Firing a tenured teacher can be co$tly.
June 28, 2008 - AP writer Frank Eltman on the cost of and frustration over disciplining a tenured teacher in "Removing a troubled teacher can be vexing." And not just vexing.
In New York City, it often costs taxpayers $250,000 just to fire one incompetent teacher. Some teachers are convicted of serious felonies and still remain on the payroll, forcing districts to hold disciplinary hearings behind prison walls.Read the whole thing.
They don't deserve a second chance "when those mistakes create some doubt about their ability to serve as examples for impressionable students."
June 28, 2008 - Editorial from the Reading Eagle Press, (Reading, PA) "School officials held to a higher standard.
Teachers and school administrators are among those in the community who must be held to a higher standard. Others include elected and appointed public officials, police and, yes, newspaper reporters and editors.Editorial prompted by:
These people hold positions of influence, and when they run afoul of the law, they forfeit the high moral ground on which they must stand if they are going to retain their jobs.
. . .
There is no doubt about it, a double standard exists. But those who enter the teaching field, as well as those who are in other fields with a high public profile, should have understood the restraints that would be placed on them when they selected their careers.
As a result they cannot expect to be given a second chance when they make mistakes, especially when those mistakes create some doubt about their ability to serve as examples for impressionable students.
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.
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.
June 28, 2008 - Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary school teacher Marcelito Creer was arrested on charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, criminal sexual contact of a minor and intimidation of a witness.
He is accused of inappropriate touching of an 8-year-old boy. The boy’s family reported that he was molested by Creer during an overnight party for children within the Tohatchi community on May 25. Creer is a family friend.
The family waited some time to contact authorities out of concern for their child and because they did not want to bring any embarrassment to the Philippine community. [TT No idea what this means, except that perhaps Creer is Filipino? And how big of a Filipino community can they have on a reservation? See Filipino teacher recruitment scam in Texas entry.]
The family recently met with local residents who encouraged them to contact authorities. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 8.
--------------------------
WE FOUND:
Creer teaches at Chooshgai (spelled CH’OOSHGAI) School. (2001 Annual Report Card (pg 50)from Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education.)
May 17, 2008 - Chooshgai, a puzzling deserted desert community (Reuters)
Totally deserted town. No explanation.
June 23, 2008 - HBO Documentary: Hard Times at Douglass High (article title)
Letter found at Pinoy Teachers Network ("We are professional educators.)"
Written to Baltimore City, Prince George’s County and District of Columbia Public School Teachers.
I write to you both as your immigration attorney and as a grateful Citizen of the United States. As I have told many of you on several occasions, you and your certified teacher colleagues from the Philippines and elsewhere are helping to rescue America ’s educational system from the depths of despair. Thank you for doing what you do.The writer encourages the city and school districts to urge employees to watch the documentary.
June 27, 2008 - Shelley High School teacher Steven G. Best, 55, will stand trial for felony grand theft on July 28. He is accused of stealing more than $9,000 from the Idaho Journalism Adviser's Association. He was treasurer for the local student advisor's association.
He was formally charged on March 14 after an audit. The school allowed him to finish out the semester before he was taken into custody on April 10.
The Association has filed a civil suit against him for the missing funds and attorney costs.
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Bingham County
June 27, 2008 - The former Overton Independent School District superintendent pleaded guilty to theft of property by a public servant.
Mark Stretcher was sentenced to five years deferred adjudication.
Stretcher resigned in January, one day after school board members met to discuss his contract. A district audit last year year revealed possible missing Overton ISD funds. The Texas Education Agency began an investigation. About two weeks ago, TEA forwarded its findings report to the district attorney’s office.
The case was on the docket for the next grand jury when Stretcher pleaded guilty. As part of his sentencing he must make restitution. He also has surrendered his Texas teacher certification.
We had to start a new category for band teachers a while back. 
Jan 10, 2007 - Jeremy Calvert, 20, assistant band teacher at Higley 
High School, was arrested on charges he molested a female student. A preliminary is scheduled for Jan 19. A Gilbert police spokesman said, "This is not a teacher-student romance." Police believe there may be other victims.
TT - An odd note from KOLD news. "Calvert was an employee of the Higley Unified School District from August 2005 until December. After departing, he asked to return as a volunteer."
NEVER FINGERPRINTED Jan 11 - ABC15 reports: A spokeswoman for the Gilbert Unified School District says Calvert was never fingerprinted for a background check. (TT - turns out that 53 employees who should have been fingerprinted, weren't. Entry)
FINGERPRINT POLICY Jan 11 - The Arizona Republic reports: A district policy allows staff to work without fingerprints on file as long as they are supervised when with students. The school has launched an audit of all Higley High staff fingerprint cards. (TT-but he previously worked for the school.)
