to a pistol found in his vehicle on school property.
Alabama has some of the weakest gun laws in the nation and does not restrict adults from carrying concealed firearms onto school grounds. However, the federal Gun-Free Schools Act bars individuals from keeping firearms in their vehicles on school property unless the weapon is kept unloaded and locked away.
A school resource officer spotted the weapon through an open window in Martin's vehicle. The vehicle was unlocked. The gun was loaded.
SENTENCED Oct 30 - The teacher pleaded guilty to bringing a gun on school grounds. He told a judge he had used the .45 caliber pistol during a weekend outing in Florida and forgot to remove the weapon from his vehicle. He was sentenced to a 10 day suspended sentence. He will keep his job.
Fordyce, ARKANSAS
Oct 30, 2007 - A parole hearing for a third-grade teacher sentenced to ten years for sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl was unsuccessful for Brian Floss, 44. The board denied him parole.
The family of the girl testified at the hearing.
He was initially charged with rape, but he struck a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to sexual assault.It is the second time they have had to testify to keep him behind bars. He has served five years.
Then, after receiving a lesser sentence, the former Wallace Elementary teacher now claims he's not guilty.
(Richard Watts, Victim's Attorney) “Now what he's trying to do is be released, saying that he has been rehabilitated. But he can't have it both ways. He's got to admit that he was lying. He got to admit that he sexually abused this child.”
. . . Victim's Mother) “Brian Floss was a third-grade teacher in Fordyce School District. He messed with these little girls day-in and day-out inside his classroom, during class hours. And to me, he's a very dangerous man.”
Monday, October 29, 2007
Little Rock, ARKANSAS
Oct 29, 2007 - Little Rock Police arrested a bus driver as she was waiting for a bus to load to take students home. Another bus driver noticed her acting funny and notified a teacher and the police were called. She was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.
Cabot hired Clark this past August. She has two previous DWIs, but this is information the school couldn't get at when she was hired.It won't stop the district from hiring others whose criminal history isn't known.
[Cabot Superintendent Dr. Tony Thurman] says her criminal background check that he submitted in August still hasn't come back from the backlogged state police.
Being strapped for drivers, Thurman says even after this incident, he still won't be able to wait for background check results before hiring.An assistant principal drove the bus back to the school. Reportedly, state police are moving to an electronic background check system where school districts can have information back within one to two days.
Thurman says, "It usually takes a couple weeks to one month to get the background check back, but needing employees and especially bus drivers in every district, we have to hire them and then submit their criminal background check and hope we get it back as soon as possible."
TT - Sounds odd because the DMV in most states can get DWI information to a patrol car in what seems like 20 seconds at a routine traffic stop. They can't do the same for a bus driver for a school district?
Perspective
Just so you can compare the absurd sentencing in the story directly below, there is this six month sentence in Ithaca, New York.
Oct 29, 2007 -
The former Cornell student convicted of felony animal abuse will spend six months in jail for his crime. Since Alexander Atkind is already serving six months in Tioga County jail for drug charges, his time behind bars has doubled.He was facing up to two years.
Alexander Atkind, 23, arrived at court Tuesday already wearing a jail-issued suit. Last month, Atkind pleaded guilty to aggravated cruelty to animals. He admitted to pouring bleach on a dog named Princess and beating her with cord back in March.
Princess spent several weeks at the Cornell Animal Hospital and at the SPCA, where she was treated for deep lacerations and chemical burns.
"This is a huge win for the animals. I think this went from what was originally a misdemeanor to a felony conviction and I think that's great," said Tompkins County SPCA Director Abigail Smith.
TT - He could have had sex with an 11-year-old and gotten the same sentence and less criticism.
Queens, NEW YORK
Do you get the feeling that without sex offender registration laws these people would be hardly inconvenienced for their crimes?
May 18, 2007 - Lois Enden, 55, a school aide at P.S. 196, was arrested and charged with the statutory rape of an 11-year-old boy more than seven years ago. She is being held, pending arraignment on five counts of second-degree rape and two counts of second-degree sodomy. If convicted, she faces up to seven years in prison.
