Hawley, MINNESOTA

September 24, 2008 - Marlyn John Keller, 35, a fifth grade teacher at Hawley Elementary School, pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly conduct. Under a plea agreement, Marlyn John Keller, 35, is to be sentenced to 90 days, with all but three days stayed.

He is to be given credit for three days already served on condition he pay $382 in fines and fees. The charge of domestic assault will be dismissed when he is sentenced on Nov. 10.

Keller was arrested in July on suspicion of domestic assault. Parents created an online petition to ask the school district to fire him after a late-July School Board meeting. Board members would not discuss the matter, leading to the petition’s creation. Keller subsequently resigned.

Easton, PENNSYLVANIA

June 20, 2008 -From Penn.live:

The Easton Area School Board voted 7-1 to accept the resignation of high school teacher Andrea Fox.

The 33-year-old German teacher allegedly was caught by school officials last month accepting an invitation for sex from a 17-year-old student during a chat on her school computer, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

District Solicitor Alan McFall said the district will file a report with the state bureau of teacher licensing and standards, which will determine whether Fox's teaching license would be revoked.

June 17 - A criminal investigation is ongoing. She taught at Easton Area High School. She had been on paid leave May 22 and was placed on unpaid leave June 5, the day an internal investigation had concluded.
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SCHOOL INFO
The school rates a 3 at GreatSchools.net
The district rates a 4 at GreatSchools.net
Testing in Pennsylvania: An Overview from GreatSchools.net

ONLINE RESOURCE
You can find state Notification of Teaching Certificate Actions here.
Surrender has the same effect as revocation. Many of the actions are "surrender in lieu of discipline" that involve sex with students.

In the March 31, 2008 notices, for instance, there were seven revocations for sex convictions. One revocation was for a Sexual/Romantic Relationship. There were eight surrenders for inappropriate, improper or sexual relationships with students, with only one charged
We looked at the list in April to see how many we knew about. TT entry

Brooksville, FLORIDA

Despite a felony conviction and drug selling charges, the school district hired him.

May 9, 2008 - Hernando High School coach Eric A. Riggins, 37, under investigation for possible inappropriate contact with female students, has resigned.

Riggins was arrested in 1998 on a charge of burglary with assault. He was accused of forcing his way into a girlfriend's home and threatening to kill her, court documents show.

He eventually pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, and was sentenced to probation with adjudication withheld.

He was also arrested in 2000 on charges of trying to sell marijuana to an undercover police officer, but the State's Attorney's Office declined to prosecute due to a problem with a witness.
Despite that record, the school district hired Riggins in 2003 as an aide at the alternative school.

He later coached at Nature Coast Technical High School.

The St. Petersburg Times also reported that in 2006, the Florida Department of Education moved to deny his application for a coaching certificate, but a state panel later reversed that recommendation and gave him a provisional certificate along with a reprimand and $250 fine.

Riggins had been suspended with pay last month.

Omaha, NEBRASKA

Can't arrest him. It wasn't illegal.

April 8, 2008 - An unidentified Millard Public Schools business teacher resigned last Thursday. Police say the teacher, when questioned, reportedly admitted to sending anonymous text messages and paying the male students for pictures of their abdomens, chest and biceps.

According to Police the teacher would tell students where they could pick up money after he received the pictures. One time, he reportedly wrapped $50 in tin foil and left it at Beadle Middle School. The teenage boys thought the messages were coming from females at the school.

The school resource officer got a tip three weeks ago. Investigators found pictures on the male teacher's school computer, but they not were pornographic and not illegal.

Worthington, OHIO

The recommendation explain the problem.

Feb 29, 2008 - Bill Williams, the superintendent of Worthington Christian Schools, resigned amid accusations of sexual harassment and improper conduct. He left his position on the same day that a report detailed the accusations against him. He has not been arrested.

The allegations arose five months ago. Two independent investigations reviewed allegations and concluded that all the incidents were "mistakes in judgment," but it also said that Williams had never been a danger to students. Williams said that his resignation was in no way an agreement with the allegations listed in the report.

