Pennsylvania teachers' union releases plan to reform public education

Pennsylvania State Education Association Unveils 'Solutions That Work' to Reform Public Education

D.A. Prosecution for inappropriate relationships with students increasing

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office has prosecuted 8 cases of school employees having sex with students over the past four years. That's 8 cases too many.

From a story in The Mercury by Carl Hessler Jr.:

NORRISTOWN — With increasing frequency, authorities find themselves arresting educators and coaches for having improper contact with their students.

"We do tend to see more of them now," said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, a career prosecutor who spent 15 years climbing the ranks in the district attorney's office before being elected the county's first female district attorney in 2007. "I don't know if that's because teenagers are more willing to talk about it or if it's because, especially with social networking sites, they can communicate more about what's going on and there's a more free flow of information."

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.

Police: Special ed teacher caught having sex with student inside car

From a story by Brandie Kessler in today's edition of The Pottstown Mercury:

A female Pottsgrove teacher was arrested Tuesday after being discovered allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old male student in a car parked outside a Pottstown business after hours July 14.

Rebecca Ann Harvey, 33, of Stowe, was arraigned before District Judge John Durkin. The special education teacher at the high school who has been employed with the district since 2002 was charged with two counts of corruption of minors after turning herself in Tuesday to Pottstown Police.

She was released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

According to the criminal complaint filed by Pottstown Sgt. Brian Rathgeb, Harvey had consensual sex with the student in February prior to their meeting July 14. The two had also exchanged text messages that were sexual in nature and the 17-year-old student had also babysat Harvey's two children.

According to the criminal complaint, police observed a vehicle in the parking lot of Plastic Supply Co., 1400 Maple St., shortly after 11 p.m., July 14. The vehicle's windows were fogged and Sgt. Michael Ponto, who had discovered the vehicle, observed Harvey and the student "moving quickly while in the rear of the vehicle. (The student) was putting on his shirt and Harvey was adjusting her pants."

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.

Judge: Teacher guilty in sexual relation with student

A verdict in a case involving a former charter school teacher and a 17-year-old female student.

From Carl Hessler Jr. in today's edition of The Pottstown Mercury:

A judge has determined that a former Phoenixville charter school teacher intended to corrupt the morals of a 17-year-old girl when he had an intimate relationship with her but that his conduct did not place the girl in danger.

Timothy Hammond, 33, of the 200 block of South Cedar Street, Spring City, was convicted Monday in Montgomery County Court of two misdemeanor counts of corruption of a minor but was acquitted of a more serious felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with incidents that occurred with the girl between September 2007 and August 2008 while he was a teacher at the Renaissance Academy.

Hammond showed no emotion as Judge Thomas P. Rogers announced the verdict. The judge determined the verdict based on testimony he heard during a two-day, non-jury trial earlier this month.

Hammond faces a possible maximum sentence of 5- to-10-years in prison on the child corruption charges. However, state sentencing guidelines also would allow for a minimum sentence between probation and several months in jail.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.

Teacher on trial for 'tryst' with teenage student

A former teacher at a Phoenixville-area charter school is accused of having improper contact with a teenage girl who was once his student, according to The Pottstown Mercury.

Timothy Kevin Hammond, 33, of the 200 block of South Cedar Street, Spring City, testified in Montgomery County Court on Friday that he wants a judge, rather than a jury, to weigh evidence in the case against him, says reporter Carl Hessler Jr.

A judge will begin hearing testimony in the trial on Tuesday.

From Hessler's article:

Hammond, a former teacher at the Renaissance Academy off Township Line Road in Phoenixville, was arrested last September on charges of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and disorderly conduct in connection with incidents that occurred with the teenage girl between September 2007 and August 2008.

An investigation of Hammond began on Aug. 30, 2008, when East Norriton Police on routine patrol discovered a suspicious Nissan Maxima parked on a lot near Stony Way at 3:15 a.m. Police said the rear window of the vehicle was "fogged up so badly" they couldn't see inside.

"When I looked in the backseat, I could see through footprints in the fogged up window, a male and a female lying in the backseat hugging," East Norriton Police Sergeant Brandon Pasquale wrote in the arrest affidavit.

When police tapped on the vehicle's window, a "disheveled" Hammond got out of the vehicle, police said. Hammond told police he was not from the area and indicated he was with his girlfriend. When police questioned Hammond's so-called girlfriend, they determined she was a teenager, according to the criminal complaint.

