Fired Teacher Sent 'Suggestive' Texts To 14-Year-Old Student

[Hannah Bell]

BRIGHTON, Colo. -- A Brighton Collegiate High School teacher fired in November for an "inappropriate" relationship with a student sent the 14-year-old girl sexually "suggestive" text messages and kissed her in the dark at the movie theater, according to court records obtained by TheDenverChannel.com.

"Ur body felt so good against mine," the 39-year-old man told the teen in one of 5,380 text messages he and student exchanged between Aug. 28 and Nov. 2, 2009, according court records.

"It took all my willpower not to just take u right there on the table ... wheew lol," the teacher wrote the student in one of many text messages that investigators called sexually "suggestive..."

The search warrant affidavit states that there is probable cause that the crime "Internet luring of a child ... has been committed..."

When questioned by a school resource officer, the 14-year-old girl initially denied the relationship.

But with her mother present, the student told the officer that she and teacher "began kissing" at a movie in early October. She said the teacher saw her outside school and several times he gave her rides home.

The teen said the teacher “has touched her waist, knees and thigh with his hands," according to the search warrant affidavit.

At the fired teacher's home, investigators seized a camcorder containing "a home-made pornographic video" showing the man and an unidentified "young teenage-looking female," according to the search warrant affidavit.

Police also seized seven other videos that included titles like “Naughty 1 & 2” and "DBL Naughty."

"It is unknown if any of the videos contained pornographic video with (minors)," police Detective Christine Gardalen wrote in the search warrant statement.

The teacher's November firing is the FOURTH TIME WITHIN THREE YEARS that teachers at the school, formerly called the Brighton Charter High School, have been investigated for improper conduct with students...

"We have no reason to believe that the relationship was sexual, but it was inappropriate and will not be tolerated," board Vice President David Gill wrote in the letter. School officials did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Other fired teachers include Carrie McCandless, who at the time was married to former school principal Chris McCandless. She was sentenced to 45 days in jail in 2007 for providing alcohol to, and having unlawful sexual contact with a 17-year old male student.

David Mundy Jr., the son of the former chairman of the board of the charter school, was arrested the same year for providing alcohol to three girls and sucking liquor out of their navels. Mundy Jr., who had taught one of the girls as a substitute teacher at the school, was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Ralph Kelley, another teacher at the charter school, was arrested in the sexual assault on a gay male student in 2008.

In November, the scandal-plagued school was taken over by School District 27J.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/22230054/detail.html

http://www.brightoncollegiate.org/



My goodness, a veritable *den* of pervs!! The son of the *chairman of the board* is SUCKING BOOZE OUT OF THE STUDENTS' NAVELS?!!? Well, no wonder nothing was done about the teachers.


Gosh, all these new frauds & scandals, just in the first week of January.

[tonysam]

1. I swear you can't make this shit up.

I was sacked for what amounted to a clerical error.

[Hannah Bell]

3. no, you can't make it up. & i'm wondering when the very concerned persons will weigh in on this one.

unless they have -- something to *hide*?

[noamnety]

5. Do you really believe that?

You believe they sacked you because of a clerical error?

That's rhetorical I guess, you don't need to answer it of course.

It's just that I always got the sense in any job that when people are fired over small inane technicalities, it's not really about that. That's not saying the other reasons are valid, or aren't valid, it's just that when I've looked back at similar situations, more often than not it was either a string of incidents or general incompatibility for one reason or another.

When I was 16, I got fired from being a cashier for "failing to write a customers phone number on a charge slip." (before the card swiping machines). That's a pretty small technicality. The reality was that I repeatedly could not get it in my head that I had to write that down, there were a number of those receipts I handled where I forgot to get their number, and it was something the store needed to process returns. Also, at that age, I wasn't an outgoing go-getter on the floor. When I had extra time between cashier shifts, I never got the hang of figuring out what to do with myself, I'd stand around looking lost instead of straightening shelves, asking people if they needed help, etc. So I was fired - on paper - for failing to get one phone number, but I knew that was the jargon reason, not the real reason. (And I learned some other lessons, like I never want to work in retail, and if a new cashier is super slow because she's in training, I always make a point of being extra nice to her because even though it seems like a mindless job, it's stressful and humiliating to be fumbling around in those first couple days while customers are lined up waiting impatiently and acting rude.)

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I've seen teachers fired for stuff like clerical errors

And I hear admins threaten to fire teachers for minor I fractions quite frequently.

I was written up myself many years ago for having a piece of school stationery on my desk. The principal was a major control freak and conspiracy theorist.

A friend was fired for starting a baseball team.

Another was suspended for not hotlining a case of abuse. She told the principal (which was what the district required) and then she was suspended when the principal failed to hotline. Of course the principal wasn't punished.

So there is no doubt in my mind when a teacher claims a clerical error resulted in termination.