The school will begin student workshops this week to remind students of their rights and expectations for teacher and staff conduct. An emergency staff meeting was called to remind teachers of proper conduct.
SECOND INCIDENT Disturbingly, the newspaper recalls, that this is the second incident in four years involving sexual contact between a staffer and a student at Higley High. In June 2003, Higley High choir teacher Benjamin LeMere, 27, was sentenced to jail for three months, put on lifetime probation and required to register as a sex offender. LeMere had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old student and a DNA test revealed that he was the father of the girl's child.
Police are investigating information that Calvert may have assaulted other students
STUDENT COMPLAINT Jan 11 - A sidebar here includes comments from girl who knew a band student who complained to the vice-principal about e-mails and text messaging and was told because she didn't have proof they wouldn't do anything. "I think now that this has happened they have no choice, but I think it could have been prevented if they'd looked into it earlier."
Full name: Jeremy Ross Calvert
Feb 14 - A student alleges that the band director ignored warnings last year about a band assistant accused of sexually assaulting a girl on campus. The girl who accused him of rape said there was “no consequence” for the text messages because the band director believed his assistant over the students.
The band director later told his principal that he was never told about the text messages, the police report shows. However, Calvert told police that band director was notified of the text messages. But Calvert said the messages were simply an effort to make friends with the students.
TRIAL SCHEULED Apr 10 - Calvert's trial is set for June 4 in the Superior Court of Arizona.
Dec 16 - Calvert's trial is scheduled to begin Jan 14, 2008. (Source: Database from the East Valley Tribune)
GUILTY PLEA June 25, 2008 - Calvert reached a plea agreement a month ago to plead guilty to two counts of sexual conduct with a minor, dropping seven counts of the same charge. He will be sentenced June 26.
The case was initially treated as a rape; however, court records show further investigation revealed the sex was likely consensual. A grand jury then charged Calvert with nine counts of sexual conduct with a minor. The case fueled a political battle that has divided the school board and Higley Unified School District administration to this day.
SENTENCED June 27 - Calvert was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday. Calvert also will be placed on lifetime probation and have to register as a sex offender.
The judge admonished Calvert. After Calvert finished his statement, the judge said: "Throughout the proceedings, you have tended to minimize your involvement in this" and issued the tough sentence.
Judge David Udall noted that Calvert had misused his position as a trusted teacher's aide and the incident occurred on school grounds - violating the professional trust and responsibilities of such a position.
Two district employees resigned in light of the incident. [No explanation.]
Crisis intervention teacher charged with assault.
June 27, 2008 - A crisis intervention teacher at Public School 54 in Queens, was accused of punching a 12-year-old student in the head and putting him into a choke hold.
Scott Antwork, 58, pleaded not guilty to charges of third-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree harassment. Prosecutors said the veteran teacher also grabbed the student's right arm and pushed him onto a table during the incident last week. The student suffered a cut on his chin and neck, and his arm and leg were bruised.
Antwork is to appear in court again July 31.
Full Name: Scott M. Antwork
------------
Queens District Attorney Press Release (dated June 26, 2008)
July 3 - 2 Richmond Hill Teachers Head To Court This Month
Antwork’s next court date on July 31, the first thing his lawyer, Andrew Stoll, intends to do is “explore whether this student is even competent to swear out an affidavit and take an oath.”TT - Since when do newspapers name a 12-year-old boy???!!! And why do you get the feeling those "sources" are the lawyer and the teacher?
According to sources familiar with the case, Lopez is an emotionally disturbed special education student who has been suspended from the school for various offenses at least five times. Apparently, [the boy] bit Antwork two days prior to the alleged assault, forcing him to obtain medical attention, one source said.
Stoll believes that the authorities are “rushing to judgment” in this case. “Mr. Antwork acted appropriately in trying to defuse this situation, and it’s a pity that the authorities blindly made an arrest out of fear and self-preservation,” he said. The fear, he added, is of lawsuits and headlines that could result if they don’t take action.
“This is really punishing a teacher for doing his job,” Stoll said. “He’s a professional: he stepped in to calm a situation, to calm and deal with an out-of-control student, which is exactly what his job is.” Stoll is calling on the prosecutors to “reconsider their prosecution of a good teacher on the word of a bad student,” as well as to “demonstrate that Lopez understands the nature of an oath and the significance of the statements he’s made.”
