A Tucson, AZ English teacher has been arrested on allegations of furnishing harmful items to a minor.

Jennifer Whiting, 32, is an English teacher at Rincon High School in Tucson, AZ, and she has been arrested on allegations of furnishing harmful items to a minor.  As to what those materials were, it is alleged that she furnished a 16-year-old male student with naked photos of herself via text message.

The police were alerted to situation after the father of the teenager contacted them with concerns that his son was having an inappropriate relationship with Ms. Whiting.  On the morning of June 25th she was arrested by the police after she left her children at home in the early morning hours to have a rendezvous with the teen.  Child Protective Services were alerted to the situation regarding her kids after Ms. Whiting was taken to the Pima County Jail.

She has been charged with a Class 4 Felony.

You would think I would be getting used to these stories after the number I’ve written.  And I have actually tried to cut down on the number I report on because they are just depressing, but leaving your minor children alone at home so you can go meet a 16-year-old?  I guess they will never cease to amaze me.

Check out all of the teacher sex scandals of 2009 I covered, as well as the growing list of teacher sex scandals of 2010.

A 15 year veteran special eduvation teacher at the Canandaigua Academy in Canandaigua, NY has been accused of sexual relations with one student, and encouraging two others to have a sexual relationship with her.

37-year-old Marls Gurecki-Haskins surrendered to the police yesterday after being accused of engaging in oral sex with a student in a classroom during school hours.  She is also accused of having sent text messages and electronic communications to two different 16-year-old students that encouraged them to engage in a sexual relationship with her, but neither of these two boys are known to have progressed to the physical stage.

Ms. Gurecki-Haskins pleaded not guilty to charges of official misconduct, sending indecent materials to a minor and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.  She was not charged with with rape or serious sex crimes due to the age of consent being 17 in the state of New York, and she is only suspected of having had sexual contact with the older boy.

Ms. Gurecki-Haskins is said to be married, and to have recently had a baby.  She is currently on administrative leave from the school.

Check out all of the teacher sex scandals of 2009 I covered, as well as the growing list of teacher sex scandals of 2010.

A Kent State University student in Ohio may have ended her teaching career before it even began if allegations of sexual misconduct with a high school student prove to be true.

Allegations have been made against 22-year-old Melanie Yusko, a Kent State University student completing her student teaching at Southeast High School in Ravenna, OH, that she had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old sophomore male student at the school.  The story came to light after the boy bragged to a friend about the situation, and then somehow the boy’s mother discovered the information and found texts and calls between the boy and student teacher on his cell phone.

The boy’s mother called the school to inform them of the situation, and Ms. Yusko was immediately removed from her classroom for questioning and to be sent home.  The school then called the sheriffs department, child protective services and Kent State to inform them of the situation.  Ms. Yusko was arrested and released on $50,000 bond, and is currently serving house arrest.

Ms. Yusko had been student teaching at the high school since Jan., and the allegations say that the relationship with the boy started off innocently, but escalated once the pair began calling and texting one another.  Supposedly the relationship culminated in a sexual encounter on April 7th, somewhere off school grounds. She has been charged with sexual battery, which is a third degree felony in Ohio, and could be facing prison time if convicted. She is due in court in Sept.

Kent State University is reviewing if Ms. Yusko will be allowed to graduate as she did not complete her student teaching.

Check out all of the teacher sex scandals of 2009 I covered.

Two Brooklyn teachers that were found naked in an empty classroom during a school talent show are going to be charged by the school district with misconduct.

Back in Dec. 2009, 30-year-old Alini Brito and Cindy Mauro, 34-years-old, were removed from their teaching positions at  James Madison High School in Midwood, Brooklyn.  The reason was that in Nov of that year, a janitor found both language teachers in an empty classroom engaged in sexual activity while all of the students were attending a talent show.

Although both teachers have denied the allegations, the New York Daily News is reporting that an investigation conducted by the Department of Education has concluded that the teachers are guilty, and they are both now subject to punishment. Spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said “They face disciplinary action,” but would not elaborate any further on what that might entail.

