Summary - Oct 31, 2007

If it's not lawyers, it's their clients. link
We're never quite sure why some lawyers let their clients testify.

HOSPITALIZED
Tampa, Florida teacher Christina Butler has been hospitalized because of "emotional stress, " according to her lawyer.

[Her attorney, Tom] Fox did not discuss the allegations but said there could be problems with statements Butler made to police last week based on her "long history of mental disorders."

Uh, Yeah. She is accused of having sex with a ninth grade student. Butler is 33.
TT - Link

SENTENCED (sorta)- Lewd and lascivious molestation
A Florida teacher was sentenced to a year in jail - not prison - for lewd or lascivious molestation of a 15-year-old boy. The prosecution wanted 51 months in prison, but the judge said she departed from a prison sentence for reasons including a doctor's testimony that Goodbrad was at a low risk to reoffend, and because he showed immediate remorse. She also sentenced him to community service. We are going out on a limb by saying she's a crackpot and ought not to be a judge and feel immediate remorse for the statement.
TT - Link

SENTENCED - Child molestation
A judge sentenced teacher Kenneth Lang, 60, to 7 1/2 to 15 years for molesting a boy from 1983 to 1986, starting when the boy was 7. As part of the plea agreement, Lang gave up his right to ask for a sentence review or a sentence reduction after serving two-thirds of his time. The judge praised the the victim for having remarkable inner strength and coming forward.
Lang faces charges in two other states. (New Hampshire)
TT - Link

SENTENCED - Indecent exposure to a minor
In North Carolina, teacher's assistant Travis Thompson, 39, was sentenced to two years' probation, ordered to pay a $200 fine and ordered to submit to a mental health assessment. He also must register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty to indecent exposure to a minor. AFTER HIS ARREST, he went on WTVD Channel 11 news and admitted acting inappropriately. He said the girl had given him a lap dance, which she vehemently denies.
She is 13-years-old.
TT - Link

SENTENCED - sexual abuse of students
Found guilty by a jury of 15 counts of sexual abuse of two students, Curtis Buell, 25, was sentenced to two years in prison, followed by five years' supervised probation. He will have to register as a sex offender. At the blog entry here, people who knew him were not too surprised.
TT - Link

GUILTY - making threats
"Don't take the stand," is what his lawyer should have advised. Patrick Knoble, 36, was found guilty of making threats against a school board member and the school superintendent. His performance on the stand seemed to be the convincing factor. The state revoked his license in March. (Amazing how fast they can do that when they want to, without waiting for the outcome of any legal proceedings, hearings, grievance processes, appeals and rights to further appeals, etc etc etc.) (Ohio)
TT - Link

ARRESTED - Electronic enticement of a minor
A University of Hawaii professor was arrested, accused of trying to seduce what he thought was a 15-year-old girl on the Internet. It was, as so many of these chats are, with a police officer. He agreed to meet the 15-year-old because,
"I was trying to help the girl," Fossorier told KHNL television while the police escorted him to a cellblock. "I was trying to meet her and say that what she was doing was wrong."
TT - Link

ARRESTED - to the delinquency of a minor
A special education teacher's aide was arrested after she helped a 16-year-old leave a group home. It wasn't because she was mentoring him. (South Carolina)
TT - Link

ARRESTED - Sexual abuse by a parent or guardian
The guardian is the band director, but the story is sketchy. The school also rates a 1 at GreatSchools.net and 1 doesn't mean it's tops. Maybe schools that are academically rotten should not have band or drama or things like movie theatres or hockey rinks or television studios. We have no idea if this school has such features but we know of one in New Jersey that does that rates almost as low.
TT - Link

PRELIMINARY HEARING
The defense witness today in a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to go to trial wasn't a spectacular choice.
TT - Link

ON TRIAL
In Louisiana, 60-year-old Charni S. Dodson, a middle school teacher, is on trial on charges of cruelty to a juvenile, false imprisonment and obstruction of justice for treatment of an adopted boy. She lost custody of one of the boy’s sisters in 2002 after keeping her locked in a windowless room.
TT - Link

INEPT
"Inept" might be the wrong word, but when you are charged with the safety and education of children, what can you think when they allow a teacher arrested for selling methamphetamine back into the classroom because the crime he was charged with was not violent in nature?

