St. Louis, MISSOURI

Can you spell C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N and media malfeasance?

New St. Louis School Superintendent.
November 3, 2008 - The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on Kelvin Adams, the new superintendent of St. Louis Schools, has begun evaluating the curriculum and filling three key posts in his administration, most notably that of chief academic officer.

The school district has some 25,000-students, "barely hanging onto its status as the largest school system in Missouri." Seven years ago, 42,000 students attended city schools. The district has already shuttered 25 buildings since 2003.

Adams was the director of human resources during a short stint with the St. Louis schools in 2006-07.
------------------
TT - Not mentioned was that Adams is the seventh superintendent since 2003. (Kansas City beats that record due to a school board's fractious interference. Voters recently approved moving seven district schools out of the Kansas City district into another school district.)

Not mentioned either by the Post-Dispatch is that the St. Louis schools have been run since June 2007 by an appointed, three-person Special Administrative Board set up by the state of Missouri after it stripped the district of its accreditation for poor academic performance. After state takeover, the elected School Board in St. Louis refused to cede authority. They are now, for all intents and purposes just spectacles, but it is a role they relish.

Adams came from New Orleans where he served since July 2007 as chief of staff to Superintendent Paul G. Vallas. (Wikipedia entry for Vallas.)

New Orleans is another state-run school district. Taken over by the state after Katrina, the New Orleans Recovery School District operates 34 public schools in New Orleans and oversees 33 more independent charter schools. With 47 charter schools, New Orleans has the nation's highest percentage of charter schools, with close to 60 percent of its children in charter schools.

Previous TT entry on how the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is a cheerleading section for two of the most inept school districts in the country.

OTHER STATES
Black school districts in New Jersey under state control are Jersey City (since 1997) as well as Camden (since 2002), Patterson (1991) and Pleasantville (We call "Unpleasantville.") where " recent investigation by an independent law firm accused past and present school board members of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO Act." Then there is Jonesboro, GA, the first school district decertified since 1969.

The obvious question is why is there no national attention on the widespread corruption and incompetence in black schools in New Jersey, New Orleans, and Missouri and elsewhere? Why is there so little coverage when in an October 2008 discussion with Condolezza Rice, she spoke about education.

"I think the state of education, K through 12 education in our country, and frankly for underprivileged kids, the appalling state of education is a national security issue.

You know, I’ve long been an educator and it breaks my heart that there could be very talented kids who might be the next Nobel Prize winner in the United States in chemistry or the next great composer in America, and they’ll never get discovered because they’re trapped in some public school that is just basically warehousing them. That makes me very, very sad.
But I’ll tell you, as Secretary of State, it makes me terrified.

Transcript here.

Springfield, MISSOURI

May 4, 2007 - Jeremy Anderson, a Glendale High School science teacher, may lose his teaching license. In February, he was seen on a security camera pushing a 15-year-old female student against a wall, rubbing her face and hugging her . The student reportedly tried to get away by walking across the hall, and he followed, putting his arm around her.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, told the newspaper that DESE had opened an investigative file on Anderson. State statutes allow for revocation of a teaching license for a number of reasons, including if a teacher is found guilty of a felony or crime involving moral turpitude. Though Anderson is not charged with a felony, lawyers for the state attorney general's office would decide if Anderson's actions amount to moral turpitude, said Rosenkoetter.
Full Name: Jeremy Warren Anderson AKA Jeremy W. Anderson

RESIGNED June 20 - Anderson resigned. A court date is scheduled for July 5.

SENTENCED October 30 - Anderson was sentenced to 45 days in jail and a $1000 fine for a “common assault” of a 15-year-old student. The victim took the stand at the August 29 trial.
------------------
ONLINE: There are NO teacher disciplinary actions online at the Missouri Department of Education. The Missouri Board of Education meeting minutes are not online either.

You can, however, search at the Missouri Department of Revenue for a business (by county, city, name or ID tax number) to see if they have had their sales tax license revoked for failure to remit sales tax.

At the Missouri Division of Professional Registration, you can look for licensee information for Accountants, Architects, Dentists, Doctors, Therapists, Nurses, Psychologists and Pharmacists and other professions. At the Missouri Board of Healing Arts you can browse through license suspensions. Their monthly newsletters contains information on license actions.

