Smyrna, TENNESSEE

STORY OF THE DAY

August 11, 2007 - From: The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, Tennesee, "Arrested teachers return to class SUB: Drug tests for Gill; Shelton can't own gun"

A Middle School technology teacher was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to diversion that included $1,064 in fines, two months of drug screening and an 11-month 29-day suspended sentence. He took a medical leave of absence the rest of 2006-07 and used his sick-day benefits for income. TT - Link

He was not reprimanded "because it was not related to his job." His brother is Rutherford County Schools Director.

The second teacher was suspended briefly for firing a gun at a neighbor. "The reason for the suspension and the charge against you is conduct unbecoming a member of the teaching profession in that you have been charged with a felony," the letter stated. TT - Link

However, the suspension ended, and the district gave her back pay because she's no longer being prosecuted on felony charges.

A poster at the news story had this to say, "Two months drug testing, and I bet you they gave him the dates of these tests. Wait a couple of months and let a drug sniffing dog walk around his truck, AT SCHOOL. As far as the teacher that got so angry because her neighbor was making too much noise..what is she going to do to the kids when they get loud as teenagers do? Crazy, and to top it off, they both got their back pay."

See the April newspaper editorial about Role Models. In Rutherford County, for example, teachers are required to tell the school system about drug- or alcohol-related arrests but only if they happen on campus.

Other Tennesee stories of note.
See School board doesn't want to infringe on teacher rights
See The Tennessean : Teacher Crimes Barely Traced
See License Actions in Tennesee
See The elementary school staff that pretended a gun man was outside.
See Teacher's husband arrested for killing student she was alleged to be involved with
See He resigned so we will no longer investigate accusations
See Five days to remove teacher from a classroom where he solicited sex
See Three districts: paternity suit, fired for racy messages, then sex with two students.
See To report crime, or no, at school officials discretion
See Pamela Rogers, who doesn't need any more fame

Brownsdale, MINNESOTA

CHARGED: August 9, 2007 -
David Gerlach, 49, a school bus driver and school bus manager for the school district, was charged with felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct, felony third-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct and contributing to the need for protection or services for allegedly performing a sexual act on. (Charges filed July 25.)

Gerlach was text-messaging the boy with promises of gifts and alchohol. The boy's mother turned the phone over to police who set up a sting to meet Gerlach.

He also faces 17 felony charges in Mower county for allegedly forming an eight-year sexual relationship with a boy that started in 1993 when the victim was 8 years old.

They have charged him with 12 counts of criminal sexual conduct in the 1st degree, four counts of criminal sexual conduct in the 2nd degree and burglary in the 1st degree.

See Charges against bus driver bring shock, silence
See School Bus Driver Faces Sex Assault Charges

[Superintendent Ronald] Evjen says, "Just because you pass a background check doesn't mean things don't happen after that time."

Sheriff Thompson says, "People don't just wake up one day and bingo they have a preference for young boys."

Sheriff Thompson says it wouldn't surprise him if more victims came forward.

August 10: First Mower County hearing postponed while Gerlach finds an attorney.

Next hearing is Oct 17.

Beloit, WISCONSIN

Some things just shouldn't be forgotten.

August 11, 2007 - Daniel D. Anderson, 58, is being released from prison. He was sentenced in 1990 for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl.

He picked the girl up from Rockford and brought her to his home in Beloit. Court records indicate Anderson's son told police that he saw a naked little girl in his father's room and heard her crying and screaming.

In 1979, he served time in jail and was put on probation for second degree sexual assault. The victim was a 16-year-old girl who attended the school he taught at.

Before this incident, Anderson was a teacher in Wisconsin. He taught at a Beloit school at one point as well.

Neighbors are being briefed on Anderson's release and the requirements imposed on him as sex offender.

Good explanation of sex offender notification laws.

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

RANT OF THE DAY

RANT OF THE DAY

In a story about the arrest of high school teacher Jerry Wayne Linton, 58, in Mathews, North Carolina, community reaction and concern was included, but also the school district and the teacher's association.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools plan random background checks during the school year. They said they hope parents keep such charges against teachers in perspective.

And then the news source contacted the union.

Some teachers said incidents involving teachers and children have thousands of them fighting to keep their reputations and parents’ trust. Judy Kidd of the Classroom Teachers Association of North Carolina said she hopes criminal incidents don’t reflect on those who are trying to make a positive impact on children in the community.

“Don’t let a few teachers ruin the name of the profession for everyone because there are very few teachers who would even think of doing such a thing. We’re all good people. We have a few bad apples. It’s just like in any other profession,” Kidd said.

She said all teachers receive rigorous training in ethics before stepping into the classroom.

Linton was arrested and charged with three counts each of taking indecent liberties with a child, first-degree rape of a child under 13 and first-degree sex offense on a child under 13 for sex games and sexual activity with three children. Two were relatives. He took nude pictures of the children and kept them on his computer. TT - LINK

Linton was the second teacher arrested on the same day. Amanda Athey, 27, was arrested, accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a female student. TT - LINK

Two other Charlotte-Mecklenburg teachers were arrested for drugs in June. One was selling cocaine and the other was caught shooting up in a classroom. Both had previous arrests.

The teacher caught shooting up heroine in the elementary school classroom had a 2005 arrest for drugs and got deferred prosecution and charges dismissed after completion of the program. Also found at the news site on the same day was yet another C-M teacher who resigned for sending sexual text messages to a student. That story didn't end with an arrest and there was no further information. LINK and LINK

The problem is that, increasingly, it is becoming clear that teaching isn't a profession. It's a job where tenure and collective bargaining contracts means that professional oversight is not guaranteed, where children are the LAST concern, where parents are the last to know of abuse in the classroom, and, then, only if the school has to admit it. Amazingly, drug use is not grounds for license revocation but a question of rehabilitation with the goal of returning the teacher to the classroom.

