License Revocation - Maybe

December 7, 2008 - The Arkansas State Board of Education will consider revoking Paul Knutson's teaching license. Knutson pleaded guilty to sexual conduct with a minor.He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and will remain on probation for the rest of his life.

TT entry for Paul Knutson. Arizona previously revoked his license.
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ONLINE RESOURCE: Some Arkansas disciplinary decisions can be found in the monthly state Board of Education meeting minutes. Parents should take note and be aware of the number of teachers who are given waivers to teach despite prior criminal convictions.

Greenwood, ARKANSAS

October 31, 2008 - Deanna Bobo, (age 38 at the time of her arrest), a special education teacher in Greenwood, Arkansas, was convicted and sentenced in 2006 to two six-year prison terms to run consecutively for having sex with a student. She has yet to serve a day while her case was being appealed.

Today she lost her second appeal. She was ordered to be taken into custody immediately.
TT entry for Bobo.

Fort Smith, ARKANSAS

Honestly, someone should start a "Stolen from PTA" blog.

October 31, 2008 - Beard Elementary School teacher Julie Woods, 47, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of stealing money from the PTA.

She's accused of stealing $890 from a Parent-Teacher Association fundraiser. Police say the money was taken from a desk drawer in an office at Beard Elementary School where Woods was a teacher.

Woods resigned as an early intervention kindergarten teacher later Thursday.
Full Name: Julie Suzanne Woods
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SCHOOL INFO: The school rates a 6 (with 10 being the highest) at GreatSchools.net The school district, however, rates 5 for the iroverall test scores. Remember that the percentage is at or above proficient. Proficient isn't mastery. Proficient = at grade level.

Trumann, ARKANSAS

October 30, 2008 - Police arrested Pam Bradsher, a Trumann Alternative School teacher, after she reportedly asked a 16-year-old student to obtain white Hydrochodone in exchange for Xana. The boy's mother contacted confronted the teacher and contacted police.

After an investigation, police arrested Bradsher. Charges will likely be delivery of a controlled substance and solicitation of a minor to commit a crime.

DeWitt, ARKANSAS

October 15, 2008 - Clint Bouscher, 30, a DeWitt High School teacher and bus driver, was arrested Oct. 15 and charged with three counts of sexual assault in the first degree.

The student was in Bouscher’s ninth-grade English class at DHS during the 2007-2008 school year. Bouscher was suspended by the district Oct. 9.
Full Name: Clint Daniel Bouscher

Pine Bluff, ARKANSAS

September 19, 2008 - Robert Gatlin, 44, a Coleman Intermediate School 4th grade teacher, was arrested on suspicion of second degree sexual assault.

The investigation began when a boy spoke to his parents and the parents informed the school district and police on September 8th.

Police say he inappropriately touched five 9 and 10 year old girls who were students in his class during this year's spring and fall semesters. Gatlin was fired six years ago from his last job in Kingsland for kissing students.

Full Name: Robert Michael Gatlin

Melbourne, ARKANSAS

Second band teacher arrested from the same school district.

From a story dated June 19, 2008 - Stacy Tucker, 39, was arrested August 2007 after he entered a chat room and began talking with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl but was actually an undercover police officer in another state.

Tucker was a band teacher at Izard County Consolidated School. He resigned shortly before his arrest.

He was indicted in August 2007 on one count child pornography. Tucker sent several pornographic pictures to the officer, one of which appeared to be of a nude white girl about 11 to 13 years old, with brownish hair and freckles. The affidavit states that the girl appeared to be taking the photo of herself.

On June 5, officers confiscated a laptop computer, with a web camera, along with other computer related items, telephone numbers and an envelope bearing possible passwords. The warrant gave officers authority to take anything of sexual content and any and all items related to child erotica.

In the affidavit, it is noted that individuals involved in the sexual exploitation of children through child pornography almost always keep copies of their sexually explicit material, especially when they are used in the seduction of children.

“Those materials are treated as prized possessions,” the affidavit states.