Williams became the third Worthington Christian faculty member to leave the school amid allegations of improper conduct.

Last October, teacher Dwayne Smith stepped down after he was accused of fondling a middle school student in 1996.

A few days later, police arrested Jason Crary and charged him with sexually assaulting a student while he was teaching in Milwaukee. He later pleaded guilty to the charges, Connelly reported.

The independent report also made 14 recommendations for changes the schools could adopt to avoid future problems - including writing down and filing all disciplinary-related actions.

See Private school's leader resigns (dated March 1, 2008) from the Columbus-Dispatch.
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TT - In 1996, Dwayne Smith admitted fondling a middle-school girl. He resigned, attended Christian counseling and was forgiven by the school and Grace Brethren. He was later rehired by the school but resigned again in October after being identified in the award-winning "ABCs of Betrayal" series at the Columbus Dispatch. Smith has never been charged with a crime.

The second teacher, Jason Crary, pleaded guilty in Wisconsin to four felony counts of sexual assault. He will be sentenced April 3. Three years after hiring him, Worthington Christian officials heard Crary had been involved in something inappropriate with a former student, but they didn't have enough information to fire him, the report found. See Columbus Dispatch series "ABCs of Betrayal" story on Crary. TT entry for Crary.

Florence, ARIZONA

Feb 27, 2008 - An unnamed Florence High School teacher and coach resigned on Monday after being accused of sending sexually explicit text messages to a student.

No charges have been filed in the case, which is being investigated by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

A parent contacted the school athletic director with the allegations against a male P.E. and weight training coach. An 18-year-old female student was reportedly receiving a series of racy text messages and voicemails from the teacher.
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This is the second time in recent weeks the Florence Unified School District has had problems with teachers behaving inappropriately. A kindergarten teacher worked six months after she was arrested on suspicion of having sex with a 16-year-old who may have fathered her child. Angela Csader resigned from her position at Anthem K-8 only after the state notified the district, officials said. TT entry for Csader.

Haynesville, LOUISIANA

Jan 21, 2008 - Ronnie Fields, 44, was arrested after four students alleged he made sexual comments to them. Fields is a Haynesville Elementary physical education teacher who coached girls and boys basketball at Haynesville High.

He was booked on four counts of contributing to the delinquency of juveniles.

Fields is charged under the provision that makes it illegal for an adult to entice or solicit a juvenile to perform a sexually immoral act, [Police Chief Anthony] Smith said.

Seven complaints were filed against Fields, but only four parents pursued charges, he added. The students are 17 years old, but the allegations include comments made last year. The investigation into the allegations began Jan. 14.

Thursday, the Claiborne Parish School Board granted Fields’ request for sabbatical leave for the remainder of the school term and his resignation request that will be effective in May.

Full Name: Ronnie F. Fields

Greenwood, ARKANSAS

Jan 11, 2008 - Gary Clinton Sumner, 53, a "longtime Greenwood School District teacher"(District staff) was arrested after allegedly exposing himself to an undercover Fort Smith police officer in restroom in a public park.

After following the officer into the restroom, Sumner allegedly exposed himself, then agreed to engage in oral sex with the officer. He was arrested on suspicion of loitering and indecent exposure.

He resigned.
Greenwood Board of Education Meeting Minutes
(check later to see if they accepted his resignation.)

Another Greenwood teacher was Deanna Bobo. TT - Link

Jan 15 - As a condition of his bond, Sumner was banned from all public parks. Trial is scheduled for Feb 26.

Lake Wales, FLORIDA

Jan 4, 2008 - Patricia Mackroy, 55, arrested and charged last year with with misdemeanor counts of battery on a student and filing a false report, resigned after being on paid administrative leave since Oct. 25.

"Although I am resigning from my position please understand that I am still maintaining that I committed no wrongdoing while as an employee of the Polk County School Board, nor did I commit any of the alleged criminal activities that I am being accused of," Mackroy wrote in her resignation letter. "I feel it is in my best interest at this time to resign from my position so that my students can go about their normal everyday lives without further hindering their education."