[Catshrink]

7. Bottom line: admins have enormous power

and can use it for good or bad. I worry about the hiring of admins with no or little teaching experience to be CEO principals. They have no idea of the complexities of the teaching job itself. And in charters, teachers can be canned for even less - disagreeing with a board member's spouse (I've seen this happen), so that a relative could be hired (also seen), etc.

:popcorn: 'cuz you know what's gonna happen now! :evilgrin:

[noamnety]

8. I'm not sure that qualifies as "even less"

disagreeing with a board member's spouse sounds about on a par with having school stationary on your desk. I think abuses can happen by administrators regardless of whether the administrator is hired by a charter or by a public school. Some people in positions of power are just power hungry asses. Proud2B seems (?) to be talking about a traditional school and I think tonysam's coming from a traditional school with a union as well.

Nepotism is widespread everywhere, from what I've seen. http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030205nepotism0205p9.asp

(The stationary thing is exceptionally odd, btw - at our school they emailed out the blank letter head format to the staff in case we need it for student recommendations.)

[tonysam]

9. They do that figuring the district will support them no matter what

It's unbelievable what goes on in public schools. Principals have SO much power because they are NOT closely supervised, unlike private sector supervisors (except of course in the smallest businesses where people work directly under the owner). And they can absolutely ruin a teacher's career. They know the hearing system is rigged in their favor and know "tenure" isn't lifetime employment for teachers anyway and doesn't really protect them--it protects the school districts from an explosion of lawsuits by putting a brake on the worst impulses of principals. But once the termination process starts, it's almost impossible to stop it. The unions regularly cut deals with the district in order to protect the wayward principal. You have to fucking sue the district to get any redress, and even there, they will drag out the cases for years and years. Even if you go the jury trial route and win your case, the district will appeal the jury award clear through to the court of appeals, which can take up to a decade.

Why do they do this? Because it isn't "their" money; it's the taxpayers who foot the bill, which can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions in lawsuits. Instead of being public servants, which in fact these administrators and school board members ARE, they think school budgets are some kind of slush fund whereby they can do whatever the hell they want. And they usually do because the public is largely ignorant of what REALLY goes in public school districts throughout the country regardless of size.

If prospective teachers knew the truth about public education, that it is a sewer for workplace harassment, nobody would EVER, EVER go into this field.

[tonysam]

10. My last principal did not do ONE thing she was supposed to do

by Nevada law, by the union contract, and most probably violated my civil rights and FMLA, since the clerical error was a form turned in before the illness ran its course (I came to work for 2 1/2 days thinking I was over it, but I wasn't) but the illness was never contested by the district. The H.R. crook wanted me out, so, under pressure, the principal comes up with a bogus dismissal screed, and of course being that she had never even disciplined an employee before, didn't even know about progressive discipline which is codified by Nevada statute 391. I was fired for "dishonesty," which this piece of shit fabricated because a physician's assistant, not a doctor, checked off I could return to work but the time period was during the first series of illnesses when I had a serious sinus infection resulting from bronchitis. The illness relapsed, and since I had submitted the form misreading the three-weeks' rule, I should have been allowed to amend it to cover the dates of the second series of absences--all the same illness. This rotten POS, when asked at the investigative hearing in front of two witnesses whether I could amend the form or start the process anew, said and I quote, "THAT train has left the station." She fucking violated FMLA, but of course the two witnesses weren't called in to testify at the termination hearing, and one of them, the union's executive director, was BRIBED with a job working for the same guy who spearheaded the termination.

And then this POS never implemented the admonition written by a retaliatory previous principal, which she was supposed to do by Nevada law, yet they used that admonition repeatedly during the hearings as reason to get me out although I was NEVER, EVER put on a program of assistance. Just violations galore, and so flagrant.

What HR REALLY wanted was my retirement; I had just become vested in PERS in February of 2008, just two months before I was canned.

The kicker was the HR asst superintendent and the district's general counsel KNEW I hadn't faked my illness, KNEW this principal didn't do ANYTHING she was supposed to do by law and the union contract, yet they persisted with a bogus case using tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. She should have lost her job, but instead she gets to keep it at the expense of my career since hearing officers almost NEVER support terminated teachers regardless of reason. You never win "due process" hearings or arbitrations, as an attorney friend told me after I received the "award" in the mail, which was prompted consigned to the garbage. Meanwhile, this principal goes on fancy vacations scuba diving in Hawaii and brags about it on Facebook. Not one hint of a conscience. I'm 55 and CANNOT go back to college to retrain for another crappy career.

I believe the district forged at least one document in my hearing, and if I find out this particular document, of which I somehow found the original, was forged and submitted as an exhibit in my sham hearing, all hell is going to break loose.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hannah Bell]

4. no room for teachers drinking out of students' navels? i should say not. it makes

you wonder what those charter schools are teaching, doesn't it, when this kind of thing goes on for years, & even administrators are involved?