Grosse Point, MICHIGAN

July 24, 2007 -

"This is a long-standing problem," former school board member Cindy Pangborn said of Bowen's behavior. "We don't reward bad behavior in our students. Why should we reward bad behavior in our faculty?"

A hearing will likely determine if Ellen Bowen, choir director at Grosse Pointe South High School, retains her teaching license.

The district drew up a behaviorial improvement plan in 1999. Her personnel file includes at least three reprimands and three suspensions. She was suspended after a conviction last month of misdemeanor assault and battery for a 2006 road rage incident involving a former student where even the judge pointed out ""She admitted that she intentionally struck the car to teach a lesson." The assault might have been the last straw.

New laws require a state hearing for teachers convicted of assault, to review whether they should continue to hold a teaching license.

September 5, 2007 - Bowen was suspended for one month and will be allowed back in the classroom in October. She's been suspended with pay since May. In a signed agreement, Bowen indicated she would not seek any further action or grievance and accepted the disciplinary action.

Sept 27 - Bowen has refused to sign a discipline agreement with the state that calls for a six-month suspension because of a road rage incident. She is appealing the action from the state Department of Education that also threatens the loss of her teaching certification if she faces any new discipline.

In August, the district suspended Bowen without pay from her $92,000 a year job because of the road rage suspension.

Jan 28, 2008 - Fighting her suspension.

Michigan law says the state Department of Education must review the certificate of any teacher convicted of certain offenses such as assault or a sexual offense. The department’s initial ruling, which Bowen is appealing today, included a six-month suspension on her license and requirements that she take anger management classes and send her performance evaluations to the MDE, among others.

Bowen has disputed many of the incidents for which she has been disciplined or the circumstances surrounding them. Her 2 1/2-inch thick personnel file includes several letters in which she asks that complaints be removed.

APPEAL DENIED Feb 13 - Bowen was denied in her appeal of a road rage conviction stemming from a 2006 incident. Wayne County Circuit Judge Carole Youngblood ruled Friday there were no prejudicial errors in her initial trial in Grosse Pointe Park Municipal Court. Bowen could appeal Youngblood's decision or ask the court to reconsider.

ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING DECISION Feb 28 - A state administrative law judge recommended that Grosse Pointe South High School choir director Ellen Bowen’s teaching certificate be suspended, but also said she could retain her teaching certificate "for the limited purpose" of teaching in Grosse Pointe Public Schools. He thought she showed no signs of being rehabilitated.

"In my view, Ms. Bowen has an anger management problem," Ward wrote in a ruling dated last Friday. "Ms. Bowen's off campus conviction appears to be related to her school related disciplines."

He also thought that "there is a strong likelihood that she will continue to use unprofessional language in front of students, parents and staff."

Next ping-pong volley: The recommendation goes to the state Superintendent Michael Flanigan, who will make the final decision about Bowen's certificate. Flanigan can accept Ward's recommendation or he can make an entirely different decision.

San Antonio, TEXAS

"The drugs were planted in my car."

July 23, 2007 - Kimberly Williams, 41, a former teacher who worked for two different school districts, neither one of which would comment on why she left, was arrested when marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs were found in her car.

A man was arrested at the same time.

He claimed he did not know anything about Williams, including her last name. "It was in her car," Meredith said. "That was her stuff. She had crack cocaine and everything, so I don't know.”

Williams worked as a special education teacher. She resigned in March. She and the man were picked up near a park.

San Antonio Express-News: Williams confessed to coming to the area to buy drugs and had brought $200 with her to make the purchase, according to police.

Oakland, CALIFORNIA

SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE INVESTIGATED

July 23, 2007 - The school district is investigating school board trustee and former teacher Chris Dobbins, 35, for his friendship with a 17-year-old high school student.

The investigation comes as a blow — not only to those directly involved, but to a board that is trying to regain credibility. After years in state receivership following a financial debacle, the school board regained a small slice of responsibility this month from the California Department of Education.

Some board members expressed disappointment and dismay at the news, while others said they wouldn't comment on the situation until the investigation was over.

"There is no excuse, no reason and no way to justify an adult having any kind of relationship with a young girl like that," said Noel Gallo, who has teenage daughters.