This school has been rocked by multiple sex scandals in just the past few months, earning it the nickname of “Horndog High.”  The Brito-Mauro scandal was but the first, so nice that some sort of conclusion has finally been reached.

It would seem that James Madison High School in Midwood, Brooklyn is living up to its new nickname as “Horndog High”.

Allegations have surfaced against 37-year-old gym teacher Lisa Guttilla of sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl at Poly Prep Country Day School where she worked part time as a volleyball coach.  She also worked at James Madison High School in Brooklyn as a gym teacher.

The accusations arose after the teenager’s mother began questioning her about a hickey on her neck.  The teenager eventually confessed to three sessions of fondling with Ms. Guttilla between Jan. 4th and 9th.  The complaint filed in Brooklyn Criminal Court has the teacher charged with misdemeanor sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of child and states that she did “touch, grab, squeeze and kiss the [girl] about the breast and buttock.”

Ms. Guttilla has been reassigned her to a job that teachers under investigation go to while being investigated.  She may encounter some familiar faces there as this is the third teacher sex scandal in two months for James Madison High School.  The first involved two teachers, Alini Brito and Cindy Mauro, being caught by a janitor while making out in a classroom during a school talent show.  The second incident involved a social studies teacher named Allison Musacchio who was discovered to have made over 200 calls and texts to a male student at the school. She was discovered after the ex-girlfriend of the student spotted the boy’s phone number on the teacher’s cell phone.

Either there is a serious problem at this school, or else students are finding a way to attack their teachers.  Accusations of this magnitude are a serious situation, but in all of the teacher sex scandals I’ve documented, I’ve never seen a concentration like this in one school.  Something is beginning to smell a might funny about all of this.

Sarah L. Tolzien, a former English teacher and cross country coach at Rich South High School in Richton Park, IL, has been sued over the affair she had with a then 16-year-old student.

This is a new twist to the teacher student sex scandals.  Last March I brought you the story of Sarah L. Tolzien who had been accused of having sex twice in Nov. 2008 while she was an English teach and cross country coach.  The accusation was that she had twice given a member of the boy’s cross country team a ride home and reportedly had sex with him.  At the time Ms. Tolzien was 24-years-old, and the student was 16.  In Dec. 2008 Ms. Tolzien resigned from the school district after being put on administrative leave.

The Chicago Sun-Times is now reporting that on Tuesday the boy filed suit as “John Doe” in the Cook County Circuit, seeking at least $50,000 from the Rich Township High School District 227 and former teacher Ms. Tolzien.  The damages are being sought for “intentional infliction of severe emotional distress.”

Neither Ms. Tolzien or the school district have chosen to comment on the lawsuit.

This is the first I have ever heard of such an occurrence in one of these cases, but if he’s successful, I highly doubt it will be the last time.

UPDATE 05/01/10: Sarah L. Tolzien Sentenced

Another year has come to close, and has become tradition around here, it’s time to take a look at the top 10 posts for the past year.

First off, a huge thank you for the amazing growth this blog experienced this year.  In 2008 I saw growth I didn’t think could be topped with unique visitors growing by almost 600%, and page views growing by almost 700%.  I really didn’t think I could grow much more, but this year saw unique visitors grow by 325% and page views by 293% … I am floored.

My traffic is certainly not in the major leagues by any stretch of the imagination, but for a personal blog, it’s darn good.  I have no clue how I will continue this growth, but we’ll just have to see how things go.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 posts.

Saturday Night Live – Mother Lover – Last year saw the Who Is The Best James Bond? post bring in more traffic than the entire blog did in 2007.  Well, it happened again this year with Saturday Night Live – Mother Lover bringing in more traffic than the entire blog did in 2008.  Even without it in the equation, this year was still up, but boy did this post help out.  If you don’t know what the post is, just go and look, you’ll laugh.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Robot Pictures – Apparently when you can’t see the robots clearly in the movie, you turn to the Web for pictures of the robots so you know what the heck you were looking at.

