Summary - October 6, 2007

SENTENCED - Improper relationship with a student
It's been illegal in Texas since 2003 for teachers to have sexual relationships with their students. Either they don't teach that to new hires, or their hires are particularly dense, but a lot of teacher seem not to mind spending time in jail. Jeremy Grange, 29, won't have to register as a sex offender, but after 90 days in jail, he'll be on probation for eight years.
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ARRESTED
In Wisconsin, three staff members at an elementary school were sufficiently alarmed to give statements to law enforcement that they felt a fellow teacher's touching of a 10-year-old male student was inappropriate. David M. Suino, 47, was arrested. Police have charged him with ne count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Whether there is anything to the allegations will have to be determined.
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ARRESTED - for "Romance"
The newspaper reporter wrote that "Charges stem from a romantic relationship that he allegedly had with the victim." Funny, the charges don't sound romantic at all. They sound kinda ... sordid. William Menchen, 34, was arrested and charged with one count of third-degree sexual abuse, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts unlawful imprisonment - against a 15-year-old girl.
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ARRESTED - Indecent Exposure
In South Carolina, Scott Waddell, 38, was arrested at a park where homosexuals congregate. He was one of five men arrested. Reportedly, he exposed himself to an undercover officer.
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It's Just Money
The Santa Clara, California school district has money to burn, apparently. Enough so they can buy out the school superintendent's contract for $485,000. We never hear both sides of these stories so it is impossible to know the facts of the case, but it's still big money and the taxpayer still foots the bill for either a Bad Hiring Decision or Politics Gone Amok. Sometimes, though, our sympathy is with the superintendent. They're hired to do a job but they're not supposed to step on any toes in the process. And then there are the five or eight or ten school board members - all elected - who each have their own view of how a school district should be run. Not to mention, the union folk who, frankly, specialize in street theatre tactics. As we said, it's impossible to know. But boards should be accountable for the money they spend.
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RETRIAL
The prosecution refiled charges against Michael P. Widger, 36. A district judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence, but prosecutors disagree. They want a new judge, too. It's a child pornography case, the images were found on his school computer, and maybe the public should hear the evidence. Better yet, maybe they should call in the Feds. (Pennsylvania)
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Summary - October 4, 2007

TODAY's TRASH TEACHER
What can you say about 35-year-old, married teacher's aide with two daughters, who engages in sex with a 15-year-old student? Christine Marie Johanson, who probably thought she was hotter than she was, will be cooling off in jail. Sentenced to six months in jail TWICE, she is facing more charges in Oregon. (Washington)
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APPEAL DENIED
Sentenced to 18 months in jail in January and with a lot of time on his hands, Chris Tribbitt appealed his sentence. The appeals court denied the appeal so he's being ordered back to jail.
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SENTENCED - Sexual assault 13-year-old girl
Kelly Johnston, 38, a New Hampshire teacher, pleaded guilty on Monday to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire. He was sentenced to three years in jail. He's also being charged in Vermont. A 38-year-old man and a girl 13. Makes you want to crowbar his head, doesn't it?
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SENTENCED (sorta)- Statutory Rape 17-year-old girl
In Tennessee, Jeffrey W. Foster, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory rape involving a 17-year-old member of the volleyball team he coached in 2003. He was sentenced two years in prison -- suspended. He was placed on unsupervised probation. Readers at the news site recognize the extraordinary courage it took for the victim to challenge her abuser in court. Good for her.
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GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY
Charles W. Christopher, 28, pleaded guilty to trying to arrange sex with a Burlington girl he met on the Internet. It's a federal charge, so he isn't going to get community service, donuts and a self-satisfied lecture from a judge.
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ARRESTED - Public Intoxication
The public intoxication was in the classroom. School officials removed Sharon Duerring, 49, from the first grade classroom. Police were called and arrested her at 10:30 am. They found two cans of beer in her purse. (Indiana)
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ARRESTED - Sexual Battery
A Georgia teacher is accused of inappropriate sexual contact with two seven-year-old girls at his school. He was accused of touching their buttocks. Jeremy Bennett, 28, was charged with two felony counts of sexual battery.
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WE CARE
Teachers in the Harrison Hills School District are demonstrating poor behavior to their students as they picket. Deliberately obstructing traffic, according to the school superintendent, they are blocking substitute teachers, students, and parents. We're sure that most teachers in the district are equally contemptuous of the conduct of the teachers on the picket line, but it's up to them to speak up to condemn the disgusting behavior.
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TRASH EDUCATION from trashy trash
You have to see the picture of gleeful teachers placing a noose around a child's neck in a lesson on lynching to see the face of obscenity.

Yet, that's exactly what five teachers at Grambling State University did at an on-campus school. An elementary school. The students were kindergartners and first graders.

