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Principal encouraged cheating, staffers sayBy Kristen A. Graham and Dylan Purcell Inquirer Staff Writers Posted: Sun, Feb. 12, 2012, 6:35 AM Teachers got the message in meetings and during visits to their classrooms in the days before they were scheduled to administer state exams. Multiple staffers at Cayuga Elementary said they were instructed by principal Evelyn Cortez to do what they had to do in their rooms to get good scores. Cortez, reached Friday night, was emphatic: "I disagree with these allegations." The school, in a tough Hunting Park neighborhood, produced strong test results for several years running, and Philadelphia...

An elementary school principal in New Hampshire jumped into a frozen river to save a 10-year-old student who fell through the ice. Firefighters say that because of Principal Gwen Rhodes' quick action, Andrew Brown was in the Cocheco River for just a few minutes. He had fallen through the ice Wednesday outside the Gonic School in Rochester.

A Fort Myers principal involved Lee County sheriff’s deputies in an elementary school crush. Deputies were dispatched Wednesday to Orange River Elementary School in reference to what Assistant Principal Margaret Ann Haring called a “possible sex crime” — two students kissing. “This incident is more of a simple assault, though by definition there would have to be a victim,” Sgt. Stephanie Eller said. Haring told deputies she had two students, both under 12, who kissed while in physical education class, reports said. Haring said one of them was debating about who liked who more. The student then went over and...

The high school principal who pushed to suspend a 14-year-old autistic boy for running onto the field during halftime of a football game while wearing a banana man costume has resigned. Karen Spillman lasted less than two months at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, Va. The superintendent wouldn't say why Spillman is officially out. Bryan Thompson became an Internet folk hero after he ended up in handcuffs in the back of a police car following his Sept. 16 stunt

Chicago - Here's a Chicago Public Schools math problem: a system hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, inner-city schools so strapped teachers are digging into their own pockets for supplies, yet on the Gold Coast there's a principal spending thousands to trot around the globe in luxury. Does that add up? Ogden International School Principal Kenneth Staral, who makes $142,000 per year, created an international studies program at the neighborhood school several years ago to teach students about countries, cultures and issues around the world. That program has since expanded to a high school on the Near West Side....

ZEPHYR COVE, Nev. (CBS13) – He congratulated the graduating class of 2011, but one but one principal’s commencement speech actually offended some in the crowd. The graduating class at Whittell High School has only 30 students. Just a few weeks ago during graduation their principal gave an encouraging speech congratulating his students and their parents. “Class of 2011, I want to congratulate you for all your accomplishments this year,” said Principal Crespin Esquivel. He then said the same thing in Spanish, making sure his commencement speech could also be understood by his Spanish speaking parents and students who make up...

In a famous scene from the comedy “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” a principal makes an unannounced house call to check up on a student who didn’t show up to school. When it happened in real life for a family in Orange County, though, it was no laughing matter, reports CBS 2’s Lou Young. The principal is a well-liked former lieutenant colonel in the Army with a no-nonsense demeanor. The two students, ages 12 and 16, live at the home with their mother. A criminal complaint alleges Chester Academy Principal Ernest Jackson entered the home without permission when the two boys...

Del Mar High School's principal is under fire after blocking an ambulance from driving onto the school's track to reach a 14-year-old who suffered a concussion during a football game. Emergency workers had to haul a gurney 75 yards downfield to where Keanu Gallardo lay after suffering a blow to his neck and helmet near the end of Del Mar's frosh-soph game on Oct. 29.

The actor who played the principal in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" will serve three years of probation after pleading guilty to failing to update his sex offender registry info. Los Angeles District Attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison says Jeffrey Jones entered the plea Tuesday to a felony charge of failing to update his registry information in June. Jones' registration was required because he pleaded no contest in 2003 to employing a 14-year-old boy to pose for sexually explicit photos. The 64-year-old actor is also required to perform 250 hours of community service.

<p>The principal who told a parent to ``eat s--- and die'' in an e-mail has been permanently moved from Coconut Grove Elementary.</p> <p>Eva N. Ravelo, 45, was transferred to Coral Terrace Elementary in West Miami-Dade on Wednesday.</p> <p>She will be replaced by Sharon Lopez, who previously served as principal at Riverside Elementary in Little Havana.</p>

The principal of Oakwood Elementary School was put on administrative leave Friday as school officials continued their investigation of plastic human fetus dolls given to students by an employee. It was not known if Principal Sheila Tillett Holas knew about the dolls or approved the distribution, The Virginia-Pilot reports. The employee who gave the students the dolls was put on administrative leave Thursday. Elementary students given fetus dolls 12:25 p.m. A Virginia school employee was place on administrative leave Thursday after reports that the worker distributed plastic human fetus dolls to students at an elementary school. The Virginian-Pilot reports that...