However, you can not find any information on disciplinary actions that may have been taken against a person who is in daily contact with your child. It's a lack of transparency that no parent should tolerate.

St. Louis, MISSOURI

Oct 2007 - Judge recuses himself because a retired judge asked him not to send her to jail.
Nov 2007 : Judge allows guilty plea to be withdrawn.
June 2008:Trial: Her lawyer says Heminghaus was forced into sex acts in her classroom and elsewhere and too humiliated to report it.
July 2008 - Guilty of three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, two counts of a teacher having sex with a student and two counts of plying minors with alcohol.
Sept 2008 - Sentenced to to six years in prison.




When she's old enough to be your mother grandmother.

July 9, 2007 -
Cathy Heminghaus, 47, special needs teacher at Ferguson Middle School, pleaded no contest to performing oral sex on four of her students at the middle school.

Besides the 21 counts of statutory sodomy, Heminghaus also pleaded no contest to two counts of a teacher having sex with a student and two counts of plying minors with alcohol.

Quarenghi said the victims told police that some of oral sex acts took place in a classroom at the middle school while one boy would serve as lookout for another. The prosecutor said the victims were under Heminghaus' jurisdiction for minor behavorial problems, and school officials have described them as basically good kids. They ranged in age between 13 and 15 when Heminghaus performed oral sex on them, police said.

TT - Ferguson Middle School is 79% black. It rates a 2 from Greatschools.com

SENTENCING DELAYED: Sept 14 - Heminghaus pleaded no contest to 25 counts, 21 including statutory sodomy with boys ages 13 to 15. The encounters with her Ferguson Middle School students allegedly took place in 2005.

JUDGE RECUSES HIMSELF Sentencing was delayed when the judge recused himself.

Judge David Lee Vincent III decided to remove himself from the case because his predecessor, retired Judge Kenneth M. Weinstock, wrote a personal letter to Vincent asking the judge to not impose jail time for Heminghaus.

Weinstock wrote the letter supporting Heminghaus because he is friends with the former teacher's husband. After a pre-hearing conference in the judge's chambers, Vincent said from the bench that the letter "doesn't look good," and it called into question whether he could fairly sentence Heminghaus. A new judge will take over the case for sentencing

WITHDRAWS GUILTY PLEA Nov 16, 2007 - St. Louis County Circuit Judge Michael T. Jamison ruled this afternoon that Cathy Heminghaus, 47, of Ferguson, could withdraw the plea she had entered on July 9 before Judge David Lee Vincent III. A trial date is set for Dec 13.

TRIAL June 25 - The trial opened today. The trial of a former Special School District teacher at the Ferguson-Florissant Middle School -- accused of being a sexual predator -- began in St. Louis County Circuit Court this morning with widely diverse opening statements by prosecutor John Quarenghi and defense attorney Susan Roach.

TRIAL June 26 - Heminghaus' lawyer told a St. Louis County jury Wednesday that Heminghaus was forced into sex acts in her classroom and elsewhere and too humiliated to report it.

A friend and fellow teacher testified that Heminghaus never mentioned intimidation or force in confessing that she had performed oral sex on two boys at Ferguson Middle School. She said Heminghaus told her the night of Jan. 11, 2006, of participating in the sex acts in 2005-06. The friend reported it at 7:30 the next morning to supervisors at the school.

The witness said Heminghaus told her she performed oral sex on one teen while the other stood watch at the classroom door, then the boys switched places. Prosecutor John Quarenghi alleged in opening statements in court in Clayton that Heminghaus had sexual encounters with four teens, 13 to 15, in her classroom, her car and a park near her home. Quarenghi said Heminghaus had performed oral sex not only on two students but on two other boys outside of school. All four teens are listed as state's witnesses.

Best line: Heminghaus' upper-middle-class background left her unprepared for dealing with the "behaviorally disordered" students, her attorney said.

June 28, 2008 Principal: Teacher showed no change Trial continues

TRIAL CONTINUES July 2 - Heminghaus took the stand and told a jury Tuesday that one teen forced her into oral sex once in her classroom at Ferguson Middle School.

She feared that the teen who forced her into the classroom incident would harm her son or daughter so she did let him and his friends drive her car, she said.

During the rides, she said, the teens forced her to sit in a back seat that folded down into the trunk, put her coat on top of her, played music as loudly as they could and drove for hours around north St. Louis County.This happened about 15 times, she estimated.