It is alleged that she had sexual intercourse with him at both of their homes at various times between 1999 and June 2000, when he graduated from fifth grade and left the school. The district attorney said that an investigation began approximately four weeks ago when the victim, now 19, met the Enden by chance and told a friend what had allegedly occurred while he was a student at P.S. 196 . The friend, in turn, convinced the victim to report the incident to police.
1010WINS: Because of a law passed in 1996, there is no statute of limitations in this case, only a five-year limit of prosecution from the date of disclosure of the incident, not from the date of occurrence.
May 19 - New York Post reports that as part of the police investigation, the victim wore a wire recorded Enden apologizing for her actions. She told the teen she "regretted it all these years," and that she was abused herself by her sixth-grade teacher, and perhaps was "mirroring" that experience, according to Assistant District Attorney Ken Applebaum.
GUILTY PLEA July 23 - Enden pleaded guilty to second-degree rape. She will be sentenced August 20. The likely sentence is six months in jail and five years probation.
SENTENCED Oct 29 - Enden was sentenced to six months in jail - not prison - for raping an 11-year-old boy. She was also sentenced to ten years of probation and must register as a sex offender.
At the time of her arrest Enden was married and the mother of two adult children.
"The abuse continued until he finished fifth grade and left the school." Charming.
Wilmington, DELAWARE
Sentenced Praised by judge.
June 13, 2007 - Barry M. Young, 53, president and treasurer of the Delaware State Education Association** (teachers union), pleaded guilty to two counts of making a false statement related to an outstanding $163,000 student loan.
Prosecutors charged that Young lied to investigators and gave misleading statements on federal forms to conceal his income in an effort to apparently obtain better repayment terms on his outstanding debt.
**News article describes him as treasurer and president of "Christiana teacher's union." The Delaware State Education ASsociation describes him as Ex-DSEA.
(And, yes, the age is correct.)
June 14 - The News Journal:
The original loan from the 1980s was for about $86,000, according to Battaglia. But the debt, due to interest and penalties grew to about $300,000 by 1996, according to attorneys.He'll be sentenced in September.
According to court papers, Young misidentified himself as "David Garvin" to federal agents and denied that Barry Young was employed as a teacher. Prosecutors charged Young also failed to note he was a teacher on federal documents and had a joint income with his wife of more than $141,600.
SENTENCED Oct 29 - From the News Journal (Delaware)
Federal prosecutors pressed for incarceration, citing Barry M. Young’s repeated lies to federal regulators, and then to investigators, about an outstanding $158,500 student loan debt. But District Judge Gregory M. Sleet said a review of Young’s long teaching career, service to the union and letters from his past colleagues and students showed this was an “aberration.”“TT - Three guesses as to who appointed this judge. Time's up.
You are a person of integrity and character,” Sleet told Young.
The judge said he disagreed sharply with the evaluation of prosecutors that jail time was appropriate in the case and handed down a sentence that was not only below federal sentencing guidelines, which called for six to 12 months in prison, but also below the five years of probation that Young’s attorney requested.
Sleet said he agreed with Young’s attorney Victor F. Battaglia Sr. that Young already paid a heavy price for his crimes, which had nothing to do with his union position. Since the charges against Young were announced, Sleet noted Young has been publicly humiliated and dismissed from his positions with the union and his job as a teacher in the Christina School District.
Battaglia said his client is seeking to appeal his termination and a union decision not to support Young in that effort.The judge chastised Young for his behavior, saying he had only himself to blame. Sleet also lamented the fact that, as a result of Young’s actions, the school system may have lost an experienced African-American male teacher, or as Sleet put it, “people … who look like you and me,” who are needed to help guide young men to make the right decisions in life. Both Sleet and Young are black.
Spring, TEXAS
Oct 29, 2007 - Alison Mosbeck, 34*, a history teacher at Dueitt Middle School, was arrested Friday and charged with having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.
She faces one count of inappropriate relationship between teacher and student and three counts of felony sexual assault.