"Chris is a public official and a teacher," Gallo added. "I think he has no choice but to resign."
Despite pressure from his colleagues and from state administrator Kimberly Statham to step down, Dobbins said he wants to finish out his term.

Still, he said, "From here on out, my political career is over, no matter what I do."

Dobbins denies any impropriety. He turned over copies of his e-mail exchanges with the girl to the school district.

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TT - Voter information from June 2006 election. The full endorsement list includes school board member Noel Gallo as a backer, and the Oakland Education Association and its president, vice-president, and secretary.

Oakland school district was once described as , "a financially disastrous district unhappy with state control, yet, unable to run its own affairs." Kimberly Statham is the state-appointed administrator for the school district. The state bailed out the district in 2003 to the tune of $100 million.

Dobbins has a MySpace page. According to his profile, he has 592 friends. It's just so thrilling to know he's a Capricorn.

UPDATE August 2 - Police said that no criminal charges will be filed against Oakland school board member Chris Dobbins for his relationship with a 17-year-old female student.

UPDATE: August 14 - From the Berkeley Daily Planet: Last week, officials with the Youth and Family Services Section of the Oakland Police Department said that no criminal charges would be filed surrounding Dobbins’ relationship with a 17-year-old OUSD high school student because “there was nothing criminal to prosecute.”

Board members are considering a censure. TT Link

Kalamazoo, MICHIGAN

His attorney said his client "accepts responsibility and wants to put everything behind him."





June 9, 2007 - James Lighthizer, 54, assistant principal at Milwood Magnet School, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 15-year-old male student. He had been charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, but pleaded to a single second-degree charge.

The plea agreement stipulates to a one year in jail with no early release. He will then be on probation for 5 years. Lighthizer has to continue with sex offender counseling and comply with sex offender registration statutes.

He will be formally sentenced July 23.

UPDATE June 22 - Lighthizer will lose his teaching certificate and his job as a Kalamazoo Public Schools administrator. He's been on leave since last August. He will be dismissed once his teaching license is revoked. TT - No estimate on how long THAT will be.

SENTENCED July 23 - Lighthizer was sentenced to one year in the county jail, five years probation, must register with the Sex Offender Registry, and pay court fines and fees.

Former Assistant Principal Sentenced For Sex With Student
Siegel teacher loses license after sex plea

After this case, Gill said the school system met with Sheriff Truman Jones and his staff and revised its policy. If the staff attorney and human resources director find any merit to a complaint, they now turn it over to law enforcement for investigation. "As a result, we turn it over to law enforcement in lieu of us conducting our own in-depth investigation," Gill said.

"He will surrender his teaching certificate," [District Attorney Bill] Whitesell said. "I have it in my possession."

Charleston, WEST VIRGINIA

Eight teachers in trouble with the law over drugs in the past year.

July 23 - 2007 - The Kanawha County Board of Education is still debating random drug testing for teachers. They adopted a policy for random testing of bus drivers and mechanics. Three months ago the Board narrowly voted down testing for teachers.

"Eight [teachers], that I know of," said board member Pete Thaw when asked how many educators have been in trouble with the law over drugs in the past year."

Another board member was unconcerned. "I feel that overall they are doing a darn splendid job," said Welch. "Like I say, we have a few that have misbehaved." (Barbara Welch is the only board member without biographical information at the school board website.)

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From TT - Link for Michael White

Pratt Elementary School Principal David Anderson was charged with cocaine possession in October and was suspended from his job. Anderson was acquitted by a Kanawha County Magistrate Court jury in February and returned to his post as principal.

Other issues HERE

Teaneck, NEW JERSEY

July 23, 2007 - The Record editorializes about the guilty plea of Joseph White.

What a terrible way for children to find out that a trusted adult who had a central role in their lives was the polar opposite of what he appeared to be.

In fact, children at the high school were in danger from their own principal. He betrayed them. And he betrayed all the parents and community members who trusted him with their children and with the leadership of the township's high school.

That trust was so strong that it survived White's first arrest for the alleged sexual abuse of a teenager five years ago. The teen was a Teaneck High School student whom White was about to adopt. Loyal friends and co-workers often filled the courtroom at his trial on those charges. White was acquitted with his reputation intact -- his supporters gave him a standing ovation after the verdict was read -- and he returned to his job as principal.

