Melbourne, ARKANSAS

Continued from here.

Brock M. Felton, 32, charged with 28 counts of sex-related charges involving 22 students, is scheduled for trial October 21 or 24.

ALLEGATIONS (From May 2 story.)

Victim 1
The 15-year-old male told authorities that Felton started asking him to expose himself and that Felton told students there was nothing wrong with it; that everybody does it. He said Felton would comment on the size and said that it was common for college students to act in this manner. Victim 1 goes on to say that Felton exposed himself while they were in the sauna at Crown Point in Horseshoe Bend and asked the boy to stay the night with him and another student.

That night, Felton allegedly showed the student “a lot of porn,” among other things. Victim 1 said he “thought the world of Felton.” He also said Felton told him he had a secret hiding place for the porn.

The first incident allegedly took place at school in September or October 2007 in the band room. Felton told the student not to tell because his parents would not understand.

Victim 2
The 16-year-old male said he had worked at Felton’s residence and that Felton would say things that the other teachers would not say. He said Felton would talk to “you like a friend and not a teacher.” He said Felton would ask about girlfriends and what he had done with them. He also said people were leery of Felton because of the way he acted.

On one occasion he said Felton made some comment about his “size” and on one occasion he went in Felton’s house and saw a 17-year-old male running on a treadmill while Felton was watching porn. He also said Felton asked him to watch porn with him.

Victim 3
The 17-year-old claims he feel asleep once at Felton’s house and woke up and Felton had his hand inside his pajamas and was touching him. He said Felton later apologized for the incident. He also said Felton told him not to tell anyone.

He said he had personally seen Felton engage in a sexual activity approximately 10 times and that Felton had exposed himself numerous times. He said Felton would not send students to the office for exposing themselves. He said on one occasion that Felton tried to remove a towel from him after he got out of the shower and that he had told Felton to stop.

He said Felton would also watch him change when they were at the fitness center and he had decided not to change with Felton present anymore. He said Felton would touch him and tell him he was “sexy” among other comments.

Victim 4
A 14-year-old male student claims Felton asked him to pull his pants down while he was in Felton’s office and he refused. He claims Felton touched him numerous times and continued to ask him to pull his pants down. He stated that Felton would talk to students about perverted stuff in his offices and that on occasion there would be females in the room.

Victim 5
The 17-year-old student said Felton encouraged him to look at a pornography Web site. He said Felton would prod his crotch area with a baton and ask how big he was. He said he had witnessed Felton doing this to other students, as well.

He said Felton asked him to expose himself and he refused. He did say that Felton urged him to use the tub in the band room to urinate in and that they had done so together. He said he had spoken with a number of friends who claimed Felton asked them to urinate with him.
He said he also heard Felton ask another student to tape himself to the desk so he could measure him.

Victim 6
The 16-year-old male claims he was in Felton’s office during the first semester of school when Felton grabbed him through his jeans. He said Felton touched him on more than 10 occasions outside of his clothing and that Felton would joke about it. He said Felton told him that this type of touching was OK and just a cultural difference.

He said one student had been in a tanning bed and had burned his buttocks and that Felton had touched his butt and told the student to pull his pants down, which he did. He said Felton had made comments about the size and encouraged him to view pornography. He said on one occasion Felton gave him a condom and some lotion to use and asked if he trusted him. He also said Felton told him how to use a vacuum cleaner involving sexual acts.

Victim 7
The 15-year-old male said Felton had done inappropriate things at school and had made references to their size. He said Felton would have groups of students in his office and ask them to expose themselves and that had happened numerous times over a two-year period. He said he had witnessed Felton touch or grab other kids in class.

He said he felt very uncomfortable and thought that Felton was trying to “molest” him. He also said Felton encouraged him to view porn and was told by another victim that Felton had attempted to engage in sexual contact with him.

Victim 8
The 15-year-old male said he heard Felton make various comments and witnessed him act inappropriately with students. He claims Felton tried to touch him on occasion but that he turned away. He said one of the incidents happened on a bus in 2007.