The school Superintendent said Tucker worked at ICC for one year and quit on June 19 to take another job, although no school requested a copy of his file.
Full Name: Stacey Lynn Tucker
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TT - Details of the conversation Tucker had with the officer at the story are worth reading. Unable to find a press release at the U.S. Attorney's Office website in Arkansas. But that could be because their postings are spotty as compared to other offices.

You can check press releases from U.S. Attorney Offices in every state here.

The other band teacher arrested was Brock M. Felton, 32, facing sex charges with 22 male students. Entry

SENTENCED September 4 - In March, Tucker pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. Tucker was sentenced Wednesday to 48 months incarceration with 25 years supervised release. Conditions include undergoing mental health counseling and treatment, sex offender registration, monitored Internet access and no contact with minor children without the consent of a probation officer. (Federal sentencing is without any possibility of parole for the duration.)

Scarey

Second Magnolia Junior High School teacher arrested in four months.

Arrested this week in Magnolia, Arkansas, Alison Dean, (left) 30, was arrested, accused of giving drugs to and having sex with a 15-year-old boy. Entry

The affidavit said the teenager said Dean would pick him up near his home and they would go to the Genestet water well on County Road 76, near Waldo. He said that Dean performed oral sex on him five times and that he and Dean had sexual intercourse on three occasions.

Donna Sanders, 46, (right) a special education teacher at the school was arrested April 23, charged with two counts of accomplice to rape, four counts of third-degree sexual assault, and six counts of permitting abuse of a minor.

It is alleged that Sanders rented motel rooms for a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl to have sex with two underage boys and a 22-year-old man they met on line through Facebook. . Police say she rented motel rooms in El Dorado for the girls, left them overnight, and returned the next day and picked them up. She also provided alcoholic beverages to the juveniles. The incidents happened over seven months. Entry

Magnolia, ARKANSAS

August 21, 2008 - Allison Dean, 30, a Magnolia School District teacher who resigned last Wednesday, was arrested, accused of giving drugs to a male student and having sex with him, over eight months. The boy is 15.

Dean faces eight counts of sexual assault, with each count punishable from six to thirty years in prison.
Columbia County
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Poll at the news story asks, What do you think is the most pressing issue facing schools? Your choices: Teacher shortage, Test scores, Drop-out rates.
Headline is: Teacher Turns Herself in for Affair with Student
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August 23 - (From Arkansas Democrat Gazette) Dean resigned her teaching position with the Magnolia School District on Aug. 15.

The probable-cause affidavit filed by the sheriff’s office Thursday afternoon said that on Aug. 12, the boy’s mother became suspicious of her son’s cell-phone use and confiscated the phone. While she had the phone, the mother saw a text message and answered a call. When the mother asked for the caller’s identity, the caller hung up. The mother also found several text messages related to drug use when she reviewed messages on the phone.

Dean is the second Magnolia Junior High School teacher arrested on sex-related charges in less than four months. Donna Lou Sanders, 46, was arrested April 23. Entry

Rogers, ARKANSAS

August 13, 2008 - Matthew Reese, 26, an Oakdale Middle School teacher, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly attempting to obtain prescription drugs without a prescription.

Reese was arrested for felony attempting to obtain drugs without a prescription after attempting to obtain methadone, hydrocodone and oxycodone.

If found guilty of a criminal offense, Arkansas teachers can lose their teaching licenses. State law prohibits the Arkansas Department of Education from issuing a license to a teacher found guilty of any of 33 offenses listed in Arkansas Code 6-17-410.The department, through the State Board of Education, also can revoke a license when a teacher is found guilty of any of those offenses.