It's Guam and parents complained to a news outlet. The superintendent reversed the decision. TT - Link

Crisis of the Week
MRSA is a staff infection resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. Widely quoted in articles about infections in schools is the figure from CDC that 18,000 people died of it in 2005, compared to 16,000 who died of AIDS. Only it isn't quite what the Centers for Disease Control said. Those are deaths related to healthcare. The community-associated MRSA accounts for only a small percentage of that number. Serious? It can be. But, not the 18,000-dead -in-one-year epidemic found in news stories. Wash your hands, don't share towels, cover wounds to prevent infections. Basic hygiene. Link to CDC page at blog entry.
TT - Link

Say what???
TT - Link

Updated - October 30, 2007

Much of the work at the blog is following up on stories. We do this daily but do not re-date the stories until there is a final finding and/or sentencing. Usually we don't even add them in this space either. A few were ones we got inquiries on or were following closely.


INDICTED
Erin Baker, 25, female, an Ohio coach, was indicted on 55 charges of having sexual contact with a player during the past two years. The charges include 38 counts of sexual battery and 17 counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. The age of the girl was not given. (Ohio)
TT - Link

MOTION TO DISMISS VERDICT
In one of those curious cases that makes little sense,the attorney for Albert Scerbo has filed a motion to dismiss or retry Albert Scerbo. Scerbo is a music teacher at an Onondaga Indian school who was arrested in Dec 2006. What is so curious is the pre-trial "racism" charge by the New York Times who termed a small girl who referred to Scerbo as a "white cracker" as "bristling racial tensions." Overblown rhetoric - again in the New York Times - called the case, "an emotionally charged case that has touched on differences in race, class and religion.."

Scerbo was found guilty by a jury on two of the charges and not 17 other charges, after pre-trial coverage that included headline after headline in the newspapers reporting that charges were dropped as four victims were eliminated from the case by the judge . It was a bizarre display of media involvement that seemed out of place with the story, especially since we got tons of e-mail from people asking, "What racism???" We searched for evidence of it online in other local media but found no "bristling tensions" in their coverage of the story. Or the community.

And then, surprisingly, a day or so before sentencing, the local paper ran two stories that resulted in the lawyer asking for a delay in sentencing. After contacting jurors, they allege that two jurors convinced other jurors of the guilt. Bizarrely, the legal motion stated that the two jurors were both educators who told jurors that teachers were trained not to touch children. Teacher training wasn't a part of the prosecution presentation and it's an interesting question whether jurors, whether they are teachers, doctors, lawyers or policemen are allowed to bring their expertise to a trial.

None of which explains the peculiar interest in the case by the media. Can someone tell us who Scerbo is related to? Or what the big deal is?
TT - Link

TRIAL POSTPONED
The trial of a teacher described as a "great guy and fun. He had a crazy sense of humor," by the PTA president has been postponed. Greg Westhoff, 60, will go to trial in March. In the meantime, more details are emerging about his background that included previous charges of harassing a female student for which he was fired, and a guilty plea to second-degree harassment of a male student in a physical dispute in the cafeteria, an incident for which he was reprimanded and removed from the classroom. He was sentenced to one year conditional discharge in that case.

The school district is being sued by one victim, but the PTA president - someone who you would expect would respect the children who are the alleged victims in the case - said that many students in the class believed that Westhoff's accusers made their allegations because they were failing the class.

She said that to a newspaper. That she said that before the release of information that the teacher was fired for harassment of a female in 1997 doesn't excuse the thoughtlessness. In defending the teacher, she cast doubt about children who have yet to testify, reinforcing the reaction of children in the school who nearly always side with "popular" teachers.

Whether the teacher is ultimately convicted of the charges, there is no excuse for repeating the poor and uninformed judgement of other students. Schools are there to teach children how to think, not to react emotionally. But, even worse, imagine how the victims feel with that stunning condemnation of their motives from an alleged adult. From their school, no less.
TT - Link

TRIAL to BEGIN (finally)
Arrested in 2004, Jesus Rivera, 45, has been on bail for two years. He is accused of sexually abusing five male students. The abuse dates back to 2002. A jury was selected and the trial is scheduled to begin this week. (California) No idea why the case has taken so long.
TT - Link

NEW OR COMPLETED CASES
PAROLE DENIED (AGAIN)
For Brian Floss, 44, a third-grade teacher in Arkansas who was sentenced to ten years for sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl. It was the second time the family has had to testify. Floss has served five years.
TT - Link

SENTENCED
To 90 days in jail for sending lewd text messages to a female high school student and discussing inappropriate topics with her. The high school wrestling coach apologized and called it stupid and irresponsible. The judge corrected him. "It was was more than stupid and irresponsible, it was criminal,” and "extremely concerning." (Minnesota)
TT - Link

