What kind of lawyer did she have? Did the teachers union support her on this? It sure seems like a good defense team could easily blow this case out of the water.
karoli
· 2 years ago
Hi Malathionman,
As far as I can tell, the union stayed as far away from her as the district did, and her lawyer was a bit...well...uneducated, I guess, in what he needed to show the jury to prove that she lacked intent or in fact even acted.
Because she was a substitute, she didn't have the union protections that full-time teachers have.
Joan Thorn
· 2 years ago
Hello from Australia! I have read most of the trial transcripts on the Norwich site and am amazed that the jurors found her guilty. Her defence lawyer was abysmal. His closing address should have included the panic of handling this situation - the pop ups etc - for the first time as a computer illiterate, untrained sub-teacher who got no help from her peers after she sought it. Hence her supposed actions, such as leaving the door open, can not be viewed in the same way as in "normal" circumstances in the "light of day".
It is my overwhelming suspicion/feeling/hunch that, based upon my reading of teh transcripts such as the manner of her firing from the school, that she has been made a convenient scapegoat by other people trying to protect their behinds.
It is more than enough to put anyone off teaching as a profession.
Liz Ditz
· 2 years ago
Here's another story -- a teacher was substituting in another class & showed a episode from a Discover Channel show called Man vs. Wild, starring Bear Grylls
No problem, I think stupidly. This is public television. His clothes are wet. This makes sense. No real problem. Then, faster than I can get to the projector remote, old Bear strips down to his British flag design boxers, and you guessed it, off they go and old Bear is standing there in front of 30 ninth grade students naked as the day that little rascal was born.
To be fair, they did fuzz out the most delicate parts of Bear’s anatomy, but that really did not make any difference. That man was standing in front of that class just as naked as he could be and I put him there. The kids went nuts. It was one of those classroom moments that make this job what it really is- chaos interspersed with moments of total madness.
What to do?
Well, I think, it’s too late now. May as well stick it out and hope old Bear does something that can justify a naked ice diver in a ninth grade classroom. So he finishes putting on dry clothes, building a fire, making everything OK. I act like it is completely normal for the kids to watch naked men walking around on snow. “Let’s watch one from the mountains” I suggest. You know, one that I have actually seen. One where old Bear keeps his clothes on.
Outcome for the teacher?
So I mosey on down the hall and have a short and embarrassing talk with my principal. She watches the clip of Bear taking off his clothes and then starts laughing. Very funny, I think. I like teaching. I don’t really want to have a short and painful talk with our superintendent and then have to go find work someplace where they do not have the Internet and projectors. Still, it was kind of funny. The principal tells me not to worry. After all, she notes, all you did was show the kids public television.
Liz Ditz
· 2 years ago
The "while you are away" updates (I still have a news alert for amero)
All Comments
As far as I can tell, the union stayed as far away from her as the district did, and her lawyer was a bit...well...uneducated, I guess, in what he needed to show the jury to prove that she lacked intent or in fact even acted.
Because she was a substitute, she didn't have the union protections that full-time teachers have.
I have read most of the trial transcripts on the Norwich site and am amazed that the jurors found her guilty. Her defence lawyer was abysmal. His closing address should have included the panic of handling this situation - the pop ups etc - for the first time as a computer illiterate, untrained sub-teacher who got no help from her peers after she sought it. Hence her supposed actions, such as leaving the door open, can not be viewed in the same way as in "normal" circumstances in the "light of day".
It is my overwhelming suspicion/feeling/hunch that, based upon my reading of teh transcripts such as the manner of her firing from the school, that she has been made a convenient scapegoat by other people trying to protect their behinds.
It is more than enough to put anyone off teaching as a profession.
http://www.ednews.org/articles/8546/1/A-Funny-S...
Outcome for the teacher?
From Australia:
http://www.scmagazine.com.au/news/46662,connect...
Post #1
http://educationwonk.blogspot.com/2007/03/stude...
News Story
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6180780&...