From Click2Houston:
A probable cause affidavit showed that a friend's mother saw a text message that the teacher sent to the eighth-grader, allegedly asking him if he knew where she could get some marijuana.and
Court documents said that Mosbeck started a sexual relationship with the boy in November 2006, when Mosbeck took the boy to Pioneer Days, a festival in Humble.From the Houston Chronicle: Mosbek resigned. She's been on paid administrative leave since the district received the complaint the week of Oct. 8. Her next court date is scheduled for Nov. 29.
"The defendant was taking the complainant home from Pioneer Days and while in the car, the defendant performed a sex act on the complainant," the court document said.
The affidavit also said, "Mosbeck performed another sex act on the teenager in the cell phone lot on Lee Road near Intercontinental Airport."
She also allegedly drove the boy to two motels where they had sex as recently as March 18, officials said.
Mosbeck, a mother of two children.
[In Texas, it is illegal for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with a student even if the student is of the age of consent.]
*age also listed as 32 or 33 in some stories.
Photo from Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Mandeville, LOUISIANA
Today's lesson for sixth graders. Usually, it is either PTA presidents or treasurers.
Oct 29, 2007 - Gabriel C. Hood, 28, a sixth grade teacher at Tchefuncte Middle School, was arrested for allegedly stealing money from a student community service group.
The sixth-grade teacher was in charge of the school's Builder's Club, which conducts and sometimes raises money for community service projects and charities, said school district spokeswoman Linda Roan.Hood, who was booked on two counts of felony theft and one count of misdemeanor theft, resigned.
Police said Hood collected money from club members and during fundraisers for needy families, but kept most of the money -- over $1,000 -- for himself and bought a $400 camera with the club's money.
Jan 10, 2008 - Hood was arraigned on reduced charges. He is charged with two counts of unauthorized use of a movable, a misdemeanor charge that carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $500 fine. Hood pleaded innocent to the charges.
He resigned Sept 27.
GUILTY PLEA AND SENTENCING March 10 - Hood pleaded guilty to two counts of unauthorized use of a movable and was ordered to pay a $300 fine, plus court costs, and serve a year of probation. He must pay restitution. It is a misdeameanor.
Teacher Misconduct
Oct 28, 2007 - Another Associated Press story, "Abuse accusations don't keep teachers from classrooms" tells its own story.
Dropout Rates
Oct 29, 2007 - The Las Vegas Sun on proposals to modify the No Child Left Behind Act to reduce dropout rates in schools. The story was written by an Associated Press education writer.
FACT: "Dropout Factory,*" a high school where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. That description fits more than one in 10 high schools across America. [* The term was coined in a John Hopkins University study commissioned by the Associated Press.]
FACT: The highest concentration of dropout factories is in large cities or high-poverty rural areas in the South and Southwest. Most have high proportions of minority students.
FACT: Utah, which has low poverty rates and fewer minorities than most states, is the only state without a dropout factory. Florida and South Carolina have the highest percentages.
According to the writer, House and Senate proposals to renew the 5-year-old No Child law would give high schools more federal money and put more pressure on them to improve on graduation performance, and the Bush administration supports that idea.
The issue of Dropout Rates is the new mantra in education that will warrant new expenditures, although there is absolutely no correlation between money spent on education and academic achievement. (New Jersey schools and Washington, DC schools come to mind.]
However, there is something to be said for the desirability of tracking students and standardizing on the methods of reporting dropout rates. This is something states should have, and could have, instituted years ago if they so desired. It should not require federal funding.
The AP story does not link to a source for the dropout rates in their story. We found this source. (Be sure to view the figures as numerical as well.) At School Matters.com we found an explanation of what graduation rates mean, which will give you some idea of the confusion involved in the calculations of both dropout rates and graduation rates.
Previous TT coverage of Dropout Rates Here Here
San Jose, CALIFORNIA
It's only taxpayers' money. But they have a LOT of it.
Oct 29, 2007 - The San Jose Mercury News has a 2,130-word story on the resignation of the Santa Clara County Office of Education Superintendent.
The board's final settlement with the former superintendent gives her about $485,000 in severance pay and allows her to work on board assignments. But no project has materialized. The board won't be actively looking for anyone to offer one, either. She resigned before the "retirement" agreement they were negotiating could be settled.