SENTENCED
A boys soccer coach in Michigan was sentenced to 270 days in jail for using a computer to accost a child for immoral purposes and using a computer to disseminate sexually explicit material to a minor. Turns out the two 14-year-old girls were police. The coach will have to register as a sex offender.
TT - Link

SENTENCED
In Alabama, a teacher pleaded guilty to bringing a loaded gun to school. He was sentenced to a 10 day suspended sentence. He will keep his job. The school had suspended him for three days.
TT -Link

GUILTY PLEA - child predator
The judge described him as a "manipulative, cunning, deceptive con-man extraordinaire who is a classic child predator" in court after Thomas 'Truck' Harris, 52, admitted molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1991 when he was the boy's baseball coach.

Harris was found guilty by a jury in June on sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal sexual contact in connection with the abuse of another victim . Evaluators at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center at Avenel found him to be a repetitive and compulsive offender.

Interpol is investigating him in connection with cases in the Philippines.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - child molestation
School bus driver Scott M. Bender, 44, was arrested for investigation of first-degree child molestation. Reportedly, when interviewed by Pierce County sheriff's detectives, the documents say Bender initially denied all of the allegations but later admitted to exposing himself to the girl. She was four-years-old.
TT - Link

CHARGES DROPPED and RECORD EXPUNGED
For a teacher arrested in Florida in 2006. It was a case we never discovered and did not cover and can't find in archives.
TT - Link

CORRUPTION, FRAUD, RESIGNATION and MONEY
The Feds are looking into corruption in Memphis Schools and have convened a grand jury to look into $50 million contracts for three schools. Several board members testified. Details won't be available until the grand jury completes their task. In other news, the Memphis Schools have conducted an internal audit into their cafeterias. No criminal charges have been filed as of this date but the preliminary audit is a clue to big problems. It cost them $9,000 just to haul away the 343 tons of food to the dump. And 343 isn't a typo. (Tennessee)
TT - Link

In New Jersey, the school director of facilities was indicted and he wasn't even the subject of the investigation. Search New Jersey labels for other corruption cases in the "Garden State" that we've started to dub "The Corruption State." Online Resources - links to the U.S. Attorney Office in New Jersey and other states. Fascinating reading.
TT - Link

We're not sure what is happening in theDelaware Valley Regional High School District in New Jersey, but the school district has forwarded information to the prosecutor's office and the Superintendent has resigned.
TT - Link

REVENGE?
A school board in North Carolina released the confidential personnel records of a teacher who was fighting a forced transfer to another school. The fact that they only released a few records that would bolster their decision was countered by the teacher who has released many of his records that show he was an exemplary teacher for 18 years.

It appears that they just didn't like him appealing his transfer and embarrassing them.

Confidential personnel records are sacrosanct for teachers accused of criminal conduct, which is making us wonder if the schools aren't using the "confidential personnel record" as a screen to shelter someone other than accused teachers.
TT - Link

Summary - Oct 26, 2007

TOP STORY
A contract school bus driver in St. Paul, Minnesota, was still missing after an arrest was issued for his arrest for molesting a special education student. Two younger girls also reported that he also touched them inappropriately, but he wasn't investigated in those cases. Apparently, another complaint was investigated but resulted in no disciplinary actions.
This is one of our TRUST US stories that makes you want to march, broom in hand, to a school district office and just vent.

If a parent was this negligent in raising a child and failing to provide safety, the state child welfare agencies would step in.
TT - Link

SENTENCED - Manufacturing marijuana
Two Michigan teachers, Bret Johnson and Keri Johnson, were sentenced to probation after after pleading guilty in August to manufacturing marijuana. For their personal use, they insist.

They both resigned from their high school teaching jobs, have felony convictions on their records and might lose their house as a drug asset seizure. However, they haven't lost their teaching licenses yet. State authorities couldn't predict it. Each case is decided on a case by case basis.
TT - Link

SENTENCED - multiple counts of second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor
Richard Cea, 27, a high school math teacher in Connecticut, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for having sex with one student and raising the grade of another who sent him pictures of himself in her underwear. Both girls were 15-years-old.

In a story on his arrest, they said that the mother found a note in her daughter's bedroom about Cea.

"I can't believe I slept with Cea, EW! Lol But I was drunk and horny what can I do? Lol Still you can't say anything cause you slept with him five times now EW! No it was weird to say the least!"