He said on one occasion Felton stopped the bus and told him he needed to urinate and that he could also. He said Felton would talk with him about sex every day on the bus and wanted to show him various acts. He also said Felton told him about an Internet porn site.

Victim 9
The 18-year-old male said Felton had never touched him while he was at his house but he was asked to watch porn. He said he did not think Felton messed with baseball or basketball boys because, he, Felton, was afraid of the students telling the coach. He said he had heard Felton ask other students to expose themselves.

Victim 10
The 17-year-old said Felton would take him into his office and have the student expose himself and that incident had happened on more than one occasion. He said on one occasion Felton placed his face close to the victim’s male anatomy and asked, “Do you dare me?” He said Felton would ask if he was nervous and if he trusted him.

The student said Felton asked him on several occasions to go to the bathroom with him. He said Felton asked him to go to his house and watch porn and that he had seen a picture on Felton’s phone of a student exposed, but he did not know who had taken the picture.

Victim 11
The 15-year-old male said Felton would urinate in the band sink and would try to get others to do as well. He said Felton would ask him questions of a sexual nature and that he was in the bathroom once when Felton exposed himself. He said Felton was always touching him and had seen him touch other students also.

Victim 12
The 17-year-old male said he witnessed Felton asking students to pull down their pants and expose themselves. He said Felton would follow students into the locker room and watch people change clothes. He said he once went with Felton to the elementary school and Felton placed his hand on his knee and asked if he trusted him.

He said Felton suggested sexual acts and wanted him to come to his house because he had porn and alcohol. He claimed Felton was always touching a part of the body.

Victim 13
The 17-year-old male said Felton liked to watch him go to the bathroom. He said Felton would make comments and joked about it. The student said Felton would touch him though his clothes and he asked Felton to stop. He said Felton asked him to expose himself in the band storage room.

Victim 14
The 17-year-old male said Felton would rub his back, pecs and stomach when no one else was around and that it made him uncomfortable. He said the incidents started in January 2007 and it would be every other day that Felton would ask if he was wearing underwear.

He said Felton also touched him and asked if he trusted him. The student said he scooted away from Felton and Felton said he was just kidding. He said he did it again and he walked off.

Victim 15
The 17-year-old male said he was going to the bathroom in the fine arts building and Felton grabbed him and turned him around. He said Felton was “very touchy-feely all the time.” He also claimed Felton would inquire about trust and would apologize after touching him.
He said Felton would ask sexual questions every day and asked when the last time was that he had sex. He said Felton asked him to view porn and that Felton had exposed himself to him.

Victim 16
The 17-year-old said he was in the band room listening to music when Felton grabbed his arm, made a comment and grinned. He said Felton then called him into the office and said he wanted to talk with him about his father’s work. He said Felton then changed the conversation and talked about sex. The student said he felt Felton was a teacher and was not supposed to talk about things of that nature.

Victim 17
The 16-year-old said he was on the bus when Felton asked him to expose himself. He also asked if the student and his girlfriend had ever had sex. He said he reported the incident to Harmon.
Harmon said he, McCurley and Billy McBride talked with Felton about the incident. The report states Harmon said it was the student’s words against Felton’s at that time.

Victim 18
The 15-year-old male said Felton asked several times for the student to expose himself, but that he never did. He said students were afraid to go to the bathroom in the building where Felton’s classroom was because they did not want him to go to the bathroom at the same time.

Victim 19
The 18-year-old said Felton would ask the students to tape themselves to desks so he could measure them. He said the request was made 25 to 30 times during the school year. He said Felton would walk up behind him and try to pull his pants down on four or five occasions. He said Felton’s classroom was close to the dressing room for physical education and that Felton tried to watch students get dressed every other day.

He said Felton touched him 20 to 30 times on the outside of his clothing He said Felton would come into a room with him and other male students and tell them to expose themselves. He said Felton asked students to take a picture on his phone. Felton also asked him to come to his home to watch porn and drink.

Victim 20
The 16-year-old said he had seen male students in Felton’s office with their shirts off on more than one occasion. He said Felton would talk to them about sex and claimed there was nothing wrong with it.