Benton County
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Arkansas Code Search here.
The 33 offenses include:
1) Capital murder as prohibited in § 5-10-101;
(2) Murder in the first degree as prohibited in § 5-10-102 and murder in the second degree as prohibited in § 5-10-103;
(3) Manslaughter as prohibited in § 5-10-104;
(4) Battery in the first degree as prohibited in § 5-13-201 and battery in the second degree as prohibited in § 5-13-202;
(5) Aggravated assault as prohibited in § 5-13-204;
(6) Terroristic threatening in the first degree as prohibited in § 5-13-301;
(7) Kidnapping as prohibited in § 5-11-102;
(8) Rape as prohibited in § 5-14-103;
(9) Sexual assault in the first degree, second degree, third degree, and fourth degree as prohibited in §§ 5-14-124 — 5-14-127;
(10) Incest as prohibited in § 5-26-202;
(11) Engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print media, transportation of minors for prohibited sexual conduct, employing or consenting to the use of a child in a sexual performance, or producing, directing, or promoting a sexual performance by a child as prohibited in §§ 5-27-303, 5-27-305, 5-27-402, and 5-27-403;
(12) Distribution to minors as prohibited in § 5-64-406;
(13) Any felony in violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, § 5-64-101 et seq.;
(14) Sexual indecency with a child as prohibited in § 5-14-110;
(15) Endangering the welfare of a minor in the first degree as prohibited in § 5-27-205;
(16) Pandering or possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child as prohibited by § 5-27-304;
(17) False imprisonment in the first degree as prohibited in § 5-11-103;
(18) Permanent detention or restraint as prohibited in § 5-11-106;
(19) Permitting abuse of a child as prohibited in § 5-27-221(a);
(20) Negligent homicide as prohibited by § 5-10-105(a);
(21) Assault in the first degree as prohibited by § 5-13-205;
(22) Coercion as prohibited by § 5-13-208;
(23) Public sexual indecency as prohibited by § 5-14-111;
(24) Indecent exposure as prohibited by § 5-14-112;
(25) Endangering the welfare of a minor in the second degree as prohibited by § 5-27-206;
(26) Criminal attempt, criminal solicitation, or criminal conspiracy as prohibited in §§ 5-3-201, 5-3-202, 5-3-301, and 5-3-401, to commit any of the offenses listed in this subsection;
(27) Computer child pornography as prohibited in § 5-27-603;
(28) Computer exploitation of a child in the first degree as prohibited in § 5-27-605;
(29) Felony theft as prohibited in §§ 5-36-103 — 5-36-106, and 5-36-202;
(30) Robbery as prohibited by §§ 5-12-102 and 5-12-103;
(31) Breaking or entering as prohibited by § 5-39-202;
(32) Burglary as prohibited by § 5-39-201;
(33) Forgery as prohibited by § 5-37-201;

August 14 - Reese will likely in the classroom Monday despite drug arrest

August 15 - Teacher Won't Be In Classrooms Monday
Officials said Thursday that Reese would teach at Oakdale Middle School, but reversed that position Friday afternoon. Ashley Kelley, district communication coordinator, refused answer questions from the Morning News about whether Reese still works for the district but in a capacity other than classroom teacher.

Reese will be arraigned September 22.

ARKANSAS

School district takeovers in Arkansas.

DECATUR SCHOOL DISTRICT
August 3, 2008 - The school bookkeeper was arrested on felony theft charges for allegedly stealing $41,471 in school funds. A day earlier, the state of Arkansas took over the Decatur School Board after officials discovered the district hadn't paid federal taxes or reconciled bank accounts since 2005 and faced rising debts.

The state Board of Education decided Thursday to take over the district, removing the district's board members and its interim superintendent. State board members also asked for a detailed study on possibly annexing the small northwest Arkansas district to neighboring Bentonville, Gravette or Gentry school districts.

Bill Goff, an assistant commissioner for the Arkansas Education Department, said the district reported more than $1.3 million in the bank at the close of the 2006-07 school year. But by July 21, the district was $94,747 in debt. The debt is expected to grow to $510,251 by the end of the fiscal year June 30.

Education Commissioner Ken James called the district a “gross, gross mismanagement situation” after recommending that the state board annex it into the neighboring Bentonville, Gravette or Gentry school districts.

The academic record of the district is barely mentioned except in one article, and that largely ignores the scale of the glaring problems.

Except for one grade, Decatur scored drastically below other nearby school districts in both subjects. The academic problems seemed to trouble some board members more - as being potentially unfixable - than the financial problems.

GreatsSchools.net rates the school district 3 for appalling test scores.