The three-way sex wasn't mentioned in the sentencing story.
TT - Link

SENTENCED - (sorta) for sex with student
The newspaper described it as "an affair" but Joseph Tucker, 28, was arrested on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct with a female student and suspicion of tampering with a witness. He pleaded to -degree criminal sexual conduct for which it was thought he would get a 90-day sentence. The judge sentenced him 18 months in prison, but the judge stayed the sentence, ordering him to serve 3 months in the "Workhouse." He has to register as a sex offender. He was married with two children, ages 1 and 3.

The real crime? If he hadn't disobeyed the court instruction not to contact the victim, he would have gotten probation. (Minnesota)
TT - Link

SENTENCED - (almost) for sex with student
Kevin Burns, 24, another high school math teacher, pleaded guilty to charges of criminal sexual contact and official misconduct for which he was sentenced to three years in prison - stayed while Burns appeals. The appeal? His lawyer said the court ignored the wishes of the victim and his father that he not be sent to prison. The judge ignored their recommendation, but stayed the sentenced until the appeal is heard. (New Jersey) Burns will be a sex offender no matter what.
TT - Link

SENTENCED - 17 sex-related felony charges
Married to another teacher at the same high school with whom he has a 4-year-old son, Philip Sutliff, 34, was sentenced to 12 years, 8 months after pleading to 17 felony charges for having sex with a student. "He discredited his family, his profession and all those who believed in him," said the father of the victim.
TT - Link

SENTENCING DELAYED
A plea agreement to two counts of attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child meant dismissing two counts of indecent solicitation of a child, two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated criminal sodomy and one count aggravated intimidation of a witness. Humberto Gonzalez, 23, an assistant wrestling coach, would have been sentenced but that has been delayed while he is evaluated. Both his attorney and the prosecution recommended five years probation because Gonzalez had no prior criminal history.

He'll have to register as a sex offender, but it's a first offense, so the victim doesn't count. It's a freebie. (New Jersey)
TT - Link

One of the first reforms that legislators ought to consider is that first offender status should not be considered in sentencing those convicted of offenses against children.

THE FOLLOWING TEACHERS WERE ARRESTED

Joseph Bradfield, 45. arrested on a weapons charge for bringing a gun onto school property. No details, but he isn't the first teacher to have done so. How the weapon was found and where wasn't mentioned in the story. (IOWA)
TT - Link

Monica Marshall, 49. In Alabama, a beer-chugging teacher was arrested when she was spotted in her car hoisting a beer bottle to her mouth at a stop light. The car smelled of marijuana and the residue was on her blouse. A search of her car found a smoldering marijuana cigarette and a plastic baggie containing what the officer suspected to be marijuana. She resigned.
TT - Link

Umesh Ramjattan, 22, a teacher in a New York school, was arrested for sending sexually explicit emails, including one with a picture of him and his girlfriend having sex to three female students. They were 12-years-olds.
TT - Link

Holly Anna Hatcher, 25, a high school social studies teacher in Tennesse, was arrested for having sex with a 17-year-old male student. She is charged with six counts of statutory rape by an authority figure. It's a pretty safe bet to make with friends that she will get probation.
TT - Link

GIVING THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT Part I
A student who twice reported Christina Butler, 33, to school authorities was suspended by the school for spreading rumors. That was before the Tampa, Florida, teacher was arrested for having sex with a ninth grade student in her special education class. And it wasn't the school or school district who contacted police. The police stopped a group of male teenagers in her vehicle and one of them blurted the truth out. The mother of the girl who was suspended doesn't think the school even bothered to investigate. So does a lawyer for the 16-year-old boy and the student who tried to get school authorities to act.
TT - Link

Lawsuits are sometimes the only way to get schools to say they're sorry. Not that they do feel sorry because it's taxpayer money that goes to payouts and doesn't really hurt them individually or financially. And then those confidentiality clauses guarantee that they don't acknowledge wrongdoing and no one is the wiser to the reason why the school or school district was liable. All bought and paid for by your tax dollars.

GIVING THE BENEFIT DOUBT TO COLLEAGUES Part II
In Urbana, Illinois, the parent of one child who originally reported Jonathon Andrew White, a second grade teacher, to authorites, spoke at an evidentiary hearing that will determine what evidence is allowed into the upcoming trial. She contacted the school principal on Nov 2. Her child wasn't interviewed until five days later. White was not removed from the classroom where he had contact with the victim every day, or with what later would be determined to be nine victims, until January of the next year.