Victim 21
The 14-year-old said Felton discussed things of a sexual nature with him several times. He said Felton said it was OK to do some of the acts even when you are married. He said Felton talked about size and measurements with him.

Victim 22
The 16-year-old said Felton was very inappropriate with him and other male students. He said they never had band class because Felton never wanted to do anything. He said Felton had the same conversations with him about sexual activities and that Felton was not like this with any girls.

Missouri Sentencing

RESEARCH on Englebach

Sentencing Law and Policy (blog)
A Member of the Law professor Blog Network


October 23, 2005
Missouri's interesting sentencing developments
Thanks to this AP article, I see that Missouri is about to roll out a risk-oriented, information-driven, computer-aided program for providing state judges with sentencing recommendations. Here is a passage from this press release from the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission about this notable development:
Missouri will launch a new pre-sentence investigation format November 1 that will provide judges with information for making effective sentencing decisions.... These new reports contain details about offenders and their offenses with various background data including criminal histories, victim impact statements, and offenders' personal characteristics. To assess offenders' likelihood of re-offending, risk factors are identified and scored. About half the scored factors deal with prior criminal history, while the other factors score particular characteristics that statisticians find are related to the chance for success or failure on probation or parole, such as substance abuse, education level, and employment history.
As explained on this page at the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission's website, concerns about the over-use of incarceration for non-violent offenders and about sentencing disparity are among the driving forces for Missouri's sentencing reform efforts. These efforts, and the new recommended sentencing system, are discussed more fully in this lengthy report from the Commission. That report includes this telling footnote:
The commission decided to abandon the use of the phrase "sentencing guidelines" because the same phrase is used in the federal courts to describe a system that is entirely different from the sentencing system in Missouri courts. The commission labels its work as Sentencing Recommendations because that is what they are. They are not compulsory. The Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission does not support a federal style guidelines system. In fact, the federal system has been rendered voluntary by the US Supreme Court decisions in Blakely (6/24/04) and Booker (1/12/05).
October 23, 2005 at 08:17 AM Permalink
----------------------------------------------------
Site name: Your Missouri Courts
The Judicial Branch of State Government
Law Matters -- Missouri Sentencing: Crimes, Punishments and Public Safety
Content date: 07/26/2006

THERE IS A CALCULATOR
one of the risk factors is gender.

Gender
This is the gender of the person who is convicted of the offense. There are lower guidelines for female offenders who have committed drug and non-violent offenses.

Belvidere , ILLINOIS

Continued from here.

On Jan 29, three days before an arrest warrant was issued for Belvidere High School teacher Loren L. Leoni, a news story generated a number of comments that are illustrative of how students react.

i feel that everyone is blowing this way way way out of proportion... there are way to many assumtions being made... i feel that everyone needs to stop putting all the blame on her... because as far as i am concerned she is INNOCENT!!! i know the kid that this all "supposidly" happened to... and as far as i am concerned... these are false alligations... i think that once they can get a hold of her she should have a lie detector test done... and i also feel that the student showed have the same test done... because this could all just be one nasty rumor just to get a poor innocent teacher fired... why anyone would want to get her fired is beyond me... but who knows... i had her last year for my english teacher and she was really cool and very nice... and never EVER touched any students... so for all of you haters that are falsely accusing her i suggest you just stop... because we could be wrongly accusing an innocent person here... i feel that Loren Leoni is INNOCENT

Another student said,

I am a student at BNHS and we have been hearing many rumors around here. I have heard that there was no sexual contact. I think that we all need to stop jumping to conclusions about all of this, because this kid could have made it all up. I mean, if there was something started like this about me, I would leave too. Its embarressing even if it is false. So don't assume things, its high school, rumors get started, just face it.

Another blames the parents:

This situation questions the parenting skills of the student's parents. Isn't it a parent's job to know what is going on in their child's lives? Maybe they should have paid more attention to him at home.

Another student had a different take.

Hi I'm a Junior at BHS and it is no rumor that she has not been at school for the past few weeks it is a fact. I have seen the way she interacts with her students and I for one was not surprised when i heard this information. I know of the boy, and that doesnt surprise me either. I also wouldnt be surprised if there was more than one boy shes been with.