The elementary school rates 2.
Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program =
67%
The middle school rates 5.
Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program = 73%

YET - The median household income for Decatur is $34,044. Statewide = $38,588.
AND - The median home price is $208,100. Statewide = $136,700
Population: 1,599

It's not like the state didn't have some clue about the problems in the district. See the 2000 state audit of the district.

See "Decatur Rebirth? Subhead: Residents Fight to Save Schools, Jobs, Community (July12) for a look at the community. No one seems to question why a school district would have an EXCESS of $1 million while property taxation is skyrocketing.

UPDATE ON Decatur - August 7 - Former superintendent Dave Smith, who earned about $89,000 per year and was suspended with pay, now has been fired, said Ken James, the state education commissioner.State officials are unsure of what to do with the remaining two years of Smith's contract.

GREENLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT
In July, the state Board of Education voted unanimously to take over Greenland School District. That district will remain open under the control and supervision of the state board. Six local school districts have said they do not want to annex the Greenland School District.

GreatSchools.net on city information on Greenland, Arkansas
Median Income: $51,400 Statewide: $38,588
Median Home Price: $186,300 Statewide: $136,700
Population: 951

Which makes the school figures somewhat odd.
In the elementary school, 53% of the students are eligible for a free or reduced price lunch.
The school rates a 4 for poor academic performance.

The middle school rates a 6, with 49% of the students eligible for a free or reduced price lunch.

The high school rates a 4, with 45% of the students eligible for a free or reduced price lunch.

HERMITAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT
And then there is the Hermitage School District where the school superintendent, treasurer and the construction superintendent have all been charged. Entry

ARKANSAS

Hermitage School District
August 1, 2008 - Former Hermitage School District Superintendent John Jordan, former treasurer Nancy Risher and former construction superintendent James Ederington have each been charged with a felony count of violating ethical guidelines and prohibitions for educators, and another felony count of fraudulent use of school district funds.

The defendants are accused of secretly moving $ 91,753 through other companies and people to pay employees at Ederington’s company, Ederington Contracting.

The district paid three companies in excess of what they were owed, and those companies diverted some of the money to Ederington. In May, auditors found the districtand its superintendent failed to follow proper bidding laws and tried to funnel money to Ederington to skirt the ethics law. In all, the audit found the district improperly expended $ 157, 866, of which Ederington ultimately received $ 91, 753.

Jordan resigned in September. Risher was fired in June.
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WE FOUND the Hermitage School District is rated 3 at GreatSchools.net The district has 2 schools with 547 students. Total per pupil expenditures in the district is $9,671 compared to $7,722 statewide.

Sixty-seven percent of the students in the district are eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch program. The median household income in Hermitage is $21,757, compared to the state average of $38,588 and the U.S. national average of $49,199.

The building projects at Hermitage were among hundreds that school districts embarked upon beginning in 2005, as part of the state response to the Arkansas Supreme Court decision that Arkansas' public education system was inadequate and not fairly funded.

Guy, ARKANSAS

ACQUITTED BY JURY

August 1, 2008 - A former Guy-Perkins Elementary School teacher charged with fourth-degree sexual assault was acquitted by a Faulkner County jury Tuesday.

Franklin Davis, 47, resigned in March 2007 amid allegations that he had groped a nine-year-old student on more than one occasion.
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Davis was identified as a school principal in an article under subscription wall at the Democrat Gazette.

Cabot, ARKANSAS

School superintendent: "“The police came, he handed me his resignation, and they all walked out together.”

March 4, 2008 - Daniel Utter, 34, a middle school teacher and coach, was arrested on campus for an alleged sex crime at his previous school. He is being held on suspicion of second-degree sexual assault for allegedly having sex with a teenage girl at the Cabot School District.

Utter is alleged to have kissed and fondled a girl at Cabot Junior High and later had sex with her on three different occasions in a Jacksonville hotel room in March 2005, according to an affidavit for a warrant of arrest filed in Lonoke County Circuit Court filing.

Utter began coaching senior girls basketball at Paris in August 2007. No allegations made against Utter in the Paris School District. He also taught social studies at the middle school.