She said she had given them money, bought them food and hid in the trunk when they stopped to visit friends, to avoid being forced to perform sex acts.

She said she had given them money, bought them food and hid in the trunk when they stopped to visit friends, to avoid being forced to perform sex acts.

GUILTY VERDICT July 3 - The jury found Heminghaus guilty of three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, two counts of a teacher having sex with a student and two counts of plying minors with alcohol. She was found not guilty on a charge of first-degree statutory sodomy and on 17 other statutory sodomy counts..

Her husband is a senior vice president at Heartland Bank.

RECOMMENDATION July 3 - AP story says that the jurors recommended Thursday that Heminghaus receive two years for each of five three counts involving sexual misconduct.

A judge set a sentencing hearing for Heminghaus on Aug. 20. The judge will decide whether the two-year sentences will be served at the same time or back-to-back.

SENTENCED September 3 - Following the jury recommendation, the judge sentenced Heminhaus to six years in prison for performing sex acts on teenage students.

West Plains, MISSOURI

August 18, 2008 - A federal grand jury indicted Michael Wilson, 45, a West Plains high school teacher, for possessing and receiving child pornography over the Internet.

The indictment was unsealed and made public upon Wilson’s arrest and initial court appearance on Wednesday, Aug. 13. The federal indictment alleges that Wilson received child pornography over the Internet from April 8, 2005, to July 20, 2007.

The indictment also alleges that Wilson was in possession of child pornography on his computer.
----------------
U.S. Attorneys Office Press Release (dated August 18, 2008)

New Focus

August 18, 2008 - From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, comes this story about the new leadership of the American Federation of Teachers, "Women plan new focus leading teacher unions."

The American Federation of Teachers has recently elected female candidates to all three national posts, a first for a major U.S. labor union.

And if the new leaders have their way, students, teachers and parents will see a difference in the way schools are run, owing in part to an understanding of the obligations many women have of juggling jobs, children and other tasks.

Randi Weingarten, the new union president, wants change.

She wants schools to focus more on teaching than testing and plans to prod local officials to look at "the whole child, what we should be doing to improve not just math and reading proficiency but to help improve a whole child.

""We need bottom-up, real solutions so kids in St. Louis and Kansas City have a level playing field," she said. That could include extending hours so high school students who have a job can attend classes at night, providing some health care services at school or offering classes for parents who need a GED.

At the local level, there is the St. Louis Teachers Union.

Mary J. Armstrong, president of the 2,100-member St. Louis Teachers Union, says the leadership changes are "historic" and send a clear message about the role of women. Armstrong has long pushed for much of what Weingarten is advocating, including taking into account socioeconomic, nutritional, home life and other aspects of a student's life.

She now hopes to gain momentum in St. Louis, including for her desire to examine — and reverse — a rising dropout rate among black male students.

In Missouri, the American Federation of Teachers has 6,000 members — two-thirds of them in St. Louis and Kansas City.
----------------------------
TT -Interesting article but no mention of the fact that the St. Louis School District was taken over by the state in 2007 after the Missouri Board of Education stripped the district of accreditation for poor academic performance and malfeasance. Kansas City is facing the same scrutiny (again.) Entry

Kansas City previously lost their accreditation in 1999. Both districts have been academic disasters and financially mismanaged for decades. Taking Over Bad Schools Entry

Don't miss this article on how the international relief organization Feed the Children delivers school supplies to children in -- Kansas City and St. Louis. And compare that to how the Kansas City school district spends their money in "A money mess bites hard in KC classrooms."

legal fees are off the charts, five times the average per-student costs of other districts, reflecting a troubled district that has been “under siege,” attorney Maurice Watson said.

A lot of those fees have gone to fight succession movements from outlying districts that no longer want to be part of the Kansas City Public School system and the costs of a revolving door for school superintendents.

The St. Louis public school system's cumulative debt in 2006 was almost $25 million, according to the State Board of Education, and it had six superintendents since 2003.

Declining enrollment is a polite way of referring to the mass exodus from Kansas City schools. Schools in Kansas City and St. Louis are so badly run that they are the only districts in the state who are allowed to have charter schools. The Kansas City Star urged the district to "cut bloated management." (And transportation. And maintenance costs.)

