Newport, NORTH CAROLINA

September 8, 2008 - James Buck, 54, a driving instructor contracted by the school system, was arrested, accused of inappropriately touching a 15-year-old female Croatan High School student during a driving lesson last Wednesday.

Buck was charged with sexual battery. He didn’t work for the school system, but instead was contracted through a Winterville-based company called North Carolina Driving School Inc. He has been fired. Buck is scheduled to appear in court on October 6, 2008.

Full Name: James Robert Buck
Arresting agency: Carteret County Sheriff’s Office

Wenatchee, WASHINGTON

"If Eastmont could not fire Lynn McCoy for the acts testified in this case, then heaven help our children." JURY DECIDES AGAINST TEACHER.

July 31, 2008 - Two parents filed assault charges against her.

"You'll find they were dedicated, honest administrators who were faced with a very difficult problem," [Eastmont attorney Jerry] Moberg said in his opening statement. "They were faced with a teacher who created enough havoc that not just a few parents but 20 or 30 parents who had individual complaints against the way their child was treated by Ms. McCoy. ... It's hard to fire a bad teacher, as you'll hear from the evidence."

Lynn McCoy, 57, taught at Cascade Elementary from 1991 until she was fired in March 2004.

Two principals tried to mention parent complaints in McCoy's evaluation but the comments were removed by the school superintendent. There were three investigations into McCoy's alleged mistreatment of children. The school district put McCoy on paid administrative leave for more than a year after two parents filed two separate misdemeanor assault charges.

A Douglas County district judge agreed in December 2003 to eventually dismiss the charges if McCoy committed no more offenses for a year.

McCoy is suing, claiming Eastmont school administrators retaliated against her for complaining too much. McCoy says administrators fired her in retaliation for the eight grievances she filed against at least three administrators and the school district in general, according to court documents.

According to court documents, McCoy's grievances included:
•Challenging negative comments in two annual evaluations
•Challenging the assistant superintendent's claim McCoy had a "pattern" of misconduct
•A grievance against the principal for creating a hostile work environment
•Two grievances against the district for not letting her attend union meetings on district property and not paying her attorney's fees in regard to the assault charges.

McCoy is currently executive director for the Wenatchee Valley Dispute Resolution Center.

JURY DECIDES IN FAVOR OF SCHOOL DISTRICT August 14 - Ten of 12 jurors Wednesday decided against Lynn McCoy's claim that the district fired her in retaliation for grievances she filed with the teachers union.

The school district claims McCoy was fired for probable cause that she assaulted two students and emotionally abused several others, [Eastmont School District attorney Jerry] Moberg said.

"If Eastmont could not fire Lynn McCoy for the acts testified in this case, then heaven help our children," Moberg said during closing arguments Wednesday.

About 40 parents complained about the treatment of children, Moberg said. Their complaints against McCoy included humiliation, breaking down self-esteem and excessive punishment.

Tenure

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.

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.

Rio Hondo, TEXAS

Sept 11, 2007 - The school board is planning to fire Stephen Lucas, a junior high school teacher, after his arrest last month.

He is charged with three counts of deadly conduct, two counts of making terroristic threats, one count of unlawfully carrying of a weapon and one count of evading arrest with a motor vehicle, according to previous reports.

Godwin Heights, MICHIGAN

What is "unethical behavior?"

July 19, 2007 - Firing teachers is a legal dance.

A veteran Godwin Heights High School teacher is on paid leave while the district files tenure charges to have him fired over what administrators call "performance issues."

Superintendent Valdis Gailitis said Wednesday the Board of Education voted Tuesday to dismiss science teacher Robert Czachorski for "unethical behavior."

Czachorski has taught in the district for 37 years.

Gailitis said he could not discuss details of the charges because Czachorski requested the session be conducted behind closed doors. A hearing before the state teacher tenure commission, which will determine whether he will be fired, has yet to be scheduled.

Gailitis said the teacher was placed on administrative leave near the end of the school year because of classroom performance issues.

He said there are no criminal charges and no students were involved.

Czachorski referred questions to his union attorney, Fil Iorio, who said he will fight charges of poor performance.

"You don't last 37 years as a teacher if there are performance issues," he said. "Mr. Czachorski has had good evaluations, and we will challenge this."

TT - Chances are the newspaper will not follow up on the attempt to fire the teacher, the teacher will incur no cost whatsoever in fighting the action, the school will continue to pay him for not being in the classroom as well as the cost of a substitute to replace him when this drags on to the new school year. Taxpayers will also pay for the school district attorney's time as well as the tenure commission. No final report will ever be public as both sides claim "confidentiality."