Arrested hours before her funeral.
June 27, 2008 - John Kastner, 50, an English teacher at Webster High School, told authorities that intruders killed his wife 
Lori Kastner, 44, was a former attorney for the Oklahoma Supreme Court. She was shot several times in the head. Kastner was shot in the hand in what he said was a struggle with the intruder.
John Kastner told police Wednesday that the intruder apparently was looking for an acquaintance of his 19-year-old daughter, who was not home at the time. Two other children, age 9 and 15, were in the home at the time of the shooting.
John Kastner recently voluntarily resigned as the school's co-athletic director, a district spokeswoman said Wednesday, but other coaches would not comment about why he resigned.
June 27 - Homicide probe 'intensive' (Tulsa World)
June 27 - Husband arrested hours before murdered wife's funeral (KJHR2)
June 27 - Wife's slaying was part of a cover-up, police say (The Oklahoman)
Kastner told police he woke up about 4 a.m. Wednesday to find an intruder holding his gun, which he said he had left on a table next to a plastic bag containing $5,000. Police discovered he bought the gun 8 days before she was shot, and that he “test fired” the weapon at 3 a.m. the previous day, to see whether any neighbors heard the shot and reported it.A high school teacher allegedly shot his sleeping wife twice in the head to cover up his lies and delusions involving claims that he was a member of the Israeli Special Forces and had access to millions from a phony charitable corporation associated with the Israeli military, according to an arrest affidavit filed today.
. . .
The court affidavit says she quit her job last month to go to work for John Kastner’s fictional nonprofit organization.
TOP STORY OF THE DAY
June 27, 2008 - Erie District Attorney Frank J. Clark strongly criticized the principal of a school for not reporting an allegation that a 4-year-old autistic boy had been fondled by a teacher's aide.
Clark said that there was insufficient evidence to charge the principal, but he recommended that the school district consider action against Principal Carmela Botticello.
In addition, Clark urged school officials to adopt a policy directing staff to automatically report allegations of child abuse to police and child protection officials without making “a credibility assessment of the validity of the allegation.
His full report examines the case in detail. His report can be found here. PDF
------------------------------
BACKGROUND
On November 14, 2007 special education teacher Charlene Harris witnessed a teacher's aide, John Colazzi, 60, touch the penis of a 4-year-old autistic boy in the school lavatory. Harris immediately reported it to Principal Carmela Botticello. (As required by district policy.)
Botticello notified the superintendent. The superintendent advised Botticello to investigate and then call Joy Trotter, the Director of Human Resources. The superintendent did not advise Botticello to call the child abuse hotline.1
The principal obtained statements from the teacher, the accused aide and another aide and faxed them on Nov 15 to Joy Trotter, the Director of Human Resources. (The Human Resources Director is not a mandated reporter because she was not a "school administrator" was a finding of the report. pg 15)
The Principal also faxed a memorandum to Trotter in which Botticello claimed the teacher was "not truly sure of what she saw" and "seemed confused" about how to explain her observations."(pg 2) 2
The Human Resources Director eventually decided there was insufficent evidence and returned the aide to the classroom. 3
CHRONOLOGY
Nov 13 - Teacher reports incident to school principal.
Nov 15 - Principal faxes report to Human Resources Director and expresses doubt.
Nov 15 - Colazzi assigned to a third grade classroom.
Nov 15 - Nov 26 - No investigation. (p 2) No report to child abuse hotline.
Date not given - Human Resources Director concluded there was insufficient evidence.
Nov 26 - The teacher protested that the aide was returned to the classroom.
Nov 28 - The aide again returned to the classroom Nov 28. (no toileting duty)
Nov 28 - The teacher mailed a letter via Restricted Mail to the district superintendent.
Nov 30 - Teacher revises statement to clarify what she saw.
Nov 30 - Human Resource director, at teacher's request, schedules meeting for Dec 19.
No one has notified the child abuse hotline. No one has notified the parents.
Dec 8 - Teacher calls child abuse hotline for advice. Does not ask for law enforcement referral.
Dec 19 - Teacher meets with Human Resources director, school attorney and teacher union representative present. Agreement to keep the case open and that further investigation was warranted.
No further investigation was conducted. No one notified the child abuse hotline. No one notified the parents.
Dec 20 - Teacher sent e-mails to Human Resources Director.
Dec 21 - Teacher sends another e-mail to Human Resources Director.
Jan 20 - BTF (Buffalo Teachers Federation) communicated "threats" by a teacher to go to the media if something wasn't done soon.