If convicted of the charges at trial, Hammond, who is represented by defense lawyer Joseph J. Hylan, faces a possible maximum sentence of six to 12 years in prison.

Read the full article, including "love notes" Hammond allegedly sent his victim, at The Mercury's Web site.

'Molesters masquerading as teachers'

In light of recent highly-publicized cases of teachers taking advantage of students, PA School Watch offers an important commentary what parents can do to protect their children while they're in the care of teachers.

From the post:

Seems like its open season on children. This is not meant to be a flip statement, but have you watched the news? Everyday children are being victimized by members of the school community. The usual reaction is, how can a teacher do that?

PA School Watch is a non-profit, non-partisan political action group with a goal of creating the safest educational environment for the children of Pennsylvania.

Read the full commentary, "Open Season" at PASchoolWatch.org

Back To School

If the Democratic Party and the nation's teachers weren't in bed, imagine the improvements we could make to the public education system.

Prominent Education Reformers Call for Longer School Days, Performance-Driven Teacher Pay, Expanded Public School Choice

The dumbing down of the education system

This Letter to the Editor was originally published in The Mercury. It's an excellent analysis of the unholy alliance between the Democratic Party and the Education Establishment. The results? A total failure of public education in the United States.

Democrats and the dumbing down of the education system

Has the alignment of the Democratic Party and the Education Establishment had the effect of dumbing us down to the point where intellectual curiosity and critical thought are endangered pursuits?

The Quid Pro Quo

In return for votes, money and the partisan indoctrination of our children, the Democratic Party has ceded monopolistic control of our education system to an ever less qualified teaching lobby. For its support, the Education Establishment has been rewarded with unparalleled job security, opposition to publicly funded school choice and what some might term a blank check at the taxpayers expense. Examples of the chronic abuse of our education system are legion. The New York Metropolitan School System spends $40,000,000 annually on individuals deemed unfit to teach yet immune to dismissal. The Washington state teachers' union killed a $13.2 million gift from the National Math & Science Initiative designed to reward teachers whose students showed marked improvements in math and science. From 1995 to 2005, only 112 teachers out of a teaching population of 43,000 were terminated in the Los Angeles School District. That is .025 percent per year. By contrast, the continuous improvement business model of General Electric requires the company to cull the bottom 10 percent of its managerial ranks annually.

The Dumb Down

We Need A Path To Citizenship For Undocumented Workers - If the estimated 12 million undocumented aliens 'doing the work that Americans won't do' are made citizens, who will do the work that these newly entitled Americans will no longer care to do and what will the associated cost be?

We Need A Tax On Big Oil's 'Windfall' Profits - If the $11.68 billion in net income that Exxon/Mobil realized in the second quarter of this year was a 'windfall profit,' what was the $32.36 billion in taxes paid by Exxon/Mobil during the same quarter?

Unions Need More Organizing Tools - If American workers are denied the right to cast ballots privately in union certification votes, what will protect these workers from intimidation by and retaliation from union organizers?

We Will Only Raise Taxes On Those Earning Above $250,000 - If 85 percent of those earning in excess of $250,000 per year are small business owners, what impact will an increase in their taxes have on their ability to create jobs and grow our economy?

The gist of the above examples and far too many others to illustrate is that the Democratic Party prefers that we be uninformed, gullible or just plain stupid. Anything that can be done to further this agenda is something to be advanced.

The Solution

There are no quick solutions to untangling the corrosive tentacles of public employee unions and the Democratic Party. In the case of the Education Establishment, the effort must begin with votes cast for political office and, more importantly, school boards.

MARK FURLONG
North Coventry

School principal charged with shoplifting loses job

Why would somebody making $102,000 a year shoplift $25 worth of items from a supermarket?

A middle school principal in a rural Berks County school district is out of a job because of her arrest for shoplifting.

The Schuylkill Valley School Board voted 6-3 to terminate Judith Sargent after Sargent, 57, was accused of taking items from Redner's Warehouse Market on Feb. 28, according to the Reading Eagle.

Sargent was recently accepted into the Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition program, which allows first-time offenders to clear their records by successfully completing a probationary period, the newspaper says.

Even with her criminal record expunged, most school officials sign a morals clause when they're hired. And stealing is part of that agreement.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.

Court papers: Swim coach offers money to student for sex

The former head coach of the Plymouth Whitemarsh High School's girls swim team waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday on charges of offering money for sex to a freshman student who was on the swim team, according to reporter Margaret Gibbons

Michael Dolan, 29, of the 200 block of Aldrin Drive in the Amber section of Whitpain, is free on $75,000 bail to await his formal arraignment in Montgomery County Court. that hearing will take place in August.

