Posted on 03/12/2006 5:54:23 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
Convicted teacher fights to clear record
Sunday, March 12, 2006
By John Tunison
The Grand Rapids Press
HOLLAND -- By most accounts, Timothy Romisch is a devout Christian and a dedicated and experienced teacher.
He also has a past that haunts him -- a 20-year-old conviction jeopardizing his career.
Romisch, a former Holland Junior High School teacher, is at the center of a new law that prohibits schools from employing teachers ever convicted of certain crimes.
Now 46, Romisch in 1986 pleaded no contest to attempting to accost a ninth-grade student for immoral purposes. He was 26 at the time.
That misdemeanor plea could cost Romisch his 14-year job at Southfield Christian School, near Detroit, unless an Ottawa County judge this week agrees to expunge his conviction.
The case illustrates the early fallout from a package of laws that took effect Jan. 1, all aimed at protecting students. A key provision: Schools are prohibited from employing workers convicted of crimes listed in the state's sex-offender registration act.
Romisch's supporters -- including administrators at Southfield Christian -- say the law does not offer enough flexibility to consider special cases.
Others, including Romisch's victim, say a crackdown on convicts in schools is long overdue.
"If he does get a second chance, who is going to protect our children from him?" asked Naomi Colella of Holland, who was 14 when Romisch anonymously wrote her sexually explicit letters. "I don't feel he should be teaching."
Romisch has asked a Holland District Court judge to set aside the conviction, allowing him to renew his teaching certificate. Judge Bradley Knoll is expected to decide on Wednesday.
Certification in jeopardy
Unless Romisch's conviction is set aside, the Michigan Department of Education cannot renew his teaching certificate. Southfield Christian School immediately should dismiss him, said department spokesman Martin Ackley.
Since the conviction, the state has renewed Romisch's teaching certificate three times. Court documents show a hearing panel at Michigan State University recommended Romisch's teaching certificate be renewed in 1992. The panel took testimony and statements from his pastor, his therapist and two others who knew him. The therapist described Romisch as "one of the least likely repeat offenders with whom I have ever worked."
Romisch later received certificate renewals in 1995 and 2000.
Gary Feenstra, former assistant principal at West Middle School and now Zeeland Public Schools' superintendent, recalled when Romisch resigned.
"This totally was a shock when it happened," he said.
He said he could not judge whether Romisch deserves to continue teaching.
"I would say he is paying an ultimate price for something he should not have done. I know he would not have been rehired anywhere in this area, when it happened, with that on his record," Feenstra said.
"This totally was a shock when it happened," he said.
He said he could not judge whether Romisch deserves to continue teaching.
"I would say he is paying an ultimate price for something he should not have done. I know he would not have been rehired anywhere in this area, when it happened, with that on his record," Feenstra said.
Certification in jeopardy
Unless Romisch's conviction is set aside, the Michigan Department of Education cannot renew his teaching certificate. Southfield Christian School immediately should dismiss him, said department spokesman Martin Ackley.
Since the conviction, the state has renewed Romisch's teaching certificate three times. Court documents show a hearing panel at Michigan State University recommended Romisch's teaching certificate be renewed in 1992. The panel took testimony and statements from his pastor, his therapist and two others who knew him. The therapist described Romisch as "one of the least likely repeat offenders with whom I have ever worked."
Romisch later received certificate renewals in 1995 and 2000.
Gary Feenstra, former assistant principal at West Middle School and now Zeeland Public Schools' superintendent, recalled when Romisch resigned.
"This totally was a shock when it happened," he said.
He said he could not judge whether Romisch deserves to continue teaching.
"I would say he is paying an ultimate price for something he should not have done. I know he would not have been rehired anywhere in this area, when it happened, with that on his record," Feenstra said.
Certification in jeopardy
Unless Romisch's conviction is set aside, the Michigan Department of Education cannot renew his teaching certificate. Southfield Christian School immediately should dismiss him, said department spokesman Martin Ackley.
Since the conviction, the state has renewed Romisch's teaching certificate three times. Court documents show a hearing panel at Michigan State University recommended Romisch's teaching certificate be renewed in 1992. The panel took testimony and statements from his pastor, his therapist and two others who knew him. The therapist described Romisch as "one of the least likely repeat offenders with whom I have ever worked."
Romisch later received certificate renewals in 1995 and 2000.
Gary Feenstra, former assistant principal at West Middle School and now Zeeland Public Schools' superintendent, recalled when Romisch resigned.
"This totally was a shock when it happened," he said.
