Teacher Smackdown

The Ann Arundel County, Maryland school board has put the smackdown on the principal of Shipley’s Choice Elementary after she forced students to undergo a strip search for ticks. The school board is investigating allegations of child abuse, and has transferred the principal to their central office.

School leaders say the third grade class took an overnight trip to an outdoor learning center. During the trip students were forced to strip while they were searched for ticks that may carry lyme disease.

Weird thing was that that the principal wasn’t present during the strip searches and wasn’t even on the field trip. She just ordered the teachers to stip the kids to check for tick bites.

Duh.

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In Tulsa, Oklahoma home daycare worker, Vicki Chiles, 42, was charged and arraigned on a felony child abuse and murder charges for abusing an eight-year-old boy in her care and killing two-year-old Joshua Minton.

Chiles was under child abuse investigation for hitting the older boy with a fly swatter 10 and 12 times while chasing him around the room. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services was on their way to shut down the home daycare facility when workers found Joshua with his mouth taped shut. Blood and vomit were found on the floor near the boy.

Chiles told police she bound his hands and taped over his mouth with masking tape because he wouldn’t be quiet during nap time. Joshua lost consciousness and later died at the hospital.

Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services is getting a lot of grief - deservedly so - that if they had followed up on the fly swatting complaint quicker, Joshua wouldn’t be dead. A day late, and one beautiful little boy lost to us all.

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Vicki Chiles, Joshua Minton, daycare, daycare worker, day care, child abuse, bound and gagged

In Spring Hill, Tennessee, Jerry Angus, 52, a Spring Hill High School science teacher and softball coach, was indicted for sexually assaulting three teenage girls. Investigators charged Angus with five counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and arrested him after three of Angus’ female students said he had inappropriately touched them.

Recently another female student has since come forward with more allegations, but no new charges have been filed.

A complaint by one student’s parents prompted an investigation of Jerry Angus, who was suspended in April without pay. However, another parent said she complained to school officials, but wasn’t taken seriously.

Officials responded once rumors surfaced about Angus possibly assaulting other students during an out-of-town trip when one of the girls was seen leaving his room at 6 o’clock in the morning.

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Jerry Angus, sexual assault, sexual abuse, child abuse, Spring Hill High School

Former Parma, Idaho middle school teacher Randy Eddy, 37, was convicted on two counts of sexual battery involving a 15-year-old female student. After serving serving six months of his original 10-year prison sentence he was granted parole after taking part in a “boot camp” and sexual offender treatment program.

Based on Eddy’s performance in the program, the judge decided he was ready for parole even though prosecuting attorney thought Eddy had not expressed remorse to the victim. (In court proceedings up to his sentence hearing, Eddy continually denied the charges of sexual abuse of the victim. However, he finally acknowledged that he had sexual relations with the victim and that he had lied to members of the community.)

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On a field trip to Washington, D.C., teacher Jesus Garcia got drunk, cursed at students, spanked them, and flung one on a bed. And now parents are outraged that no charges were filed against the soccer coach and ESL instructor for Immokalee Community School. Florida’s Department of Children and Families is investigating.

After a five-day field trip to Washington, D.C., five fifth graders were in their room at the Embassy Suites when Garcia told the group he was going downstairs and would return in 10 minutes. He returned an hour later drunk off his ass and smelling like booze.

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Track coach Klint Wescom, 30, is charged with sexually abusing a 17-year-old female student. Wescom works at Grayslake Central High School in Grayslake, Illinois and was charged with one count of criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

The student was one of several members of the track team who began visiting Wescom’s home to play board games. The student began visiting Wescom at his home by herself, and sexual contact took place between the two during the early morning hours of May 5.

Police seized Wescom’s computer to review correspondence between him and the teen. Text messages and postings on Facebook.com linked the girl and Wescom. (Click here to view Wescom’s Facebook page.)

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Conifer High School, Conifer Colorado, yearbook pictures, drugs and alcohol, teen drug use, teenage drinking

Boy is this causing a lot of flap out here in Colorado. The Conifer High School Yearbook contains pictures depicted drug and alcohol use.