A one-liner. "As an educator I am disgusted with both the school and the teacher."

No explanation of why the educator is disgusted with the school, but another post claims a whistleblower was fired.

If this was a male teacher and female student we parents would have known by the district, not the news, a month ago. We are STILL waiting for a statement from the administration. Shame on District 100 for firing the whistleblower as well, we parents do listen to our children and know, even if the school plays ostrich! Todd, stop and think about the embarrassed CHILDREN who may be a victim and too afraid to tell because they are male, young, and the school sweeps it under the rug, imagine it being YOUR child.

Two parents commented.

My child has told me of the discussions that she's had with the class about her obsession with D.C **. She is also very proud of her many tattoos because she has shown them to the class on several occasions. My question to Dr. Pulaski is whats going on with the research papers that the kids turned in before Christmas break? The kids grades are still not correct on their report cards and this paper that they worked on for SIX WEEKS was suppose to be 30 percent of their grade. I understand that these are just allegations, but her behavior in the classroom certainly does not help her case. May God be with the people that this has effected.

And, the school talked to students before talking to parents, apparently.

I can't believe the District has STILL not informed the parents of this teacher. As a mother of one of her students I am outraged with District 100. I am also disgusted with Dr. Pulaski for informing the class this morning that they would be trying to "work with her" for last quarters grades to be changed, and have yet to inform parents of her possible misconduct. She hasn't responded to emails and has been out of the class for many weeks, ask the students!!! She sure loves D.C. , that was her majority of lessons, and brought in what she introduced as her "gay husband"(best friend who is a male homosexual). Nice show and tell, huh? Maybe parents should confirm this with their children?

** The name has been changed to D.C. because we aren't certain if that is a student or not.

Setting the Record Straight

Continued from here.

An Illinois teacher was arrested and found not guilty three years later. He told FOX that no one covered the not guilty verdict. We found the same thing.

TT - It isn't unfairness on the part of the media. Most news stories about teacher misconduct in the media are based upon police press releases and there are no press releases issued to the media at the conclusion of criminal proceedings or if charges are dismissed or dropped or the case is no billed. High profile cases attract sufficient attention but anything else depends the whim of local coverage.

Recently we visited a county district attorney's site that listed the outcome of criminal cases in that jurisdiction. There is absolutely no reason why every district attorney's office couldn't provide such information for the victim, their families and the public.

That is, in fact, why we started this blog - because we couldn't find out what happened with a local teacher who was arrested and charged with sexual abuse.

No Interest
Major newspapers like the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times have absolutely zero, zilch, nada concern for the problem. We have six stories about Los Angeles teachers arrested or charged or convicted of crimes, which defies logic or odds. The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second-largest in the country. They have 74,000 employees and 710,000 students (2005 figures.) Wikipedia entry. New York schools are the first in size of enrollment. You can count on one hand the number of arrests, convictions or other actions against teachers we could find online for NYC teachers, including those found at the office of the New York City Schools Special Commissioner for Investigation.

Yet, the number of teacher discipline actions reported to NASTDEC (National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification) from these two states says something else.
Reported from California: 5,997
Reported discipline actions from New York: 897
(New York reports almost the exact same number as reported in South Carolina.) We have our suspicions why these numbers are so out of whack.

Actions reported to NASTDEC form the basis for a "clearinghouse," the database most states say they rely upon to learn about possible discipline of teachers in other states before a hiring decision can be made in their state.

No information is available to the public from NASTDEC. It's strictly for member states. And the only reason we have the numbers is because the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (owned by the New York Times) investigated and gained access through the Florida Department of Education and Florida open records law.

The states decide what actions they will report. In Pennsylvania, they only report discipline actions that are public. Settlement agreements, however, may dictate that the action not be part of a public record. TT - entry

Media Coverage
Follow-up coverage isn't routine in news outlets. In states like Louisiana, you can almost guarantee with suprising accuracy that there will be no story beyond the police press release, if even that is printed. That lack of interest may also be a factor in reporting cases to NASTDEC as well.