In that case, it was a respected principal's word against that of the teenager, who was vilified by White's lawyer in court. In the more recent case, the teenager in question was wearing a concealed microphone and the evidence was on tape.

And

It is heartbreaking to explain to children that they must be on guard against even the people they are supposed to trust. No parent wants to destroy a child's faith in the world.

But the truth is that sexual predators are rarely frightening or repulsive. They are more often popular and charming and supportive. They know how to get children's attention and win their friendship. They work at it.

TT - It is a special betrayal for a teacher to abuse a child because students frequently spend more time with a teacher than they do their own parents. Children are expected to learn more from a teacher. Parents trust and respect teachers and through them, they try to instill respect for adults in their children.

The pity, the absolute pity, is that it is a profession that is proving itself less and less worthy of that admiration.

Muncie, INDIANA

Some people deserve our respect.

July 23, 2007 - A Muncie, Indiana judge refused to accept a plea agreement for a school secretary who was accused of stealing from several school accounts.

The deal would have allowed Judith Lynne Straub, 50,to plead guilty to theft, a class D felony carrying a standard 18-month sentence, but limited any jail time she could receive to 60 days.

Instead, Judge Robert Barnet Jr. last week declined to accept the agreement, and rescheduled Straub's trial for Oct. 3.

Warner Robins, GEORGIA

July 23, 2007 - Despite pleading guilty and being sentenced on harassment charges, a Georgia teacher has yet to fulfill part of the plea agreement to drop his appeal of his termination.

Current School Superintendent David Carpenter said Taylor “has to notify us in writing of his intent not to appeal and he has not done so yet. We expect him to, but he has not yet.”

David Carpenter said “we want to make sure to follow the law, so the personnel hearing is still scheduled.” The charges stem from May 26 incident with a co-worker at Northside Middle School at her home The reasons for the personnel hearing, beyond the indictment were spelled out in a letter from Carpenter sent to Taylor the week after his arrest.

According to a letter from Danny Carpenter, Taylor was told on Feb. 9, 2006 and April 1, 2004 about unprofessional behavior and discussing his personal life with students.

Carpenter said Taylor apparently “willfully and intentionally violated the directives contained in these letters,” by discussing the relationship with other teacher and one or more students including using students to deliver personal notes and messages.

“In doing so,” Carpenter wrote, “you have behaved unprofessionally and in direct violation of my directives, all of which constitute insubordination.”

Taylor’s arrest for the criminal offenses above toward another teacher at the school was also cited. “Your behavior can not and will not be tolerated by this school district as such behavior is wrong, unprofessional for an educator employed by this district,” Carpenter said, “and constitutes immorality and other good an sufficient cause as defined by the Fair Dismissal Act.”
Carpenter also referred to previous criminal charges, saying in the letter, “unfortunately this is not the first occasion in which you have been charged with criminal charges involving your personal life.”

These charges, according tot the District Attorney’s Office include a guilty plea to a violation of family violence order on Nov. 10, 2004, which Taylor was given 12 months probation and ordered to stay away from the victim and abide by a custody order.

The charges were reduced on the Aug. 27, 2003, offense from the original three count indictment on aggravated stalking, battery - family violence and terroristic threats or acts. Taylor also pled guilty less than a year later, on July 21, 2005, to simple assault and harassing phone calls for a June 30, 2005, incident. He was sentenced to 24 months probation and ordered to have no contact with the victim or her family.

TT - LINK to Taylor entry.
Using the difficulty of firing a tenured teacher in plea bargains was a subject of a Daily Rant at Teachers and Trash Education. TT - LINK

Highly Qualified Teachers

You would think finding "highly qualified teachers" was equivalent to the search for the Holy Grail.

July 22, 2007 - At least the Bakersfield Chronicle apparently thinks so.

Of Kern's 250 or so schools, 141 traditional schools had yet to meet the No Child Left Behind requirement to have 100 percent highly qualified teachers as of October 2006. Of those 141 schools, about 74 percent are considered "high poverty."

They quote the coordinator for teacher quality for the California Department of Education.

"That tells us right there the neediest kids in our state are still not getting access to those experienced, highly qualified teachers."