Teachers are judged by the same people who hire them.

The lack of transparency in teacher discipline guarantees more privacy for the offending teacher than concern evidenced for the student. And it shows genuine contempt for parents.

Bad teachers who don't teach or become sexually involved with their students are genuinely despised by good teachers.

But until the day that a teacher is automatically fired - as are many charter school teachers and non-tenured teachers - for being arrested for having sex with a student or using or dealing drugs or failing to show up for work 50 days out of a 170-day school year or just plain not teaching - giving children first priority and concern and not a union contract - teachers are just industrial union workers.

Most schools aren't as bad as this district. But the rules that are the same in every state that allow behind-doors negotiations for revocation of a teaching license or suspensions for reasons, the knowledge of which ought to serve to alert parents and taxpayers.

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RECOMMENDED READING: A 2005 series by Scott Reeder called "The Hidden Cost of Tenure" (Subhead: Why are failing teachers getting a passing grade?) ought to be on the reading list of every parent. Because what the six-month investigation found in Illinois isn't unique to that state.

Highland Springs, VIRGINIA

Jan 29, 2007 -
James Meunier, 50, an earth science teacher at Highland Springs High School, has a May 2 trial date. He is accused of sex charges involving a 15-year old female student.

He was arrested in November.

GUILTY PLEA: May 2 - A day before his bench trial, Meunier pleaded guilty to to five counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor by a person in a custodial or supervisory relationship.. He is scheduled to be sentenced in August.

SENTENCED: August 9 - Former teacher of the year, James Meunier, was sentenced to ten years, 8 years suspended, and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Meunier twice had sexual contact with the girl on school grounds. Meunier apologized for his behavior, which he noted had destroyed his career. He was named a master teacher in 1994 and was the high school's athletic trainer. He had been at Highland Springs since 1997 and had taught earth science for about 25 years.

He is married with three children.

Troy, MICHIGAN

ARRAIGNED: May 12, 2007 -
Carlos Wheatley, 62, a fifth grade at Troy Union Elementary School and was the soccer coach at Troy High School, was arraigned on four counts of accosting a child for immoral purposes and four counts of malicious use of a telecommunications device.

Wheatley is accused of engaging in phone sex and online conversations with a 14-year-old Minnesota girl. Wheatley and the girl made contact in August, possibly earlier, in an online adult chat room. He has been on paid leave since March.

A preliminary hearing was set for May 22.

Wheatley was suspended in March by the school district. “He knew she was only 13 years old, and he knew it was a crime,” said [Oakland County Deputy Prosecutor Deborah ] Carley. “Apparently there were quite lurid phone conversations.”

Update Mar 22 -Wheatley was arraigned and with one count each of downloading child sexually abusive photographic material and for using a computer to do so. A preliminary hearing was set for April 3. He resigned.

He was released on a personal recognizance bond. A preliminary hearing was set for April 3.

Update May 22 - Wheatley's case was bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court today from 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills. Wheatley will be arraigned in circuit court June 4. The date for his pretrial hearing is also scheduled for June 4 following the arraignment. He remains in jail on $100,000 bond.

NEW NEW - Jim Toth, a sports editor for the Eccentric Newspapers has a hard-hitting column about Wheatley.

Since those charges were levied earlier this week, the popular response when discussing the Wheatley incident -- and if the accusations prove to be true -- has been, 'What was he thinking?'

And just like Krisniski, Wheatley -- who was arraigned in 52-3 District Court Friday and is scheduled for a preliminary examination May 22 -- is accused of not thinking about much else other than himself. Not the person on the other end of the phone or the chat room, not any one of his family members and not any of his friends or colleagues.

He concludes with,

And please, bury the excuses of life at home or at work. No environment can be that uncomfortable that it forces a child to soothe the pain.

The thought of being invincible, along with years of utilizing authority in the classroom, might have something more to do with it.

RESIGNATION: May 24 - Wheatley resigned from his job. Wheatley will be arraigned in Oakland on June 4.

GUILTY PLEA: June 11 - An article mentioned in passing that Wheatley pleaded guilty in May. He pleaded guilty to four counts of accosting a child for immoral purposes and four counts of malicious use of a telecommunications device. Sentencing was scheduled for June 21.

SENTENCED: August 10 - Wheatley was sentenced to 90 days in jail, $7,089 in fines and court costs and three years' probation. He will wear an electronic tether for 180 days.

But according to Wheatley's attorney, Jerome Sabbota, the man has already been punished for phone sex conversations with a 14-year-old Minnesota girl.

"He told me before court today that the worst thing that has happened to him has already taken place," said Sabbota. "The school year is about to start, and he won't be teaching. And teaching is something he loves, so he has suffered a great deal."

TT - Talking dirty with a 13-year-old girl was good for his "self-esteem" according to his lawyer.

Wheatley was allowed to retire.

Mathews, NORTH CAROLINA

August 9, 2007 - Jerry Wayne Linton, 58, a David W. Butler High School teacher, was arrested and charged with three counts each of taking indecent liberties with a child, first-degree rape of a child under 13 and first-degree sex offense on a child under 13.

Investigators say Linton made two boys and a girl, all between the ages of 7 and 10, play sexual games. They say he also made the girl perform oral sex on him.

Linton is also accused of taking nude pictures of the children and saving them on his computer.

Authorities said two of the three children involved are relatives of his.

Linton resigned in June. None of the incidents involve students.

Another CMS teacher, Amanda Athey, was also arrested on the same day.
TT - Link for Athey

Law

August 9, 2007 - Texas has passed a law requiring school districts to add a course on preventing dating violence.

According to the new law, schools must provide a definition of dating violence, safety planning, counseling and awareness education for students and parents.

"We go into schools, K through 12, public schools, private schools, alternative schools and teach about bullying and anti-violence," First Start Coordinator Taryn Daniels said.