From 1980 to 2007, Louisiana reported a total of 78 teacher discipline actions to NASTDEC. Teacher misconduct, however, has to have been a bigger problem than the 78 figure suggests. The state passed a law last year to criminalize teacher-student sex. You don't do that if you only have 78 educator discipline cases in 27 years.

Unresolved entries
We have many unresolved entries that we would dearly like to know about. We actively search for updates on a regular basis, but we are limited by media coverage because that is what we can link to and verify.

In the early days of the blog, we made it a policy to remove the name of the accused when they were found not guilty or the charges were dropped until a teacher in Maine asked us not to do so. He pointed out that the 'not guilty' stories were less sexy, usually had far less coverage and were less likely to still be found on the Internet. It has been our policy since not to remove the name.

As for that local teacher who was arrested? The newspaper report of his arrest had this quote from a "family friend."

"If anything, he should be lauded for all the kids he helped out," he said. "Instead, they're looking at this one little girl, who for whatever reason decided to turn around and say what she said."

That "one little girl" was 12-years-old. The newspaper never did cover what happened to him. We made a phone call to state prison authorities to find out he was in a state prison.

SB 1105

Continued from here.

The Education Committees of both the Senate and Assembly guarantee there will be no education reform in California. Newspapers in California know this but they simply don't tell their readers.

SENATE
There are 9 members of the State Senate Education Committee.
(6 Democrats; 3 Republicans)

The 6 Democrats are:
Chairman Jack Scott
- Professor, teacher, college dean
Also Chairs the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education, which oversees approximately 48 percent of California’s state budget. His wife taught at Cerritos college and writes three columns a week for newspapers.

Senator Elaine Alquist
- teacher, local board of education member, married to the late State Senator Al Alquist.

Senator Alex Padilla
- worked for Dianne Feinstein, and later, then-Assembly member Tony Cardenas; elected Los Angeles City County at age 26. (Unmarried)

Senator Gloria Romero
- Majority leader; has taught at every level of the state’s university system.

Senator Joe Simitian
- President of the Palo Alto School Board, Mayor of Palo Alto; California Assembly 2000-2004 and appointee to various commissions.

Senator Tom Torlakson
- former science teacher

ASSEMBLY
There are 10 members of the Assembly Education Committee
(7 Democrats and 3 Republicans)

The seven Democrats are:
Chairman Gene Mullin
- former teacher

Assemblywoman Julia Browley
- Santa Monica School Board member *

Assemblyman Joe Coto
- former teacher and then superintendent of the Oakland School Unified District **

Assemblyman Mike Eng
- who chairs the Select Committee on Hate Crime

Assemblywoman Loni Hancock
- headed the Western Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Education under Bill Clinton. Former mayor of Berkeley, CA.*** Married to Tom Bates, the current mayor of Berkeley.

Assemblywoman Betty Karnette
- former school teacher

Assemblyman Jose Solario -
wife is a social studies teacher in Santa Ana. He was a former Santa Ana councilman.

MAD HATTER CITIES
The three cities , Santa Monica, Oakland and Berkeley are run by left-wing "progressives" - minus the progressive agenda.

* Santa Monica has been run by "progressives" since the 1970s. Referred to as "the People's Republic of Santa Monica " they made homelessness a real issue and gave the homeless an open invitation until the bums took the invitation seriously.

** Oakland was the home of the thuggish and murdering Black Panther Party and the state had to bail out the school district to the tune of $100 million dollars. (The 24% raise for teachers didn't help the budget much.) The Oakland Unified School District has been in receivership by the state of California since 2002. They have performed poorly for years. The only school districts in the country more dysfunctional are in New Jersey and the schools in St. Louis, Missouri.

*** Berkeley has a justifiable reputation as left wing. Tom Bates is the current mayor if Berkeley and was a former Assemblyman who was described as one of "legislature's most liberal members." That's an understatement.

These are the people in charge of education in California. SB 1105 doesn't stand a chance. . To California newspapers it's just "politics" and a game. And it means another essential basic reform will never happen, either.

None of Your Business

Continued from here.