Mackoy is accused of simple battery in October following accusations that in September she struck a 12-year-old student on the head with her hand several times. One day later she was charged with filing a false report from another incident that occurred in September.

A witness to that incident told police that Mackroy "staged" the incident with the teenager so the teenager would be arrested.

In 2006, Mackroy was formally reprimanded after accusations she allowed other teachers to read aloud passages from the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to their students. The state ended up throwing out the FCAT results of 34 students in the Countywide Exceptional Student Education program where Mackroy teaches, but after a lengthy investigation decided not to take any additional action. (The school only has 49 students.)

Manny Rodriguez, an investigator with the Polk County School District, said Mackroy would have been fired if she had not resigned.

Fort Smith, ARKANSAS

Jan 4, 2008 - John Pinkston, 37, a science at Northside High School, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of two counts of felony domestic aggravated assault with a firearm. He resigned on Thursday.

The resignation letter to the district was one sentence: "“Due to personal issues, I wish to resign my teaching position effective today.”

Pinkston is accused of holding a gun to his wife's head. He taught at the school from August 2006 until January 2007. He recently returned from duty as a Navy reservist.
Full Name: John Gregory Pinkston

Lynwood, ILLINOIS

Parents claimed he called some of their children "White trailer trash."

RESIGNATIONS Apr 13, 2007 - Sandridge Elementary Principal Leroy Coleman and science teacher Janet Lofton both resigned after someone mailed a 2½-hour disk of the two of them having sex in his office.

The camera that captured the scenes appeared to have been hidden without Coleman’s knowledge. A second woman, also a teacher, appeared on the video. Investigators are trying to track down the person who recorded the sessions, a police source said. Parents were outraged.

Apr 16, 2007 - Coleman apologized to the children at Sandridge Elementary School and his wife of 30 years. CURIOUSLY, School board president Cheryl Ward has speculated the DVD’s release was timed to affect the school board election Tuesday.

June 17 - The School Board has recommended Coleman's and Lofton's education credentials be suspended or revoked due to unprofessional conduct. Two June dates were offered for a hearing. Coleman's lawyer asked for a 30-day extension. Lofton did not respond.

The regional superintendent can suspend certificates up to one year. And even if certificates are suspended, educators have a right to appeal to the State Teacher Certification Board.

UPDATE August 3 - Inside Edition was scheduled to air a story on Coleman. Three incumbent School Board members were defeated in the April 17 election.

HEARING Nov 30 - Coleman is scheduled for a hearing today regarding the possible suspension of his education credentials. The hearing will be held at the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education in Westchester. Superintendent Harry Reynolds and an ethics officer will ultimately recommend to Flowers whether Coleman's teaching and administrative certificates should be suspended for up to one year. The hearing will not be open to the public.

The district also is suing Coleman for his pay between December and May, and the Illinois Teachers Retirement System for more than $100,000 in early retirement penalties charged to the district after Coleman opted for early retirement.That lawsuit accuses Coleman of breach of duty and breach of contract when he had sex with subordinate employees during the school day.

APPEALING TO THE STATE Dec 20 - The school district is asking the state Superintendent of Education to revoke Coleman's license. They want the state to conduct a public hearing and revoke, or in the alternative, suspend for five years Coleman's administrative and teaching certificates.

School board attorney: "We think because of Dr. Coleman's actions, (his certificates) should be revoked. We asked (the regional superintendent) to do it, and he did nothing," [Alan M.] Mullins said. "We don't care who does it, we just want someone to do it." The district refused to participate in a closed door hearing.

TT - For a look at how Regional Superintendents operate in Illinois, see "Superintendents become de facto investigators," an investigation by Scott Reeder of the Small Newspaper Group. The Regional Superintendents are, get this, -- former teachers and administrators -- with absolutely no training in investigation who end up doing very little.

Of those 70 regional offices of education, only 24 have taken any action in the last decade.

Of the 24 regional offices of education that have taken any disciplinary action, about eight took discretionary action for a noncriminal offense such as immorality or unprofessional conduct.

In a decade.