Schools in St. Louis and Kansas City are miserable and costly failures. It is surreal and ludicrous to want to "look at the whole child" when public schools can't even provide basic education. And it certainly doesn't help when a major newspaper in the state pretends nothing is wrong that a little cheerleading can't fix.

The pity, the absolute tragedy, is that there are four generations of school children from those schools who have been denied a decent education and the opportunity to escape from a soul-destroying poverty pit where political patronage is the game and education is just the cash cow.

The best, the very best, they can hope for is a Katrina-like disaster that will allow them to abandon the city and find a less corrupt place to live.

St. Charles, MISSOURI

CHARGES DISMISSED

Jan 18, 2007 - Donna DeWeese, 55, a social studies teacher at Francis Howell North High School, was indicted by a grand jury on a felony stealing charge, accused of taking $16,000 from the Class of 2007's prom fund. She was a class sponsor who oversaw such things as the prom.

Administrators at the School noticed a discrepancy in accounts for the 2006 prom. The district began an internal investigation and turned it over to police when they determined it could be a criminal matter.

DeWeese was placed on paid administrative leave Aug. 29. She has been on unpaid leave since she was charged. The grand jury indicted her Nov. 29.
Full name: Donna E. DeWeese
-----------
Case Activity
Disposition Hearing Scheduled for July 25, 2008 at 9:00 am in Division 3 Court Room before Judge Lucy D. Rauch.
Updated June 30, 2008

Court order OCt 12, 2007 that: DEFENDANT'S GAMBLING RECORDS, WILL NOT BE ALLOWED AT TRIAL ABSENT THE STATE TO PROVIDE TO THE COURT A SATISFACTORY CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ALLEGED MONIES MISSING FROM THE PROM FUND AND THE DEFENDANT'S GAMBLING RECORDS

CHARGES DISMISSED July 28, 2008 - St. Charles County prosecutors on Monday dismissed charges against 56-year-old Donna DeWeese. DeWeese agreed to pay the district $4,500 to recover the cost of insurance coverage for the missing funds. (From Education Week)

From St. Louis Post-Dispatch (July 28) . Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas said this morning that the thefts couldn't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The school district had one amount for the missing money, St. Peters police another and an accountant hired by DeWeese had yet another number, he said.

Ultimately, Banas said, prosecutors decided to drop the charge after DeWeese paid $4,500 in restitution to the school district's insurance fund.

CHARGES DISMISSED

Neosho, MISSOURI

Poor judgement.

July 25, 2008 - Debra M. Scott, 42, a Neosho kindergarten teacher, was charged Thursday with six counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

She is accused of driving six female juveniles to a home in Diamond at 12:45 a.m. on July 16 so the group could dump a toilet, two dead armadillos and several bags of trash onto the front yard.

Newton County Prosecutor Jacob Skouby said Scott was charged with child endangerment because she knew before she drove the juveniles to the home in Diamond that they would litter the yard and allegedly commit delinquent acts. Since the minors allegedly violated a law or municipal ordinance, their cases have since been referred to the county juvenile-office system.

Since the cases have been referred to the juvenile system, Scott can be charged with endangering the child in the second-degree, Skouby said.

Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said Scott was issued a summons for her arraignment, but not arrested.

RESIGNATION August 19 - Scott offered her resignation and it was placed on the consent agenda. The letter said she was going to resign from her job immediately.

A pre-trial conference has been set for Sept. 3.

Springfield, MISSOURI

Maybe Disney should start a new series called "Desperate Teachers."

July 25, 2008 - Laura Kirkland, 25, a fifth-grade teacher for Christian Schools of Springfield, was arrested for rape and sodomy of an 11-year-old boy she was babysitting over a two-year period, starting when he was 8.

Kirkland was charged with two counts of statutory sodomy with a person less than 14 years old and one count of statutory rape with a person less than 14 years old.

The probable cause statement says Kirkland admitted to a Springfield police officer that she performed oral sex on the minor three times and had sexual intercourse twice when the victim was 10 years old.

Christian Schools of Springfield is operated by the Baptist Temple Church. A preliminary is scheduled for August 26.

St. Louis, MISSOURI

STORY OF THE DAY...

July 2, 2008 - Cathy Heminghaus, a Special School District teacher, testified at the trial that she feared that the teenage who forced to perform oral sex on him would harm her son or daughter so she did let him and his friends drive her car.

