Dover, DELAWARE

Sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Jan 11, 2008 - Jason W. Stalnaker, 33, a Capitol Baptist School teacher who resigned in 2003 to become a bus driver and a tutor, was arrested Wednesday on 295 charges that include first-degree rape and continuous sexual abuse of a child.

The victim, now 21, contacted city police last month. The abuse started when she was 15. Court papers allege that Stalnaker targeted the girl because he knew she had been molested by her grandfather at the age of 7 and “appeared to be weak,” according to court records.

The abuse began in May 2002 while she was a student at the Kesselring Avenue school. In July 2003, the girl and her family moved to Mississippi, and the Monday after she moved Stalnaker returned to work to find an anonymous letter that stated the writer would tell police of the abuse unless Stalnaker resigned.

Stalnaker eventually told his wife of the relationship, the affidavit states. She divorced him in 2005 after a two-year separation.

GUILTY PLEA & SENTENCING Sept 12 - Stalnaker pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree rape and two counts of fourth-degree rape. Superior Court Judge Robert B. Young noted that he was ignoring sentencing guidelines and imposed a 15-year prison term, including 10 years that must be served before release is considered, and two years of work release.

He sentenced Stalnaker to one year in prison on each of the other two counts and imposed a total of four years of probation.

Felton, DELAWARE

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.
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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

Dover, DELAWARE

CHARGES DISMISSED - His firing reaffirmed.

May 18, 2007 - Christopher Lehto, 34, an art teacher at Star Hill Elementary School, was arrested and charged with 4th degree rape -- by a person in a position of trust, authority or supervision -- after having sex with a former student.

The charge involves an alleged incident in April involving a 17-year-old high school student in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart shopping center. Detectives learned of the alleged relationship when a friend of the alleged victim told her mother and the mother contacted state police.

Authorities say the girl confirmed that she and Lehto had engaged in a sexual act. Lehto was released after posting a $5,000 secured bond.

Alleged Full Name: Christopher J. Lehto

UPDATE June 5, 2008 - The criminal action was dismissed because the elements did not exist. However, the school board fired Lehto on August 27, 2007. In a March 4, 2008 decision, Superior court Judge Robert B. Young affirmed the termination. C.A. NO: 07A-08-007(RBY)

Teachers are more than employees who regurgitate information to students. As previously stressed, in Delaware, teachers are regarded as role models.21 The Board here determined that Appellant could no longer serve as an effective role model to the students in his school due to his conduct. The Board determined that the relationship sent the wrong message to the District’s students about the appropriate relationships between students and teachers.22 That finding is the result of the enforcement of the Board’s determination of the community mores, which is the Board’s responsibility.

Georgetown, DELAWARE

May 2, 2008 -
Dana Goodman, 38, principal of Sussex Central High School, was arrested and formally charged with endangering the welfare of a child, 30 counts of rape 4th and continual sexual abuse of a child — all charges are felonies.

An investigation revealed Goodman and the 17-year-old female student met at various location in Sussex and Kent counties. The school was tipped off by an anonymous letter and they contacted police.

Goodman was arraigned and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institute in lieu of $331,000.00 cash only bail. Armstrong used to teach in the Indian River School District . He had previously served as principal at North Dorchester Middle School in Dorchester County and as assistant principal at St. Michael's Middle School and High School in Talbot County in Maryland.

May 5 - WMDT 47:

Police say the sex was consensual and had been going on for months. Ashley Vanvorst, a former student, says it wasn't a secret among students.

Vanvorst says, "A lot of them said they knew about it, but they just kept their mouths shut."Police say Goodman was communicating with the student through text messages. Vanvorst says other students have received messages from him too. She says it's all inappropriate.

Vanvorst says, "It makes me ashamed to say I graduated from here and in talking with students that still go here, they're ashamed and glad they won't have to shake his hand at graduation."

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TT - We don't use "rape" -- as one glaring news story alleged -- when the relationship is voluntary. Nor do we call sex with underage children as "consensual" as minors are legally unable to consent to sex with an adult.
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May 10 - The school District on Friday announced it will begin the search for a new principal for Sussex Central High School. Goodman's attorney said Goodman had the support of his wife, parents and church community. Goodman began working for the district in 2006.

School officials received an anonymous letter May 2 and immediately called in police to investigate. Goodman was arrested that afternoon.

Smyrna, DELAWARE

A fine line.

April 8, 2008 - A substitute teacher at Smyrna Middle School, was accused of endangering the welfare of a 12-year-old boy in his class last month. Police charged Saulsbury with with one count each of offensive touching and endangering the welfare of a child.

A school resource officer in the school was called to a classroom for a disorderly student. An investigation determined that the teacher had grabbed the boy, upsetting him. The student had asked to go to the nurse prior to the incident and the teacher would not let him. Smyrna police spokesman Lt. Norman Wood said the teacher allegedly grabbed the student around the neck.
Full Name: Wayne A. Saulsbury
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TT - We often elect not to carry stories about coaches and allegations of physicial abuse because so many turn out to be exaggerations of what actually occurred.