Feb 5 - Teacher sends e-mail to Human Resources Director asking about the status of the case and concern that parents have not been notified.
Feb 13 - Teacher sends another e-mail to Human Resources Director asking same thing.
No further investigation conducted.
Feb 25 - Teacher contacts child abuse hotline to request law enforcement referral.
Mar 5 - Police contact Human Resource Director. She told police that she had been contacted by the school principal several times because the teacher was threatening to tell the parents.
Mar 6 - School principal contacts parents. Parents demand aide is removed. Teacher hears that aide wants to "blow her head off" and leaves early.
Mar 11 - Aide told he was on administrative leave effective March 31.
May 28 - Teacher's aide John Colazzi, 60, was arrested and was indicted.
MAJOR FINDING of the REPORT
What the District Attorney concluded was that the legislature determined that such investigations NOT be conducted by the school but by the "arms-length" character of law enforcement to promote the objectivity of such an investigation. (pg 11)
The investigation "must not be undertaken by school personnel, but must be the responsibility of law enforcement agencies who are trained and qualified to conduct them." (pg 11)
----------------------------------
THE POINT: The intent of Mandatory Reporting laws is to remove the investigation from the school. And the abuse to be reported was by "persons of trust." Clearly stated by the Erie County District Attorney on pg 10.This law was enacted on June 1, 2001, to combat the persistent problem of abuse by persons of trust and to create a standardized statewide policy for the reporting, investigation and identification of this form of child abuse.
WHAT WE FOUND
What we have found is that this is how school districts and schools investigate themselves. When it involves teacher-student sex, a lengthy in-house investigation alerts the teacher and the student so incriminating evidence like letters or e-mails or cell phone images can be erased. It gives them time to concoct a joint defense. Sadly, a lengthy investigation also allows the time for school officials to intimidate the student and teachers and other students who do contact the administration.
In cases of physical abuse, the self-investigation intimidates parents into not pursuing the matter. A declaration of "insufficient evidence" to a parent from a school they trust, is usually accepted. When it is not, it's sure-fire notice that the school won't pursue the matter, anyway.
Shifting the investigation to a Human Resources Director helps direct the case to where it can languish. More importantly, it tells the teacher that her continued happy employment may be in jeopardy. She might not be fired, but she can be transferred to somewhere unpleasant.
--------------------------------
FOOTNOTES
1 Report states: "Notably, on October 17, 2007, Social Services Law S413 was amended to require a mandated reporter to first made a report to the State Central Registry and and then then [underlining his] immediately notify the person in charge of the school or his or her "designated agent. Prior to this amendment to the law, the mandated reporting laws were satisfied by the mandated reporter immediately notifying his or her supervisor, who would then make the report to the state Register.
2 School Board policy called for the Principal to complete a form to document the allegation. The form requires the principal to check off whether there is "reasonable suspicion" that the abuse occurred. She did not file the form. The policy then required her to notify the Security Services of the allegations. She did not. (Security Services would then have notified the Buffalo Police Department.) (pg 13) --- The principal refused to be interviewed by prosecutors.
3 Ironically, Joy Trotter, the Director of Human Resources, was fired for mishandling the investigation.
--------------------------------
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Previous TT entries on this case. Entry Entry
Not mentioned by the Erie County District Attorney is the fact that the Buffalo Public School District policy of mandatory reporters reporting to their supervisors is in contradiction to law.
From the New York State Central Register (SCR) of Child Abuse and Maltreatment Summary Guide for MANDATED REPORTERS in New York State Pub. 1159
As soon as you suspect abuse or maltreatment, you must report your concerns by telephone to the SCR. The SCR is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to receive your call.Notice that the Central Register list says "school official" but does not include teacher. But the law referenced - Child Protective Services 413 - specifically states "teacher."
school official, which includes but is not limited to school teacher, school guidance counselor, school psychologist, school social worker, school nurse, school administrator or other school personnel required to hold a teaching or administrative license or certificate;THE QUESTION REMAINS
"Teachers and coaches can hold significant influence over their students and athletes. When they use that influence to prey on high school students, it should be a crime." - editorial
June 26, 2008 - Editorial from the Hastings Star-Gazette, "Brookins case should lead to new state law" that would make it a crime for a person of authority to have a relationship with a student.
The case they cited is of Charles Brookins,( Entry) the former St. Elizabeth Ann Seton school teacher and athletics director, and former Hastings High School coach, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from two incidents in which he supplied alcohol to minors. He also made news last year for having an alleged sexual relationship with a student at HHS.