The state legislature passed House Bill 121.

TT - They have more sense than say, Colorado, where they would overreach and make 2nd graders assemble for the lecture.

Law

Updated - Signed by the governor.

News story dated Apr 18 -
New legislation sponsored by John Oceguera (D-Las Vegas) would require the Nevada Department of Education to adopt regulations regarding the notification, tracking and monitoring of the status of criminal cases involving teachers was approved by the Assembly today.

Oceguera introduced AB 313 to correct a problem highlighted in a case in Clark County two years ago when a substitute teacher was found to have pled guilty to sexually assaulting an eight year-old boy. The teacher's license was suspended and he was barred from returning to the classroom, but the State Board of Education learned of the situation through a media report.

Text (as introduced) AB 313

Bill was supported by the Nevada State Education Association.
Current status: Most Recent History Action: May 30, 2007 - Chapter 142.
Signed by the Governor - Effective July 1, 2007

Wayne, NEW JERSEY

June 26, 2007 - Timothy Zisa, 35, described as "a once-popular Wayne teacher," pleaded to three counts of cruelty and neglect to a child. He is expected to be sentenced up to five years' probation.

Zisa admitted that he engaged three students in obscene conversations, passionately kissed two of them while they were underage and had sex with two after they turned 18. (See "Details" story.)

Zisa agreed to forfeit his teaching license and never to take a public job in the state. He had been a history teacher and coach at Wayne Hills High School.

Zisa, who was suspended immediately after his arrest, had won considerable acclaim at the high school and was called "The Chillest Teacher Ever" and "very nice to look at" on a popular teacher-rating Web site.

He is scheduled to be sentenced August 10.

See Wayne, NJ's Sex Case Detailed
See Favorite teacher indicted

SENTENCED: August 9, 2007 - Zisa was sentenced to five years probation and barred for life from teaching in the state for sexual encounters he had with three former students. Zisa was also ordered to complete 125 hours of community service and undergo psychological counseling. He is also barred from holding any public employment in the state.

New Orleans, LOUISIANA

August 9, 2007 - A federal judge ordered the names, addresses and race of all teachers hired since the late 1970s and which positions they were hired to fill in the Tangipahoa Parish public school . Thousands of teacher job applications will be turned over to the federal court. If they still exist.

The hearing centered on the allegation that the school system's method for rating applicants and teacher hiring does not follow a court order issued decades ago to achieve a 60 percent white and 40 percent black ratio among teachers resulting in a re-segregation of schools.

Plaintiffs allege there was a “precipitous drop” in the percentage of black teachers in the school system after officials began using a method labeled “objective criteria” for evaluation and hiring.

From an Aug 4 story from The Advocate:

U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle is trying to decide whether the application of that process — called objective criteria — has had an unequal racial impact on black job applicants.

TT - The 100-point scoring “objective criteria," apparently, does not award points for race. That seems to be the main contention. Bio of Judge Lemelle

Also see Schools’ hiring scores challenged

See SchoolMatters (a service of Standard & Poor's) on the Tangipahoa Parish school district.

White Marsh, MARYLAND

Mar 5, 2007 -
Patrick Bogan, 42, a gymnastics teacher at Baltimore County gymnastics, was arrested for possessing and receiving child pornography

A search of his home revealed five cabinets in Bogan’s residence, including one that contained 49 videotapes and discs with hundreds of sexually explicit images of children. They also found several pairs of little girl panties. They also found news articles on kidnapping, child killers and molesters being sentenced, as well as evidence that he was part of an international child porn ring.
Full Name: Patrick David Bogan

May 23 - Baltimore Sun: Bogan pleaded guilty. As part of the plea agreement, Bogan and the government have agreed on a sentence of 6 1/2 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

Bogan told authorities that he had been looking at child pornography for about 20 years, initially collecting it through the mail, then switching to the Internet in the 1990s. Prosecutors today called the case "one of the most significant child pornography cases ever prosecuted in Maryland due to the sheer volume of child pornography possessed by the defendant."

Bogan's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 9.

U.S. Attorney's Office Press Release. (May 23, 2007)

SENTENCED: August 9 - Bogan was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison. He will also have ten years of supervised probation.

Bogan pleaded guilty to child pornography after FBI agents found five cabinets of porn at his home and more at an off-site storage facility in March.

Bogan got a high volume of letters in the his favor, asking for leniency. A number of the letters are from parents of the students he used to teach.

TT - (We know. It's Baltimore.)

TT - List of teachers or administrators guilty but not yet sentenced for child pornography.
TT - List of teachers or administrators sentenced for child pornography.

From EarthTimes.org - News release on sentencing from U.S. Attorney's Office Maryland (not currently found on the Maryland site.)

Department of Justice Press Release (Dated Aug 9, 2007)

Glouster, OHIO

August 9, 2007 - The school board accepted the resignation of a Trimble High School teacher, who is under investigation by the Ohio Department of Education over allegations he fathered a child with a student in the mid-1980s while a teacher at Trimble Local School District, as well as allegedly engaging in an inappropriate relationship with another student while teaching in another school district in Ohio.

Through a public records request, The Athens Messenger obtained a copy of the May 11, 2007 letter sent by the Office of Professional Conduct to the teacher. The news story details the reasons for the investigation. He has not been charged for sex with the 16-year-old Trimble High School girl that occurred in 1984-1985. He left the school in 1987.

The only reason the Ohio Department of Education found out was that the man falsely accused of being the father by the girl's family notified them. A paternity test in the 1990s proved that he wasn't. At that time, he reported the teacher to child support enforcement where DNA testing confirmed the teacher as the father.

Despite all that, the teacher was rehired by the school district in 2000, apparently unaware of the previous history.