Pensacola, FLORIDA

RESIGNATION ACCEPTED


ARREST reported Mar 10, 2007 - James "Benny" Washington, 47, a Woodham High School history teacher and coach, was arrested Thursday night on three narcotics charges, including one felony.

During a traffic stop, police reportedly found cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia in his vehicle.

He has been suspended with pay. [There is a whole list of complaints from his personnel file at the sidebar at the left.]

SUSPENDED Mar 26 - The Escambia County School Board voted unanimously Monday to suspend Washington without pay.

PRE-TRIAL INTERVENTION Nov 13 - Washington agreed to enter a pre-trial intervention program. If he successfully completes the year-long program that includes substance-abuse counseling, community service and random drug testing, the state will drop the two misdemeanor and one felony narcotics charges against Washington.

RESIGNATION Dec 18 - The Escambia County School Board voted to allow Washington to resign.

Superintendent Jim Paul recommended Washington be fired but said he would allow Washington to resign if he wrote a letter of resignation saying he was quitting because of his arrest and use of drugs. Washington wanted to resign "like everyone else is allowed to."

Three board members voted to accept Washington's resignation on his own terms.

Dec 20 - Editorial by the Pensacola News-Journal objecting to the Board's decision to let Washington resign.

Washington should be fired, or allowed to resign only by acknowledging the charges in the letter of resignation.

The district was previously burned by hiring a teacher who was able to hide similarly serious problems elsewhere, and Paul doesn't want to pass his district's problems onto another.

Washington's practical interest in resigning, without acknowledging the circumstances, is that it keeps open the chance he can retain his teaching certificate.

The Board, they conclude, made the wrong decision.

Blair, NEBRASKA

Dec 18, 2007 - A fifth-grade teacher at a middle school and an assistant girls' softball and basketball coach at Blair High confirmed allegations that he and a 17-year-old girl were seeing each other. He submitted his resignation.

The teacher is 28-years-old. The superintendent says he had no indication that the relationship was sexual, but he said the relationship was inappropriate for a student and a teacher.

No criminal charges have been filed.

Poland, OHIO

Nov 30, 2007 - Troy Massey, 41, a Poland Seminary School physics teacher and cross country and track coach, resigned this week during a school district investigation into his reported relationship with a former student.

There is no ongoing police investigation.

The girl with whom Massey is accused of having a relationship with graduated in June, but she was 17 and a student when the reported relationship is believed to have begun, according to school officials. The school district's investigation started in September.

Because Massey resigned while being investigated, the the school district reported the case to the Ohio Department of Education which will prompt an investigation by the Office of Professional Conduct.

[TT- The new law that required reporting resignations during an investigation went into effect March 31. The law also prevent districts from maintaining two personnel files or separating the discipline records from the personnel file. Some districts let in-house counsel investigate so that the files become protected from public view because of attorney-client privilege.]

April 8, 2008 - Massey was arrested on a traffic violation. The story included this:

A report submitted Tuesday by the school district to the Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Professional Conduct said Massey “resigned because of or in the course of an investigation regarding an act unbecoming the profession ...”

Muskogee, OKLAHOMA

Nov 30, 2007 - — Larry Couch, the Marble City School District’s superintendent for more than 27 years, lost his teacher’s and administrator’s license.

The state Board of Education voted to revoke Couch's Oklahoma teaching and administrator certificate. Couch is accused of embezzling $100,000 from the southeastern school district of approximately 160 students — the majority of whom are Cherokee Indian.
Full Name: Larry Duane Couch AKA Duane Couch

Nov 29 - From The Sequoyah County Times: Couch is willing to submit his resignation and pay restitution, but only if the board can help him secure a plea agreement in district court. Couch's attorney wrote the school board.

"If the Marble City School Board of Education is willing to accept Larry Couch's outright resignation without any conditions or stipulations, accept an immediate $100,000 lump sum payment and request the district attorney to place Mr. Couch on a deferred sentence without further monetary obligation or penalty, I think Mr. Couch would be willing to immediately tender his resignation and pay restitution in the amount of $100,000," [Fourth] Scoufos wrote in the letter.