He said he could not judge whether Romisch deserves to continue teaching.
"I would say he is paying an ultimate price for something he should not have done. I know he would not have been rehired anywhere in this area, when it happened, with that on his record," Feenstra said.
I don't get it.
It is people like him that the law was designed to get out. Now when the law works, people complain?
...by most accounts...
Kudos to him for turning around and trying, but he trashed any chance of being trusted with children.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Doesn't anyone find it telling that a convicted child molestor now wants to spend his time with children?
Let the guy go teach in a prison, he should still be there anyway.
He is a heterosexual man attracted to young women.
In many societies in the past, he would have gone to the girls' parents and asked for their permission to court and marry her. It would have been granted, an engagement of a year or two would have ensued, and that would be that. They would have rushed to raise a family and get their children launched in the world before their demise while they were still alive and healthy. If they both made it to fifty, they would be considered old.
The result of sin is ever pervasive, this guy as a professed "christian" should realize past sins continue to have real life repercussions. He should not be allowed to teach. He should have changed professions years ago.
I have to say that even if he had been the best teacher in the world since, what he did should prohibit him from ever teaching. He crossed a line. There are consequences for actions.
With all due respect,he was not convicted of child molestation. He was convicted of attempted enticement. Still, he shouldn't teach again.
"In many societies in the past, he would have gone to the girls' parents and asked for their permission to court and marry her."
In this society, especially if it were my daughter involved, he'd have a decent chance of pushing up daisies, or having his equipment removed in a less-than-surgical environment. He should consider himself lucky that he escaped with his life.
man attracted to young women""
The key word in that sentence is YOUNG, IMO.
Like the trust we place in police officers - that their proximity to, and interaction with the easy money criminals acquire will not tempt them to become criminals themselves - society expects teachers to keep their hands and emotions to themselves when it comes to their students. This expectation is doubly important considering that by and large in this country education is mandatory, making classrooms a potentially forced audience to the sexual appetites of school teachers and administrators.
The bottom line is, condoning this type of behavior through equating it to civilizations of the past couldn't possibly be a larger mistake.
I'm afraid you don't quite grasp my point.
In a state of nature, before modern technology appeared, the human race's only hope of surviving was to reproduce as early and as often as possible. Men are hard-wired to find young, fertile women and have children with them. Young women are hard-wired to find older men who can support them and their children.
The earliest civilizations recognized these instincts and put them to work in building a stable society. Today, we fight against them. You can, if you chose, fight nature for reasons of morality, and I would applaud you for that within limits. However, you are indeed fighting nature, and you may not be entirely successful.
No matter how much a doctor might be tempted to gossip about some funny condition one if his patients has, the codified ethics of his or her profession prohibits the doctor from pointing to that person at a party and saying, "Hey, you know what Lisa's got on her butt?"
Attorneys are not permitted to act against the best interests of their client.
Corporate financial officers are not permitted to exploit their knowledge of their company's financial position to make insider trades.
IT Directors are not allowed to take their transparent knowledge of the inner workings of one company and transfer those processes to another company.
Teachers are not permitted to have sex with students.
I don't want to be condescending nor rude to you, because I've known you as a FReeper for so long, but come on, I know what you're saying....it's just irrelevant in the context of the teaching profession.
Of course what you say is true.
I am really just answering implied questions or questioning implied beliefs of others.
"He's a pervert?
No, he's not, he's following deep human instincts that are there for a reason, even if they are no longer useful in today's society.
"Why do teachers keep doing this?
Because that's what young men are programmed to do.
My conclusions would lead to my own question:
"How can we reorganize society to be more in harmony with human nature, but still have the moral behavior and technical advancement we desire?
My answer:
I wish I knew. We could try single-sex schools, but of course they'd be a magnet for homosexuals and lesbians. We could try home-schooling, but it is not really practical on a society-wide basis, and parents may not have the intellectual background to teach teenagers.
One of my proposals was to punish teenagers as well as teachers. Call a school assembly, have the principal tell all the boys and girls that you are not allowed to get involved with teachers, and here is the penalty if you do. This would certainly be better than treating them like either innocent children or adults, neither of which they are.
So instead, he writes sexually explicit ANONYMOUS letters to a 14 year old girl. That is just what men are programmed to do?
And some people are hard wired to want sex with children or torture and kill for their sexual desires. We don't all get to do our own thing just because we are wired to do it. We have laws in a sane society to protect innocent victims from the predators. Stop making excuses for this POS.
I do not address those issues in this thread.
See post 17.
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