"Some people think that my life began at birth, but my life's journey began long before I was born."

FORT WORTH -- A Forth Worth middle school principal was behind bars Sunday on charges that she abandoned her children at a hotel to go to a nightclub in downtown Dallas, authorities said Sunday. Carla Wesbrook-Spaniel, 44, was in the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $30,000 bail. Wesbrook-Spaniel, the principal at J.P. Elder Middle School, was arrested about 1:30 a.m. Saturday in Dallas after she scuffled with a bouncer and Dallas police near a nightclub in the 1500 block of Main Street, according to a report by The Dallas Morning News.

Tensions are rising at a California high school where five students were sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. A California high school principal has apologized for telling five students they couldn't wear U.S. flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo, the local superintendent said Friday.

(May 4) -- Maryland police have arrested a fourth person in connection with the killing of Brian Betts, a popular Washington public school principal, and say the suspects had contact with him on a sex chat line shortly before he died. WTOP reported this morning that Deontra Gray, 18, has been charged with Betts' murder and that robbery was the motive. Police on Monday also charged Alante Saunders and Sharif Tau Lancaster, both 18, with murder. Artura Otey Williams, 46, Lancaster's mother, was taken into custody Monday and charged with two counts of credit card misuse described by police as...

controversial proposal has students horrified at a Bergen County middle school on Wednesday. The principal is asking parents to join a voluntary ban on social networking. Eighth grader Ali Feinberg told CBS 2 she uses her iPhone to check her Facebook account "a lot" and some of her friends said the same. Now all have to talk to their parents about getting off the popular social network. It won't be easy. "I am very addicted to Facebook," Feinberg's classmate Elizabeth Dolan told CBS 2. Anthony Orsini, the principal at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood, sent out an e-mail Wednesday...

- Some Henry County parents called Channel 2 Action News concerned not only about a visitor to their children's school, but also how the principal reacted when they questioned him about it. The entire incident involves Atlanta rapper T.I., Woodland Middle School and the principal's e-mail exchanges with a parent. After trying to reason with principal Dr. Terry Oatts for six weeks, Tom Myers, who has four daughters in the Henry County School System, contacted Channel 2 Action News reporter Justin Farmer to share the e-mail correspondence he had with Oatts. Myers told Farmer that he and his wife, Candi,...

Until Brian Betts mysteriously failed to appear at work Thursday morning, this is what his many admirers knew about him: He was the energetic new principal of a long-troubled urban school and, within a D.C. school system desperate for heroes, a superstar. But by the end of that day, worried colleagues had found him shot dead in his Silver Spring home, and the upbeat narrative of Betts's two decades of work had become a tragic tale. The celebrated educator is now at the improbable center of a murder mystery. His blue Nissan Xterra is missing, as is some property in...

GREENWOOD, Ind. -- A central Indiana district isn't calling off a planned high school graduation prayer unless a federal judge orders it. Greenwood School Board president Joe Farley says the district wants the judge to decide the merits of a lawsuit filed by the school's top-ranked senior. Greenwood High School student Eric Workman is asking a federal judge to stop a student-led prayer that the senior class voted to approve. The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on the 18-year-old's behalf claims that the prayer and class vote unconstitutionally subject students to religious practice.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Officials say a Tennessee elementary school principal is in critical condition after she and an assistant principal were shot and wounded by a co-worker at their office. The shooting at Inskip Elementary School in Knoxville happened Wednesday afternoon about an hour after all the children were dismissed for a snow day. Forty-eight-year-old Mark Stephen Foster is charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Police say Foster was a co-worker, but wouldn't say what his job was. The school's Web site identifies Foster as a fourth-grade teacher. University of Tennessee Medical Center officials said Principal Elisa...

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A fourth grade teacher at Inskip Elementary School is charged Wednesday with the shootings of the principal and assistant principal at the school. The victims are Principal Elisa Luna and Assistant Principal Amy Brace. Officials at UT Medical Center say Luna is in critical condition and Brace is in stable condition. The suspect is Inskip teacher Mark Stephen Foster, 48, of Clinton. He's been charged with two counts of attempted first degree murder.