Dolan is charged with criminal solicitation to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, promoting prostitution and related offenses, according to Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Samantha L. R. Cauffman.

From Gibbons' story:

According to court papers, the 15-year-old girl began to receive a series of unsolicited sexually explicit text messages from an unidentified caller in April. The first message, which came into her personal cell phone around 2:30 a.m., asked her if she would perform oral sex for $200, according to the criminal complaint.

The girl continued to receive periodic text messages throughout the school day from the caller including one message asking her to meet him for paid sex at Miles Park, which is near the high school in Whitemarsh.

The girl, not knowing who was sending the text messages and fearing for her safety, informed her mother who brought her to the Whitemarsh police station that evening.

Police, obtaining a search warrant, traced the phone number from which the text messages were being sent to an account in Dolan's name, according to the criminal complaint.

Read the full story in The Times-Herald of Norristown.

The criminal complaint is also posted online at the Montgomery County District Attorney's Web site.

Teachers behaving badly

The Pottsgrove School District near Pottstown is planning to hold behavior classes, but here's the switch: The forums are aimed at teachers, not students.

What prompted the district to hold refresher courses in what is acceptable behavior for teachers may have been a recent incident where two of the district's teachers were caught legally drunk and having sex in car parked outside a school building.

That's not appropriate behavior in the conduct manual.

Read more about the district's efforts to teach teachers how to behave themselves in The Mercury.

Substitute teacher busted on drug charges

I'm thinking of starting a blog on bad teachers. Here's the latest from the world of education.

A substitute teacher in a Berks County high school allegedly asked a student to help her buy marijuana.

Instead, the student went to school authorities, who went to police.

A sting was set up and the teacher was charged after the teacher arrived at a Reading restaurant to allegedly seal the drug deal, police say.

A county detective told the Reading Eagle that in his 30 years of law enforcement -- 20 of which were in narcotics investigation -- he never before had a case where a student was approached by a teacher for drugs.

The detective said it is unknown why the teacher felt comfortable enough to ask the student to help her get drugs, according to the newspaper.

Read the full story in the Reading Eagle.

Teacher's aide admits 'intimate' relationship with 10th grade student

Here's another example of an adult who should know better, especially in a school environment.

A 28-year-old teacher's aide at a Montgomery County high school was arrested for allegedly having an inappropriate "intimate and emotional" relationship with one of her 16-year-old male students.

Michele E. Zulkowsky was arraigned before a district judge on misdemeanor charges of corruption of a minor and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with incidents that occurred between January and April, according to reporter Carl Hessler Jr.

Zulkowsky and the North Penn High School student had become very emotionally involved with each other, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman told Hessler.

"There was some touching that was involved. Beyond the touching, it was a very intimate and emotional relationship," Ferman told Hessler. "The crux of these offenses is that in this particular case she was violating the trust that was placed in her and engaging in acts that would corrupt the morals of this minor."

How many times have we heard this before? What is happening to our society? If you're concerned about the growing problem, get more information at PASchoolWatch Web site, http://www.paschoolwatch.org/

Zulkowsky allegedly held hands with the student, gave photos of herself to the boy and wrote poems to the boy while she supervised him in a 10th grade English as a Second Language class, Ferman told Hessler.

Read the full story in today's edition of The Mercury.

Ex-stripper turned teacher's aide busted for sex party

Sex education gone too far?

The Associated Press is reporting that 33 new charges have been filed against stripper-turned-teacher's aide in western Pennsylvania.

The former teacher's aide, Abbiejane Swogger, was already facing charges of allowing teens to party in her hotel room. She is now charged with stripping for teens and having sex with at least two boys, according to the wire service.

Swogger, 34, is facing a May 1 court date in Allegheny County.

The former exotic dancer is charged with 33 counts, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and corruption of minors, for incidents in January, according to the AP. The charges stem from a police raid of a New Kensington hotel room party in February that resulted in crack cocaine possession and corruption of minors charges, the AP says.

In court documents, police say a 17-year-old boy acknowledged having a sexual relationship with Swogger for several weeks starting in January, the AP reports. Swogger is also accused of performing a sex act on a 16-year-old boy at his house about three weeks before the New Kensington party, the wire service says.