During the rides, she said, the teens forced her to sit in a back seat that folded down into the trunk, put her coat on top of her, played music as loudly as they could and drove for hours around north St. Louis County.This happened about 15 times, she estimated.
-------------------
The only problem is that none of the four teenage boys are on trial. Heminhaus is. Entry

St. Charles, MISSOURI

It's rare that you get to read just how a school district investigates teacher misconduct.

July 4, 2008 - Joe Stacy, 56, a band director at Francis Howell North High School who abruptly resigned this year was accused of having a sexual relationship with a former student, according to a school district report. No criminal charges have been filed.

The school district report was filed with documents related to Stacy's divorce. Stacy's wife filed for divorce Feb 1. The district began investigating in March when a board member discovered an e-mail with the allegations, sent last summer from a 2007 graduate of the school. The report was completed by the school district in April 2008.

Francis Howell spokeswoman Jennifer Gasper said the district sent the report to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The office referred the information to the state attorney general, which represents the education department at disciplinary hearings to revoke or suspend a teacher's license. No such hearing has been scheduled regarding Stacy, who still has a license, a spokesman said.

The newspaper reports that the district also consulted with St. Peters police early on about the allegations that a sexual relationship with a student started in high school, but an officer said no charges could be pursued if the girl would not confirm it. [In fact, the district report says they contacted police AFTER the investigation was completed.]

School District Report PDF
----------------------------------
TT - What is amazing is the number of students who confirmed the relationship or reported that they saw e-mails from the student to the band director expressing concern that she might be pregnant. Several of the girls showed these e-mails to their mothers. The district report called for the teacher to be fired; he resigned instead.

At no time did the school contact the parents of the girl in their investigation.

At the time of the investigation she had graduated and was 18, however, the sexual activity may have begun when she was a sophomore and the district investigator concluded that there was tangible evidence that he was intimate with "a student on several occasions." Obviously, before she graduated. Interestingly, when talking to the police in that single telephone call, school authorities alluded to the one incident at the lake and told police she was over 18 at the time. There is no mention in their report that they informed the police of any prior incidents.

No police investigation would have excluded the parents from the investigation.

There is no mention in the report of the date of the e-mails regarding the student's pregnancy, something that a competent police investigation could have pursued and documented. Incredibly, one teacher warned him that the student "wanted him" -- a 56-year-old man! A former choir teacher "warned him" about the student. AND THEY DIDN'T THINK THIS WAS WORTH REPORTING TO THE ADMINISTRATION if only so administrators could intervene and make certain the band director was clear on the possible boundary issues?? Or offer a solution that would have allowed him to avoid the problem of an aggressive student, if they believed that was the problem.

Our fear is such investigations compromise evidence, giving the teacher and student time to erase e-mails or eliminate other evidence. Giving them, in fact, fair warning if they want to do so.

Our greatest concern about those "Our Own Investigations" is that students who do come forward are often ignored, their testimony, often given unwillingly because they don't want to harm a student or a teacher, is discounted as unreliable, hearsay, or insufficient even if they would make excellent witnesses. Even if they could provide police with the information to take to the parents to help confront the student who doesn't want to testify against the teacher.

What does that tell students about doing the right thing?

Liberty, MISSOURI

Several pharmacies barred her from obtaining drugs in 2007. Don't ask us why she is still teaching in 2008.

May 27, 2008 - Kerri Wisniewski, 34, a health teacher at Ridgeview Elementary School, was arrested and charged with forging a prescription for pain medication.

According to court documents, a pharmacist contacted Wisniewski’s physician’s office after she presented a suspicious prescription Sept. 9. The prescription appeared to have been altered to increase the number of tablets from 40 to 140 and the number of refills from zero to four.
It's not the first time. Wisniewski allegedly filled or attempted to fill multiple altered or forged prescriptions in 2007, and several Liberty area pharmacies barred her from obtaining medications, court documents said.
Full Name: Kerri L. Wisniewski

Platte County Prosecutor's Office Press Releases. (Check at later date for news release.)

SCHEDULED HEARING July 1 in Division 3 Court Room before Judge Daniel M. Czamanske.
RESULT: Defendant appears with atty Al White. Defendant wavies formal arraignment. Cause continued to 7/29/08 at 9:00 am. sh

St. Louis, MISSOURI

"A couple of students said teachers left St. Charles Borromeo in tears over the news."