Ignoring The ProblemThe Cost of Paying the Debt NowBy starting today, the Federal Government can pay off the National Debt in 30 years by making interest and principal payments of $699,013,323,930.52 per year (see the chart below). In Fiscal Year 2009 the government made interest payments of $383,656,592,545.78. So it would take an additional $315,356,731,384.74 in annual payments to completely extinguish the debt in 30 years. By starting now, the total cost of interest will be $8,883,038,042,900.88, at 4%, over 30 years.Opportunity Cost: Waiting until 2019If the Federal Government chooses to wait until 2019 before addressing the debt, the cost...

WATERBURY — In the weeks leading up to Walsh Elementary School's Dec. 21 "winter celebration," staff will carefully avoid religious and secular symbols of Christmas such as Santa Claus and Christmas trees. Walsh Principal Erik Brown has banned Christmas parties in classrooms and many decorations since arriving at the school five years ago. These, he said, can offend some students, who would be forced to leave while celebrations are ongoing. "It is a state law that a public school can't knowingly exclude children," Brown said. "This is not a church. It's a school and it's a public school. I have...

A Christian middle-school student is suing his school district after a principal ordered him to remove a T-shirt bearing the message "Abortion is not health care" on the day of President Obama's speech to schoolchildren. Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit in federal court against the West Shore School District in Lewisberry, Pa., Oct. 5 on behalf of a male, Christian middle-school student identified as E.B. The boy's parents, identified as the Boyers, said they were concerned about the president's speech and the national health-care debate, including reported funding of abortion within proposed legislation. "[T]he Boyers, like many others,...

The principal of a New Jersey elementary school where young students were videotaped singing the praises of President Obama is making no apologies for the videotape and says she would allow the performance again if she could, according to parents who spoke with her Thursday night. Three parents told FOXNews.com that Dr. Denise King, principal of B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, N.J., defended the controversial performance, which was videotaped and posted on YouTube, when they approached her during a "Back to School" event. Parent Jim Angelillo said King told him the lesson was merely part of Black History...

The principal of a New Jersey elementary school where young students were videotaped singing the praises of President Obama is making no apologies for the videotape and says she would allow the performance again if she could, according to parents who spoke with her Thursday night. Three parents told FOXNews.com that Dr. Denise King, principal of B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, N.J., defended the controversial performance, which was videotaped and posted on YouTube, when they approached her during a "Back to School" event. Parent Jim Angelillo said King told him the lesson was merely part of Black History...

N.J. Principal Unapologetic for Videotape of Kids Praising Obama, Parents Say The principal of a New Jersey elementary school where young students were videotaped singing the praises of President Obama is making no apologies for the videotape and says she would allow the performance again if she could, according to parents who spoke with her Thursday night. Three parents told FOXNews.com that Dr. Denise King, principal of B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, N.J., defended the controversial performance, which was videotaped and posted on YouTube, when they approached her during a "Back to School" event. Parent Jim Angelillo said...

N.J. Principal Unapologetic for Videotape of Kids Praising Obama, Parents Say The principal of a New Jersey elementary school where young students were videotaped singing the praises of President Obama is making no apologies for the videotape and says she would allow the performance again if she could, according to parents who spoke with her Thursday night. A yearbook photograph shows Dr. Denise King, right, prinicipal of B. Bernice Young Elementary School, attending the inauguration of President Obama on Jan. 20. The principal of a New Jersey elementary school where young students were videotaped singing the praises of President Obama...

Matthew Tessier fixes broken schools. Chula Vista's Harborside Elementary was in pieces when he arrived as its principal two years ago. The school next to a mobile-home park in an impoverished neighborhood had failed to reach federal benchmarks for so long that the menu of remedies included shutting it down. But Tessier, 35, is a turnaround specialist. Before he arrived at Harborside, Tessier had done what only a few dozen principals in the county had ever done: He led a school — Loma Verde Elementary — safely out of federal sanctions with two consecutive years of dramatically improved test scores....

Police release pictures of Kenmore East theft; Ostanski pleads guilty by Mary B. Pasciak NEWS STAFF REPORTER Updated: September 17, 2009, 10:57 AM / For months, Town of Tonawanda police have said the proof that former Kenmore East High School Principal LuAnn E. Ostanski stole money from her school was in the photos. Wednesday, the reason they said that became as clear as the photos themselves. Shortly after Ostanski pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and agreed to pay a fine, Town of Tonawanda police granted The Buffalo News' long-standing request to release the photos that sealed the case against...