The methods of recruiting and keeping highly qualified teachers vary. "Competitive salaries" and assuming student loans if they agree to teach in needy areas and bonuses are all considered.
---------------------- OPINION ----------------------
TT - To be a highly qualified teacher, you only need three things:

1. A bachelor’s degree
2. State credential or intern certificate/credential for no more than three years
3. Demonstrated competence in the core academic subject or subjects they teach. They can prove that competence in a number of ways, such as by passing a test or taking classes in that subject.

If it strikes you that those are what you thought were the minimal requirements all along to be a teacher, join the club. It's what the No Child Left Behind Act was all about. One of their core requirements was to ask for those three things to improve teacher quality.

The problem isn't the bachelor's degree. It's that colleges that awarded those degrees are turning out graduates who can't pass certification and licensing tests, let alone demonstrate competence in the core academic subject they teach by passing a simple test.

The worst part about this, however, is that the unqualified teacher continues to predominate in classroom. Despite failing either, or both, of these competency exams, teachers are given 1 to 4 years to practice teaching on your child, despite lack of aptitude. That's why retention rates are so bad. It isn't low salaries; it's low test scores. Over and over.

If 56% of Kern schools can't meet the NCLB Act requirement that 100% of the teachers are -- let's call it what it is -- minimally qualified -- it's because the Kern schools and the teachers unions don't want it to succeed. They're pinning their hopes on a change in the White House. That way, no one will know just how little they care about teacher quality.

And they will continue to cheat children out of an education, further miring blacks in poverty and Hispanics into the same low expectations. Uneducated voters don't vote. It's a win-win for incompetent schools.

Nanty Glo, PENNSYLVANIA

School's out.

July 21, 2007 - Donald Edward Thomas II, 36, an elementary school teacher, is facing charges of attempting to steal firewood, becoming unruly with state police and driving while intoxicated. "Both the attempted theft and drunken driving charges are misdemeanor offenses. The three summary violations of disorderly conduct and one of public drunkenness will be addressed in apreliminary that scheduled for September 17.

He is also charged with simple assault and harassment in a domestic violence at his apartment. He was arraigned on that and released on bail. A preliminary hearing on that is scheduled for July 30.

Thomas is the son of Donald Thomas, the Blacklick Valley superintendent, who has removed himself from the review by school authorities.

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TT - From Greatschools.com - The Blacklick School District has 2 schools with 681 students, 336 at the elementary school.

You often wonder why such people feel no responsibility to behave for the sake of parents and the students they teach.

Maynard, MASSACHUSETTS

LAWSUIT

July 21, 2007 - Joseph Magno died a day before his trial could begin on charges of raping a 13-year-old boy. Fourteen other boys were also slated to testify against the 66-year-old teacher. Now one victim's family is suing the town of Maynard.

The mayor refused to give the specifics of the lawsuit.
See TT - LINK for Magno.

Colchester, CONNECTICUT

July 21, 2007 - Michael J. Garvie, 30, a teacher and coach at St. Bernard, a Catholic school, has resigned. He was arrested July 6 on charges of enticing a minor and risk of injury to a minor for internet sex chats with what he thought was a 15-year-old girl. It was a police officer.

According to court documents, Garvie told police he and his wife had recently returned from their honeymoon and he had never intended to meet with the girl. That caused a poster at the site to wonder,

Please let us know why men will do this internet thing. I find it so difficult to understand. Why do they endanger their lives, wives and careers for this obvious thrill. Are they mentally unstable, do they have some weakness that believes they are above us all or are they obsessive about this type of action and is there any help or treatment for them? If so what is the rate of cure?

TT - We wonder, too. But for sheer wonderfulness, there was this comment:

"Why is he pleading not guilty if everyone knows he did it???

If he worked at a public school, it would be a different matter. Teacher Tenure Law in Connecticut.

Benton, ILLINOIS

One of the most respected and popular public figures in Franklin County. (Which is worrisome.)

July 21, 2007 - Barry Kohl, 60, Superintendent of the Franklin-Williamson Regional Office of Education,** was sentenced to 6 years for felony bribery and 2 years for guilty pleas to theft by deception, felony theft (over $300) and three counts of official misconduct.