For similar reasons, we often avoid stories that allege classroom violence on the part of teachers because in the overheated aftermath of a confrontation, it most often turns out no serious injury occurred, the case is eventually dropped for lack of intent or evidence of harm and is rarely pursued by prosecutors. A story now and again illustrates the difficulty of separating intentional abuse from confrontation.

Dover, DELAWARE

April 28, 2008 - Lamont Downing, 25, a substitute at Dover High School, was arrested, accused of sexually harassing a student during a telephone conversation.

Police say that during a telephone conversation with one of his students, Downing made inapropriate comments regarding sexual activity. Police say they were made aware of the alleged incident following an internal investigation by school officials.
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Dover Police Department Press Release (dated April 25, 2008)

Trust Us

TRUST US with your children.

April 9, 2008 - Three elementary schools in Delaware allowed a con artist to send fliers home with students advertising chess lessons to be held at the school. None of the three schools conducted a background check on Christopher Hackford, 21.

Hackford approached the schools about sending fliers home with their students and about using a classroom for his chess program. School officials required him to fill out a facility use form to use a classroom -- at no cost. They did not require him to get a background check.

It turned out that it was a scam that netted Kaplan $3600 that he got from parents for lessons. He only showed up for the first lesson in all three schools. Hackford -- who has larceny charges pending against him related to October 2007 thefts at several Lowe's stores in Massachusetts -- was arrested in February in Massachusetts on charges that he ran chess scams there.

Amazingly, state law mandates any vendor who goes into a school during the academic day or for a school function and has direct access to children without a teacher present get a criminal background check. State law leaves it up to districts whether to require a background check for a vendor who comes into the building outside of the school day.
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TT- Volunteers in most school and sport programs are required to have background and criminal checks. Why would schools grant access to children without any vetting whatsoever? These were children from K to fifth grade and he could have been a sexual predator.

Claymont, DELAWARE

Headline: "Boy Claims Teacher Made Him Witness Classmate's Rape"

LAWSUIT #2 March 20, 2008 - It's one of the claims in the new lawsuit against a Delaware school district and a convicted child rapist who used to work there. The suit is also against former Superintendent Bruce Harter.

The lawsuit charges that Brandywine School District failed to do a proper background check when hiring Holt, as she had been employed at four different schools in five years, which lawyers say should have raised a red flag.

The lawsuit further charges that for months prior to the sexual abuse, the Board of Education and its agents had received multiple reports of Holt's inappropriate conduct from volunteers, Claymont Elementary school officials and employees, including reports of Holt kissing students, sitting in students' laps in the classroom and dancing on classroom tables.

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TT entry for Rachel Holt, who was sentenced to 10 years.
TT entry for lawsuit #1
TT entry for confidental settlement with school counselor.

Seaford, DELAWARE

LAWSUIT

March 14, 2008 - A former student is suing Michael A. Wallace, 34, a Seaford Middle School softball coach for injecting a 14-year-old girl with a shot of adrenaline that she carried for asthma. The Seaford School District is also named in the suit for for failing to “properly and thoroughly” verify Wallace’s background.

Wallace's contract was not renewed following the end of the 2005-2006 school session. He was convicted March 8, 2007, of third-degree assault - a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison, a year probation and made to pay more than $17,000 in restitution.

Wilmington, DELAWARE

Some pictures give you a clue.

March 7, 2008 -
Frank Smith, 58, a teacher at Newark High School, was arrested after allegedly sexually harassing a student as she worked at an area fast food restaurant.

Police said Smith asked for the teen when placing his order and became agitated when he was told she was unavailable. The student apparently recognized Smith as he was sitting in the parking lot and the two were involved in a short conversation during which Smith allegedly made some inappropriate comments.

The visibly upset teen told her manager as well as her mother about the incident and police were contacted. Smith teaches at her school.

Photo from Delaware State Police

Police are asking anyone who believe they may have been victimized by Smith to call state police at 761-6677.

Claymont, DELAWARE

We're all for lawsuits IF the settlements were public record. That way, the public would know exactly why school districts are liable.

Because insurance companies don't pay out if they don't have to.

Feb 27, 2008 - The family of a 15-year-old Wilmington boy who was raped by his Brandywine School District teacher filed a lawsuit against the school board on Wednesday.

The lawsuit claims that the school district failed to do a proper background check when hiring Holt, 36, who had been employed at four different schools in five years before being hired as a sixth-grade science teacher at Claymont Elementary School.

The lawsuit also alleges that school officials had received several reports about inappropriate conduct by Holt in the months preceding her arrest in April 2006. The alleged conduct included kissing students, sitting on their laps in the classroom, and dancing on classroom tables.