It was pure accident that the parent met a police officer's wife and told her of the "banana game" White played with the blindfolded children. White was previously investigated in 2004 and forced to resign at another school.
TT - Link

APPEALING her FIRING
In Washington, a special education teacher is appealing the district's decision to fire her. A retired judge will decide the issue. But the school thinks she has boundary problems, showed extremely poor professional judgment, and exhibited serious insubordination. When it gets to the point where a 62-year-old teacher is so emotionally involved with a student that she wants to adopt him, there may be a line in the sand.
TT - Link

UNDERCOUNT OF TEACHER MISCONDUCT CASES
Is a problem in every state for various reasons. At this blog we estimate that we gather less than 1% or 2% of the teacher abuse cases because most are either dismissed by the school after shoddy investigations or don't hit the newspapers and we don't catch every story out there when it is published. So when an Indiana reporter repeated the statistic that there were 17 cases of sexual misconduct with students in five years, we looked at the cases we have profiled.
TT - Link

QUOTE of the DAY
The school district spokesman in Tampa, Florida, on their new 45-minute in-service training that didn't, apparently, phase Christina Butler one bit.
TT - Link

TEACHER STRIKE AND ADVOCACY JOURNALISM
A reporter following the two week Seneca Valley, Pennsylvania, teachers strike epitomizes the kind of lazy reporting that makes functioning in a democracy difficult. Thankfully, there's the Internet for taxpayers and voters who really want to know the facts. It isn't malice on the part of the media but it is lazy journalism, especially in the news rooms where those who oversee reporters and edit their material and should send them back to the field with instructions to tell the damned story, don't do that. Possibly because they are sympathetic to the strikers and unions or because they themselves are lazy. We're betting it's sympathy because newspapers have union concerns in their printing plants, political candidates they support that are funded by union "donations" and what they consider in many cases a bond with other "professionals." Either way, the price of a newspaper is still 25 cents to 50 cents. That's about what it's worth - for a month subscription.
TT - Link

Summary - October 24, 2007

OUTRAGE OF THE DAY
For something that will send your blood pressure soaring, read the Outrage of the Day. It's a tie with the sentencing case below for disgust.

SENTENCED to 76 years, 10 years suspended
In Indiana, Jennifer Jacobi, 35, a substitute teacher who had a long-term "relationship" with a known pedophile and major producer of child pornography in Maine she met on the Internet, was sentenced to 66 years for her sexual violation of two children, one was 8-years-old, both were relatives. She also allowed Richard Prado to molest the children. He later committed suicide in a Maine jail. Jacobi is still facing federal child pornography charges. She is married and the mother of two children, ages 2 and 11.

In an interview with a t.v. reporter, the reporter asked if she saw herself as a sex offender and Jacobi replied, “Honestly, no.”
TT - Link

GUILTY VERDICT - Enticing a minor for immoral purposes
Sharon Rutherford, 30, was found guilty by a jury of of two counts of enticing a minor for immoral purposes. She is alleged to have had sex with four students, two of whom were of the age of consent. The other two were under age 16. The school was notified that she was a problem in 2004 but their investigation "found no evidence." No idea if they called in the police. Rutherford faces further charges of soliciting a student to murder her husband. Those charges are pending, presumably because it will be easier to establish once her sexual involvement was proven. We're betting that it will be a movie of the week in less than a year. The lawsuits will probably be sooner. (Alabama)
TT - Link

GUILTY PLEA - Public Lewdness
In Lewiston, NY, a P.E. teacher pleaded guilty to public lewdness three months after being arrested in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Several customers complained. Anthony Fazzary, 42, will be sentenced in February. In the meantime, school officials are "discussing a resolution of the Fazzary case with the Addison Teachers Association."
TT - Link

GUILTY PLEA - possession of heroin in a school
A third grade teacher may avoid a criminal record after all. She was found in possession of heroin, marijuana and associated paraphernalia in the school, some on her person in the classroom. After pleading, the judge held out the possibility of Drug Court where her conviction will be erased after completion of the program. Krista Crosby, 34, will, of course, be eligible to teach elsewhere with a perfectly clean record. Thank you, Nebraska.
TT - Link

ON TRIAL
Sometimes we only learn of misconduct when the educator is on trial. Such is the case with Jose "Joe" David Soliz, 29, a first grade teacher in Texas accused of molesting four students.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - Sodomy and sexual abuse
A popular assistant principal in Alabama was arrested on allegations of sexual abuse and sodomy of a 16-year-old male. Cleavon Eason, 36, has been the assistant principal for ten years and his arrest prompted one student to ask, "How can this really be happening?" It isn't the naiive question it sounds like. It's more a cry of pain at the betrayal.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - sex with student
Christina Butler, 33, a Tampa, Florida teacher was arrested charged with having sex with a ninth grade student. Police were alerted when they stopped a group of teenagers in her car and one of the teenagers revealed the sexual relationship.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - five counts of rape - of student
In Utah, another female teacher, Cris Morris, 29, was arrested on five counts of rape, a first degree felony, for allegedly having sexual intercourse with a juvenile male student. Criminal charges haven't been filed yet, but if they are and she is convicted, we have a clue to the future. Consulting our Utah Ouija board (and looking at past sentencing in Utah) we predict ... ... ... Probation.
TT - Link