Arpil 23, 2008 - Joshua Dehne, 25, a teacher at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic grade school, was arrested for allegedly trying to set up a sexual rendezvous with a person he thought was 14-year-old girl. It turned out to be an uncover officer.

Dehne was charged in St. Louis County with attempted enticement of a child. He was placed on administrative leave. Dehne worked as the art teacher at Grace Lutheran grade school in Bellefontaine Neighbors last year.

ARRAIGNED June 25, 2008.

PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE scheduled for July 14 at 8:30 am in Division 17, before Judge LARRY L KENDRICK.

Herculaneum, MISSOURI

Her family must be SOOOOO proud.
Sentenced to two years of probation for sex with an eighth grader.



Nov 26, 2007 - Teresa Engelbach, 22, a substitute teacher in the Dunklin School District, turned down a plea agreement on charges that she had sex with a 14-year-old student who was a friend of her brother.

The victim was an eighth-grade student at Senn-Thomas Middle School in Herculaneum.

Background
ARRESTED March 17, 2007 -

The teacher also allegedly bought the student expensive gifts including a phone, clothes, shoes, a laptop and a $750 paintball gun.
Sheriff Boyer says that the teacher had sexual relations with the boy on four occasions in the last six weeks.

CHARGES Englebach has been charged with three counts of statutory rape and one count of statutory sodomy. Her trial is scheduled for March 6.

GUILTY PLEA Mar 5, 2008 - Engelbach pleaded guilty of two charges for having sex with a 14-year-old student. Teresa Engelbach admitted in a plea last week to sexual relations with a student who attended a middle school in the Jefferson County. He later told a teacher at the school.

She also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of sexual misconduct. Sentencing is scheduled for April 15.

SENTENCED (Sorta) April 15 - Jefferson County Circuit Judge M. Edward Williams [a name we want to remember for our list of lowercase judges] sentenced Englebach to two years of probation. Englebach pleaded guilty to second-degree statutory rape and sexual misconduct in February.

Noting that Engelbach had no prior criminal record and that there was no evidence of physical force in the sexual abuse of the boy, Williams said he would go along with a plea agreement to keep her out of prison.

But the judge told Engelbach, "I certainly hope that you realize the highly inappropriate nature of your behavior."

Unbelievably, her attorney told the judge that the incidents with the 14-year-old were "very unique and very specific in that she was having problems with her fiancé."Almond added, "This is a one-time incident where my client was in a vulnerable state."

Almond said after the sentencing hearing that Engelbach is now married to someone other than her former fiancé. He did not identify her husband. He also confirmed that Engelbach is pregnant.

He said Engelbach was trying to start an Internet-based business to help raise the money to pay her fine and also to pay counseling costs for her victim, which is a condition of her probation.Judge Williams also ordered Engelbach to undergo a mental health evaluation and to have no contact with the victim or his family.

Her fine is $5,000.

TT - Let's hope no one does to HER child what she did to an eighth-grade boy.

Springfield, MISSOURI

Guilty of 10 counts of possession of child pornography. Sentenced to probation!!!

Police found 225,628 images on his computer.

Elected teacher's union president. Told the investigator he had looked at that type of pornography since he was a teenager.

ARRAIGNED June 8, 2007 -
Gary E. Rademacher, 53, a recently-retired teacher at t Jarrett Middle School and a Boy Scout leader, was arraigned on 10 counts of possessing child pornography.

A forensic examination of the computer found a total of 225,628 image files and 520 movie files. Almost all depicted young boys or young men engaged in sexual contact, sexual activity, or anal sexual intercourse (sodomy. The suspected child pornograph featuring boys younger than 14 years old included 1,346 image files and 12 movies.

He allegedly told the investigator he had looked at that type of pornography since he was a teenager.

ELECTED PRESIDENT OF TEACHERS UNION June 8 - Springfield News-Leader: Rademacher had been elected to serve as president of the Missouri State Teachers Association for the 2007-2008 school year, but resigned from the post after the investigation began in January. He also served as a board member and vice president of the union.

Rademacher had collected child pornography since he was a teenager. He worked at five Springfield elementary schools and four middle schools during his three decade career with the district.