GUILTY PLEA July 17 - Utter pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree sexual assault. No sentencing date given.

LEGAL NOTE: (from the story) Under Arkansas law, a person commits second-degree sexual assault if the person engages in sexual contact with someone younger than 18, and the offender is a professional, is in a position of trust or authority, is an employee in the minor’s school or school district.

Paragould, ARKANSAS

Sex with two male student nets 8 years in prison.

CHARGED August 10, 2007 - Monica Ann Cluck, 25, a kindergarten teacher at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School, was charged with sexual assault in the first degree and contributing to the delinquency of a minor for alleged sexual involvement with a 17-year-old male student.

Cluck's husband turned over a tape to police in July. She is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old boy at a church where she was a Sunday School teacher and choir director. Reportedly, the boy admitted to the relationship.

Cluck resigned on Wednesday.

LEGAL Arkansas state law says first-degree sexual assault occurs when an adult in a position of trust or authority over a person younger than 18 engages in sexual activity with the minor.

August 15 - A second boy is claiming he had a sexual relationship with Cluck that began when he was 17 and ended in May. The first charges came last week when a video tape surfaced showing Cluck and a 17 year old boy drinking alcohol and having sex. She will appear in Court August 16.

August 16 - KAIT K8 reported on Cluck's MySpace page and her anti-drinking teaching.
Next court date is September 28th.

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ONLINE RESOURCE: Salaries Certified employees.
She was to be paid $30,270 for 190 days for the 2006-2007 school year.
School board minutes can be found here.

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TRIAL June 18, 2008 - The jury was selected Tuesday. In the opening argument, the prosecutor said, "She is an adult woman and the two teens are 15 and 17 year old boys who still live at home with their parents and still go to school. We’re not here to cast any judgments but everyone is subject to following the law.” Her lawyer says her husband was abusive. “Two boys developed crushes on her and she became flattered,” Miller said. “And that’s what has led us here.”

Her husband was the first to testify about how he learned about the sexual relationship with the boy. He set up survelliance video and taped her having sex with the boy. He went to police. A pastor testified about a mother approaching him with print-outs of her MySpace page and text communication with her son. He did not contact police but spoke with the teacher. A father of a teenage girl testified that Monica Cluck exposed his daughter to alcohol.

"You send your kid to church and you never think alcohol would be involved,” he said.

GUILTY VERDICT & SENTENCING June 21, 2008 - The jury found Cluck guilty of two counts of sexual assault in the first degree and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. After three hours of deliberation, they sentenced her to eight years in prison. (Two eight-year terms to run concurrently.) The contributing charge is a misdemeanor for which she was find $750.

Scottsdale, ARIZONA

Delayed Justice: Guilty plea to sexual conduct in the 1980s. Finalist for National Teacher of the Year on probation for life.

Sept. 1, 2007 - Paul M. Knutson, 58, a Rogers High School (Rogers, ARKANSAS) science teacher, was arrested on five felony charges, including sexual contact with a minor, furnishing obscene or harmful items to minors, possession and sale of dangerous drugs, possession and sale of marijuana and possession and sale of narcotics.

The charges date back to between 1983 and 1985 in Scottsdale, Arizona when he taught at Chaparral High School. He worked in the Scottsdale Unified School District between 1973 ad 1984.

INDICTED Sept. 4 - Knutson was indicted on felony counts of sexual assault, sexual conduct with a minor and furnishing harmful materials to a minor.

Sept. 5 - Knutson’s ex-wife in Arizona told police that someone told her about the relationship and she confronted Knutson. He admitted it. From documents released by the police, another man also knew of the relationship.

Knutson is scheduled for a hearing Oct 17 to determine whether Scottsdale police have the proper paperwork for his extradition to Arizona.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE Sept 19 - The school board granted Knutson a leave of absence.

A leave of absence is more often granted for medical reasons or for a return to school, assistant superintendent Jane Webb explained after the board meeting. Knutson won’t be paid while he’s on leave, but he could be allowed to return to work if he can resolve the legal issues, she said. No ending date was set for the leave of absence.