TT - How can you prevent something like this happening except by asking teachers to sign a declaration every year saying that they have not in the past, nor will, conduct themselves in a manner that would lead to the loss of their license or criminal prosecution? With the understanding that false declaration can, and will, be a reason for automatic termination.

Or by random lie detector tests such as those given police.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Found at a news story a Michigan teacher who will be tried for sex with a 16-year-old girl.

Speaking for the 8,000 or so people in this state with teaching degrees who cannot find jobs, how can such an UTTER MORON wind up in a plumb job in one of the best school districts in the state?! It seems to me that teachers should be made to take ethics exams, not unlike lawyers or doctors.

AND

Having been a high school teacher, I have seen this sort of thing happen, but I was never ever tempted. These are children and they look to us for guidance and understanding -- NOT SEX! It is extremely inappropriate. This former teacher should have the book thrown at him to the fullest extent of the law. Minimally, he should be given a similar sentence as Latourneau (sp?) and the other female teachers.

Charlotte, NORTH CAROLINA

ARRESTED: August 9, 2007 - Amanda Maria Athey, 27, was arrested, charged with three counts of indecent liberties and one count of sexual activity between a teacher and student

EARLIER STORIES:August 7, 2007 - An English teacher at Hopewell High School has been suspended, accused of a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student. The teacher had not been charged by police.

the student's father told police earlier this month that he had evidence of the relationship between his daughter and the teacher. He told authorities he recorded his daughter’s phone conversations with the teacher and found that the two were talking about their sexual relationship.

The search warrant also states that since the relationship began, the girl “has become withdrawn from the family and started cutting herself severely.”

The father found e-mail and taped the conversations.

In one conversation, the pair talked about having had sex the last time the teacher visited the teenager's home, the court documents say. In another, the student told the teacher her parents might help her through her financial troubles. The teacher responded that the parents would not give her money because of the relationship.

RESIGNED: August 7 - She resigned. Police are continuing their investigation. No charges have been filed.

ARRESTED: August 8 - She was arrested. (See link at top.)

LICENSE ACTION: January 2008 License Surrender. Reason: Inappropriate relationship with student - sexual. N.C. Board of Education.

Orlando, FLORIDA

Good bye, Mrs. Walker. How do you explain that to children?

August 8, 2007 - Andrea Walker, a teacher at Pine Hills Elementary, was shot by her husband. He was arrested and charged with first degree murder.

They were supposed to finalize a nasty divorce the day after Andrea Walker was found dead.

Investigators reported that they were both involved in extramarital affairs.

Source: WBDO AM 580

Sordid lives of people who are role models.

(Don't listen to the police call. It will alternately make you appalled and then have to fight the urge to laugh at the exchange. And there is nothing funny about murder.)

West Seneca, NEW YORK

August 8, 2007 - Anthony Harper, 33, a French teacher at West Seneca East Middle School, was arrested for "an alleged relationship with" (SEX ABUSE OF) a 13-year-old boy.

Harper is charged with committing a sexual act with a child, possession of sexual performance by a child, sex abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Dec 17 - Harper was arraigned on sex abuse charges. He is charged with criminal sexual act, sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child. Harper is accused of inappropriate touching and engaging in oral sexual conduct with the teen. Erie County DA Frank Clark says the inappropriate touching allegedly happened over an eight month span, with the alleged oral conudct happening in August.

Brooklyn, NEW YORK

His license to drive a cab was suspended.

August 8, 2007 - Chris Moriarty, 40, a teacher at Public School 10 on Seventh Ave. in Brooklyn, was arrested for possession of child pornography.

According to the New York Daily News, "The defendant stated that he preferred viewing pornographic images of girls of approximately 13 to 14 years of age who pose nude," the complaint states.

But the smut found on his computer included videos of children about 5 to 8 years old engaged in sexual activity and being sexually abused, according to special agent Robert Raab of the federal Homeland Security Department.

Moriarty moonlights as a cabbie and was featured on the HBO series "Taxicab Confessions" where sexually charged conversations with passengers were recorded and featured.

Bronx, NEW YORK

August 8 - Anthony Casey, Jr., 22, a teacher's aide at JHS 162, was arrested, accused of having sex with a 13-year-old student.

It's alleged by police that the Bronx teacher engaged in sexual intercourse with the student at least three times.

He is charged with Rape in the 2nd Degree and Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree both Class D felonies , Rape in the 3rd Degree, a Class E felony , Sexual Misconduct and Endangering the Welfare of a Child both “A” misdemeanors.

Press Release from The Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District. (Dated August 8, 2007)

Berryville, ARKANSAS

August 9, 2007 - The Berryville School Board voted to allow a middle school teacher who was placed on the Arkansas Department of Human Services Child Maltreatment Central Registry back into the classroom. She will an elementary literacy coach

The teacher is married to a former a Berryville Superintendent who was fired after some board members said he tried to hide the department’s investigation of his wife’s conduct along with the $ 1, 200 in district money he spent on her legal bills.

Julie Munsell, a spokesman for Human Services, said Tuesday that teachers face no penalties by law for placement on the state’s child-abuse list.

Also, school districts aren’t required to consult the list during the hiring process. At childcare facilities across the state, the department must approve the hiring of anyone on the maltreatment list.

Teachers do face losing their teaching licenses if convicted of abuse in a criminal court, Munsell said.

TT - The fact that a teacher convicted of abuse doesn't automatically have their license revoked says a lot, doesn't it?

Spokane, WASHINGTON

ARRESTED: August 8, 2007 - Gordon Erickson, 78, a retired Spokane teacher, was arrested for allegedly trying to have sex with a four-year-old and a baby.

An investigation began over a week ago after SIU Detectives received information that Erickson was trying to illicit sexual favors from young children via the internet.

The investigation led police to use wire taps to record Erickson's conversations about renting the two young children for the sexual encounters.