Oct 4, 2007 - Ky3 - (Using the same picture that is used at his sentencing story.) He also is a former vice president and president-elect of the Missouri State Teachers Association, a statewide group that represents teachers, including many in the Springfield School District. He resigned from the president-elect position this winter. Detective, Cpl. David Stone, says he found 225,628 photos and 520 movies that show children, all except one being boys, “engaged in sexual contact, sexual activity, or anal sexual intercourse (sodomy).”

GUILTY PLEA AND OUTRAGEOUS SENTENCE April 2, 2008 - KY3: Rademacher pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 10 counts of possession of child pornography. Greene County Circuit Judge Tom Mountjoy immediately sentenced Gary Rademacher to five years of probation, with multiple conditions.

The conditions include Rademacher must be in a treatment program, have no contact with anyone under 17 years old unless approved by a judge, and cannot own a computer or have access to the internet unless approved by a judge. [TT - No mention of his union past in this story or the following stories.]

WSPR: (Apr 2) Prosecutors said they think the punishment was appropriate because they had determined none of the children depicted in the images were from the area. They claim: Police found more than 1,300 images of child pornography on Rademacher's computer.

News-Leader: (March 22) - Rademacher was a teacher at Jarrett Middle School and a Boy Scout leader for Troop 31.

Child Pornography and Educators
TT - List sentenced for child pornography.
TT - List guilty but not yet sentenced for child pornography.

St. Louis, MISSOURI

A role model no one should be proud of.
A school district no one should tolerate.

March 24, 2008 - Floyd Irons, 60, former Vashon High School coach and principal, was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison in a $1.6 million mortgage loan fraud and kickback scheme. He was also ordered to pay back more than $653,000 in losses to banks.

In September, Irons pleaded guilty to wire and mail fraud, for buying or arranging the purchase of four homes totaling about $1.6 million, according to federal prosecutors. In each case, Irons paid significantly more than market value and falsified loan application documents to secure the money, prosecutors said. Mineo, the mortgage broker, then paid Irons and his partner kickbacks from $20,000 to $60,000 per house, according to prosecutors.

Irons was an award-winning coach. However, five of the titles may be stripped because of recruitment violations. The state association is investigating the eligibility of at least 15 Vashon players spanning nine school years, from 1998 to 2007. In 2005, an audit showed mismanagement of ticket sales, fundraiser proceeds and travel expenses associated with the basketball games and events. The audits point to basketball coach and former Principal Floyd Irons.

Last month, U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber called the scheme one contribution to the financial "catastrophe" in the U.S. mortgage industry.
------------------------------
TT - Not a single article that praised his long career mentioned the abysmal academic standards at Vashon High School that rates a 1 at Greatschools.net

The school is 100% black. They spend $10, 714 per student (compared to $7,858 statewide.) The St. Louis School District rates a 2 overall. Last year, after decades of performance problems, the state took over the district. Entry

Osage Beach, MISSOURI

We call it "Bargains" when a teacher agrees to give up their teaching license in negotated plea agreements because no other class of citizens is given such a bargaining tool. Revocation of a license should be automatic, not negotiated.

Mar 8, 2007 - Nick Leier, 31, a teacher and high school football head coach who recently resigned from his position at School of the Osage, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of child molestation.

The allegations did not include any type of sexual intercourse. He was placed on administrative leave in January. Leier is free on bond. He resigned Feb 20.

Mar 12 - Leier had been placed on administrative leave in January. He's married. His wife is a former teacher for the district.

Jan 30, 2008 - Leier pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge. A condition of the plea agreement will force Leier to give up his teaching license.

Leier was arrested in March 2007 after allegations of misconduct involving two female students led to an investigation by the Camden County Sheriff's Department.

The allegations stemmed from incidents that reportedly occurred at Leier's home while the students were babysitting. The allegations were brought to the attention of school officials in January by a parent. One allegation dated back to 2005, the other to 2006.

Leier was placed on administrative leave when the allegations first surfaced. He resigned after weeks of speculation and scrutiny of the school board and administration over how the issue was handled.The agreement reached with the school included a provision that allowed the district to share information with possible future employers seeking a reference that Leier resigned after being charged with immoral conduct.

Leier had been with the district for four years since coming from Houston, Mo., where he previously taught.

He will be sentenced March 5.