Last month, the district settled with a former guidance counselor who claimed that she was fired after alerting the Claymont school principal to Holt's inappropriate conduct. That settlement was confidential. TT entry for that lawsuit.

Rachel Holt was sentenced to 10 years in prison. TT entry for Holt.

Claymont, DELAWARE

Another confidential settlement agreement that leaves taxpayers and parents none the wiser.

Feb 22, 2007 - A former guidance counselor at Brandywine School District has settled with the school district. She sued, claiming they fired her in retaliation for reporting inappropriate behavior by a teacher later convicted of having sex with a student.

The teacher was Rachel L. Holt who was sentenced to ten years in prison for having sex with the 13-year-old boy.

[Mary Ann] Giannotti was a guidance counselor at Claymont Elementary when she heard from parents that Rachel L. Holt, a 35-year-old sixth-grade teacher, was behaving inappropriately with some of her students, the suit said. The behavior included reports of Holt dancing on classroom tables, sitting on students’ laps and kissing some of them -- during class.

Giannotti reported Holt’s behavior to the principal, Betty Pinchin, in early February 2006, but no action was taken, the suit said. Holt, according to the suit, was suspended from teaching for three days, but both Holt and the school district attributed her absence to illness.

Holt was arrested in April. Giannotti was fired a month later but was told she would be given a good recommendation.

The News Journal has filed a freedom of information request seeking disclosure of the settlement amount.

TT entry for Holt.

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.

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.

He'll be sentenced in September.

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.”“

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.

TT - Three guesses as to who appointed this judge. Time's up.

Dover, Delaware

CHARGES DISMISSED.

ARRESTED May 1, 2007 - Damon W. Bethel, 36, a Dover High School special education teacher, was arrested on the charges of coercion and official misconduct.

He is alleged to have coerced a student into driving him to a drug buy, threatening to fail him if he failed to comply. Police investigated and arrested Bethel.

CHARGES DISMISSED Oct 10 - On Sept 18 a judge dismissed misdemeanor charges of acts constituting coercion and official misconduct against 36-year-old Damon W. Bethel.

The Attorney General’s Office then filed a motion to reopen the case, but the judge denied the request.

CHARGES DISMISSED.

Oct 19 - State corrected.

Claymont, DELAWARE

Holt was sentenced to 10 years -- the minimum allowed by law. There's also six months of home confinement after release. Then there was a horrifying two years of probation. Oh yeah, and registration as a sex offender. (See Jan 24 - minimum mandatory was applicable.)

Jan 22, 2007 - Rachel Holt, 35, a Claymont Elementary School teacher, accused of having sex with one of her pupils nearly 30 times last year pleaded guilty today to a single count of second-degree rape.

Holt was arrested in April after the father of a 13-year-old boy reported overhearing telephone calls between Holt and his son. Sentencing is set for March 16.

Full name: Rachael L. Holt

Jan 24 - The Journal Register reports: Following her appearance in court Monday, Holt was returned to the custody of the state Department of Corrections, as is the procedure when a defendant pleads guilty and a minimum mandatory sentence is applicable.

Just how despicable she was:

According to documents, Holt knew the boy’s father would disapprove of his son spending the night at her residence. She told authorities she telephoned the father’s girlfriend and facilitated the sleepover by pretending to be the mother of another youth.

Records also state that Holt told investigators that on one occasion, another student watched as she and the teen victim had sex.

Mar 16 - Holt was sentenced to 10 years, followed by 60 days of home confinement and two years of probation. She will also have to register as a sex offender.

Dover, DELAWARE

Jan 24, 2007 - Dion Savage, a former Dover High School teacher, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and a year of home confinement for what is termed [by WMDT] "the 10-month long affair" with an underage male student.

News Journal: [Calls it a sexual affair] Savage pleaded guilty to three counts of fourth-degree rape and a single count of possessing child pornography. [Bolding ours.]

Savage was arrested June 16 after one of his students reported that Savage had kissed him in Dover High’s choral room and offered money to let Savage perform oral sex on him. He was arrested again June 26 and charged with 13 counts of rape stemming from the consensual affair with the 17-year-old, 10 of which were dropped by the state in exchange for Savage’s guilty plea.

The child pornography charge were photographs Savage had taken of a second Dover High School student, which were found during a search of his house.

Savage’s case was hurt by a withering [not explained] pre-sentence report, which noted violation of probation in the only other crime on his record [not explained] and lies told by the defendant [not explained] at various points in his life.

The sentence interrupts what promised to be a prodigious career as a gospel singer....

"In his own statement, a tearful Savage apologized for perpetrating a taint on the community at large -– going so far as to ask foregiveness from Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, Sen. Joe Biden and other luminaries who had heard him sing and expressed appreciation for his talent."

Full name: Dion L. Savage

TT- What a travesty of a sentence. Newspapers and news sites calling statutory rape "an affair" is irresponsible and despicable.