NOT GUILTY PLEA Nov 9 - Knutson entered a not guilty plea. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Dec 13.

INDICTED Nov 13 - The prosecutor's office formally announced the indictment of Paul Knutson. The Grand Jury handed down 13 felony counts of sexual conduct with a minor and drug-related charges.

The woman told police she decided to come forward after nearly 25 years because she is a drug addict and in counseling for her substance abuse problem. She claims that Knutson taught her how to free base cocaine, according to a police report.

Knutson’s wife left him during the alleged incidents because he told her he was in love with the girl and wasn’t going to leave her, according to the report.

At least six cases in which employees of East Valley schools face sexual-related charges involving minors are moving through Maricopa County Superior Court. [They only mention two in the article.]

Dec 16 - Knutson is scheduled to appear at a hearing on Dec. 17. (Source: East Valley Tribune database.)

GUILTY PLEA May 9, 2008 - Knutson pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual conduct with a minor for a sexual relationship he had with a female former student in the early 1980s. He will be sentenced June 20.
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SENTENCED (Sorta) June 20 - Knutson was sentenced to two months in jail - not prison - and probation for the rest of his life. [Article doesn't say if it is supervised probation or unsupervised probation].

Judge Paul McMurdie of Maricopa County Superior Court said Friday he would have sent Paul M. Knutson to prison for up to three years if the offense had happened now, but he gave the teacher credit for living an exemplary life since the crimes happened.

Knutson taught at Chaparral from 1973 to 1984 and had sex with the student who was 16 and 17 from Jan. 1 1984 through April 22, 1985.

REMINDER
Ex-wife, Teachers, Principal Said To Have Known Of Relationship In 1980s (Sep 5, 2007)
A friend of Knutson's said that Knutson constantly spoke about the relationship, the police report stated. The man told police Knutson described the first time he had sex with the girl, in a storeroom attached to Knutson’s classroom.

The man also told police he and Knutson smoked marijuana together and the man believed Knutson provided marijuana to the girl.
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TT - Exemplary record or not, the man deserved prison time and lovercase judge™ Paul McMurdie was wrong to give him a discounted sentence because Knutson was a teacher. At the time of the illegal sex, she was 16 years old and Knutson was 34, twice her age. What does an "exemplary life" have to do with anything? What does it have to do with justice for the victim? It's like sentence reductions for "first time offenders" where the first-time victim has the misfortune to count for less.

(The term "lowercase judge" isn't trademarked, but it does mark those judges who don't deserve honorific capitalization of their titles for their idiotic decisions.)
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CERTIFICATE(S) REVOKED August 25, 2008 - The Arizona State Board of Education voted to revoke the teaching certificates of Paul Milton Knutson. (pg 3)

Mansfield, ARKANSAS

Role Model #562

June 19, 2008 - Deborah Ludlow, a Mansfield teacher, was arrested on charges of shoplifting. Investigators were called to Kohl's department store Wednesday night after store security stopped Deborah Ludlow. Officers said they found clothing and other merchandise in her purse.

GUILTY PLEA August 12 - Ludlow pleaded guilty Monday and is seeking treatment for a sleeping disorder as part of a plea agreement in Fort Smith District Court. District Judge Ben Beland said the court would take the case under advisement for one year and if Ludlow meets the terms and conditions of her plea agreement, the misdemeanor case against her would be dismissed.

The judge told Ludlow she must continue treatment with her physician, get treatment for her sleep disorder and that she must report status and progress every three months to the court for a year in order for the case to be dismissed

Mansfield School District Superintendent Jim Hattabaugh said Monday that he has suspended Ludlow from teaching and will recommend her termination to the board. She has 30 days from July 29 to appeal Hattabaugh’s recommendation.
Full Name: Deborah N. Ludlow

LAWSUIT October 31 - The Mansfield School Board fired Ludlow on Sept. 23, after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor shoplifting charge Aug. 11. Ludlow has filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement to her former job. In addition to reinstatement, she wants back pay, benefits and costs and attorney’s fees and pre- and post-judgment interest.