CATCH UP
Two teachers in Woodland, California were arrested, both on sex charges. We hadn't heard about either one of them before the article that was run in connection with the Associated Press series.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - sexual conduct by a school employee
Kevin Kegel, 28, a Nevada teacher was charged with sexual conduct by a school employee with a pupil (age 14 or 15) from the same school" and two similar counts including a pupil of age 16 or 17. He was fired in June and arrested in July. A preliminary is scheduled for November.
TT - Link

CHARGED - Obstruction of justice
Two Oklahoma City school officials were charged in connection with two assaults on students that were allegedly motivated by the students' race. One was the Transportation Director and a school superintendent charged with obstruction of justice for trying to get the investigation stopped.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - Sexual assault of student
In West Virginia, a 22-year-old computer technician working for a board of education was arrested for having sex with a 15-year-old student he met at one of the schools. Casey Casto, 22, has been charged with third-degree sexual assault and third-degree sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust to a child.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - Domestic violence and burglary
School Board member Manuel “Manny” Hernandez, 29, was arrested domestic violence charges and faces felony counts of assault and burglary stemming from a violent fight with an ex-girlfriend. It's alleged he climbed through her kitchen window at 10:00 a.m. and hit her several times with his fists. The couple have a child together. He's a lawyer and former municipal judge. At 29. (Texas)

"School board members can only be removed for incompetence, official misconduct, intoxication or conviction on felony charges, according to the state education code. "
TT - Link

ARRAIGNED
An assistant band director in Mission, Texas, was arraigned on a charge possessing a controlled substance after officers found 1.8 grams of cocaine in his home. The lawyer for Christopher Motes, 42, is confident he can get the evidence found in the search warrant suppressed. In the meantime, police found a good deal of pornography in the home and have sized his computer to look for any illegal material. Motes is on probation from a forgery charge more than four years ago.
TT - Link

BACKGROUND CHECKS - NOT
Background checks were instituted in every state to keep convicted teachers out of the classroom. Every state and every school district requires such checks and it's the first line of of self-defense in the arsenal of every school administrator when teacher misconduct occurs. "We conducted a background check, " they recite, as if that was the end of their responsibility. Few reporters ask beyond that, like when was the check conducted? Was the teacher allowed into the classroom before the background check was completed? Because that's the case in Alabama, and we assume elsewhere, for those hired on an "temporary emergency basis." And claiming that "principals are going to be honest" in the reference check is really stretching credulity.
TT - Link

LAWSUIT
A lawsuit backed by the ACLU in another attempt to corrupt the accountability and responsibility process in school hiring has failed. A teacher in Louisiana was fired one week after she was hired when parents and the school found out about her "adult-oriented" artwork on her website. The school district thought that she exhibited poor professional judgement in telling students about the site, "even if she mentioned the site only to warn students not to visit it." She and the ACLU claimed the firing was a violation of her first amendment right of free speech. The lawsuit failed on a technicality and the ACLU hasn't decided yet whether to file another lawsuit. And find a friendlier judge.
TT - Link

SCHOOL REFORM WITHOUT THE, AH, REFORM
An article in the New York Daily News on Mayor Bloomberg's dealings with the teachers unions gave us a chance to recall his previous, ah, school reform appearance.
TT - Link

Summary - Oct 23, 2007

SENTENCED - first degree sexual assault
In New Rochelle, New York, James J. Nieto, 80, was sentenced to 30 years. He was found guilty of of first-degree sexual assault of a victim under 13 and two counts of risk of injury to a minor by a jury in September. The two girls were relatives.
TT - Link

GUILTY PLEA - 17 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child
Michael Gates, 33, a Virginia teacher, pleaded guilty to 17 felony counts of sexual offense (taking indecent liberties with a child) against a female student. And he's facing charges in another county.
TT - Link

GUILTY PLEA - possession with intent to distribute
Also in Virginia, Frank "Chip" Rea, 30, a P.E. teacher and coach pleaded guilty to cocaine possession and marijuana possession with the intent to distribute. He'll be sentenced in January.
TT - Link