Frank Lay, Pace High School principal, and Robert Freeman, the school's athletic director, will appear on criminal contempt charges for offering public prayer in a public school. The administrators face up to 6 months in jail and a $5,000 fine for offering a mealtime prayer. Lay and Freeman go on trial today at a federal district court in Pensacola for breaching the conditions of a lawsuit settlement reached last year with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). By violating the court order, the two are in danger of being found in contempt of court.

Students, teachers and local pastors are protesting over a court case involving a northern Florida school principal and an athletic director who are facing criminal charges and up to six months in jail over their offer of a mealtime prayer. There have been yard signs, T-shirts and a mass student protest during graduation ceremonies this spring on behalf of Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and school athletic director Robert Freeman, who will go on trial Sept. 17 at a federal district court in Pensacola for breaching the conditions of a lawsuit settlement reached last year with the American Civil...

Parents of students at a New York City elementary school are demanding its principal resign over a questionnaire teachers had to fill out that's being called racist, FOX 5 TV has exclusively learned. The form, obtained by FOX 5, reportedly asked teachers at East Harlem's PS 96 school to break down students' behavioral problems by race.

NEW YORK — A hospital official says a school assistant principal has become the first death in New York City linked to the swine flu virus. Flushing Hospital Medical Center spokesman Andrew Rubin says Mitchell Wiener died Sunday evening. Wiener had worked at an intermediate school in Queens. He had been sick for nearly a week before his school was closed on Thursday. He had been hospitalized and on a ventilator. The city's first outbreak of swine flu occurred three weeks ago. That was when about 700 students and 300 other people associated with a Catholic high school in Queens...

Columbine High School principal Frank DeAngelis speaks easily, almost matter-of-factly, about the personal price he paid after the massacre at his school: His marriage of 17 years collapsed, he suffered anxiety attacks and he still carries survivor's guilt.

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., April 9, 2009 – The Marine Corps is relatively small compared to the other branches of service. But for a former high school principal here, it couldn’t get any smaller. Left to right, 2nd Lt. Michael J. Bradley, Pfc. William M. Chester, and Col. Brian T. Oliver show off the emblem of Freedom High School in Morganton, N.C., at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., April 7, 2009. Oliver was the principal at Freedom from July 2004 until he was activated from the reserves in January 2009. Bradley and Chester are both Freedom...

A judge yesterday dismissed charges of possession of child pornography that had been filed against a Loudoun County assistant principal. Ting-Yi Oei, 59, of Reston, an assistant principal at Freedom High School in South Riding, was arrested Aug. 20 after law enforcement officials said that he was in possession of an inappropriate cell phone photo of a female student taken by another student. He was charged with the felony possession count and later was charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor. But Loudoun Circuit Court Judge Thomas D. Horne threw out all the...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island woman faces charges after allegedly punching and biting her 11-year-old son's school principal after being told the boy was being suspended. Police said 30-year-old Aleyda Uceta also bit an officer trying to arrest her after Friday's incident at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence. She was charged with assault on school officials, assault on police officers and resisting arrest.

The assistant principal of San Francisco's Galileo High School and a Milpitas woman have been arrested on pimping and prostitution charges by San Jose Police. Gerald Courtney, 57, the assistant principal, and Hsiu Hwa Chou, 41, were arrested for allegedly running brothels at 1550 Technology Drive and 80 Descanso Drive in San Jose. The arrests came after search warrants were served at the homes of the suspects in Milpitas and San Francisco. "The San Jose vice unit served several search warrants, one in Milpitas and one in San Francisco, regarding an ongoing investigation of the past four months," said San...

Gabriel DeJesus Back At Work At Sacred Heart School For The Arts On Monday; N.Y. Archdiocese Investigating. GREENBURGH, N.Y. (CBS) ― A Westchester County Catholic school principal is in serious trouble after he was arrested for allegedly going on a naked sexual romp with two other men in the backyard of a vacant home in the Orchard Hill section of town on Sunday. Gabriel De Jesus, 41, of Ossining told police he was the principal of Sacred Heart School for the Arts, a Catholic elementary school at 71 Sharpe Blvd. in Mount Vernon. DeJesus was still running the elementary school...

DEDHAM – The haggard-looking former Hull High School principal who was set to do a stint this summer as a camp swim instructor was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail this morning after authorities say they found thousands of images of child pornography on his computer. Russell Goyette, 61, a longtime teacher who retired as Hull High principal in 2005, pleaded not guilty this morning to 16 counts of possession of child pornography. Prosecutors say a search of Goyette’s personal computer netted more than 4,500 images of children engaged in sex acts with adults and other children. He was indicted...