Swogger is also accused of stripping for three adults and three boys on Jan. 18 at the residence of a 15-year-old boy, the wire service says. Police say marijuana was used at that time and that Swogger allowed the men and boys to touch her inappropriately, the AP is reporting.

Swogger remains in the Westmoreland County Jail unable to post $50,000 bond, according to online court records.

How extensive are the background checks performed on people who work with children? Wouldn't you think that putting "exotic dancer" on your resume might have given school officials second thoughts about hiring someone?

Check out this interview with the teacher's aide from the KDKA TV Web site.

And there's actually a Web site that chronicles bad behavior by educators. Check out Bad Bad Teacher at http://badbadteacher.com/

Ben Stein 'Expelled' for seeking the truth

Ben Stein is headed back to school.

Best known for his portrayal of the monotone teacher in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," Stein stars in a new film, "Expelled," opening in theaters today.

The full title is "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"

The film is an expose on the "Darwinian Machine" that has infiltrated public education in America and prevents any alternative views from being introduced to students.

The theory of evolution -- emphasis on theory -- is all that the secular progressives who control the public education agenda in the U.S. allow to be taught in public schools.

"It's a movie that Ferris Bueller would take the day off to go see," says a press release promoting the film. "What freedom-loving student wouldn't be outraged to discover that his high school science teacher is teaching a theory as indisputable fact, and that university professors unmercifully crush any fellow scientists who dare question the prevailing system of belief?"

Based on the trailer alone, Stein, a lawyer, economist, former presidential speechwriter, author and social commentator, provides a far more entertaining take on the debate over intelligent design vs. Darwinism than some recent documentaries.

Let's face it, Ben Stein is a lot more interesting to watch than Al Gore or Michael Moore.

"Big Science in this area of biology has lost its way," says Stein. "Scientists are supposed to be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it may lead, no matter what the implications are. Freedom of inquiry has been greatly compromised, and this is not only anti-American, it's anti-science. Its anti-the whole concept of learning."

"Expelled" reveals that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired in some cases for the fact that they believe there is evidence of "design" in nature, challenging the idea that life is a result of random chance.

For more information on Ben Stein's adventures in making the film, visit www.expelledthemovie.com, where you can see the trailer and find a list of theaters (more than 1,050) where the movie is playing.

Teachers offer sex education in school parking lot

Just when you think you've heard it all, check out this story from today's edition of The Mercury, in which two high school teachers were caught doing the nasty in a car parked behind a high school near Pottstown.

What were they thinking? Wouldn't they have found more privacy in the teachers' lounge or under the bleachers in the school gym?

Newspapers are routinely delivered to schools as part of the Newspapers In Education program. Try explaining a headline like, "Teachers cited for tryst in parking lot," to your current events class.

The teachers were issued disorderly conduct citations by Upper Pottsgrove police and may face disciplinary action from the school district, which is refusing to release the identities of the teachers. (I'm sure everybody in the district already knows the names.)

This is the kind of thing that could end up coming back to haunt you on your permanent record. At least there were no students involved.

Read the story here.

License Revoked: 38 Pennsylvania teachers disciplined

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has released the names of 38 public school teachers whose teaching certificates have been revoked in recent months.

One of the teachers lost her license for "Incompetence, intemperance, negligence" if you can believe that. Unions usually protect these teachers. Another teacher lost his license for "Improper teaching techniques."

But the rest of the list is disturbing considering the violations these teachers have been accused of. Here's a sample of the reasons the teachers lost their license to teach in Pennsylvania:

* Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse
* Statutory Sexual Assault
* Engaged in a conversation of a sexual nature with students
* Indecent Assault, endangering the welfare of children
* Drinking alcohol during the school day
* Improper relationship with student
* Identity Theft
* Providing gifts of lingerie to student and engaging in discussions regarding sexual experiences
* Tested positive for cocaine
* Filing false insurance claim
* Used school district computers to view inappropriate images of a sexual nature
* Aggravated indecent assault
* Theft from programs receiving federal funds
* Sexual/romantic relationship with student
* DUI
* Receipt of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor

Whatever happend to background checks?

Maybe I'm overreacting. There are more than 120,000 public school teachers in Pennsylvania, according to the link I provided last week on teacher salaries.

There's bound to be a few bad apples in every bunch, but are we doing enough to screen people who go into teaching? These are people we entrust our children to for 8 hours a day. You might want to attend your next school board meeting and find out how your school district hires teachers.

Read the full list of disciplinary actions at the Department of Education Web site.