It is not a crime in South Dakota for a teacher to have sex with a student. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom is still working to get a law passed that would make it a crime for a person of authority to have a relationship with a student. The law was heard at the last legislative session, but was cut from another bill. Read the whole thing.
CONVICTED: Threatening to bomb small children.
Jan 31, 2008 - Susan Romanyszyn, 45, a fourth-grade teacher at Longstreth
Elementary School, is charged with 17 counts of terrorist threats.
Police said Romanyszyn left over a dozen threatening notes at the Warminster school.MyFox reports that officials allege Romanyszyn was upset about not getting a fifth grade teaching position she wanted. The threats caused police to search the school and to station extra officers there for the past four months.
Police said she wrote on schools walls and wrote "die kill them all" on one occasion. Police allege Romanyszyn left a water bottle in the school on another occasion that contained a white substance and screws. (Found by a fifth grader in his desk.)
The investigation began in October 2007 and Romanyszyn was placed on administrative leave after becoming a suspect in the threats. Police believe Romanyszyn, who reportedly taught at the school for three years, was making the threats in retaliation for being passed over for a job.
Investigators received a break in the case when a fingerprint on one of the threatening notes matched Romanyszyn's.
“In a case like this you go on a person’s character, and the character of this woman is out there for inspection,” [Romanyszyn's attorney, Sara] Webster said. “Nobody says she’s an angry person. She loved what she did, and she loved her students, and she always got good evaluations.”Webster said Romanyszyn was arrested because police were under tremendous pressure to close the case, but didn’t have enough evidence to prove who had done it.
GUILTY VERDICT June 26 - Romanyszyn was found guilty today of eleven counts of planting terrorizing notes throughout Longstreth Elementary School last fall when she was a fourth-grade teacher there.
Good point.
June 25, 2008 - Jill Stanek at WorldNet Daily on "What media ignore about teen pregnancy pact" makes the point that Principal Joseph Sullivan, the supposed source of the quote in Time magazine article, didn't inform the Massachusetts Department of Social Services of a case of suspected sex abuse.
Sullivan was mandated to report the pregnancies of any of his 17 students under age 16, since pregnancy is evidence a crime may have been committed. The school nurse who distributed 150 pregnancy tests since the beginning of the school year, is also a mandated reporter. A request for a pregnancy test by a girl under 16 is demonstration she may be the victim of sexual abuse.
----------
TT - entry on the Pregnancy Pact that might not have been.
LAWSUIT and foot fetish games
June 26, 2008 - The Florida Department of Education is being sued by a young woman suffering from muscular dystrophy who alleges that a former counselor forced her to act out "master-slave" foot fetish fantasies.
The suit claims the department was negligent after hiring Steven Stocker because he was fired and pleaded guilty to a similar offense in Virginia in the early 1990s.
In 1992, Stocker was a principal in Fredericksburg, VA, where he was charged after he took a 9-year-old girl to his apartment, played games with the girl while calling her master and kissed her foot, according to the lawsuit. Later that year, Stocker was found guilty and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
Leaving Virginia, Stocker was hired as a teacher in Florida. In 1993, the school district fired him after a background check revealed that he had failed to disclose the suspension from Virginia public schools, according to the lawsuit.
He was hired to work with state's Department of Education's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, where he was assigned to counsel a 19-year-old woman with muscular dystrophy. He was fired in April 2007 after a mental health counselor and close friend of the victim sent a written complaint about Stocker to the rehabilitation division's Tallahassee ombudsmen's office.
S.S. vs. the Florida Department of Education and Steven J. Stocker
He hasn't been seen much at board meetings.
June 26, 2008 - The Seneca Valley School Board will decide in August whether to dismiss elected school board member Anthony Evans from the board, following Mr. Evans' recent arrest and subsequent charges for driving under the influence of alcohol.
He was arrested in March. He told police that he was homeless and living out of his car.
Public indecency for allegedly exposing himself.
June 26, 2008 - Brian Weinewuth, 31, a math teacher at Fairfield Middle School, was arrested and charged with exposing himself to a woman and a ju
venile at the pool of a health club.
Montgomery Police said Weinewuth admitted to the crime after he was arrested. The juvenile girl is 17 years old, and the other person is her older sister.
Weinewuth was hired in June 2000 and coaches football for 7th and 8th graders at the middle school. He coaches varsity baseball at Fairfield High School.
June 27 - Teacher charged with public indecency (The Oxford Press)
The alleged incident appeared to be random, said Montgomery Police Lt. Jerry Breitman.A pretrial hearing is scheduled for July 21.