47-Year-Old Susan Boyle Wows The Judges On Britain’s Got Talent – Ah, Susan Boyle.  She drove enough traffic to this site that I opened up SusanBoyleFandom.com.  She was an amazingly inspirational story, and said a lot about society and its perceptions.

And We Have The First Teacher Sex Scandal Of 2009 – Christine McCallum had the dubious honor of being the first of many teacher sex scandals I wrote up in 2009.  It was a busy year for teachers that didn’t know how to behave themselves.

Who Is The Best Star Trek Captain – Proving once again that you can come to SeanPAune.com for answers to the questions that keep you up late at night.  My selection for the order of the captains wasn’t too popular, but that is my right as the owner of the site to say things that not everyone agrees with.

Teacher Arrested For Texting Naked Photos To Student – Christy Lynn Martin, a 32-year-old teacher from St. Petersburg, FL was arrested for texting a 14-year-old student with naked photos of herself.  She is the second teacher to win a place on my top 10 posts of the year.

Vince Shlomi, The Shamwow Guy, Arrested For Beating A Hooker – Yes, the Shamwow guy hits women … and this apparently interested a lot of people.

Teacher Sarah L. Tolzien Accused Of Sex With 16-Year-Old – The third teacher to make the list of top 10 posts.  I really wish there were no teacher sex scandals to write about to be honest.

Student Teacher Lindsay Massaro Arrested For Sex With An Eigth Grader – Yes, another teacher … scary isn’t it?

Deadliest Catch Season 5 Premiere Brings More Questions Than It Answers – After the season premiere of Deadliest Catch season 5, it really looked like one of the main boats had sunk.  Luckily the boat didn’t sink, but people sure were curious after the episode aired.

Did you have a favorite post of the year I did?

Public schools across the United States are closed for the winter holidays, but apparently not all teachers are done seeing their students.

Amanda Watkins, a 38-year-old mother and teacher at Sheffield Jr. High School in Alabama, has been arrested on second degree rape charges.  According to the Shoals Insider, Ms. Watkins was discovered Saturday night by the police in a vehicle parked near the Covenant Christian school, off of Hwy. 43 in Muscle Shoals.

The officers responded to an alarm at the Christian school, and upon arrival they noticed a car with heavily fogged windows.  When the police approached the car, they discovered Ms. Watkins engaged in sexual activity with a 15-year-old African-American male.  It has now been confirmed the boy was in one of Ms. Watkins’ classes during the 2008 – 2009 school year.

Ms. Watkins has been placed on administrative leave from teaching 8th grade English and reading classes pending this investigation.  Although, it has been reported that Ms. Watkins has made a full confession, this has not yet been confirmed by an official source on the record.

She has been charged with sodomy and rape in the second degree, which is a class B felony and carries a sentence of 2-20 years imprisonment.  Upon her release she would be monitored and required to register as a sex offender.

Ms. Watkins has been released from jail on $15,000 bond.

These two now join the roll call of teacher sex scandals for 2009!

• Christine McCallum, Boston, MA
• Lisa Lavoie, Holyoke, MA
• Christy Lynn Martin, St. Petersburg, FL
• Linda Nef and Valynne Bowers, Bountiful, UT
• Sarah L. Tolzien, Richton Park, IL
• Autumn Faulkner, Randolph County, WV
• Lindsay Massaro, Hackettstown, NJ
• Lauren Breslin, Vineland, NJ
• Kristina Anna Baeta, Union City, CA
• Raeanna Jewell, Apache Junction, AZ
• Jennifer Lea Burton, Orangefield, TX
• Tamara Hofmann, Chandler, AZ
• Jennifer Marie Collier, Jacksonville, FL
• Gina Marie Watring, Durham, NC
• Alison M. Peck, Greenfield, MO
• Maria Guman Hernandez, Hialeah, FL
• Helen Goddard, London, UK
• Amy Rita Ellsworth & Brian Drake, Waterford, MI
• Alini Brito & Cindy Mauro, Brooklyn, NY

Well, for once the teachers were at least not going after the students, instead,they were going after each other.