The story was in the student newspaper at the university, along with photos. It quickly resulted in a university demand to remove the story and pictures from the newspaper website and an order to shutdown the newspaper. In an about face, the university president announced sanctions would be taken against the teachers. We're willing to bet the much-loved family pet that it won't include firing the teachers miscreants.
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SENTENCED - Enticement of a 15-year-old boy
David Jones, 47, a middle school teacher and boy scout leader, was sentenced to ten years in prison and 25 years of supervised probation. He pleaded guilty to to enticement of a 15-year-old boy he met on the Internet. When police arrested him they found with a bag with condoms, a digital camera and personal lubricant. They also found 30,000 images of children as young as 5 years old on his computer.
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SENTENCED - Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor
For what purpose, we still don't know, but Frank D. Page, 32, a middle-school health teacher, was fired, then prosecuted for allowing a 14-year-old girl to skip classes and hide out in his classroom, despite being warned a number of times. He was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 6 months in jail. Thankfully, he permanently surrendered his teaching license.
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SENTENCED (sorta) - Possession of controlled substance, intent to distribute
After pleading guilty to two felonies - one felony count of possession of of meth with intent to distribute and to a felony count of possession of a controlled substance and being found in a classroom after midnight with several bags of methamphetamine in her purse, the judge still wasn't convinced she was selling the stuff. ---> Did we mention police found a digital scale, several butane lighters, a personal checkbook and a ledger of moneys? In his wisdom and because he "brings personal experiences to the bench," the judge sentenced Joanna Chavez, 38, to 18 months in prison and three years' probation. He also inflicted her on the community to do community service for 100 hours. (New Mexico)
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GUILTY PLEA - Sexual Assault of a student
In Connecticut, Matthew Glasser, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault of a 16-year-old female student. Police found out because she thought she might be pregnant and school officials learned of the sexual relationship. He'll be sentenced Oct 17, but it's expected to be probation. He will, however, be a registered sex offender.
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GUILTY PLEA - Endangering children
A jury in Pennsylvania found a teacher guilty of endangering children by allowing her 11-year-old son to take a loaded handgun - to an elementary school. When the verdict was read, she bolted from the courtroom. It took three county sheriff's deputies and two state troopers to restrain her. She eventually had to be carried out. She'll be sentenced Oct 26.
They let just anyone become a teacher nowadays.
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ARRESTED - Embezzlement and Theft
Yes, another teacher was arrested for embezzling student funds. Carmen Harden, 35, a Maryland teacher, probably won't do any time if she's found guilty. They rarely do, which truly must be a wonderful life lesson for students of all ages.
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ARRESTED - Domestic Violence
Robert Ewing, 40, was arrested for theft, criminal confinement, and domestic battery charges for allegedly accosting his wife. It sounds like a messy divorce.
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RANT OF THE DAY
Hawaii has a huge problem with drugs and the fact that a number of teachers have been arrested, successfully prosecuted, and sentenced not only for drug use, but selling, prompted the state to require drug testing. The teachers union actually accepted the idea. Naturally, the ACLU wants to challenge this. We don't remember on what grounds. It doesn't really matter. The purpose is just to oppose something. It's a PETA thing. The more outrageous, the greater the self-publicity and self-promotion.
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Summary - October 3, 2007

It's been a day for drugs and drug arrests.



SENTENCED - Conspiracy to distribute cocaine
Erin Marks, a special education teacher in Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance (cocaine.) She was sentenced to 26 to 18 months in jail with all but nine months suspended.
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GUILTY PLEA - Trafficking methamphetamine
In Nevada, Kymberly Tamburello, 43, a 6th grade special education teacher, pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking methamphetamine. Her husband was sentenced in January to one to four years in the Nevada State Prison.
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ARRESTED - 400 pounds of marijuana
Roma, Texas teacher's aide Elizabeth Garza was arrested after being caught with more than 400 hundred pounds of marijuana.
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ARRESTED - Possession of drugs
Someone tipped off Carbondale, Illinois police to Scott Way's illegal drug activity. The 27-year-old elementary physical education teacher and baseball coach in Hardin Count was arrested after a search of his home revealed 600 grams of marijuana and 70 grams of cocaine along with some prescription medications.
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If they dared to do so, no doubt, the teacher's unions would claim the teachers needed to sell drugs to supplement their income because their pay scale was so low.