Through the use of an undercover detective and two fictitious children, ages 11 months and 4 years old, Erickson agreed to go a specified location to meet the two children. He also agreed to bring candy, popcorn and $100 per child to the location with him.

Erickson late showed up to the house with the specified items, and he was arrested.

Erickson retired as a teacher and administrator in the Spokane Public School District in 1982. A Spokesman for the school district says they don't have personnel records dating back to that time to know whether any complaints were made against Erickson during his tenure with the district.

Source: KXLY

August 21 - KHQ has obtained copies of what they describe as "the transcript of Erickson's conversations with the undercover officer."

PDF They are arresting documents and charging requests. Erickson showed up with a bag of popcorn and candy to molest the children.

August 29 - His lawyer claims that the prostitute fabricated the claims. The allegations have made Erickson an outcast at his retirement home and he's decided to move away.

Baltimore, MARYLAND

August 8, 2007 - Baltimore County District Court Judge Bruce Lamdin said he was giving David Riley, 59, the benefit of the doubt when he sentenced him to three years probation for 8,000 photos, including some that showed boys aged 10 to 18 in "'sadomasochistic' states, being bound and or tortured. Only the first year will be supervised.

"You characterized these photos as nothing more than tie-up games played as a child," Lamdin said. "I don't know anyone who would, unless they hang out with Jeffrey Dahmer," the serial killer of boys and young men.

Riley was a church choirmaster who was a part-time music teacher at Boys' Latin School during the early 1980s. He also taught in area public schools from 1969 to 1972. Later, he taught at Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills .

Several parents who attended the sentencing asked the judge to prohibit Riley from working with children during his probation, but Lamdin declined to add such an order.

"I'm willing to give (Riley) the benefit of the doubt that he just looks at pictures and keeps his hands to himself," Lamdin said.

Baltimore police are continuing their investigation.

Toledo, OHIO

July 2, 2007 - Tiffany Yglesias, 31, pleaded no contest to one count of theft from an elderly or disabled adult.

Yglesias was a Toledo Public Schools coordinator who helped author a 2006 guide on ways for parent-teacher organizations to avoid theft.

According to county Assistant Prosecutor Jeremy Santoro, Yglesias stole seven checks from her mother-in-law's purse and wrote them for a total of $2,880. She was attempting to pay off cash advances as well as return money to her husband's bank account that she had taken without permission.

She claims she had a shopping addiction.

In 2004, she pleaded no contest to one count of grand theft and two counts of theft. After being found guilty of the charges, Yglesias was ordered to serve four years of community control, including time in work-release, as well as pay $11,710.70 in restitution. She was warned that she faced 42 months in prison if she violated the terms.

Mr. Santoro said the circumstances of the 2004 case were similar to the recent one in that Yglesias stole checks and forged them.

No date for sentencing was given.

SENTENCED: August 8 - Yglesias was sentenced to 17 months in prison. The judge denied her request for time to get her affairs straightened out and ordered her into custody immediately.“You have to know this has to stop,” Judge Cook said.

The judge also extended community control for an additional two years for a previous conviction in 2004.

Yglesias has two daughters, age 9 and 11. The couple is in the middle of a divorce. Her husband denies she has a "shopping addiction."

TT - Unanswered is how she was deemed acceptable to work for the school district in 2006 after her 2004 conviction.

Nov 28 - There are no online disciplinary actions for this teacher at the Educator Conduct database in Ohio.

Brighton, COLORADO

Story dated August 7, 2007 - The Brighton Standard Blade looked at how school districts deal with background checks.

TT - The really disturbing part is at the bottom.

The state education department sends the district an updated list of teacher license revocations and/or suspensions, usually twice a year.

Good to know they're right on top of things.

Albany, GEORGIA

August 7, 2007 - Lendon Lewis, 42, Dougherty County School System elementary teacher, was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats.

Police say he's the one who put a package containing a powdery substance in a mailbox on Surrey Road in July.

See July 28 news report on the anthrax scare.

Roanoke, VIRGINIA

Mar 2, 2007 -
Thomas Nuckles, 48, a teacher at Country Bear Day School, was convicted of forcible sodomy for molesting a 4-year-old boy while he worked at a Roanoke County day care center.

Nuckles entered an Alford plea, which means he maintained his innocence but did not wish to risk a trial by jury. After hearing a summary of the evidence, Roanoke County Circuit Judge James Swanson found Nuckles guilty.

An astute mother gathered the evidence.

The boy, one of his students, told his mother one day that Nuckles had made a sexual threat toward him, but when the mother questioned Nuckles, he was able to give an innocuous explanation.

Then on April 19, as the boy's mother was driving her son home, he told her Nuckles had performed oral sex on him. She pulled over and questioned her son, who repeated what he'd said and made a gesture demonstrating what he said Nuckles had done.

The boy's mother took him home, separated and bagged his clothes, and called police the next day. DNA swabs were taken from the boy and from Nuckles.

Full Name: Thomas Daniel Nuckles

During a November preliminary hearing, the boy, then 5, referred to Nuckles as a "bad person" during testimony.

SENTENCED: August 7 - Nuckles pleaded guilty in March (one online story says he was convicted) and was sentenced to 40 years, suspended after he serves 15.

Ozark, ALABAMA

August 7, 2007 - Juan Cruz, 22, an elementary school teacher, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana in the second degree.

A friend was also arrested.

[Ozark deputy police chief Myron] Williams said the two men were smoking at the time Ozark police drug agents entered the residence in response to complaints of drug activity there. Agents also observed other drug paraphernalia, according to an Ozark police report.

August 16 - Cruz has been placed on administrative leave. He has a September 19 court date. Cruz had not reported to the first day of school on Monday or by 9 a.m. Tuesday. He's a first year teacher.

Methuen, MASSACHUSETTS

SICK (LEAVE) ABUSE

August 6, 2007 - Methuen school district has a proposed new policy on "sick abuse."

