Dumb and Dumbest

WANTED: Not-quite-bright teachers.

September 9, 2008 - A lawsuit brought by a handful of students and parents and supported by 100 of the state’s 168 school districts, alleges the state substantially underfunds school districts and violates a constitutional provision guaranteeing all children access to a free, adequate and quality education. The plaintiffs hope to show that teacher shortage is due to South Dakota’s consistent ranking as the state with the nation’s lowest teachers’ salaries.

Testifying was Ann Wilson of South Dakota State University who said that South Dakota has set passing scores lower than some surrounding states in a number of teaching disciplines. That apparently was done at least partly to deal with a teacher shortage, she said.

Wilson explained Monday that college graduates seeking to become teachers have had to take the competency tests for several years. The tests measure prospective teachers’ knowledge of how to teach and their knowledge of their chosen subject areas, such as math, biology or English.

South Dakota has consistently set passing scores at lower levels than Minnesota, North Dakota and Kansas, nearby states that require the same tests, the professor said. For many academic disciplines, South Dakota has set the cutoff scores lower than national averages, she said.
For example, 4 percent of those who took the elementary education competency test one year failed in South Dakota. If they had been measured by the Minnesota cutoff score, 14 percent would have failed, she said.

Wilson said the tests would provide at least some information about a person’s ability to teach.
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tt- Such lawsuits are end runs around the responsibility of the legislature to determine spending. Plaintiffs are hopeful that they will bypass the legislature and get some anonymous, unelected, and, ultimately, unaccountable-to-the-public judge to determine how tax dollars will be spent.
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September 26 - At the lawsuit trial, Michael Wolkoff of the University of Rochester in New York , an economist testified that consistently ranked as having the nation’s lowest average teachers’ salary, but he said South Dakota also ranks near the bottom in average wage when taking into account all occupations.

South Dakota’s average teachers salary also is competitive with salaries paid in other occupations that might attract the same people, Wolkoff said.

He said South Dakota has a stable work force of teachers, with about 87 percent staying in the same school district from one year to the next. While 4 percent move to another South Dakota school district in a typical year, about 9 percent quit teaching or take jobs in other states, he said.

However, Wolkoff said only a small portion of South Dakota’s teachers move to other states to take teaching jobs. Most wind up teaching near where they grew up, he said.

Mitchell, SOUTH DAKOTA

LAWSUIT decision.

June 24, 2008 - A former student is suing her former teacher and the Mitchell School District, alleging sexual harassment, discrimination and battery at the hands of her former teacher, Andy Tate, and liability on the part of the school district.
Full Name: Andrew Tate

The lawsuit that was filed in January claims Tate had a reputation for other inappropriate actions and conversations with students, and that the school district should have known about it and prevented it. Tate was not originally a defendant but was later added as a third-party defendant.

Jurors in the civil trial will not hear the criminal charges against Tate. Tate pleaded no contest.

Shortly after the 2006 encounter, Tate was charged with criminal stalking and resigned from the school. The details of those charges have never been fully reported, but there were allusions in the civil depositions to Tate allegedly following female students.

Tate originally pleaded not guilty to four criminal stalking charges but later pleaded no contest [in 2006] to one charge, and the other charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement. His sentence included jail time and a fine, but the crime will be wiped from his criminal record if he abides by the terms of a two-year probation period.

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WE FOUND:
April 22, 2008 - School officials traded obscene e-mails
Two e-mails send by the School Board President Bob Everson through the school district e-mail system emerged. One e-mail sent by Everson in December 2005 to Tate and Terry Aslesen — a former Mitchell High principal who now teaches there — is titled "Golf Attire."

The e-mail purports to ask members of a golf club to decide on a dress code. Attached are two images of three topless adult women photographed in golf settings.

A second e-mail, which Aslesen sent to Tate and two others in February 2006, is titled "Golf Tee's" and advises, "Use discretion when you open this." Attached are a photograph of another topless woman and a close-up photo of two breasts.

Lawyers for the school district have asked a judge to seal the e-mails from public view and will seek to keep them from reaching jurors.

Dec 13, 2007 - Supt. Discusses Charges Against Board Member
School board member Eric Christensen informed Mitchell's school superintendent last month that Christensen was the subject of a possible criminal investigation in connection with his former employer.
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TRIAL June 25 - The trial is expected to go into next week.

On Tuesday, a jury of nine women and three men heard about previous sex-related complaints regarding Tate.

Plamp's first witness, school counselor Judy Thiesse, said an unknown man complained to her in 1994 that a teacher was the reason his fiancee - a former Mitchell student - wouldn't have sex with him.

Terry Aslesen, who was principal at the time, said the man never identified the teacher, and he assumed the matter involved a lesson on abstinence."I had taken it as something the teacher had taught ... screwed up his fiancee's head, and she didn't want to have sex," said Aslesen, who remains friends with Tate.

Another former student, Tiffany Ellis, testified that Tate gave graphic descriptions of rapes during class lectures in 2005. She had nightmares and complained to the counselor and Principal Yvonne Palli.

