Posts

The Out-Of-Control Reason a Teacher Is Being Charged with Child Abuse

/0 Comments/in , /by

A Boulder Valley School District teacher now faces child abuse and assault charges for allegedly forcing a child to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Karen Smith, a physical education teacher at Angevine Middle School in Lafayette, was placed on leave earlier this month.

Police say on Feb. 1, Smith grabbed a boy by his jacket, lifting him to his feet, and took him out of class.

A parent waiting to pick her child up at Angevine recently told CBS4 that her daughter knows Smith as a “strict” teacher but has never had an issue. (Read more from “The Out-Of-Control Reason a Teacher Is Being Charged with Child Abuse” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Gym Teacher Arrested After Allegedly Choking Students With Jump Rope

/0 Comments/in , /by

A gym teacher in Fresno, Calif. has been arrested after he allegedly tied a jump rope around students’ necks to “discipline” them, Fox 26 reported.

Authorities arrived at Herndon Barstow Elementary on Thursday afternoon after the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office received a report that students had been injured, reports said.

Upon investigation, police learned that Peter Samhammer, 64, a physical education teacher at the school, had attempted to punish students by choking them with a jump rope during class on the playground, Fox 26 said.

Samhammer allegedly tied the jump rope around students’ necks and would tighten it before releasing them.

The students were all between ages 9 and 11, according to the sheriff’s office. (Read more from “Gym Teacher Arrested After Allegedly Choking Students With Jump Rope” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Teacher ‘Obsessed’ With Teen Girl Learns Fate

/0 Comments/in , /by

A former Buffalo Grove High School math teacher and football coach was sentenced to two years of probation for harassing a 16-year-old female student last year.

Panagiotis Georgitsis, 44, of Elgin, pleaded guilty June 30 to one misdemeanor count of harassment through electronic means.

Besides probation, he was sentenced to six months of home confinement and is not allowed to teach or coach until 2019. Additionally, he must have no contact with the victim or her family, have sex offender and mental health evaluations, and pay $5,250 in restitution for the victim’s counseling costs, as well as other court costs, according to Cook County prosecutors. (Read more from “Teacher ‘Obsessed’ With Teen Girl Learns Fate” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Girl Gives Genius ‘War Crime’ Response on Teacher Feedback Form

/0 Comments/in , /by

An 11- year-old girl accused her school of “war crimes” under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 in a hilarious response to a teacher feedback form.

Ava Bell, from Glasgow, took issue with her teacher’s use of “collective punishment,” which is when a group is punished for one person’s actions. The form asked students to provide ways in which her teacher could do better, so Bell wrote: “Not use collective punishment as it is not fair on the many people who did nothing and under the 1949 Genva Conventions it is a war crime.”

The Geneva Conventions are a set of humanitarian rules and treaties that apply in times of armed conflict. “No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed,” according to Article 33 of the rules.

“My daughter actually submitted this feedback at school. Not sure if I should ground her or buy her ice cream,” Mason Cross, Ava’s father, shared a picture of her answer on Twitter.

“I thought it was really funny and absolutely typical of Ava, who I haven’t managed to best in an argument since she turned six,” Mason told the Daily Mail. (Read more from “Girl Gives Genius ‘War Crime’ Response on Teacher Feedback Form” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Teacher Fired for Giving Student a Bible Gets Job Back — Victory!

/0 Comments/in , /by

Mr. Tutka [was] a substitute teacher in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. But he was fired from that job after he gave a student a Bible.

The student happened to be the last person entering through a door. Mr. Tutka told the youngster, “The first shall be last, but the last shall be first.”

The student later inquired on several occasions about the origins of the quote. He showed the student the verse in his Bible, which led to the student asking for a personal copy of the Bible. And being a good Gideon, Mr. Tutka gladly supplied the child with a copy.

First Liberty Institute took on Mr. Tutka’s case — and eventually scored a victory with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They agreed that the school district had discriminated against Mr. Tutka on the “basis of religion and retaliation.” (Read more from “Teacher Fired for Giving Student a Bible Gets Job Back — Victory!” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Suit: Union Withholds Teacher’s Charitable Contribution to Pro-Life Organization

/2 Comments/in , /by

A Pennsylvania high school teacher is suing the state’s largest teachers union for violating her right to free speech.