"There was no conversation; he simply exposed himself," Breitman said. "When we got there, he had left the scene, but through some investigative work we were able to identify him."
When questioned by police, Weinewuth admitted exposing himself to the sisters, Breitman said.
Is it April Fools Day? Senior Citizen of the Day. 
June 26, 2008 - Adrienne Laflamme, 60 , (age is not a typo) described as a long-time employee of Brevard County District Schools who taught science at the Juvenile Detention Center, was arrested and charged her with 15 
counts of unlawful sex with a 17-year-old male she taught days earlier.
Police say a few days after the inmate's release, Laflamme made contact with the boy, picked him up at his home and began a sexual relationship that encompassed approximately four weeks. During this time the two had sex at least 15 times including one encounter where the two shared sex with another teenage boy, according to police.When Laflamme went on vacation she allowed the youth to use her car, but reported it stolen when a co-worker told her she was under investigation. The investigation began after the boy's mother complained that Laflamme picked her son up at home and had a four-week relationship with him
Tenure hearing - a first.
June 25, 2008 - The first tenure hearing in the district's 50-year history begins today as veteran teacher Karl Nadolsky, 58, fights to keep his job.
Tenure hearings are relatively rare because a buyout often can be negotiated for less money, attorneys say. Only about 50 each year are held statewide and it takes an average of 10 1/2 months to resolve one, according to the State Office of Hearings and Rules.The board voted 7-0 to fire Nadolsky in January. Fil Iorio, Nadolsky's attorney, is sponsored by the Michigan Education Association.
Vegan teacher dismissal hearing.
June 23, 2008 - A Board of Education dismissal hearing for a middle school teacher who was fired for "turning his classroom into a forum on veganism," abandoning the art curriculum and asking students to keep it a secret from their parents according to school board documents.
What began as a simple be-kind-to-animals project approved by administrators who even participated--marshmallow Easter "Peeps" were made into "pets" to be cared for--got out of hand when Warwak put the "pets" in cages, pots and pans and between slices of bread.The hearing officer repeatedly admonished that the hearing wasn't about whether veganism, "is right or wrong or good or bad."
"The problem was when it turned into a PETA advertisement and it was against the school lunch program," testified Fox River Grove Middle School Principal Tim Mahaffy at the Illinois Board of Education's three day closed hearings into Warwak's dismissal conducted at the Fox River Grove City Hall in April.
Texas is in the process of creating a state-wide database of teachers. When background checks became mandatory for new teachers in 2003, employees hired before 2003 were exempt.
A new law took effect January 1, 2008 that requires background and fingerprint checks for every district employee, whether or not a previous check was done. The state is randomly selecting districts and fingerprinting and conducting the checks. The checks must be completed by Sept. 1, 2011.
NEISD (June 25, 2008 Source: WOAI 1200 radio) The North East Independent 
School District in San Antonio released the results of their numbers.
Of the 6,575 employees tested, roughly 4.2%, including 125 support employees, 138 teachers, and 17 administrators came up positive for misdemeanors ranging from drunk driving to public drunkenness to hot check writing.
The district says four employees came up positive for felonies, and three have left the NEISD, and a fourth is under investigation.
School districts have taken different tactics in releasing the information to the public. Some, like the San Antonio School District, released specific numbers of employees who have a history of different types of offenses.SCUCISD (June 25, 2008 Source: KSAT.com) Officials with the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District released the results of its nearly 1,000 tests Wednesday. Of the 946 employees tested, there were 68 previous arrests including two for felony offenses.
North East simply released the number of employees who came up positive and the list of offenses. The Austin ISD has refused to release any information, and has sued the Attorney General in an effort to keep the information under wraps.
As of February 28, 2008, with fewer than half the criminal histories reported, every high school makes this list. The top 5 -- Travis High School has 17 teachers, Akins High School with 13, Bowie and LBJ tie at 11 each and McCallum has 10.AISD summary PDF (found at KVUE)
But while Travis High School may top the list of schools, there is one place where more people with a criminal history work, The Carruth Administration Center, or AISD Headquarters. Some 18 people with a criminal history work inside the heart of this school district.
The news is not much better for middle schools. Fourteen of the 18 schools employ teachers with a criminal history. At Burnet Middle School, five teachers have a criminal history.
...
Take a close look at the statistics regarding elementary schools. With fewer than half the criminal histories reported, 50 of 77 schools make this list.
Jury finds her NOT GUILTY.
Nov 29, 2007 - Caroline Fluman, 46, a Lake Forest High business teacher, was charged with a felony count of terroristic threatening.