"I found it disturbing that he could go into such graphic detail about these incidents over and over again," Ellis said. "There seemed to be a fascination to this."

Great posted comment at the story.

June 27 - Former Mitchell teacher explains actions in court (Argus Leader)
Judge John Simko granted the school district’s motion to throw out the part of the lawsuit concerning sexual harassment and discrimination. The judge found there was insufficient evidence that the district knew about improper conduct in Tate’s past and reacted with “deliberate indifference.”

The issue that remains before the jury is whether Tate committed sexual battery and whether he did so while acting within the scope of his employment.

DELIBERATIONS HALTED July 2 - The federal judge halted deliberations after a juror brought a dictionary to court.

Judge John Simko now is privately interviewing each juror to find out what, if any, use they made of the dictionary. Its use by the jury raises questions of whether jurors were influenced by its definition of certain terms, rather than by definitions and instructions provided to them by the court.

VERDICT July 2 - The jury returned with a unanimous decision that former teacher, Andrew Tate did commit battery against Brittany Plamp. But jurors also decided the Mitchell School District should not be held liable for his actions.

July 28, 2008 - Tate wants the Mitchell School District's insurance to cover the $25,000 in legal bills he spent to defend himself in a lawsuit brought by a former student.

The school district brought Tate into the lawsuit as a third-party defendant so that he could be forced to share in the payment of any damages awarded by a jury.

Earlier this year, Tate sued the Associated School Boards of South Dakota Protective Trust in state circuit court to seek coverage for legal costs he was incurring.

Hastings, MINNESOTA

"Teachers and coaches can hold significant influence over their students and athletes. When they use that influence to prey on high school students, it should be a crime." - editorial

June 26, 2008 - Editorial from the Hastings Star-Gazette, "Brookins case should lead to new state law" that would make it a crime for a person of authority to have a relationship with a student.

The case they cited is of Charles Brookins,( Entry) the former St. Elizabeth Ann Seton school teacher and athletics director, and former Hastings High School coach, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from two incidents in which he supplied alcohol to minors. He also made news last year for having an alleged sexual relationship with a student at HHS.

It is not a crime in South Dakota for a teacher to have sex with a student. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom is still working to get a law passed that would make it a crime for a person of authority to have a relationship with a student. The law was heard at the last legislative session, but was cut from another bill. Read the whole thing.

Souix Falls, SOUTH DAKOTA

Feb 7, 2008 - Described as "a former teacher,"
Daniel Schuknecht, 46, was arrested on second-degree robbery charges.

A clerk at the Rockin Robbins Casino told investigators he walked in last night, demanded money then ran off. With the help of a witness inside the casino, it took police just a couple of hours to make the arrest. Police recovered the money. There was no weapon involved.
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TT - If you recognize Mr. Schuknecht, send us an e-mail. Often such cases turn out that, instead of being a teacher, the perpetrator was once a volunteer coach. But equally often it leads to identification as a teacher with a history that was ignored somewhere along the way. Because 46 is too young to retire.
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Feb 8 - Schuknecht worked eight years at Pride Academy, a behavioral program for at risk students. He worked at Washington High School through the 2006-07 academic year as an educational assistant, according to another story. "But he left that position earlier this year for another job." Schuknecht was hired by the district in 1999 and resigned in October 2007.

Police had planned to meet Schuknecht at the same gas station where he was arrested in connection with a gas skip earlier in the day.
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TT - Pride is one of several intervention programs at Washington High School. Word Doc The school history says that Washington High School has the highest population of free and reduced lunch students, special education, and English Language Learners of the three public high schools.

Hot Springs, SOUTH DAKOTA

Sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

May 24, 2007 - George Krenz, 30, a Hot Springs High School teacher who was previously charged with furnishing alcohol to minors has now been charged with several counts of rape involving minors.

He faces three counts of fourth degree rape, sexual contact with a minor, an alternate count of second degree rape and furnishing alcohol to minors. A Fall River county grand jury also indicted Krenz on eight counts of furnishing alcohol to minors.

"I would be very hostile that's for sure and I'd hate to see what I would be capable of if something like this happened to my children," says parent Stacey Palomares.

"Kids look up to these teachers as mentors and then you have someone that crosses the line," adds Hot Springs resident Don Harden.

Rapid City Journal: Krenz originally resigned in February, effective at the end of the school year, to move out of state with his wife. He submitted his immediate resignation May 8.

--> -->TT - Notable at the Rapid City Journal news story is this post by someone who describes himself as a teacher. [Emphasis ours.]

Ok, now I know some of you people are going to take this wrong, but those that do, maybe your kids do this. I am in no way condoning anything this former teacher did, if he did it. No adult has the right to take advantage of any young person, be it someone in their care or whatever.

But as a teacher, I have seen many young girls come on to, flirt with, do anything to make things tough for any individual let alone a person of trust. Have you seen what these little kids are wearing today? Pants so low that when the bend over rear ends are peeking out. Tops so high, ok, you get the message.