SENTENCED - Misdemeanor battery
Band director David Drillinger, 54, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery count for inappropriate contact with female students. He was sentenced to one year of court supervision. (Illinois)
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SEEKING AN EARLY RELEASE
Sentenced to four years in prison for sexual battery and attempted sexual battery of students who were 16 and 17, Jason Miller, 26, has served a total of ten months. He's seeking an early release. A judge will make a decision next week. As part of his sentence, Miller is a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. (Ohio)
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Trust Us! We know better!
Seattle, Washington schools are not reporting school violence, including the rape of a 15-year-old developmentally disabled girl, to the police. Only in Seattle would education officials think they made their own law because they're so much smarter than anyone else.
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Summary - October 2, 2007

TOP STORY
Thomas Baudier, 22, a Northport, NY teacher was acquitted of all charges after a 10-day bench trial.
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SENTENCED - Sexual Imposition
In Ohio, Kent Whitman, 53, was sentenced to 120 days in jail after pleading no contest to sexual imposition in kissing and fondling a 15-year-old girl. He will also will be listed as a Tier I sex offender, meaning he must register with the sheriff's office in the county in which he lives annually for the next 15 years.
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SENTENCED - Sexual Imposition
Another Ohio teacher, Scott Fazekas, 28, was sentenced to 25 days at the Multi-County Correctional Center and will be under community controlled sanctions for the next three years. He must also register as a sexually-orientated offender after he pleaded guilty to menacing by stalking and sexual imposition in connection to unwanted sexual contact with a 16-year-old female student.
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SENTENCED - Improper Acts with a Student
Kumi Houston, 48, an Austin, Texas, teacher's aide was sentenced to 120 days in jail -- not prison -- and seven years of probation. She pleaded guilty in July to allowing a 11-year-old boy to touch and kiss her breasts in her bedroom. She's 48. He's 11. It's beyond sick.
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SENTENCED - Embezzlement
It's always disheartening when a teacher enlists the aid of friends, family and community to protest his innocence and then pleads guilty to the charges, leaving even more victims to wonder how they came to trust someone like Gregory White, 35. He embezzled money from the Band Boosters club and was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and suspended a four year prison term. He's still facing other charges. (Tennessee)
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ARRESTED - Sexual Assault of a Student
Sandra Borrego, 41, a dance teacher at Most Precious Blood Catholic School in Corpus Christi, Texas, was arrested connection with the sexual assault of the boy who took dance classes at the school in late 2006. Police believe the 13-year-old boy fathered her child. NOTE- she only rents space from the school. She is not affiliated with them.
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ARRESTED - DWI
We get e-mails asking why we bother with stories about teachers who are arrested while drunk driving. The reason is that thousands of students die every year in drunk driving accidents. They have enough peer pressure urging them to drink. They don't need examples of teachers who slam their car into a parked police car, injuring a police officer. Or school principals. Scott Reese, 36, is the assistant principal at Longwood Senior High School.
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ARRESTED - Drugs and Alcohol on School Grounds
A Virginia social studies teacher was arrested after a scheduled police search at the high school where he worked. No word whether any drugs were found on the students, but Cary Forrest was arrested when police discovered drugs and alcohol linked to him.
Can you spell S-T-U-P-I-D ?
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ARRESTED - Suspicion of Having Inappropriate Contact with a Student
David Suino, 47, was arrested in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, after a 10-year-old male student alleged that that Suino put his hand up the front and the back of his shirt, and then rubbed his back and belly. There was no sexual contact.
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ARRESTED - and Handcuffed at the School
Second grade teacher Amy Snead Lee, 36, was busted, along with 49 others in North Carolina in a crackdown on multiple purchases of pseudoephedrine pills, the main ingredient in crystal methamphetamine. In the drug trade, people who buy pseudoephedrine to trade for the methamphetamine are called "smurfs." The things you learn writing about education today.
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LEGAL RULING in KOREA
Parents and students are one up on American parents and students with a Korean Supreme Court ruling that sided with parents who sued after a 23-day teachers strike. It took the parents seven years to win the case, but the court, apparently, decreed that schools exist for students and parents, who pay taxes and school registration fees. AMAZING CONCEPT.
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Our "Trust Us - We know better" Story of the Day
In Charlotte, North Carolina, the Brunswick County School District has had their share of problem teachers. Enough so they wanted to hire a specialist to talk about sexual harassment. The problem was that the former teacher who founded the non-profit Teachers for Change they were planning to hire was arrested and charged twice with having sex with a private school student, followed by a guilty plea and convictions on reduced charges. They're having second thoughts about hiring her to conduct any more presentations.
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Summary - September 28, 2007

TOP STORY
There was only one witness in the preliminary hearing for Stephanie Stein, 31, the married mother of two and former Christian Academy teacher. It was the 15-year-old victim who testified that he seduced the teacher and wouldn't take no for an answer.