The policy, which has already been adopted for the contracts of other school employees, including administrators, is short on detail.

It does not say what discipline should be taken and only loosely defines "situations which suggest abuse" as "more than four absences which suggest a pattern."The vague language is on purpose, Superintendent Jeanne Whitten said.

Instead of functioning as a punitive tool, the policy is meant to help identify sick-leave abuse and to encourage employees and administrators to work out a solution, she said.

Under the policy as proposed, a meeting with a union representative is scheduled if a principal or supervisor suspects abuse by an employee. The supervisor then has five days to notify the employee if the "excuse for absence was deemed unacceptable." If discipline is to be used, the superintendent and union president are informed immediately.

The union president is "willing to consider" the proposal, but if the policy is implemented, the union will participate in any disciplinary discussions about sick-leave abuse.

School Committee member Gary Marcoux pointed to the lack of union resistance to the policy as proof that it is worth implementing.

TT - The problem with such news stories is that they leave more questions than answers.

Administrators get 18 sick days a year.
How many days do teachers get?

Exactly how many sick days were taken in the last school year by teachers?
How many teachers exceed the average?

Who exactly is in charge of their schools? The administrators or the union?

The Eagle Tribune knows the answers to those questions because they investigated and produced a series called "Marked Absent" written in 2003 on just this topic.

The region's attendance records also show patterns that suggest individual sick leave abuse. The analysis found more than 150 teachers who used a disproportionate amount of sick time on Mondays, Fridays or next to regularly scheduled breaks. Those teachers used a week's worth of sick time or more in 2001-02, at least three-quarters of which came before or after weekends or holidays.

And,

All those absences added up, the analysis found. More than 75,000 days taken throughout the region, including nearly 50,400 sick days, represented more than enough time to fill every teaching slot in the Gloucester school district for the entire year.

Read the whole thing. It's worth the time to find out what questions you should ask of your school board.

July 31, 2007 -The Eagle Tribune series on unfunded pension costs also makes good reading.
July 27, 2007 - A bookkeeper for the Methuen School Department was arrested for selling cocaine.

All in all, a great newspaper.

Pooler, GEORGIA

ARRESTED: August 1, 2007 -
Joshua Evans, 25, a St. Andrews Elementary School music teacher, was arrested and charged with trying to access pornography and engage in inappropriate conversations with a child through the Internet. He was caught in a sting.

Evans was arraigned in Federal court today.
Source: WTOC

WSAV has a statement by the headmaster of the school.

FIRED: Aug 2nd - Evans was fired. His wife is pregnant and sat in the courtroom. She, too, is a schoolteacher.

GUILTY PLEA: August 6, 2007 - Evans pleaded guilty to a charge he attempted to receive child pornography over the Internet. He was fired from the school after his arrest. No sentencing date given.

TT - List of teachers or administrators guilty but not yet sentenced for child pornography.
TT - List of teachers or administrators sentenced for child pornography.

New Entry

Entry for 2nd Annual Idiotic Headline Writer Award to be awarded when we feel like it.

From the Waco Tribune
POLICE REPORT: Waco Baptist Academy moves on after ex-teacher charged with child indecency

"Moving on" is one of those loathsome phrases that suggests that the past is better left behind. It usually refers to a history that the guilty like to toss overboard, which is how in a therapeutic society the phrase got some backing in the first place.

The school isn't "moving on." They are getting on with the business of --being a school. In the therapeutic model, however, the students would be inundated with counselors eager to assuage their anger or disbelief. Heck, even the teachers might be offered counseling. Certainly there would be a post-traumatic group hug and a songfest to commemorate how they feel, or felt, before the group hug and therapy session.

New Orleans

Normally, I wouldn't link to the left wing, loony CounterPunch. It's not a publication I would read regularly, if at all, except to follow a link. But when they run an article called, "Fighting for the Right to Learn in New Orleans," I was intrigued.

It was written by Bill Quigley who is described as a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans.

The pettiness of the Left is particularly ugly to watch or read. Most of the time their righteous indignation is amusing if the topic wasn't so important.

Read the article and form your own opinion. This seems, however, to be the main contention.

Of the public schools operating at the end of the 2006-2007 academic year, educating 57 percent of public school students, were charters.

This makes New Orleans the urban district with by far the highest proportion of publicly funded charter schools in the nation. Dayton Ohio has the second highest concentration of charter schools involving 30% of its 17,000 students.

This experiment has resulted in a clearly defined two-tier public school system.

TT - The main complaint? Charter schools are competition for the miserable pre-Katrina school system in New Orleans that mired children and adults in poverty and crippled them with ignorance. That winning combination makes for a compliant constituency with no real ability to judge the worthiness of their candidates. They remain captive constituents when welfare tethers them to the swamps of mediocrity, corruption, and chronic unemployment.

Why else would anyone vote for, let alone, re-elect Ray Nagin except someone who worked for him? With a turnout of 113,591 (final) votes, Nagin got 59,460** and with 32,000 people who work in healthcare and social assistance in New Orleans, it's not only possible but probable, if you count the employees, their families and relatives.