The case of a first-grade teacher convicted of molesting his own students has taken a new twist. The school's principal is now accused of knowing about the abuse and not reporting it. Frank Laine Hall is currently serving a 15-years-to-life prison sentence for molesting students in his Riverton classroom. Now, the school's principal is charged with one count of failure to report abuse, a misdemeanor that could destroy her career. Parents of Hall's victims have mixed emotions about this new charge. Shelly Nordick is a well-liked principal, who one parent says helped the children heal after Hall's conviction. But could...

A South Carolina high school principal said he'll resign from his post after the district approved an organization for gay students that conflicts with his religious beliefs. Eddie Walker, the principal of Irmo High School in Columbia, S.C., announced his intention to step down to faculty and students on Wednesday, saying he'll end his tenure following the 2008-09 school year. The decision, outlined in a letter to Lexington-Richland School District 5 officials, said the reason was the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance Club for students.

Memphis, TN - Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say Daphne Beasley, the principal of Hollis F. Price Middle College High School in South Memphis, went way beyond her role as educator. The ACLU says in September 2007, Beasley asked her staff to give her the names of students who were couples, heterosexual and homosexual, because she wanted to keep an eye on them to cut down on public displays of affection. She's accused of publicly posting the names of those students, including two boys, Andrew and Nicholas, who had just started dating. The ACLU says that in doing...

Durango High School will allow its highest-performing students to wear white robes at graduation, reversing an earlier decision to require all students to wear red robes. Principal Diane Lashinsky said she had learned "a great deal" from the controversy over graduation robes. Lashinsky decided several months ago that all students would wear red robes at the May 24 graduation ceremony, ending a tradition where students with grade-point averages of 4.0 or greater wear honorary white robes. Lashinsky said she felt the white gowns "diminish the accomplishment and hard work of other graduates by relative comparison." Her decision caused an uproar...

New Leaders, New Funding? by: Bethany Stotts, March 18, 2008 A new, experimental policy discussed this week at the Center for American Progress (CAP) suggests reforming schools from the top down through engaged, talented principals....The program currently has a 20% success rate. “ 20%—you might say this is not an impressive number and it is not nearly what we want it to be, but nonetheless 20% of schools led by our New Leaders principals are making breakthrough gains in academic achievement for high poverty kids. ” said Schnur. “Now 80% aren’t, and that’s of immense concern to us, but the...

Man Charged With 5 Counts Of Possession Of Child Porn POSTED: 1:07 pm EST December 21, 2007 UPDATED: 12:54 am EST December 22, 2007 LAKELAND, Fla. -- A Central Florida elementary school principal was arrested Friday on suspicion of possessing and creating child pornography, including pictures of a girl who attended the school last year, officials said. John Stelmack, 60, the principal at Scott Lake Elementary School in Lakeland, was arrested at his home, located at 5749 Deer Track Trail in Lakeland, and charged with five counts of possession of child pornography. Stelmack was suspended from his job as principal...

BRISTOW, Va. - The principal of a Prince William County elementary school has been found dead in a county park. Police say the body of Derek Michael Drummond, 44, of Bristow, was found Monday afternoon by an 8-year-old girl and her grandfather who were hiking in Locust Shade Park. Police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez says there were no signs of trauma or foul play. Police are waiting for an autopsy report and results of a toxicology test. Drummond was principal of Cedar Point since it opened in 2001 and before that was principal of Occoquan Elementary School.

WATERFORD -- Waterford High School's principal reportedly disciplined two freshmen for fighting by having them get on their hands and knees, look at each other through a chair, apologize to each other and promise their behavior would end. It worked, according to one of the boys who made the pledge after the altercation last week. It also made his mother furious. Penny Watson said she was shocked when her son told her of the punishment. "I can understand having them stand up like men, apologize and shake hands," she said. "I'm past confusion. Now I'm angry."

Life Term for Teen in Principal's Death Friday August 3, 2007 7:01 PM By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press Writer BARABOO, Wis. (AP) - A 16-year-old was sentenced Friday to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the shooting death of his high school principal. Eric Hainstock was convicted a day earlier of the first-degree intentional homicide of Weston Schools Principal John Klang last September. Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart said Hainstock would be eligible for parole in 30 years. The judge urged the state's Department of Corrections to place Hainstock in a juvenile center. ``I do believe...