Columbus, OHIO

Trust Us With Your Children.

Jan 10, 2007 - The Columbus Public School Board voted unanimously to fire Mifflin High School Principal Regina Crenshaw for failing to report a sexual assault.

Crenshaw was principal at the school in March 2004 when two boys forced a girl, who was developmentally disabled, to perform oral sex in the school's auditorium.

When staff members told Crenshaw, she did not call police. When the father of the girl learned what happened, school officials discouraged him from calling the police. link [TT - none of these subsequent stories were in national headlines as the original story was.]

Crenshaw was subsequently tried on the failure and the jury found her not guilty. The school has been trying to fire her every since. A referee finally ruled that they could fire the principal "for what he called a "significant lapse in judgment" in responding to the sexual assault of a developmentally disabled girl. [Read the timeline at the right of the article.]

Call for Reform
The Columbus Board of Education President called on Ohio legislators yesterday to reform laws governing how school districts are able to fire teachers and principals after learning that his district has, so far, spent $37,672 in its bid to fire Crenshaw. Charter schools in Ohio are exempt from almost all sections of the code governing schools, including ones dealing with terminating employees.

Public school firings are more complicated.

"I believe that everybody deserves due process," said Rhonda Johnson, president of the Columbus Education Association, the teachers union.
An average case to fire an educator costs $50,000, Johnson estimates.

"That’s why in a lot of cases we’re able to get some things worked out so that we don’t have to go through a termination case, because it’s costly to the district," Johnson said.

TT: Another way unions have made reform in public schools nearly impossible.

Crenshaw's attorney: "I find it perplexing that the schools could terminate (Crenshaw) and not even discipline that math teacher who impregnated a 17-year-old student," Clark said yesterday. "He wasn’t fired from Columbus Public Schools. (Roger Lee McEldowney, who lost his teaching certificate last month.)

East St. Louis, ILLINOIS

Dec 21, 2006 - A teacher's aide and basketball coach, Byron Coleman, was fired due to "unprofessional conduct."

Coleman was arrested and charged with battery for a Nov. 29 incident in which he allegedly threw 11-year-old Katie Wright Elementary School student Joseph Bess to the floor and then stomped on his hand. He was suspended.

Although he was suspended by the district for the attack, Coleman was still allowed to coach the Clark Middle School boys basketball team during a Dec. 6 game against Cahokia's Wirth-Parks Middle School. Coleman was ejected from the game and cited by an official, according to the Illinois Elementary School Association, which governs elementary school sporting events. The organization would not give the reason for the ejection other than to say he exhibited "unsportsmanlike conduct."

District 189 officials would not comment on why Coleman was allowed to coach while he was suspended by the district.

Here's a hint: "Coleman is the son of Fonzy Coleman, the former principal of East St. Louis High School, and the nephew of Roland Coleman, the principal of Clark Middle School and Sheryl Coleman, the principal of Hawthorne Elementary School."

Correction to state. We malign Missouri falsely. Thank you, Poster

Firing is hard to do

Nov 30, 2006 - It was the second time that the 4th District Court of Appeal overturned the Palm Beach County school administrator's decision to fire a teacher for poor performance. The court overturned his dismissal because the school district did not consider his students' FCAT scores.

The decision was Samuel K. Young vs. The Palm Beach County School Board

First decision was Curtis Sherrod vs. The Palm Beach County School Board
The school board is unable to fire despite the "excessive or inappropriate use of R-rated videos" in the classroom, a teacher's failure to provide instruction, or complete instruction in a subject, or his failure to provide timely grades" or his unfitness demonstrated by continual transfer to school after school. In their defense, the court noted that it was not "authorized to pass on the widom of such statutes" but to enforce the law as written.

The Sherrod case demonstrates how bad law continues to facilitate bad results. If it weren't for the fact that children are the losers in this political game, it would not be so disheartening. Teachers' unions resent the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. The statue that makes teacher firing "primarily" based on FCAT scores is meant to undermine state testing. Newspapers that treat FICA results like a football match, and agitate against school reform don't help. The real victims are students.

New York State has conducted Regents Examinations - statewide testing of proficiencies - since 1878 without the battlefield political exercises found in Florida. But, then the New York State Department of Education has a goal. "Our mission is to raise the knowledge, skill, and opportunity of all the people in New York.

Too bad we can't say that about teacher unions.