Summary June 4, 2007
Resigned
AGE 50 He hasn't been arrested yet, but he resigned after being caught by the assistant principal using heroin in his classroom. George McDonald won't be getting that great raise N.C. is giving all teachers, irrespective of their individual performances. Hired in 2004, he was arrested on drug charges in 2005, but one of those deferred prosecution programs dismissed the charges and he never told the school. No one else did either, including the police, prosecutors, or the court. TT - Link
Arrested
AGE 24 In Nebraska, Brandy Reynolds, was arrested and charged with first degree sexual assault for sex with a 15-year-old student in 2004 - 2005. It is illegal in Nebraska for a person 19 or older to have sexual contact with a person under 16. (We learn something every day.) Police had difficulty locating her at first. She and her husband moved out of state after her two year stint with the school. TT - Link
Sentenced
AGE 25 Joseph Bresnahan, an Arkansas assistant band director, was sentenced to ten years with an additional ten years suspended for having sex with a 15-year-old male student. Released on bail after his initial arrest , he was arrested a second time when he violated the conditions of his release and kept in indirect contact with the victim and in direct contact with other Bryant students through Facebook. They don't have computers in the slammer, so he'll have to write on the wall. But on the bright side, he'll have plenty of time to assist the prison band. TT - Link
AGE 29 Drug using teachers are a scandal in Hawaii. Drug dealing teachers are popping up with alarming frequency. Lee Nobuo Anzai was sentenced for selling crystal meth to an undercover officer. He pleaded guilty to drug dealing and cooperated with investigators. He was sentenced to four years. He's married with a 1 year old child. The sentencing judge said it raised community concerns about "safety in education." TT - Link
Paid Administrative Leave
A school principal and assistant principal have been on paid administrative leave since July 2006. The school superintendent would like to fire the assistant principal. Check out the lawsuits she has filed at the news story site. She has 30 days to appeal her firing if the board acts on the recommendation. It's good those school districts have so much money to burn, isn't it? (Tennessee) TT - Link
Court Notes
A school principal and assistant principal have been on paid administrative leave since July 2006. The school superintendent would like to fire the assistant principal. Check out the lawsuits she has filed at the news story site. She has 30 days to appeal her firing if the board acts on the recommendation. It's good those school districts have so much money to burn, isn't it? (Tennessee) TT - Link
Court Notes
California Supreme Court ruled that a teacher fired for sex offenses that occurred four years before he was disciplined. The court clarified bad law. TT - Link
Standardized Testing in Utah
More rants against accountability and standardized tests by the media, fed by Educrats who don't like their failure documented quite so publicly through national testing. Parents are just too dumb to understand those scores. Or something. At least that is how we interpreted it. TT - Link
Standardized Testing in Texas
The last part of three parts on the failure to curb cheating on tests. It's not the students. It's the opportunity to cheat because no one wants a failing grade. Easy enough to fix. It's the political will that is missing. TT - Link
North Carolina Budget
Highlights of North Carolina's $20 billion budget shows some interesting spending on public employees. TT - Link
(More) Unfunded Teacher Pensions
Connecticut wants to borrow money to buy "pension obligation bonds" to help the $6.9 BILLION dollars of unfunded teacher pension liability. The income from the bonds reportedly will help pay off the debt owed to the pension fund and "replenish the pension fund coffers" but it all sounds hinky. Sounds a lot like GM and Ford, Michigan, Illinois, and a half dozen other states. TT - Link
Oklahoma ($7 BILLION) Unfunded Teacher Pensions Link
Substitutes
In Vermont, it's legal to hire substitute teachers right out of high school and put them in the classroom with no training required. Now they are looking at the policy after an 18-year-old substitute was charged with sexually assaulting an eighth-grader. Jeremy Mullins is the substitute. He was no longer a substitute at the time of the assault, which makes you wonder if the school had suspicions that his conduct was undesirable. TT - Link
And, it's likely that your state allows high school graduates to teach in a classroom as well. Most are supervised. The idea, though, of a responsible institution introducing perfect strangers into a classroom and granting access to underage students is alarming.