He pleaded guilty in April. In addition to prison time, he will also lose his pension.

[Franklin County State’s Attorney Tom Dinn said Kohl will forfeit his Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund pension following his bribery conviction.

“If you are a felon you forfeit your pension,”” Dinn said. “He’s lost everything he worked for - not just his retirement, but his reputation.”

** Franklin-Williamson Regional Office of Education provides support services to 15 school districts in both Franklin and Williamson counties in Southern Illinois. - from their website.

Kohl was forced to resign after the U.S. Department of Education announced funding would be pulled if he remained on the job. It is an elected position.

Lorain, OHIO

July 21, 2007 - A school district that recently learned from the district’s new treasurer that the district would be $4.75 million in debt by June 30 has laid off 243 teachers and 22 preschool teacher aides. The Chronicle-Telegram also lists the names of all of the teachers who were laid off.

Not reported in the story above, but found in the Morning Journal, is that the district has also laid off 101 administrators and support staff, putting the total number of people being laid off at 366.

The Chronicle-Telegram gives what appears to be the reason for the massive shortfall in revenue.

For the 2006-07 school year, the district offered all-day preschool to more than 400 students, which cost more than $3.3 million.

But the district received only $94,000 in tuition — covering the remaining $3.2 million internally — because tuition was based on family income, the release said.

TT - How did a pre-school program that enrolled 400 children cost $3.3 million?

West Las Vegas, NEW MEXICO

July 20, 2007 - Roberta Vigil, a Director of Bilingual Education, pleaded not guilty to charges of

Fraud (2nd degree felony),

Misuse of Public Money (4th degree felony),

Prohibited Sales by School Board Members (4th degree felony) and

Conspiracy (3rd degree felony).

I n addition, Roberta Vigil is charged with Tampering with Public Records (4th degree felony) and Procurement Code violation (misdemeanor).

The accusations against her include allegedly reporting false test scores to the Public Education Department to boost the number of students labeled as “English language learners” and thus increase the amount of funding for the district.

Four members of the West Las Vegas school district were indicted on government corruption charges in June.

Vigil is the wife of Rep. Richard Vigil, D-Las Vegas. She is also the sister-in-law of Robert Vigil, the former state treasurer who was convicted in federal court last September of attempted extortion. He resigned in October 2005 as lawmakers were considering whether to impeach him. He began serving a 37-month sentence in April.

TT - LINK to previous post and New Mexico Attorney General press release.

Feb 23, 2008 - Vigil is now a part-time instructor at Luna Community College. College interim president Sigfredo Maestas says he was aware of the indictment when he hired Vigil as an adjunct instructor in a teacher education course.

Muskogee, OKLAHOMA

Sentenced to 18 months for stealing student medications.





Jan 9, 2007 - Melba Polston, 39, was arrested after she did not show up for a court hearing. She is charged with possession of a controlled substance within 2-thousand feet of a school and with tampering with a security camera or system.

Polston was suspended from a Muskogee elementary school Nov 1, 2006 after an investigation into missing student prescriptions. The school board is set (Jan 9) to dismiss her.

Last November, school leaders discovered some students' prescriptions were missing. "That process has both the parent and the person receiving the medication both signing off that the count is correct and that’s when a red flag went up, when there was not enough pills for the child in that particular case," said [Muskogee Superintendent Mike] Garde.

Polston worked with a program that benefits elementary-age children who are in disciplinary trouble.

Feb 27 - A due process hearing has been scheduled for Feb 27 to discuss and vote on dismissal of an elementary teacher who had been charged with possession of a controlled substance.

SENTENCED: July 21 - After pleading no contest, Polston was given an 18-month deferred sentence, meaning that her record will be expunged at some later date. The tampering with a security camera charge was dismissed as part of the plea.

Gloucester, MASSACHUSETTS

She kicked one officer in the groin, bit another and had to be wrestled to the floor.

July 21, 2007 - Kathleen Burley, 47, a high school special education teacher, was sentenced to 4 years in prison and 10 years probation after her 4th drunk driving conviction. She was also found guilty in of three counts of assault and battery on a police officer for kicking a patrolman in the groin during her arrest in Sept. 2006.

