Free Republic

Honored as the “Top Teacher” by ABC’s “Live with Kelly and Michael” show, Stacie Starr was speaking at an education forum earlier this week when she dropped a bombshell. The veteran teacher at Elyria High School in Elyria, Ohio, told a stunned audience Monday she will resign at the end of the school year because of the new federal Common Core system of standards and assessments adopted by her state, reported the local Chronicle-Telegram newspaper. image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/02/stacie-starr.jpg Stacie Starr Stacie Starr At the forum, which sought to help parents navigate the complex standardized testing system, Starr was talking about how...

A Kirksville, Mo. doctor righteously and very satisfyingly slapped down a substitute teacher after she sent a note home condemning the lunch his second-grade daughter had brought to school. The doctor and mad dad is Justin Puckett, reports ABC News. As Puckett — who is certified in obesity medicine — later observed to the principal at the school, the teacher and a cafeteria worker didn’t see the whole lunch. Sure, they saw a pickle, a bag of marshmallows, some Ritz crackers and four tiny chocolate bars. Importantly, what the sub and the lunch lady missed were four pieces of ham...

Two high school teachers in Southern California have been arrested on suspicion of having sexual relations with students on an overnight beach camping trip. South Hills High School teacher Melody Lippert allegedly met a group of male students in November at the beach in San Clemente, where she gave them alcohol and "engaged in a sexual relationship with one of them," according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California high school basketball coach has been suspended and faces accusations of mercilessly running up the score after his team won a game 161-2, one of the most lopsided scores in state history. Arroyo Valley High girls' coach Michael Anderson was suspended for two games after the victory last week against Bloomington High. Anderson said that he wasn't trying to run up the score or embarrass the opposition. His team had won four previous games by at least 70 points, and Bloomington had already lost a game by 91.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former substitute teacher who showed a movie featuring graphic sex and violence to a high school class has been convicted of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. Sheila Kearns showed the film, "The ABCs of Death," during five periods of a Spanish class at East High School in Columbus in April 2013, prosecutors said. The movie consists of 26 chapters, each depicting some form of grisly death and representing a letter of the alphabet, such as "E is for Exterminate," ''O is for Orgasm" and "T is for Toilet." A jury convicted Kearns of four felony...

A former Connecticut high school teacher awaiting sentencing over a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student has been arrested again after allegedly threatening to kill one of her accusers. Police say 32-year-old Danielle Watkins of Norwalk was arrested Friday. She was first arrested in July, accused of having sex with one student at Stamford High and giving marijuana to another. Police say she threatened one of the victims at a doughnut shop Friday. Watkins pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor last month under a deal with prosecutors. The agreement calls for her to...

A former Utah high school teacher had sex with an underage student after she was arrested in October 2013 in another sex abuse case involving that boy and two others, prosecutors said this week. Brianne Altice, 35, was arrested again Wednesday on four new sex abuse charges and released from jail after posting $10,000 bail, court documents say.

A former South High School teacher who resigned last year over allegations of inappropriate behavior with students has found work as a grant coordinator with the regional homeland security agency. Larisa Oringdulph was named the South All-Hazards Regional Homeland Security Coordinator on Monday. The job pays $48,000. ... the job as an annual contract position with the South All-Hazards Region and, essentially, a conduit for the federal homeland security funds that get passed through the state and into counties to be used for various projects. ... She was never charged with any criminal act, but was accused of sending sexually...

CATOOSA, Okla. — A middle school teacher in Oklahoma was fired Wednesday after she took a group of students on a snack run, piling them all into her car. Heather Cagle, a yearbook and math teacher, decided to do “something sweet” for her journalism students and take them to Wal-Mart for snacks, according to Tulsa World.

A substitute teacher who was charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old Manchester Regional High School student Thursday, was only hired to teach on an as-needed basis for an absent science teacher during the 2014-15 school year, the principal said. Linda Hardan of Prospect Park, 21, was arrested Friday for allegedly taking the teenager to a location in Wayne outside of school hours and sexually assaulting him, according to a senior Passaic County assistant prosecutor.The high school serves students from Haledon, North Haledon and Prospect Park. Hardan was on a list of eligible substitute teachers kept by the Passaic County Educational...