Since the charge was filed against Couch in August, the state auditor's office has uncovered over $500,000 in questionable expenditures at the school in an audit that goes back to 1999, auditor officials said recently.

CREDENTIALS REVOKED Dec 3 - The state Board of Education voted on Thursday to revoke the administrator and teacher certificates of longtime superintendent Larry Duane Couch. The revocation was not in response to the the criminal charges against him.

RESIGNATION April 10, 2008 - Couch sent a letter of resignation to the school board.

In January, the state Board of Education revoked Couch’s teacher’s and administrator’s licenses. Couch is appealing that action in Sequoyah County District Court. A spokesperson for the state Department of Education said Wednesday that the appeal is still pending and the Department of Education attorneys had not heard otherwise.The Marble City School Board did not terminate Couch because of the appeal, members said earlier this year.

An interim superintendent was appointed in December.

CHARGED May 22 - Couch was charged in Federal court with three felonies, including embezzlement of government funds and making and subscribing a false tax return. Couch also has agreed to plead guilty to state embezzlement charges. He is set to waive a federal grand jury indictment

Smiths Station, ALABAMA

Oct 22, 2007 - A Smiths Station High School health teacher and coach resigned after being asked to to do so after allegations of inappropriate contact with a student. The investigation did not reveal any sexual activity and the coach is not facing charges at this time. He resigned Oct 15.

The teacher is being investigated by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. The alleged harassment was of a 15-year-old female student. The parents of the 15-year-old girl filed a harassment complaint.

Park Forest, ILLINOIS

A teacher could appear nude in the cafeteria covered with mashed potatoes, have sex with four-year-olds in the gym and still be placed on paid leave, but 'racially insensitive' remarks will kill a career.

Oct 16, 2007 -

School officials in Park Forest have accepted the resignation of a tenured teacher who was accused by at least one parent of making inappropriate remarks to students.

Richard Herz taught in Park Forest School District 163 for 14 years. The board voted 6-1 Monday night to accept Herz's brief letter of resignation. Board President Virginia Ford was the lone holdout, saying she would rather terminate Herz "for what he has been accused of."

For -- be prepared -- "racially insensitive" remarks.

TT - Doesn't it make you hope for the day when people who call themselves "educated" will act like they have half a brain?

Christopher, ILLINOIS

: Sept 12, 2007 - Gary Gischer Jr., a a physical education teacher and head basketball coach at Christopher High School, resigned as coach following an arrest in August for DUI, possession of drug paraphernalia and possessing 2.5 to 10 grams of cannabis.

The resignation from his coaching job was submitted to the board through Gischer's attorney and is effective immediately. The action taken by the board does not affect Gischer's tenured teaching position at the school.

Brooklyn, NEW YORK

August 10, 2007 - The principal of the Arabic-themed New York public school - Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn - has resigned. She was roundly condemned for failing to condemn the use of the highly charged word "intifada" on T-shirts.

Despite that, the city's Department of Education says it's still committed to launching the school in September.

NY Post: CITY PRINCIPAL IS 'REVOLTING'

Monessen, PENNSYLVANIA

August 10, 2007 - An art teacher Monessen High School teacher, resigned following a date with a porn star that he won in a contest sponsored by "Bubba the Love Sponge," a Sirius satellite show. The teacher won the trip last month to St. Petersburg, Fla., to meet with porn star Akira.

The wheelchair-bound teacher told a local newspaper that he felt ridiculed and offended by the way he was portrayed on the show. He also expressed concern about his status as a teacher.

A host on the show, known as "Spice." joked that the contest to date a porn star was fine for a "ditch digger" but not a teacher.

The school board accepted his resignation for "retirement purposes."

According to the state Public School Code, a teacher's job can be terminated for such reasons as "immorality, incompetency, cruelty, persistent negligence, mental derangement, advocation of, or participating in un-American or subversive doctrines and persistent and willful violation of the school laws of the state."

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ONLINE RESOURCE: The Standards and Practices Practices Commission at the Pennsylvania Department of Education maintains and online list of actions taken against teaching certificates

See their FAQ