GUILTY PLEA
Former Democratic Assemblyman Alfred E. Steele, pleaded guilty to taking bribes while Democratic state assemblyman and current Orange Mayor Mims Hackett Jr. pleaded not guilty in the Pleasantville School District scandal that netted eleven New Jersey officials.
TT - Link

NOT GUILTY VERDICT
Deana Luedtke, 31, was found not guilty by a jury. She was accused of criminal sexual conduct involving a 13-year-old boy more than four years ago . The jury didn't buy it.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - Sexual assault on a child by person in a position of trust
A volunteer and a contract employee who taught music and color-guard for five Jefferson County schools was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust. The female student is 16-years-old. William Paxton is 42. (Colorado)
TT - Link

LAWSUIT
The eighth victim has filed a lawsuit against the Beaufort County School District that has already paid out $4.6 million that isn't covered by their insurance carrier. Sometimes a lawsuit is the only way to get people to say they are sorry. So far, no one in the school district seems to understand that concept. (South Carolina)
TT - Link

Why doesn't this surprise us?
In Brunswick, Maine a 21-year-old Brunswick High School graduate with 18 criminal convictions in the past two years wants to run for the school board.
TT - Link

Editorial in Hawaii
The Honolulu Star Bulletin responded to the AP series on teacher misconduct that revealed that Hawaii hasn't revoked the credentials of a single teacher for sexual misconduct since 2001. As we noted, they haven't revoked the credentials for any of the drug dealing teachers either. Nor a single teacher for gross incompetence. However, seven teachers lost their licenses because they had stopped paying licensing fees after resigning from their jobs. A little self interest there? The Standards Board is comprised of teachers, administrators and educrats.
TT - Link

Tougher Penalities
In South Carolina, they're talking about tougher sentencing for teachers and those in authority who molest children. One proposal is to add five years to the sentence that can't be suspended to probation. Must be they finally got around to looking at the number of teachers who got parole or suspended sentences in S.C. courts. It is, however, unlikely that they could add a five-year penalty just because someone was a teacher. Or maybe the purpose is to write a law that won't withstand legal challenges. It's hard to tell.
TT - Link

Fruit Loops in Maine
A committee school member wants to modify the plan of the Maine middle school that wants to provide birth control pills and patches and abortions to all their students ages 11 to 15. He wants to limit the birth control pills, patches and abortions to those 14 and up. The age of consent in Maine is 14. He also wants parents to have the right to opt out of the program. Of course, an election is next month which ought to be a good indication of how parents feel about the issue.
TT - Link

Legislative Hearings in Ohio
Have been scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in response to the Columbus Dispatch series "ABCs of Betrayal," a damning portrait of the callous indifference of state education authorities to the rule of law. One immediate result of the series is that the state will put their database of teacher discipline decisions online. That will take care of those cases where a negotiated settlement doesn't include non disclosure clauses. This way, we can see if Ohio teachers who were sentenced have their licenses revoked or not.
TT - Link

Summary - October 22, 2007

TOP STORY
Pamela Smart is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the killing of her husband in 1990. She convinced a student to do the dirty deed and he did with the help of two friends. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He is petitioning for a reduction in sentence. At the time of the murder, he was 15. Billy Flynn is now 33. Gregory Smart was 24 when Flynn shot and killed him. Pamela's woes in prison make you believe there really is justice. (New Hampshire)
TT - Link

GUILTY PLEA - first-degree criminal sexual conduct
In Minnesota, Troy Michael Bernard, 35, a middle school teacher, pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sexual relations with a student for nearly a year, beginning when the girl was 14. He will be sentenced in January.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - Sexual misconduct with a minor
A Kennewick, Washington teacher who resigned in 1998 and worked as a substitute in Kennewick schools was arrested, accused of two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor for sex with a 16 - 17 year-old male student. William Pickerel, 72, worked in the schools for over 40 years.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - felony sexual-assault charges
He lives and works in Ohio and teaches in Columbus, but Jason Crary, 36, was arrested for sexual offenses alleged to have been committed in Milwaukee when he worked there in the 1990s. The boy's soccer coach as the school resigned three days ago when his past was revealed.
TT - Link

RESIGNED
A Smiths Station High School teacher has resigned after being asked to to do so after allegations of inappropriate contact with a student. He has not been charged, but police and the school are investigating.
TT - Link