It's bad enough to exploit a child for sex, but asking them to shoulder the blame as well strikes us as despicable.
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SENTENCED (Sorta)
In another one of those, kinda sentenced, but not really, Dianne Dieterich, 35 was sentenced to four years she'll never serve. She pleaded guilty to statutory rape of a male (no exact age given) but if she goes through maritial and sexual counseling, she will have a clean record. It's Tennessee. What can we say?
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SENTENCED - For Bank Robbery
It wasn't believable when it happened, but a Rochester, NY teacher robbed a bank in Courtland, New York. Michael Bohn, 41, pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree grand larceny, all felonies, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. Two counts of first-degree robbery were dropped in exchange for his plea. He was sentenced to 11 years.
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SENTENCED - Child Pornography 1 million images
In Florida, Richard Saunders, 55, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 40 years probation for child pornography. He admitted in the courtroom that he collected over 1 million pornographic images over the course of more than 20 years. He should have gotten life under sentencing guidelines, but the touchy feely judge felt that he was a low risk and that he had opportunities to act on his pedophilia but he never did.

The fact is that someone abused those children for Saunders so he could vicariously enjoy the experience from the child pornography. For that alone, he should do the maximum instead of being praised by other teachers and called a "great educator."
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NO CONTEST PLEA - Pedophile
A "community activist" teacher in Hawaii pleaded no contest to eight counts of the least serious charges against him, third-degree sexual assault of all the victims, who were 7 to 12 years old from 2002 to 2006. Frederick Rames, 66, gave herpes to a 7-year-old boy which is how police became involved. Throughout the years he victimized a number of children, including foster children from the Marshall Islands.

Naturally, the No Contest plea will insulate him against lawsuits, but it's still a conviction in the eyes of the law and he will be sentenced in December.
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ORDERED TO STAND TRIAL - for Murder
A judge has ordered Lynne Fuerer, 65, to stand trial for murder of her live-in boyfriend. Fuerer is a a Seaside High School teacher in Pacific Grove, California. Police arrested her in May for the death of the 81-year-old man after she told a newlyweds in a bar that she killed her husband.
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TRIAL SCHEDULED - Finally
The trial of John Seeley, former superintendent and principal, and his wife, Laura, on felony charges of of mistreating a child in their care has been scheduled for Feb 26, one year after they were indicted by a grand jury. The school district, apparently, still employs John Seeley on a grant and "special projects" consultant and his wife is a kindergarten teacher.
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TOUGHER SENTENCING
They are considering tougher sentencing for the likes of Philip Underwood-Sheppard who was sentenced in 2003 for sexually abusing nine students. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but because the sexual abuse was considered "non violent" he is up for parole, having served one-quarter of his sentence. (South Carolina)
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Summary - September 27, 2007

TOP STORY OF THE DAY
A judge sentenced Vincent Brothers to death for the murders of his three children, his wife, and his mother-in-law. The Bakersfield, California vice principal was convicted by a jury in May. The jury also recommended the death penalty. (Not that it will ever happen in California.)
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ACQUITTED of all charges
A jury acquitted Netzahaulcoy Ramos, 34, a Tucson, Arizona teacher of all charges. He had been accused of sexual misconduct with a 13-year-old girl.
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SENTENCED - to one year and nine months for misconduct with four students
In Virginia, Jonathan Spivey, 47, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to one count of custodial indecent liberties. He entered an Alford plea (No Contest) on three other charges. He will be on probation for five years and has to register as a sex offender. The students were male. Spivey is married with two children.
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INDICTED
A substitute teacher was indicted on charges of voyeurism and child abuse. Robert Ashley, a substitute at eight schools in Albuquerque was arrested in Colorado. He was wanted for for secretly videotaping the legs of female elementary school students in the Albuquerque school. A teacher's assistant found the camera in his backpack.
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GUILTY PLEA - Child Pornography
It's always worrisome when an elementary school teacher collects child pornography. Marc Sardella, 48, a teacher at the Gardner-Dickinson Elementary School, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. He will be sentenced in January 2008.
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ARRESTED - Drugs
A Georgia teacher was arrested on drug charges after a traffic stop. Police found a small amount of marijuana in the car of Carlton Flowers, 43. He was also driving with a suspended license.
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Teacher Recruitment Scam
We were always a little curious about school superintendents who traveled to China to discuss recruiting teachers. Seems the trip is sometimes a "gift" which is always illegal when given to an official. In Texas, three Filipino recruiters will go to trial on a number of charges. They brought the prospective teachers to the U.S. even knowing there were no jobs for them. If the foreign teacher was hired, there were a number of fees. After being selected by a school district for possible employment the teachers paid a total of “$10,000.00 or more, requiring many of the teachers to acquire loans at high interest (60% APR). A Texas school superintendent and his wife were sentenced for accepting the trips. So was an associate superintendent of human resources in another district.
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