The county office of education has a $277 million budget.
[TT - The article doesn't state if the $485,000 was money that was owed to her from her contract that would be paid whether she stayed or not, or whether it was a contractual obligation from termination. Or some other payout. In any case, it's high drama in Silicon Valley.]
School of Secrets
Oct 29, 2007 - A Canadian filmmaker who can sympathize with the victims of Tom Ellison, the recently-sentenced teacher who lead Quest, an outdoor experience program, at Vancouver High School, has made a documentary to record the testimony of his victims.
The film is called, "School of Secrets."
Many of the women in the film still have a hard time coping the confusion of what happened decades earlier.Wood knows because she, too, had a sexual relationship with a teacher when she was young.
The recollection of the teenage excitement and adrenaline they felt during their first sexual experience with the "dreamy" teacher is now combined with the grown-up knowledge that what Ellison was doing was wrong."
These women have struggled, that's for sure," [filmaker Melanie] Wood said. "They went into it, maybe at the beginning not quite knowing what they were getting into but they certainly didn't say no at the time. So they feel like it was partly their fault. I think that's been damaging for them."
As a teenage girl, you think you're in control of your life, but in this case it's a question of power and authority, and that line shouldn't have been crossed. It really wasn't their decision to make, but they felt it was.
The film will air on CBC Newsworld this week. Interview with Wood.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Investigating in New York State
Oct 18, 2007 - The Press & Sun-Bulletin, "Student sex abuse by teachers is growing problem" has this about investigations in New York state.
New York investigates cases under Part 83 of state Education Law. The law requires school districts to report to the state any action by a certified educator that raises a reasonable question about that person's moral character, [Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the state Education Department] said.The number of moral conduct accusations against teachers, administrators and aides in New York has doubled in five years, according to state Education Department reports.
Following a report, the state Office of School Personnel Review and Accountability does an investigation that can lead to a range of penalties, including revocation of a teaching certificate, Burman said. To handle the misconduct cases, the department has six investigators and three attorneys. An average case costs local taxpayers nearly $129,000 and takes 520 days to complete.
At the same time, an individual school district can file separate charges against a teacher under 3020-a, the state's mechanism for disciplining tenured teachers. The charges can lead to a range of punishments, including termination of employment.
Disgusting
Trust the New York Times-owned Boston Globe to champion the wife of Maine's Attorney General for her support of Portland's proposed policy to supply birth control and abortions to 11-year-olds.
Oct 28, 2007 - Even while district attorney Stephanie Anderson is warning the school health clinics that that they were illegally failing to report underage sex, the Boston Globe profiled Amanda Rowe and her outspoken support for the program. Their source was a glowing article in the Portland Press Herald.
TT - In an age where readers were allowed input into newspapers, when facts were eagerly explored, topics debated, and ethics and morality were guidelines and active quests for most people, the school attorney, not the flamboyant activist, would have been profiled as a champion of decency.
Rowe and her husband have four children.
These are the middle schools in Portland, Maine. Not one is academically decent. They can provide sex education, condoms, abortions and birth control to every student if they want, but it isn't going to help students learn to read or find joy in education. It won't help students achieve self-sufficiency in this world, for themselves or their future families.
King Middle School ** the school for which the policy is proposed
66% white 19% black 11% Asian
Rates a 6
473 students
Lincoln Middle School
75% white 12% Asian 9% black 3% Hispanic
Rates a 5
513 students
Lyman Moore Middle School
88% white 5% black 5% Asian 1% Hispanic
Rates a 5
591 students
West School
83% white 8% black 4% Hispanic 4% Amer Indian
Unrated
49 students
Some 41% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program in the entire school district. In King Middle School, the figure is 61%.
What is becoming abundantly clear about such policies is that they are, at heart, eugenics disguised as a caring social policy. It's all right for Rowe and her husband to have four children, but clearly other people should limit their reproduction. That is the point of birth control for children. Teach them NOT to have children. Teach them early how to terminate children as casually as you take out the garbage.