Parents, I am not saying this is your fault. But if you are allowing your children to dress like this, you need to reevaluate your priorities. If this former teacher did this, I certainly hope he pays, but parents, let's quit putting people, male or female, who are positions of trust into situations like this. Not every man or woman on God's green earth have the will it takes, and those who don't shouldn't be in teaching.

I'm quite sure this man did not go into teaching with this on his mind. This might have been something that happened through a moment of weakness and now they both have top [sic] live with it for the rest of their lives. This young lady will have to receive counseling, theis man might end up in prison, will have a label of sex offender for the rest of his life. So parents, let's start helping things out, monitor what your children wear, it might just be preventative medicine. "

My2 cents had an excellent response. And Mother, who nailed it.

I don't care for the revealing clothes on some of these young girls either, but I remember what it was like to be a young woman, whose body was changing, and who was just learning how to deal with her sexuality.

I also remember being "hit on" by adult men, and I was not dressed provocatively. I was lucky enough to have had good guidance from my parents and was not looking for that kind of attention. For you middle aged men hitting on young girls, it really grosses them out. We would laugh at and make fun of you behind your backs. What we should have done was tell your wives and our parents. "

From Jan: ? "Don't blame it on the clothes the kids wear. In all of my years I have never heard of one 15 year old getting raped in a nudist colony. Either you ARE a rapist or you ARE NOT. There is no in between."

INDICTED July 14 - Krenz appeared in court. The grand jury has indicted Krenz on eight counts of furnishing alcohol to six minors. He resigned in May. He faces three counts of fourth-degree rape, one count of sexual contact with a person younger than 16 and an alternate count of second-degree rape.

TRIAL SCHEDULED Oct 29 - A trial has been scheduled for July 16.

GUILTY PLEA Dec 21 - Krenz pleaded guilty to one count of felony sexual contact with a person under the age of 16 and eight counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor in an agreement worked out with the Fall River County State’s Attorney Friday afternoon. The State dropped four counts of rape, including one of which was an alternate charge. He will be sentenced Jan 18.

SENTENCED Jan 18, 2008 - Krenz was sentenced to 15 years. It was the maximum sentence allowable. His wife told the court he was her greatest gift from God. The Fall River County Sheriff’s office charged that there had been possible sexual contact between Krenz and up to three different girls. Krenz had held teaching positions at five different schools before joining the Hot Springs, S.D.

TT - We are always amazed at the number of wives, and to a lesser extent, husbands, who support their spouses after they are sentenced for having sex with underage schoolchildren. It must say something about the sexualization of our society that a woman would think of an underage school girl merely as a sex object with whom her husband had a fling.

Sioux Falls, SOUTH DAKOTA

Nov 15, 2006 -
Steven M. Smith, 55,
Lincoln High School woodworking and welding teacher, pleaded not guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. His trial is scheduled for Feb 13th.

He was arrested in September. "Authorities said he had images on his computer, along with four floppy disks containing 55 images downloaded from the Internet in a file cabinet in his living room. "A federal grand jury indicted him Sept. 19.

Update KELOLAND TV report on "Recognizing Addiction" reveals that Smith's wife went to district officials after their divorce when he had confessed his addiction to tell them about the problem. District officials claim nothing was found on his school computer. Later she gained custody of their two children but not before they had contact with the material that he had transferred to his home computer. Despite that, the District did not inform another district that hired him of the wife's revelations.

He is scheduled to appear in Federal court in February.

Update Dec 12, 2006 - Smith pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of child pornography possession. He will be sentenced March 2.

Update Mar 7 - Smith apologized to his family, his children and his students. But one month last year, court records state Smith accessed 15,500 images. He admits he spent more than a thousand dollars in subscriptions to illegal websites and spent at least an hour a day viewing the material

Smith was sentenced to 6 and a half years. Once he's released from prison, Smith will not be allowed to have contact with a child under the age of 18 and will have to register as a sex offender.

Rapid City, SOUTH DAKOTA

Mar 6, 2007 - Stanton Day, 65, a school bus driver for Meade County, was arrested and charged with first-degree rape and sexual contact with a child.

He is "accused of performing sex acts on the student in the early hours of March 1 while the bus was parked in the Weston Heights subdivision north of Rapid City. The law enforcement officer who arrested Day on March 5 said Day admitted to his actions."

Day being held without bond pending arraignment March 26.
Keoland.tv reports that the girl was 10-years-old.

[TT - highly charged remarks by the State's Attorney and posters at the Rapid City Journal site are worrisome.]

Mar 8 - Scaremongering headlines and inflammatory story continues.

But today parents are looking at him and his employer in a different light. They're afraid to let their kids ride the bus and want answers from the Sturgis Bus Company.

His arraignment is later this month.

June 24 - Emotional story in the Rapid City Journal about how Day has been denied bail. Not a single fact relating to Day's case.

June 28 - Another story in Souix City Journal about how Day has been denied bail.