According to police and court reports, Ms. Fluman approached a state police detective shortly after 9:45 a.m. Nov. 1 with a computer-printed note that read, “bomb in school everyone dies.” The school was evacuated. Three more notes showed up, including a handwritten one hidden near a garbage can outside the school store reading.
Cpl. Barnett said state police reviewed the school’s video camera system, which he said showed Ms. Fluman placing a note behind the trash can.
Delaware State Education Association president Barbara Grogg said she has never heard of a teacher making a bomb threat against a school.
-----------------------------------
TT - Actually, Fluman is the third fourth teacher who has been accused of making a bomb threat. A Ludlow, Massachusetts teacher was indicted after police examined video footage. The judge ruled the videotape inadmissible, forcing prosecutors to drop the charge.
Thermond, Maryland teacher Michelle Dohm was convicted of making death threats against students. She left threatening notes, including one that read, "Tick-tock, tick-tock, is it a bomb or is it a clock?" She was sentenced to nine months in prison. The judge also ordered Dohm to get psychological counseling.
In Pennsylvania, a middle school teacher is on trial (June 19, 2008) for making terrorist threats.
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NOT GUILTY VERDICT June 25, 2008 - A jury found Fluman not guilty
We've found our lowercase judge™ of the week.
It's St. Lawrence County (NY) judge Jerome J. Richards in Canton, New York, who sentenced 33-year-old Christel C. Gravlin (shown) to four months in jail - not prison - for a felony rape conviction for having sex with a 15-year-old male student.
A points formula would have classified her as a Level 2 offender, but lowercase judge™ Richards designated her a level 1 offender.
the judge cited her ongoing treatment for bipolar disorder, alcohol and substance abuse and having resigned her teaching position as the reasons for the classification.The sexual relationship became public when she went to a basketball game at Lisbon Central School while intoxicated and announced the
Jan 8, 2008 - Charles Brookins, 29, a Hastings High School baseball coach and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton teacher, will appear in court this week for an omnibus hearing.
Brookins is charged with three counts of providing alcohol to a person under the age of 21, which is a gross misdemeanor. The charges are the result of an investigation by Hastings Police into an inappropriate relationship between Brookins and an 18-year-old student at Hastings High School. Source: Hastings Star-Gazette
Full Name: Charles Ames Brookins
TT - No felony charges were possible in this case because Minnesota has no law criminalizing sex between a teacher and a student. The County District Attorney wants a law change to make criminal sexual conduct in the third and fourth degrees (both felonies) applicable to anyone in a position of authority who has sex or sexual contact with a high school student regardless of the student’s age. (Press Release dated September 24, 2007)
PLEA DEAL OFFERED Jan 11 - Hastings City Attorney Dan Fluegel offered Brookins a plea deal prior to the hearing, which Brookins now has until a March 21 hearing to accept or reject. Fluegel would not elaborate on the details of the plea deal.
CHANGE OF VENUE REQUESTED March 27 - Brookins' lawyer wants a change of venue and another motion attempts to strike anything from the record that pertains to an inappropriate relationship Brookins allegedly had with an 18-year old female student. Brookins was due in court Friday, but the case was continued.
They entered another motion that seeks to remove anything from the proceedings about the alleged relationship Brookins had with an 18-year-old female student while he was both the baseball coach for Hastings High School and the physical education teacher at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton elementary school. Brookins’ defense claims the alleged relationship doesn’t have anything to do with the charges against Brookins.The trial was rescheduled for April 8.
A third motion says the city doesn’t have probable cause to charge Brookins because it’s relying on testimony from two “uncharged accomplices,” or two of the people he allegedly bought alcohol for.
The witnesses in this case are minors who allege that (Brookins) provided them with alcohol,” McCarthy wrote in his decision. “These witnesses may have also committed the crime of minor consumption of alcohol, but that is a separate and distinct crime from the furnishing of alcohol to minors. These witnesses are not accomplices.”SENTENCED June 25, 2008 - Brookins pleaded guilty to two counts of providing alcohol to teenage girls. He was sentenced to one year probation and seven days on a work crew. Law enforcement officials had also alleged that one of the girls Brookins gave alcohol to was an 18-year-old with whom he'd had a sexual relationship. Prosecutors declined to press charges on that because there is no law against a relationship between a teacher and student, if they are both consenting adults.
If they keep building them, someone will come. Maybe.
June 23, 2008 - FACT: L.A. Unified has lost 57,000 students, nearly 8% of its total enrollment.