There are two pages under the heading “Health - addicted to addictions” containing photos and text about alcohol, cigarettes and prescription drugs, along with photos of students smoking pot and using a bong. Another page shows police officers “busting our parties” and refers to law enforcement as “a necessary evil.” Under “Regrets and Mistakes,” three girls are shown holding up a citation for minor in possession of alcohol.

Parents are pissed. Families offended by photos and text can get their money back or have their copies treated. If it was me, I’d clip and print out stories about the incident, put it in a manilla envelope, and tape it to the yearbook. That way my student can look back and see teachers, like advisor Amy McTague, do really dumb things.

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With summer comes new risks for children to be abused. Have you checked out your children’s new babysitters, camp counselors, and coaches. Even doing a simple Google search on coach or teacher can reveal a lot.

Ask what sort of background checks your camp, YMCA, church, temple, or rec center has done on their counselors. Make sure you can drop by any time to observe class. And talk to your kids. If they think something funny is going on, take them seriously.

Following are some of the warning signs of potential sexual abuse in children:

– Withdrawal from friends

– Spending too much time with one teacher

– Acting in a provocative or adult manner

– Signs of depressed behavior

– Expressing a strong desire to stop an activity without a specific reason

– New attention and gifts from someone

– Reluctance to be in the company of certain people

SOURCES: Terri Miller, president of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation; National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

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sexual abuse, child abuse, abuse prevention

Did you know that your children’s principal is in the process of hiring or has already hired teachers for next year? What is he or she doing to check their background? Pantagraph.com has two articles on this subject of teacher hiring in Indiana that you should check out:

Law would force schools to share concerns about educators

Prospective teachers face scrutiny, but is it enough?

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teacher hiring, predator, sexual offender, background checks, legislation

Mohegan Lake, New York, teacher Stephanie A. Gross, 24, is charged with having sexual contact with a 16-year-old male student. Gross was a social studies teacher at Lakeland High School.

She has been charged with third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor after an officer saw her and the boy in her parked car behind a restaurant. Police have not identified the boy.

Gross told police said that she and the student went to New York City to see a concert but couldn’t get in because the boy was underage. They walked around the city before heading back and stopped at the restaurant parking lot where police found Gross straddling the boy and kissing him. Both were fully clothed.

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In Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, parents identifying themselves as “Jane and John Doe” are suing the Pleasant Valley School District, its board, Superintendent Frank Pullo, and Pleasant Valley High School principal John Gress in federal court for allowing high school history teacher Bruce H. Smith Jr. to show and talk about “sexually explicit and offensive material” to his 16 and 17-year-old students and corrupting minor children.

According to the lawsuit, Smith showed his students photos of nude, dismembered, female murder victims in class and had sexually explicit conversations with students. The lawsuit maintains that Smith provided his “sexually explicit” book, “Memoirs of a Class President,” about his teenage romantic life to students. (Students say they were told about the book, but never given it to read. Students who have read the book call it an honest coming-of-age account like “Catcher in the Rye” or “Go Ask Alice.”)

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After seeing stories of teachers bragging on Facebook that they had sex with their students, MySpace’s announcement yesterday was good to hear. MySpace said that they will be working with state attorney generals who request the identities of MySpace members who are known child sex offenders.

Since parole conditions for sex offenders ordinarily say that they cannot be in contact with children, it’s important that predators are removed off MySpace and similar social networking sites that attract kids.

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In Kentucky, Melissa Melugin, 31, a teacher at Bellevue High School, resigned her job after being accused that she had an inappropriate relationship with one of her students and shared her personal blog with her students.

Police say they did not find evidence that she was having a sexual relationship with a student. (And if they did, since the student was 18, he is legally an adult and any sexual relationship would not have been criminal.)

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In Philadelphia, Tohickon Middle School substitute teacher and swim coach Jeffrey Anderson, 23, is charged with sexually assaulting two ninth-grade girls, ages 14 and 15, in a classroom. He also used emails and his cell phone to arrange another meeting for sex at one of the girl’s homes.

Anderson is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors and criminal use of communications devices.

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Bloomington, Illinois substitute teacher and minister, James C. Love, 37 was arrested on charges that he molested three children after sedating them with an anesthetic agent. He is facing two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and two counts of aggravated battery relating to sedation. According to police, the children were between the ages of 13 and 17 and were abused within the past five weeks.

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