31 educators disciplined!

[Bravo Zulu]

31 educators disciplined
Saturday, October 17, 2009
By Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The state has announced disciplinary action against 31 educators and lifted the certificate suspensions of six other educators.

The actions took effect between January and August of this year.

The state Department of Education provided a list of names, the most recent place of employment, the action and the reason on its Web site at www.pdenewsroom.state.pa.us.

The list includes these from Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Westmoreland counties:

Ronald H. Betz, educator, Chartiers Valley School District, surrender of certificate in lieu of discipline, allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Brian S. Brosh, science teacher, Elizabeth Forward School District, surrender of certificate in lieu of discipline, convicted of corruption of minors. His certificate earlier was suspended. He pleaded guilty to corruption of minors in July and was sentenced to three years of probation.

Matthew N. Fazio, special education teacher, Montour School District, surrender of certificate, allegations he engaged in "inappropriate comments and conduct in regard to female students."

Lori A. Pack, special education teacher, Pittsburgh Public Schools, certificate revoked, allegations of verbally and physically abusing a special education student.

Jay A. Wagner, educator, Armstrong School District, suspension lifted.

Christine E. Martin, also known as Christine E. Musico, Butler Area School District, certificate suspended, criminally charged with corruption of minors. In court yesterday, Ms. Martin agreed to surrender her certificate.

Virginia S. Baustert, also known as Virginia S. Cipriani, building substitute/instructional aide, Kiski Area School District, immediate suspension because of criminal charge of corruption of minors.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09290/1006383-455.stm#ixzz0UFq3cuF

[Sanity Claws]

1. I don't know what to think

Are there that many teachers who are pedophiles? Or is someone in authority overeager and branding teachers for innocuous behavior?

"corruption of minors" -- that is such a vague term.

[SharonAnn]

2. There were only a couple teachers in my HS who should've been disciplined, only a couple

The rest were awesome.

But the two that were "weird" should've been de-certified at least, perhaps prosecuted.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. great thread! private schools for EVERYbody!

keep up the good work!

[rucky]

5. New slogan: Private Schools - They Cover-Up Better

[tonysam]

4. Whoop Dee Doo

I really want to see crooked, incompetent, and negligent administrators be outed. Not to belittle child abuse, etc., but that's where the real criminality is in public education.

I want to see how much money is being spent by districts on lawsuits against the districts.

There's NO accountability for administrators. None whatsoever. That's why public education is going down a shithole.

[Catshrink]

7. That's a bit extreme, don't you think?

Administrators are accountable to school boards and the communities they serve.

Blaming "public education going down a shit hole" on one factor is naive. There are a myriad of reasons why public education is in crisis. It's really easy to pick one but the situation is very complex.

Of course, teacher-bashing is all the rage these days so go ahead, pile on.

[Trekologer]

9. The head of the English department in my high school was "promoted" to a made up position

She should have retired (a couple years ago) but was promoted to "supervisor of academic affairs". Basically a made-up position to collect a (undoubtedly larger) for a couple more years. This wasn't an open position that was filled: it was a completely new one.

There's a lot of blame to go around when it comes to under-performing schools and education. The teachers get the blame but its really the administration that needs to be looked at.

[bluestateguy]

8. Administrators do not have tenure

They may have teacher tenure, but not as administrators. In fact it is much easier to fire an administrator than a teacher.

[bluestateguy]

6. We had a teacher in my high school that was fired for incompetence and negligence

He was just a washed up old fart who either couldn't teach or was unwilling to put forth the effort. But he had tenure, and boy did he abuse it. He fought root and branch for two years to keep his job before being finally removed. He spent another year filing lawsuits which of course went nowhere.

Amazing that he would put forth such effort to keep his job, but not put forth that kind of effort in actually teaching.