The Los Angeles Times looks at how they keep building schools "as a way to eliminate year-round calendars, forced busing and portable classrooms." But......
L.A. Unified plans to add space for roughly 70,000 students at currently mandated class sizes by 2012. But its own projections show that would produce space for 25,000 more students than needed to take schools off year-round schedules and eliminate forced busing, the goals of the school building program.The Los Angeles Unified School District estimates its schools will have a 16% vacancy rate by 2012 under currently mandated class sizes; it will have the capacity to seat 670,000 students, but only 560,000 are expected to enroll.
Role Model #564
May 29, 2007 -
Brad R. Kitsu, 31, an English teacher at the Academy of the Pacific as well as their athletic director, was arrested and charged, along with another man, with first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug. No details were available but a detrimental drug charge normally involves marijuana.
KGMP 9 news reports that he is an alleged drug dealer. [Which is probably an overstatement.]
TT - There have been several high profile arrests of teachers for drugs -- both using and dealing. Recently, random drug testing for teachers was accepted by union members as part of their new contract, despite union opposition. TT Link
May 30 - The case began when authorities intercepted a package containing a pound and a half of marijuana addressed to Kitsu. After delivery, the three people were arrested. He has been placed on paid leave.
GUILTY PLEA April 14, 2008 - Kitsu pleaded guilty to promoting a detrimental drug and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. He will be sentenced June 23.
Dec 10, 2007 - Chad Draper, 29, a teacher and coach at Madison High School, was arrested and charged with disseminating harmful material to a minor after a student athlete complained that he showed her a pornographic video on his cell phone while at school. The girl is 17 years old.
Sheriff John Ledford said. “This is the initial charge advised by the district attorney’s office, but it may be upgraded,” he said. Police found a pornographic videon on Draper's cell phone.
Madison County School Superintendent Dr. Ronald Wilcox said the school system is “taking action” regarding the case, and that Draper's dismissal is in the works. The next court date is Jan 31.
Full Name: Chad Vance Draper
ADDITIONAL CHARGES May 29, 2008 - Additional charges have been filed against Draper. The four misdemeanor counts of disseminating harmful materials to minors come from four separate incidents and involve multiple students at Madison High. A court date has been set for June 24.
Draper had been an assistant football coach and physical education teacher at Madison High at the time of his arrest in December. He worked previously in Buncombe County at Cane Creek Middle and Reynolds High and was an assistant football coach at Reynolds.
CONVICTED & SENTENCED June 25, 2008 - Draper was convicted of disseminating pornography to a minor. He was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in jail - not prison - serve 18 months of probation and wear an electronic tracking device during home arrest for six months.
[Defense attorney Al] Messer sought a dismissal, arguing that District Judge Bill Leavell couldn't find Draper guilty in the case because the judge had not viewed the video, and the detective had not brought the video to court.
Assistant District Attorney Gary Gavenus countered that "this is not an obscenity trial" and that two witnesses had testified that the high school student was shown a video of adults having sex, that genetalia was visible, and that the involuntary viewing was done on school grounds by a man employed as a teacher.
SUICIDE on day he was to be sentenced.
More charges were pending in cases going back to 1969.
June 24, 2008 - Robert Hugh Rayburn, 69, a retired school teacher, was found dead on Monday, the day he was to be sentenced charges of 
sexual molestation of minors. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was found by a family member.
Rayburn pleaded guilty on March 31 to two counts of indecent liberties with a child. The charges stem from an incident between Rayburn and a 14-year-old boy on March 15. He was to have been sentenced on that charge.
OTHER CHARGES, OTHER VICTIMS On April 21, he was indicted on nine charges for sexual offenses from 1969-76. Those indictments include five offenses of crime against nature involving a young boy from 1969-73. Four indictments are for indecent liberties with a child for a female under age 16. The incidents occurred between Dec. 8, 1975, and Dec. 7, 1976, according to the indictments.
Rayburn taught for 36 years in Andrews, beginning in 1960. He retired in 1996.
March 31, 2008 - Brian Havel, 22, a Delta High School teacher, was charged with child abuse for an incident in the classroom where he allegedly gave his students permission to beat a classmate who was late for class.
"In his class, the disciplinary process was X amount of sit-ups or push-ups in a certain amount of time. He either wouldn't or couldn't complete them," Delta interim Police Chief Roger Christian said of the punished student.Havel is due in court April 30.
The boy's classmates volunteered to administer an alternate punishment.
"The class made a suggestion that if he couldn't finish, we ought to be able to punch him, and (Havel) agreed. So 10 to 15 students got to hit him," Christian said.