And then count on those same children to drop out before high school because, academically, they haven't been prepared for anything else. Look at the graduation rates for this district (from Standard & Poor's Schoolmatters.com)
In a state where the general population is 95% white, it is very, very hard not to conclude that those in power would like to keep it that way.
Background
See the following for background on the school policy. Link Link
In the 1890s when public schools were formed, the overriding goal was to take uneducated immigrant populations, assimilate them, teach them values that would make them middle class, give them academic skills that would be a ladder for social mobility, and teach them respect for others and themselves.
Schools taught students how to think for themselves, how to speak in public, formulate ideas of their own. Schools equipped students for a future of their own choosing that didn't include overpriced, mediocre colleges hyped by supermarket magazines, a non-education that burdens them with a school loan debt for years and the only skill they learn is how to pass mediocrity onto others via the classroom.
Teaching an 11-year-old how to take birth control pills, seek an abortion at school without parents being any the wiser, encouraging adult males to prey on young girls without the inconvenience of that nasty pregnancy, all with government approval, is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
Cliffside Park, NEW JERSEY
Kudos to the teacher who notified school authorities.
Oct 28, 2007 - Robert Ingenito, 27, a Cliffside Park High School English teacher, was arrested, accused of having a seven-month-long sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student.
Police where notified when another teacher told a school official about the relationship. The school official contacted police.
Romagnino said the teacher who alerted the district to Ingenito's relationship made the right decision.Ingenito will be arraigned on Nov 1.
"I think it was professional on her part, that when she suspected something, she came to the administration and spoke out about it," he said. "Maybe moral and professional."
Ingenito has a blogspot webpage. (The last entry was in 2005.)
Oct 30 - Ingenito has been released on $200,000 bail and suspended with pay pending the outcome of his case. He'll be arraigned later this week.
NOT GUILTY PLEA Nov 2 - Ingenito pleaded not guilty. The headline at the story says, "Cliffside Park teacher pleads guilty" but the story says otherwise.
The age of consent in New Jersey is 16, but there are prohibitions on teacher-student relationships that carry criminal charges if violated.Ingenito has been suspended with pay.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Headlines
HEADLINE
From CBS. It's more eye catching than
Sub: For Expoitative Sex with 16-year-old for two years
However, CBS is a contender for next years award, along with this one.
WAIVERS
Oct 27, 2007 - The Oklahoman conducted an investigation into day care centers and the people who were given waivers to be in them.
The waivers were issued by the state Department of Human Services. You won't believe the people they consider safe to be around children.
We just bet, however, that most people are not aware that state education agencies grant waivers to allow those with criminal records to teach.
It was a Rant of the Day in July. And we have found such waivers in several states, usually in the Board of Education meeting minutes.
See at TT - Arkansas Education Link (with links to three more meetings with waivers.)
But for sheer stupidity, there is the Oregon Senate Education and General Government that passed a bill out of that committee to allow schools to hire teachers who have been convicted of misdemeanor prostitution in the past. TT - Link
It isn't about forgiveness. It's about the protection of children and the gamble that states take with the safety of children not their own.
Friday, October 26, 2007
St. Paul, MINNESOTA
We'll get around to investigating this guy some time.
Oct 26, 2007 - Miguel Angel Sanchez, 29, a contract school bus driver for St. Paul school district, was charged with molesting an 18-year-old special education student on a bus. [He has been charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct.]
Two younger girls reported that he also touched them inappropriately, but he wasn't charged in those cases.
A 9-year-old girl reported she was the only student left on the bus when the driver asked her on March 27 whether she wanted to go to McDonald's. She said, "no." When the driver dropped her off, he touched the girl on the buttocks. The girl reported the incident April 13.St. Paul police haven't been able to find Sanchez and there is a warrant out for his arrest.
A 10-year-old girl reported a school bus driver touched her on the buttocks on Dec. 4, according to police.
Both girls also picked Sanchez from a photo lineup.
On April 13, the district asked Monarch to no longer allow Sanchez to drive for them, said Howie Padilla, a St. Paul Public Schools spokesman.
There had been a previous complaint against Sanchez that was investigated, but didn't result in disciplinary action, Padilla said.