** 66,787 actually voted against him and for some other candidate in the April primary.

Then follow links at this site. HERE HERE HERE

SchoolMatters (from Standard and Poors) Observations on the Orleans Parish School Board. (Note: their data is from school years 1999-2000 to 2004-2005)

Idiotic Headline Writers Awards

FIRST ANNUAL
IDIOTIC HEADLINE WRITERS AWARDS

MOST FRIVOLOUS AWARD
To Central Florida 13:
Teacher Accused Of Inappropriate Lessons With Student
For a story about Janet Hughes, 32, arrested in a car with a 16-year-old male student. On one count of sexual battery on a child, and attempted sexual battery. It was the second time in a month that Hughes was accused of an inappropriate relationship with a student.
TT - Link for Hughes

HEADLINE WRITER MOST LIKELY TO BE A ROMANCE WRITER
To the Chicago Daily Herald:
Ex-W. Aurora teacher arrested for tryst with student.
The headline writer apparently missed the words, "sexual abuse" and "sexual assault."
TT - Link for Watson

STANDOUT PERFORMANCE
(By a newspaper that should know a lot better.)
By the St. Petersburg Times
Where the student's refusal to testify became: "Student refuses to testify against teacher-boyfriend"
The newspaper also editorialized against prison for the 29-year-old music teacher, which became a TT Rant of the Day, considering what the newspaper represents.
TT - Link for Rant

PRETTY CONSISTENT ATTITUDE from a NEWSPAPER CHAIN
Three headlines provide a comparison of headline writing in a story about the Capuchino High School music teacher arrested and charged with 32 felony sex charges. TT - Link

The winner, of course, is the San Mateo Times for "Teacher pleads not guilty to affair."
The teacher pleaded no contest eventually and was sentenced to one year. He was Adam Albrecht, 29, ( TT -Link) and the student was 17.

LETTER to the EDITOR CATEGORY
We honor The Canton Repository. A Letter to the Editor must have missed the point because the copy editor chose a headline that didn't come close to the very good points the letter raised. But, then, that's largely a function of editors and copy editors: miss the point by a mile and race on to the next issue in a never-ending determination to reduce excessive subscribership. It's a paper-saving thing.
TT -Link

Legislation

With little fanfare, Louisiana passed a law criminalizing teacher-student sex.

House Bill 969 creates the crime of prohibited sexual contact between an educator and a student when the victim is 17 years of age or older, but less than 19 years of age, when the victim is not the spouse of the offender and is a student at the school where the educator is assigned, employed or working at the time of the offense. Under the legislation, consent of a student 17 years of age or older or not knowing the student's age are not defenses.

Penalties include a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. Second or subsequent offenses carry a fine of not more than $5,000 and imprisonment, with or without hard labor, for one to five years.

The bill awaits gubernatorial consideration.

From HOUSE NOTES
The Latest News from the State Capitol, Louisiana House of Representatives, Regular Session Wrap-Up, July 3, 2007
--------------------------
Signed into law, July 9, 2007

Cleaning House

August 4, 2007 - The Dallas Morning News deserves accolades for their investigative report last year on school employees with criminal records. Since then, the school district and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) have worked to update their records.

The Dallas Independent School District has fired, or forced to resign, 24 employees since November for failing to notify the district of arrests or court judgments for serious crimes, including indecent exposure, theft and felony assault, according to information received from DISD.

The employees include nine teachers and a teacher's assistant.

DISD also has reported at least 141 educators to the Texas Education Agency for having a criminal background or for running afoul of district rules. State law requires districts to notify TEA within seven days after learning about a licensed educator's criminal history or a dismissal for violating district policies.

Several employees claimed they didn't know they were supposed to report their convictions.

Some employees say they didn't report crimes because they didn't know they were supposed to. Starting this school year, the district plans to require all employees to sign a statement saying that they understand the district's policy.

In addition, the school district is implementing a number of other policies, including giving school board members a weekly report of individuals reported to TEA; and reporting educators to TEA as DISD learns about them instead of waiting to send groups of names.

See TT - Background checks and 1992 Dallas Morning News report.

Prescott, ARIZONA

ARRESTED: May 22, 2007 -
David Chauncey, 58, an English teacher at Prescott High School, was arrested in connection with possession of child pornography.

A random computer check at the Prescott High School raised concerns when Chauncey's computer hard drive showed more frequent use of the Internet compared to the other teachers.

The computer was frequently used when students weren't in class, and attempts were made to enter blocked Web sites, Morley said.

Police searched Chauncey's Prescott area home. Investigators examined his Prescott High School computer hard-drive and personal laptop. Authorities found pornography on the personal laptop, Morley said.

Chauncey was arrested on suspicion of ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, according to police.

TT- what is commendable is that the school administrators pursued the matter by going to the police when, after finding no images on the school computer, they could have buried the matter with a private talk with the teacher and wished it all away.

The Daily Courier: Chauncey is the second PUSD teacher in a year to face child pornography charges. [James Lynn Anderson was the other teacher. TT link. ]

Detectives retrieved 70,000 images from Chauncey's school computer and personal laptop, Morley said, and the majority of them involved children. Police selected 10 photos, which depict children as young as toddlers in lewd acts, Morley said.

SENTENCED: August 4 - Chauncey was pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor younger than 15 and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor younger than 15.
He was sentenced to 10 years.

Odd headline: Man gets 10 years for lewd pictures
TT - What happened to the 70,000 images, including the "children as young as toddlers?"
Later Arizona Daily headline: Former Prescott teacher gets 10 years for child porn

Patronage System

It's about time.

August 4, 2007 - On his first day, James Lowe, interim president of Bishop State Community College sent letters to 13 employees saying the Mobile college intended to fire them.

Ten of the employees to whom letters were sent Wednesday were charged in May by the District Attorney's Office with theft of financial aid. Two of the employees were associated with academic irregularities in the college food service program, according to records obtained by the Press-Register.

BACKGROUND: Bishop State Community College is in Mobile, Alabama. Bishop State has been placed on probation by its accrediting agency. Former Chancellor Roy Johnson was fired by the state school board in July 2006 amid allegations of nepotism. Twenty-seven people associated with the college have been accused of stealing more than $200,000 in financial aid and sports program money. The former president, Yvonne Kennedy, was, more or less, forced to resign. Chancellor Bradley Byrne sent her notice recently that some perks negotiated during her "retirement" would be modified. He accused her of insubordination for refusing to fire one administrative employee - David Thomas.