Linda Misja, a 35-year veteran high school teacher, alleges that the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) is discriminating against her by refusing to allow her to donate dues money to People Concerned for the Unborn Child, a pro-life charity.

“The PSEA engages in the practice of perpetuating the charity selection process indefinitely, imposing viewpoint-based restrictions on her speech and association, and stripping her of protections consistent with Pennsylvania law,” the suit says.

Misja is one of 200 religious objectors affiliated with PSEA, a status that allows her to abstain from full membership in the union. Pennsylvania, which is not a right-to-work state, has a policy that requires religious objectors to contribute the equivalent of dues payments to charity . . .

Misja’s suit claims that denying her the ability to give to a cause of her own choosing represents an unconstitutional violation of her conscience and due process rights. The ordeal began in 2011 when her local school district negotiated a contract with the PSEA that made schools a closed-shop system, mandating that all teachers pay fees to the union. (Read more from “Suit: Union Withholds Teacher’s Charitable Contribution to Pro-Life Organization” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Teacher Raped Student Until She Became Pregnant, Used Metal Ruler to Attempt Abortion

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

In a shocking case out of Arizona, a student has filed a lawsuit against a teacher who she alleges raped her until she became pregnant and then attempted to cause an abortion when he learned she was pregnant by repeatedly inserting a metal ruler into her vagina.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Jane Doe and her parents was filed November 20 in Maricopa County Court against Horizon Community Learning Center, a charter school, and teach former teacher, David Depuydt. In the suit, Doe claims that, when she was 16, Depuydt was named her supervisor for a community service project she was required to perform. The lawsuit claims Depuydt repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped Doe both in a school bathroom as well as his classroom.

“Depuydt utilized his inherent authority, trust and position as a teacher and community service project supervisor to target Jane Doe based on her gender and subject her to multiple instances of illegal sexual harassment and discrimination,” the lawsuit states.

When Doe informed Depuydt she was pregnant, Doe says in the lawsuit that “for the purpose of performing an abortion, defendant Depuydt repeatedly inserted a metal ruler into Jane Doe until she began to bleed profusely.”

According to the lawsuit, Doe suffered such emotional distress after what happened that she attempted suicide.

Read more from this story HERE.

Texas Second-Grader Says Teacher Took Away Bible During Reading Time

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images

Photo Credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images

The family of a second-grade student at a Texas elementary school says their daughter’s teacher took her Bible away during a “read to myself” session.

The Liberty Institute, a nonprofit legal group specializing in religious liberty cases, says the family reached out for assistance after a teacher at Hamilton Elementary in Cypress allegedly told the girl not to bring the Bible back to school again.

The teacher reportedly said the Bible is inappropriate reading material.

Read more from this story HERE.

Teacher on Leave After Fight with Student Caught on Cellphone Camera

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

A Santa Monica High School teacher has been placed on leave after cellphone videos showed a fight with a student.

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent Sandra Lyon sent a letter to parents Friday notifying them about the classroom confrontation.

In the letter, Lyon says the videos were “utterly alarming.”

“…A deeply disturbing incident involving a teacher and student occurred in a classroom at Santa Monica High School, resulting in the Santa Monica Police Department being called to the campus,” Lyon said…

Read more from this story HERE.

Transgender Teacher to Return to California Classroom as ‘True Self’

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Kellie ParkerParents of students at a California high school are reacting to news that a long-time male high school science teacher is going to return after spring break as a woman.

The teacher, Gary Sconce, informed the Yosemite School District that he will be back in the classroom April 22 as his “true self,” a woman by the name of Karen Adell Scot, KFSN-TV reported Thursday.

“When you aren’t who you really are, it’s like being smothered. It’s like being rolled in a wave, if you’ve ever been rolled in a wave in the ocean where you can’t find your way up, you don’t know which direction you’ve been turned,” Scot told the station.

The 56-year-old husband, father and award-winning teacher came out to his family last April. Since then he has been undergoing hormone replacement therapy to transition to the person he says he is intended to be. He has been a teacher for 24 years

School district Superintendent James Sargent announced that Sconce was “in the midst of gender transition” in a March 19 letter to the parents of all 650 students at Yosemite High, the Fresno Bee reported.

Read more from this story HERE.