Anyone with information about Miguel Sanchez's whereabouts is asked to call St. Paul police at 651-291-1111.
Kalamazoo, MICHIGAN
They lost the marijuana plants and the grow lights and their jobs. They might lose their home for their felony convictions. But losing their teacher's licenses is not guaranteed. Go figure.
Oct 26, 2007 - Two teachers, Brett Johnson, 34, and Keri Johnson, 34, were sentenced Monday to probation after pleading guilty in August to manufacturing marijuana. After an anonymous tip, police found a marijuana growing operation in their basement.
Both Gull Lake High School teachers reisigned in August. Brett Johnson had been an English teacher at the school for 11 years. Keri Johnson spent 10 years at Gull Lake as a Spanish instructor. As the reporter wrote,
Now the Johnsons have lost their jobs at Gull Lake High School; they have a felony drug record, and they're at risk of losing their teacher's certifications and their home.**TT - That it's not a given that they will lose their certification after a felony conviction is sad as heck.
** As for their home, Kalamazoo County has filed a civil suit to seize the house under a state law that allows for the forfeiture of property used for drug operations. The civil case is still pending.
New Milford, CONNECTICUT
ARRESTED Nov 10, 2006 -
Richard Cea, 27, New Milford High School math teacher has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of second-degree sexual assault and impairing the morals of children.
The local paper reports that "during classes Mr. Cea allegedly chatted with female students and showed them his tattoos, belly button piercing and how he shaved his legs."
Cea is accused of meeting with the teen and her friend at his apartment while his girlfriend was out, Fletcher said. Cea served the girls Smirnoff Ice Blackberry coolers and had sex with them.
PLEA DEAL: From the Republican American, August 14, 2007 -
A former New Milford High School geometry teacher accused of having sex with a student and changing the grade of another who sent him photographs of herself wearing skimpy underwear took a plea deal Tuesday.He will be sentenced October 26.
The agreement Richard Cea accepted in Bantam Superior Court calls for him to serve at least three years in prison.
Cea, 27, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. He could receive up to six years in prison. [Missing at site] pleas came under the Alford Doctrine, meaning he did not agree with all of the facts in the case but figured a jury would find him guilty if it had gone to trial, where he could have received a stiffer penalty.
August 16 - Times New Media goes into greater detail on the case. The girls were 15-years-old.
SENTENCED Oct 26 - Cea was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. A discovery by the mother of a teenage girl triggered the investigation.
From a story on his arrest, the mother found a note about Cea in her daughter's bedroom.
"I can't believe I slept with Cea, EW! Lol But I was drunk and horny what can I do? Lol Still you can't say anthing cause you slept with him five times now EW! No it was weird to say the least!"One encounter had the three of them having sex.
Teacher Strike
Advocacy Journalism or laziness?
Oct 26, 2007 - In a story on the two-week old Seneca Valley teachers strike, the newspaper reporter quoted from one adult ("The demands of this union exceed what other professionals in this community can expect over the next five years.") and three students "who spoke in support of their teachers."
One student wants to give teachers a substantial raise. Another fully supports the teachers. A third appreciates his teachers, but said they need to get back to work.
TT - It is really tiresome to have newspapers skewer their stories by quoting from children who can't vote and don't pay taxes and can be counted upon to have no understanding of the issues. It's also cheap journalism because it's easy to find a school campus and idle students. It's even cheaper when the reporter doesn't tell you that the average teacher's salary in the Seneca Valley School District is nearly $55,000.
The average median income for residents in Harmony, Pennsylvania, is $44,622.
Why doesn't the reporter take the time to tell us what the tax rate is for residents in the school district? How much the school spends, not just on salary, but the health benefits, the paid time-off, the absentee rate? How many hours a day do teachers work, how many days a year? And compare all that to the taxpayer's salary, working hours, absentee policy at their workplace?
Newspapers don't do this because it takes time and it's far easier to talk to students.
In-service training
LEARNING CURVE
In the wake of recent allegations of teacher misconduct nationwide, the school district now offers a 45-minute in-service devoted entirely to student-teacher relationships.
Hatcher attended the session.