March 7 - Leier was sentenced to 15-days in jail. Besides his "shock" time in the county jail, a judge gave Leier two years of probation. He also must surrender his teaching license.

Chilhowee, MISSOURI

March 4, 2008 - Brian E. Foree, 23, a music teacher in the Chilhowee schools, was charged with furnishing pornographic materials to a minor. According to the probable cause statement filed in Circuit Court, Foree sent pictures of his genitalia to a Clinton area teenager between Jan. 1 and March 1 of this year. More charges could be filed in the case

"The victim that came forward, does in fact live in Henry County, which is where he had taught prior to coming to Chilhowee," [Johnson County, Missouri prosecutor Lynn] Stoppy said. Foree is a recent graduate of CMSU. It's his first year of teaching. He is married.
---------------------------------------------------
No charges were filed against
Christina Stranghuener, 33, of 707 E. Gay St., an algebra teacher at Warrensburg High School, resigned last Thursday after reports of inappropriate e-mails she sent two 17-year old males, one her student and the other a former student.

In a closed emergency meeting of the Warrensburg R-VI school board that afternoon, members voted 4-0 to accept Stranghoener’s immediate resignation. Stranghuener had taught in Warrensburg schools three years; her annual salary was $32,650.Warrensburg police said because the recipients of her e-mails were 17, the incidents did not constitute a crime.

A Warrensburg high school student complained about a teacher who stalked him and sent him pictures of her breasts. He said he received sexually suggestive text messages from his teacher, and he hated turning her in. According to her school Web page, she's married with four children, and the student said he had no idea why she decided to sexually harass him.
-------------------------
CASE ACTIVITY
CASE REVIEW SCHEDULED for FOREE on August 1, 2008 at 9:00 am in Division III Courtroom before WANDA SUE DODSON.
-------------

Dardenne Prairie, MISSOURI

Parents the student discovered during routine monitoring of his e-mail that a teacher sent their son topless photos of herself.

Feb 29, 2008 - Melissa R. Moss, 27, a first-year teacher who taught English at the independent Catholic high school, was charged in St. Charles County Circuit Court for furnishing pornographic material to a minor for sending topless photos of herself to a 15-year-old male student.

The school put Moss on administrative leave in November. She was fired two weeks later.

Moss graduated in May with a bachelor's degree from Lindenwood University in St. Charles and began teaching at Barat, a new school that opened last year.
------------------
Case Activity:
DISPOSITION HEARING SCHEDULED for July 7, 2008 at 9:00 am in Division 8 before WILLIAM T LOHMAR.

Holden, MISSOURI

Feb 22, 2008 - Police arrested David B. Shanks, 31, a sixth-grade school teacher at Holden Middle School, on charges of Enticement of a Child and Promoting Child Pornograhy 2nd Degree.

His arrest stemmed from an Internet investigation conducted by an undercover Kirksville, Mo., police officer who posed as a 13-year-old boy.

As a result of the execution of this search warrant a computer containing child pornography and a web cam were seized.

Video report at KCTV said that in December, Shanks sent a streaming video of a sex act to what he thought was a 13-year-old boy.
-----------
Update June 29 - Case Activity:
Plea/Trial Setting is scheduled for August 11, 2008 at 10:00 am Division I Court Room before
Judge Jacqueline A. Cook.

Jefferson City, MISSOURI

JURY ACUITTED HIM OF ALL CHARGES.

Jan 10, 2007 - Brent Roark, 29, a Jefferson City High School math teacher, has been charged with two counts of second-degree statutory rape.

The indictment against Roark alleges two encounters occurred with a female under the age of 17. Roark has been on paid leave since last October while school district officials and the police investigated.
Full name: Brent D. Roark

Update Jan 24 - Roark resigned.

NOT GUILTY PLEA: Oct 11 - Roark was indicted by the grand jury in January on two counts of second-degree statutory rape. He was scheduled to go to trial on those two counts on Aug. 1, but that same day, Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson dropped those charges, then refiled them and added the statutory sodomy charge.

A Grand Jury indicted Roark last month on two counts of second-degree statutory rape and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.

Under state law, a 16 year old cannot legally consent to sexual contact with anyone over 21, even if the teen wants to say he or she was a willing participant.

ACQUITTED Jan 19 - After four-and a half-hours, the jury acquitted Roark of all charges.

JURY ACQUITTED HIM OF ALL CHARGES.