Melbourne, ARKANSAS

Sex charges with 22 (Not a typo.) students.

TRIAL SCHEDULED June 19, 2008 - Brock M. Felton, 32, charged with 28 counts of sex-related charges involving 22 students, is scheduled for trial October 21 or 24, with a pre-trial hearing scheduled October 2. He was middle school and high school band and choir director at the Izard County Consolidated School District.

ARRESTED Felton was arrested May 1 and charged with eight counts of sexual indecency with a child, seven counts of sexual indecency with a child under a different statute, nine counts of sexual assault in the second-degree and four counts of voyeurism.

Felton told an Arkansas State Police investigator some male students crossed the line by exposing themselves to him five or six times, but he did not want to get the students in trouble by sending them to the office, according to court documents. He said some of the male students tried to get him to expose himself, but he did not do so. He also said one of the victims may have been mad because he suspended him from band after inappropriate activity. Later in the interview, Felton said three weeks earlier he watched pornography and exposed himself to one of the victims, according to court documents.

SCHOOL NOTIFIED The next day, police met with the superintendent, who heard the allegations April 15 and looked into the matter, according to court documents. Walker told Felton he needed to "do the right thing" or he would suspend Felton and recommend to the school board he should be fired, according to court documents.

May 2 - Former teacher charges :
- Felton is the second Izard County Consolidated band teacher that has been arrested. In August 2007, Stacy Lynn Tucker, 39, was indicted by a grand jury in Little Rock on one count of child pornography. He was caught in an Internet sting when he thought he was talking to a 14-year-old girl. [New entry started for Tucker]

- April 16 - Felton investigation began after the Izard County Sheriff's Office was contacted by Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Investigator Jannette Cooper.
- During the police interview with Felton, Felton said he resigned from the school because he was told by Superintendent Fred Walker that he could resign or be terminated.
- He also said that his wife and a foreign exchange student were home at the time, but had no knowledge that he was watching porn with students or engaging in sexual acts with them.
- April 17 - Superintendent met with Felton and asked for resignation or he would recommend termination.

ALLEGATIONS AND VICTIMS (continued here)
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Izard county is located in north central Arkansas and nestled in the southern Ozarks, is home to some 14,000 people. - From Izard County Sheriff's Department website.

Greenwood, ARKANSAS

Another Mandated-Reporters-who-don't story.
What is difficult about the word "m-a-n-d-a-t-o-r-y"?

June 5, 2008 - A 15-year-old girl told a school counselor that a 25-year-old army recruiter she was babysitting for allegedly rubbed her back and then proceeded to rub her buttocks.

Jeremy Derkovitz, 36, a Greenwood High School counselor, turned himself in on a misdemeanor charge of failure to report child abuse. Derkovitz reportedly told investigators he thought the victim's parents had already reported the incident. Plus, he did not feel that the child was in any danger.

"There are certain school districts in this area that are not getting the message that we're taking this issue very seriously."

The girl and her parents reported the harassment to police.

Times-Record (June 6) was more informed.

Derkovitz, as a school counselor, is a mandated reporter required to report suspected child abuse or neglect, according to state statute.

The teenage girl reported the allegation about [Sgt. Joseph A. Monday, 24] to Derkovitz at Greenwood High School on April 15.

When the girl told Derkovitz, he asked her what she wanted to do about it, according to a police report. She told him that she didn’t know what she wanted to do, but that she didn’t want to make a big deal of it, according to Derkovitz’s statement to police.

Derkovitz told the girl that if she wanted to report it to a principal and continue on, she would need to see another counselor at the high school because he was more friendly with Monday than with other recruiters and he didn’t want there to be a conflict of interest, according to court documents.

TT - If a child can't trust a teacher and school counselor, who can they trust?

Arkansas has just adopted a new teacher Code of Conduct, but not without opposition. Entry The code was developed by the newly-established (in 2007) Professional Licensure Standards Board Entry

RANT OF THE DAY

RANT OF THE DAY

Compare this coverage of a "disgraced" teacher in New Zealand released on early probation with media coverage in the U.S. on parole releases of teachers in this country.

Continued here.