Despite state law requiring school officials to report any reasonable suspicions of immoral conduct by a licensed educator to the Department of Public Instruction, Hirsch's resignation agreement stipulated no report to the state be made. And they gave him a "neutral reference." That was 2006.
Jan 3, 2008 - Anthony J. Hirsch, 32, a teacher's assistant for special education students at Waunakee Middle School, was arrested on suspicion of downloading child pornography from a group of Web sites being monitored by federal investigators. 
The Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement contacted Madison police last month to let them know that Hirsch was a subject of interest in an investigation.
Hirsch formerly worked in a similar job at La Follette High School in Madison.
WKOW: "This isn't the first assistant teacher in trouble with the law this school year. Former Waunakee teachers aid [sic] Jacklyn Kaltenberg is charged with misdemeanors in connection with an underaged drinking party in October."
[TT - A police officer was fired for releasing police reports of the investigation to Waunakee School District Administrator Chuck Pursell while the investigation was still ongoing, then called the deputy director of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The reason given? Because the officer's son was on a rival football team. The reason seems odd to us.]
Correction: Town misspelled. Thank you, poster.
Feb 29 - WKOW investigative report (Feb 29) that uncovered the 2006 agreement received after they filed an state open records request.
Read the whole thing. It's great reporting.
In the January criminal complaint filed against Hirsch, authorities stated Hirsch admitted to being “ ‘addicted’ to pornography.” Hirsch is also charged with the repeated sexual assault of another LaFollette student in 2003 during her freshman and sophomore years, when she was 14. Authorities said Hirsch’s past actions with the girl were uncovered during the child pornography investigation.
From the Wisconsin State Journal : Hirsch was not reported in 2006.
Hirsch was allowed to quietly resign from the Madison School District in 2006 after a female student accused him of inappropriately touching her leg, according to interviews and public records.Madison Superintendent Art Rainwater said Thursday that Hirsch 's conduct in 2006 didn 't meet that threshold to trigger notifying DPI.
And a May 2006 agreement forbade Madison officials from notifying the state Department of Public Instruction of the girl 's accusations against Anthony Hirsch, who was a special education assistant at La Follette High School.
"The district agreed to the conditions set forth in the memorandum in return for Mr. Hirsch 's resignation because while the district had concerns arising out of Mr. Hirsch 's conduct, the conduct did not rise to the level of terminable offense, " Rainwater said in a statement.More importantly, the school had to agree to provide a "neutral reference for Hirsch.
"The district agreed that it would not file a report with the Department of Public Instruction regarding Mr. Hirsch because the conduct at issue was not of the nature that required a report be made. "
The agreement required the district to provide potential employers with a "neutral reference " of Hirsch limited to title, dates of employment and salary. It was signed by Hirsch, Madison Teachers Inc. Executive Director John Matthews and district Director of Labor Relations Duane McCrary.---------------------------
TRIAL - Jury selection to begin June 16, 2008 8:30 am
NO CONTEST PLEA June 5 - Hirsch pleaded no contest to the repeated sexual assault of a child. In exchange for his plea. prosecutors agreed to drop child pornography charges.
Despite state law requiring school officials to report any reasonable suspicions of immoral conduct by a licensed educator to the Department of Public Instruction, Hirsch's resignation agreement stipulated no report to the state be made. Madison schools superintendent Art Rainwater has said Hirsch's alleged actions did not rise to a level to trigger the mandatory reporting.During the investigation of the child pornography charges, police learned of his prior actions.
When detectives asked the young woman if she had been involved intimately with Hirsch, she hung her head and cried. The woman said that she was 14 and in the second semester of her freshman year at La Follette when she began an affair with Hirsch, meeting him often at his condominium near the school, where they would engage in sex.---------------
TT - Surely it is up to the district attorney to decide if the actions rose "to the level of mandatory reporting," not a school superintendent. How can you trust the word of a school district that made that kind of awful agreement?
That's the problem with school districts who conduct Our Own Investigation. They have neither the incentive nor the trained personnel to conduct a thorough investigation. They have no knowledge of the rules of evidence, and no knowledge of the laws that might have been broken and no authority to compel cooperation. And amazingly, most often, they never find the evidence or witnesses that police manage to find.
When the hell will that stop?