Stupid comments from school officials when an educator is arrested that translate to "It's none of your business."

[Insert state name or named category] laws #138
# A Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) has charged a School Superintendent Chris Nichols with several counts of official misconduct. The exact charges are known only to TSPC, the school superintendent and her lawyer. It's not a criminal action and it will be two to four months before a hearing. "Oregon law requires that TSCP keep the charges against Nichols confidential until after a final decision is reached. " Link

# A Lewiston (NY) teacher caught masturbating in a Wal-Mart parking lot in July was reassigned after parents were outraged that he might be in the classroom when classes started in the fall. Eventually, the district reassigned him, but "state education laws don't allow the district to comment on what exactly the "special assignment" is about." Nevertheless, they paid him until Dec 21. Link

[It is very important that you do not get specific about the source of the "law" in case someone wants to verify the existence. The more vague, the less likely anyone will bother. And the more friendly the media, the more likely they won't ask anything that might prove embarrassing. Know your media.]

It's the employment laws # 63 [Variation on a theme but creative.]
# A seventh grade teacher in North Carolina was arrested for felony solicitation of a child by computer to commit an unlawful sex act. He was hired at the school a year ago. The superintendent "could not say whether or not Allen had previously been a teacher elsewhere due to employment laws." Link

Can't discuss personnel matters #451 - H (Health-related issues)
# A Lockport (NY) teacher was arrested for drunk driving . Her license had been revoked last year for another drunk driving arrest. A parent of a pupil in the teacher's classroom said her daughter came home from school on Tuesday and said the teacher appeared intoxicated earlier in the day and swore at a pupil before being escorted out of the school. The school superintendent would not address what happened on Tuesday, saying that she was unable to discuss personnel matters or health-related issues involving a particular teacher. Link

[#451 - H is also useful for drug arrests as drug addiction, like alcoholism, is also a health issue for which the teacher can be viewed as "disabled" and after being treated can return to the classroom as soon as possible.]

It's a personal issue #33 [Guarantees non-disclosure to anyone else.]
# Our personal favorite is an investigator with the Colorado Department of Education who said his agency is notified of between 2,000 and 3,000 arrests of licensed educators every year for everything from DUI to murder. But he said arrest information is not passed along to school districts because CDE considers such information to be "personal" and confidential, even though arrests are a matter of public information.

CDE only notifies school districts after licensed educators have been convicted, which can take months or even years after the initial arrest. Link
[This could be attribued to The Thin Air Defense where lack of oxygen contributes to poor thinking processes. We see this in Colorado. A lot.]

You can't see the personnel file, even if you are the police #5
# A lawsuit in North Carolina alleges that school district investigated after two assistant principals found a teacher and a student engaging in a sex act in a darkened classroom. The district told police it would be handled internally. Nothing inappropriate had occurred and the principal was told to withhold witness statements and the personnel file of the teacher. The threat of an arrest for interfering with a criminal investigation prompted him to hand over the records. Link

Blabbing when it suits them
# Maine superintendent dishes out the facts on a suicidal school bus driver. Link

# A Columbus (OH) teacher was no sooner arrested than news outlets had access to his personnel records. Link

# In Jacksonville (FL) the school district allowed a newspaper to look at the personnel records of a middle school teacher accused of encouraging a father to take a belt to his child. They wanted to fire him. The charges were later dropped, and we have no idea if they fired him. Link

# Washington teacher who was arrested after kidnapping a 10-year-old boy had her employment records online in weeks. Link

Hudson, Ohio

Continued from Hudson, Ohio story.

Two girls received an $18.9 million settlement after a chemistry lab fire.

Continued
Both girls were 15-years-old, both were severely injured. One was burned over 46 percent of her body; the other had burns over 18 percent of her body. One girl has undergone at least 16 surgeries with more to come. Both the girls and the school declined to comment, but the reporter poured over the court records for the story of their two-year struggle.

The teacher continues to teach chemistry at the boarding school.

---

An earlier news story of the award at the same newspaper produced some pretty callous remarks by readers.

The settlements being paid are covered by the school's insurance carrier, a fact that few news outlets bothered to mention.