Viorel Florescu/staff photographer Retired Washington Township math teacher Miriam Moskowitz, 98, leaving federal court in New York City on Thursday with Caren Ponty, left, and her nephew Ira Moskowitz, after U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled against her petition to reverse her 1950 felony conviction related to atomic espionage. Miriam Moskowitz has been called a lot of things in her 98 years of life — feisty, aggressive and possessing a violent temper, among them. But the one label that bothers her most is spy for the former Soviet Union — a moniker given to her by the government.  That...

Last November, Los Angeles Unified School District lawyers fighting a civil lawsuit argued in court that a 14-year-old middle school student was mature enough to consent to having sex with her 28-year-old teacher, and that she bore some responsibility for what happened. The district's attorneys also introduced the girl's sexual history into the trial as part of their defense strategy. Two legal experts sharply criticized the school district for using those tactics. They also said the case highlights a little-known conflict in California law: while the age of consent is firmly set at 18 in criminal cases, at least two...

As more and more young Muslims from Australia are joining the Islamic State, and crude pro-Islamic State graffiti appeared on schools, Australian authorities are hoping that teachers will tip them off about “radicalized students” — with no curiosity about where this “radicalization” is coming from. It must be from the Internet, doncha know. “Federal police probe into Western Sydney schools where ISIS graffiti was sprayed: AFP issues nationwide terror warning to teachers,” Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c12_1414840963#qxVECutbTJcd8S1h.99

A newly-hired social studies teacher intercepted a gunman as he tried to reload during a deadly shooting at a Washington state high school on Friday, a union official says, describing her actions as amazing. Marysville Education Association president Randy Davis told The Associated Press Saturday that first-year social studies teacher Megan Silberberger intervened in the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

32-year-old received a suspended sentence. Charlotte Parker, a teaching assistant who had a torrid 2-year affair with a 14-year-old male pupil, has avoided jail time. Explaining his decision to issue a suspended sentence, Judge Austin Stotan stated that although the boy was underage, he was a 'willing' participant in the affair: "It seems the victim had explained that he had been seeing the defendant for a period of two years. He understood she was married. ... Is there a double standard between male and female sexual predators?

A criminal justice instructor at Technology Center of DuPage in Addison accidentally discharged a handgun during class Friday afternoon, striking a file cabinet and hollow wall, officials said....

DESTREHAN, La. —Authorities in St. Charles Parish arrested a 34-year-old teacher Tuesday afternoon on allegations of sexual misconduct with a student. Deputies placed Shelley Dufresne under arrest for one count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile. She is a teacher at Destrehan High School, located west of New Orleans. ... Officials with the St. Charles Parish Public School District reported the incident to the Sheriff's Office. Investigators were told that the student was bragging to other students that he was "having a sexual relationship with teachers." "An additional incident has allegedly occurred in another jurisdiction and that agency is participating...

Speaking at the National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on July 3rd, Colorado Education Association (CEA) President Kerrie Dallman referred to the school district of Jefferson County (JeffCo) – where teachers have staged a “sick-out” and students left classes to protest throughout last week – as one of three in her state in which the teachers’ union was “working against hostile school boards.” “I also want to say thank you to the staff and leaders from the 18 states around the country who were sending in 48 staff under the NEA shared staffing...

According to a district report, “Ms. Vo told her class that if robots were teachers, Ms. Vo would program the robot to shoot the students every time the students didn’t pay attention, talked back, or even talked at all. Ms. Vo told her class she would program the robot to zap the students with a Taser if the students failed to complete homework assignments or arrived late to class... (please see article for full quote, and the rest of the article)

Nash left his used condom in the teacher's purse then stole her car, according to detectives Victor Marshall Nash, 18, is charged with attempted first degree murder, sexual battery, robbery and grand theft for the alleged attack on his teacher at South Dade Senior High School on Friday.