When the officer stopped her, she asked him not to arrest her because she was a high school teacher. After the arrest, she kicked one officer in the groin. During interrogation, she threw jewelry at one officer and bit another, had to be wrestled to the floor.

Wagram, NORTH CAROLINA

"I would have never thought she was drunk. She’s a school teacher.”

Apr 20, 2007 - Vickie White Leavitt, 48, a first-grade teacher at Wagram Primary School, was arrested and charged with driving while impaired, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and failure to properly secure a child in a car.

She was taking a neighbor's 7-year-old child to school. Leavitt had a blood-alcohol level of .30, nearly four times the legal limit of .08, according to court documents.

Court records show that Leavitt pleaded guilty to impaired driving in 2004. She had a blood-alcohol level of .26 when she was pulled over on U.S. 15-501 near Carthage. Leavitt’s driving record shows that since 1998 her license has been revoked two other times and she has been involved in two crashes.

She is scheduled to appear in court May 9.
TT - The boy was one of her pupils. Presumably, she was on her way to teach a classroom full of first graders.

Apr 25 - Leavitt resigned.

July 20 - Leavitt pleaded guilty and was sentenced Leavitt to two years in prison, but he suspended the term. She was given 45 days in jail but received credit for 22 days — the majority of which was spent in a substance abuse treatment center. Since 1998, her license has been revoked three other times, and she has been involved in two crashes, according to her driving record.

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North Carolina State Board of Education is one of the few states that maintains an online list of Disciplinary Actions.

Las Vegas, NEVADA

KAZEE WILL NOT BE CHARGED BECAUSE STUDENT WAS 16 AT THE TIME.

July 20, 2007 - Two teachers have been arrested as a result of a successful lawsuit against the Fayette public schools. A third teacher, Richard M. Kazee, who was accused but not arrested teaches in Las Vegas, despite a conviction on a misdemeanor sex solicitation charge.

In 1991, Kazee was convicted of soliciting an undercover police officer for sex and suspended from teaching, according to his Fayette County personnel file.

He didn’t lose his job after the conviction because a judge and a three-member tribunal decided the school district had not acted quickly enough in coming to a decision on his case.

But Kazee was suspended a second time in November 1991 after drinking beer on campus during a first aid class for coaches. Kazee fabricated a story about switching the beer with non-alcoholic beer to try to cover up the incident, according to school personnel files.

Some interesting statistics about Clark County, Nevada.

[Fred Perdomo, principal of Carson City High School and member of the Nevada Commission on Professional Standards in Education] said the sheer size of Clark County’s district could be a factor in why Kazee found a job there. The Clark County School District is the fifth largest in the country, [Byron Green, director of recruitment for the district] said. It opens an average of 12 new schools a year, hires 2,500 to 3,000 teachers a year and deals with tens of thousands of applicants.

Green said the number of applicants has no effect on the screening process, but [Fred Perdomo, principal of Carson City High School and member of the Nevada Commission on Professional Standards in Education] was not so sure. “Las Vegas on any given day is 500 teachers short of their needs,” Perdomo said. “They have so many openings and so much need, maybe it slipped through the cracks.”

About three-fourths of Nevada’s teachers come from out of state, Perdomo said, adding that teachers leaving one state for another after problems in a school are fairly common.

See - The lawsuit against Fayette County, Kentucky TT - LINK
See - The teamsters union are battling the teachers union for control of the right to represent teachers in Clark County. See TT - LINK

August 29 - Police in Lexington, Kentucky, will not be charging Kazee because Maler was 16 at the time of the "interaction."

Charlottesville, NORTH CAROLINA

Story dated July 15, 2007 - No one seems to be responsible for the job offer to Debra Duncan to be the next principal of Greenbrier Elementary School. It turned out that they changed their minds when they finally conducted a background check.

Duncan’s husband, Eric, has been connected with a 1990 unsolved murder in San Antonio involving 11-year-old Heidi Seeman. Eric Duncan, a former Air Force officer, was investigated by the Air Force in 1996 but the case was never brought to a military trial.

Duncan was never charged

It's not the first time the Charlottesville has had a problem with background checks. A former superintendent resigned when two lawsuits dating back to 1999 were discovered. She sued one school district and was sued BY another. Both were settled. No details were given of either lawsuit.