VIOLATING TERMS OF HIS PROBATION
He was given probation in order to repay $100,000 he embezzled. He's only paid back $6,000. That puts Wayne Kruse in violation of the terms of his parole. Of course, the money was stolen from the Lawrence Education Association. The union doesn't seem to have minded that the former union president has made no restitution since 2005. (Kansas)
TT - Link

Background checks are flawed - New Hampshire AP story
Among the findings, "Criminal and education records effectively sanitized through plea-bargains and other negotiations." Yeah. We observed that, too, in just about every state.
TT - Link

North Jersey teacher sex arrests up
Thoughtful companion piece to the Associated Press series at the the Record.
TT - Link

Teacher Misconduct Denied
By Herald Bulletin in Indiana. Teacher union officials are quoted extensively. And exclusively. Conclusion: misconduct is rare. We would spell out B.S. but we're family friendly, but it is B.S. We point out a lot of these "rare" misconduct cases.
TT - Link

Summary - October 19, 2007

SENTENCED (sorta)
If you consider 3 years probation and sex offender treatment and a $1,000 fine for three counts of forcible sexual abuse, all second-degree felonies for sex with a 17-year-old boy punishment, then Christy Brown, 33, was sentenced. (Utah)
As we said, "Three years probation, a $1,000 fine and sex offender treatment. Why not just give her a Teacher of the Year Who Violates a Student Achievement award?"
TT - Link

SENTENCED (sorta)
Joshua Jacobsen, 31, got 9 months in jail - not prison - and lifetime probation. He will also have to register as a sex offender. He was arrested last year, accused of abusing one of his students beginning when she was just 13. He wants to "move forward." (Arizona)
TT - Link

GUILTY VERDICT - felony first-degree sexual abuse and misdemeanor child endangerment
We were outraged when he was arrested. The mother was told that David Heil, 43, would never teach again by the school district. However, school administrators and the teachers union negotiated a deal that eventually sent him to another school. When the mother found out in 2006, she went to police. A jury found David Heil guilty. Assistant District Attorney Douglas Randall, who told jurors during his summation that school officials double-crossed the boy's mother and lied to her. But you absolutely won't believe what the school district says.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - firearms on school property
The story is so incomplete that you are left with more questions than answers. Danny Hoover, Jr., 36, principal of Wirt County Middle School, was arrested for bringing firearms to the school. It didn't make sense to us either. We're looking for more stories.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - Sex with 14-year-old student
In Van Nuys, California, Merideth Vincent, 40, a teacher of a private home schooling group, was arrested, accused of having sex with a 14-year-old male student. You got to be desperate to hit on kids.
TT - Link

ARRESTED - giving students pain prescription drugs
Barbara Trotta, 38, a special education teacher in Oregon, was arrested, accused of giving three students students prescription pain pills and allegedly excused at least one student from class and allowed that student to use her personal vehicle to pick up additional drugs.
TT - Link

CHARGED - domestic violence
Every time we post a story about a teacher who is arrested and accused of drunk driving or domestic violence we get e-mail protesting that it doesn't affect his job. Our reply is that he can be the greatest teacher in the world, but students know about the arrest. And what they will learn from how school authorities respond will constitute an important life lesson. (Pennsylvania)
TT - Link

JUDGE REJECTS PLEA AGREEMENT
There are good judges in this country. In Indiana, a judge rejected a plea agreement that would have allowed John Watts, 28, to plead guilty to one count of sexual misconduct with a minor, a felony, and receive a sentence of six years in prison with all suspended, be placed on probation for six years and serve one year of home confinement. He had been charged with 23 counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and they have his confession on tape as well as an admission to having sex with another student. Did we mention the girl was 14-years-old?
TT - Link

SPECIAL PAY PLAN for TEACHERS - doing their job
In Iowa, the state Supreme Court ruled that that school districts will have to bargain with teachers who work "a full load of classes." That means anyone who actually teaches over -- a whole five hours a day -- must be given extra compensation. Absolutely absurd.
TT - Link

WATCHING THE WATCHERS who definitely need watching
In Virginia, the Associated Press is pleased to report, the state Department of Education is, based on an Associated Press investigation, going to look to tighten teacher licensing system. Looking at the system, apparently, doesn't include looking at the one place responsible for license revocation - the state Department of Education.
TT - Link

SCHOOL BOARD WATCH
A grand jury indictment has led to the arrest of former school-board president, Keith Crego, 37, and the former superintendent, Leslye Abrutyn, 58, on a combined 22 felony charges and 21 misdemeanors. It's a great story of sex, corruption, disgraceful inaction, and the reporter seemed kinda fascinated by what these people wore to court.
TT - Link