The firings are symbolic. Except for David Thomas, the director of adult education and economic development, who was convicted on a hit and run charge and who was impeached from the Mobile County school board in 2006, Lowe expects the firings will be typical. ""I'm not concerned about our having an adequate basis" for termination, Byrne said. "I'm just concerned about this bizarre process and some of the bizarre results we've gotten from some of the arbitrators."

Double dipping is common, not as flagrant or as conspicuous as in New Jersey where corruption is an art form, but reporters found 40 members of the Legislature have direct or indirect financial ties to the colleges. Currently 13 legislators are also employed under Alabama's two-year college system. See The Huntsville Times editorial and the Press-Register editorial and the editorial of the Tuscaloosa News.

The new chancellor has also ordered the permanent closing of Bishop State Community College's Best Grill, a "culinary laboratory" that, as the Press-Register notes, "cooked up an astonishing $1.7 million in losses in a few years." (Two employees there were given termination intent letters. One was even listed as a student in his own class.)

Abstract from the Chronicle of Higher Learning on Bishop State Community College. (The entire report is behind a subscription wall, but you will get a good idea.)

Inside Higher Ed on probation for the two-year college.

CONSEQUENCES

"I will never understand being a mother herself how she could have done those these things with my child," one of the boys' mothers wrote to the court. "At one point he felt his life was ruined and over. It was heartbreaking knowing he felt that way because he's so young and still has his whole life ahead of him."

August 3, 2007 - The Roanoak Times filed a motion to unseal the sentencing hearing of Karen Susan Patton. It included the above quote from the boy's mother.

According to the transcript, families of both boys moved to escape the public notice that followed the abuse -- one to another county and one out of state.

"He was depressed and bitter at times," probation and parole officer Michael Montgomery testified about one of the victims.

"He was ridiculed by fellow classmates that suspected his involvement with Ms. Patton. Ridiculed to the point that he was homebound schooled the second half of the school year, plus the following school year, he refused to go to school. He just freaked out every time he entered a school, because he felt like everyone knew."

Both boys have had seen a psychologist or psychiatrist in the wake of their abuse. Researchers say teachers who prey on young students often excel in their educational roles because it can bring them more opportunities to be alone with victims.

---

TT - That's what sexual predators do to their victims. They rob them of their youth, their optimism, their hopes for the future. They alienate them from their friends, fellow students and classmates they grew up with.

Sexual predators find gratification wherever they can find it, and if it's a child, all the better.

They're just kids -- 13-year-old kids. And when colleagues of the teacher or the family of the teacher post comments that say "You know how 13-year-olds lie." and "This can happen to any family." you lie to yourself. Because most people, thank God, are not so indecent.

Most people want 13-year-old boys to be boys.

Fresno, CALIFORNIA

CONVICTED: July 11, 2007 -
Samuel Confectioner, 45, a substitute teacher at various Fresno schools, was convicted on two counts of child molestation for taking a 14-year-old boy to his hotel room one night and sexually abusing him.

The student was attending Edison High School at the time. The molestation occurred in 2004.

SENTENCED: August 3 - Confectioner was sentenced to two years in prison. He will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The judge cut off Confectioner's statement in his own defense when the former teacher attacked the victim's family.

Confectioner claimed they encouraged the victim to commit crimes.

Graduation Rates

August 2, 2007 - Vermont is proud that their state rates fourth highest in graduation rates. In an Education Trust study, called "Graduation Matters: Improving Accountability for High School Graduation," Vermont scored 86.5, meaning Vermont graduated 86.5 percent of high school students in four years.

Not all states did so well, but a few did a fantastic job - well, if you believed the state's statistics.

Overall, Mississippi ranked 48 in graduation rates. Mississippi calculates their rate as 85.00% Mississippi's graduation rate was calculated by U.S. Department of Education at 63.30%

The entire report is online. Overall, the Education Trust report criticizes the No Child Left Behind Act for not setting higher graduation rate goals.

TT - The problem with this is that there is no meaningful way of measuring graduation rates unless states establish a tracking system to follow students as they enter school and at what stage they leave. At present, state calculations are haphazard and some are outright fraudulent.

Then, too, what does a high graduation rate accomplish except high turnover? Graduation rates are meaningless if students graduate without proficiency - (proficiency may sound like an impressive accomplishment but it means at grade level.) That was one purpose of NCLB - students were being graduated without demonstrable academic achievement. Urging higher graduation rates without accomplishment means social promotion. And wasn't that the problem in the first place?

The Education Trust report also includes this (on page 2.)

But data from Indianapolis give cause for concern. The state reported a 52 percent graduation rate for the district for 2005-06, but at the same time said that 33 percent more students graduated from 12th grade that year than were actually enrolled: 969 12th-graders and 1,281 graduates. (vi) While some students surely transferred into Indianapolis during their 12th grade, it’s improbable that transferin figures were so high. The Indianapolis school community cannot
allow such dubious data to go unexplained—or unchallenged.

Indeed.

August 5 -TT - One response to the report came from Louisiana. The Education Trust report contained no data for Louisiana. Unintentionally, the story on the "missing data" confirms the uselessness of the Graduation Rate report because of lack of standardization in determining graduation rates.

Waco, TEXAS

August 3, 2007 - Sergio Bezerra, 46, a teacher at Waco Baptist Academy, was arrested and charged with two counts of indececy with a child by contact.

He's accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with two 9-year-old students at the school. Parents of the victims contacted police. "According to the arrest afadavit the victims said Bezerra made them put their hand on his clothed private area. "

Source: KXXV - tv ABC

Erie, PENNYSLVANIA

August 3, 2007 - Tom Maciulewicz Jr., 37, McDowell Intermediate High School principal, was sentenced to two years' probation. He pleaded guilty in May to three counts of theft. He admitted stealing musical instruments, laptops and other items, some of which he sold on e-Bay.

Maciulewicz apologized and has paid $18,430 in restitution, said he wants "to do right the rest of my life."

Good luck in another profession.