According to The New York Daily News (NYDC)  33-year-old married teacher Alini Brito was found with 29-year-old teacher Cindy Mauro in an empty classroom during a school talent show at  James Madison High School in Midwood, Brooklyn by a janitor.  While being in a classroom wasn’t so odd, it was the fact they were both naked.

The janitor reported the two tenured teachers to school authorities and they have been reassigned pending an investigation by the board of education.  Ms. Brito’s husband was reached for comment by NYDC, and he reportedly denied that any accusation have been brought against his wife.

The initial report is lacking in many more details except for comments from students that imply that Ms. Brito tends to dress more like a teenage girl than a teacher, and is quite flirtatious.  As for Ms. Mauro, they say she tends to be more reserved and conservative.

While this differs from the other teacher sex scandals I usually cover, if true, it is just another sign of people not using their brains.  The school is full of students, in an assembly or not, and you would choose to have sex in a classroom?  True, the NYDC report never blatantly says they were engaged in sexual activity, but it is certainly implied.  What these two women do off school grounds, on their own time, married or not, is their own business.  However, doing something like this in the school with students around is just stupid and irresponsible.

Where has all the good sense gone in the world.  Heck, not even “good” sense, just plain COMMON sense.  Would the average person not think, “Hey, maybe this isn’t such a hot idea to do this in the building where we teach, let alone with our students in the building.”  Apparently those that say common sense has become more uncommon or on to something.

UPDATE 4/5/10: Both teachers have now been found guilty by the Board of Education.

These two now join the roll call of teacher sex scandals for 2009!

• Christine McCallum, Boston, MA
• Lisa Lavoie, Holyoke, MA
• Christy Lynn Martin, St. Petersburg, FL
• Linda Nef and Valynne Bowers, Bountiful, UT
• Sarah L. Tolzien, Richton Park, IL
• Autumn Faulkner, Randolph County, WV
• Lindsay Massaro, Hackettstown, NJ
• Lauren Breslin, Vineland, NJ
• Kristina Anna Baeta, Union City, CA
• Raeanna Jewell, Apache Junction, AZ
• Jennifer Lea Burton, Orangefield, TX
• Tamara Hofmann, Chandler, AZ
• Jennifer Marie Collier, Jacksonville, FL
• Gina Marie Watring, Durham, NC
• Alison M. Peck, Greenfield, MO
• Maria Guman Hernandez, Hialeah, FL
• Helen Goddard, London, UK
• Amy Rita Ellsworth & Brian Drake, Waterford, MI
• Amanda Watkins, Muscle Shoals, AL

[via The Inquisitr]

A special education teacher’s aide in Michigan has been arrested for having “sexual relations” with three separate students.

37-year-old Amy Rita Ellsworth has been accused of having sexual relations with three different students at Waterford Mott High School in Waterford, MI.  She was charged this past Thursday with six counts of criminal sexual conduct with students.  These include two 15-year felony counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and four life felony counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

In short, if convicted, she is facing life in prison.

There was no listing of what evidence was discovered against Ms. Ellsworth in any of the numerous reports on the case.  The only fact that was repeated was that it was with three separate students both on and off school grounds.  She also was not an instructor, but just an aide, something they are going to great lengths to stress.

The problem for the school district is that this is the second employee brought up on sex charges in two weeks.  The earlier one was Brian C. Drake, the district’s theater coordinator, was charged with three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student. He is accused of having sex with a female senior during the 2008-2009 in the Waterford Kettering High theater.

Each of Mr. Drake’s felony charges carry a 15-year sentence if convicted.

The Waterford police are said to have begun investing Mr. Drake in September and Ms. Ellsworth in October.

There is something to be said that this problem of school employees having sex with students when it is so out of control that your district has not one, but two investigations going on at the same time.  While I’m sure the two stories are in no way connected, it is just unnerving that the odds of this happening have increased to such a degree that this is even possible.

So glad I don’t have any kids in school.

These two now join the roll call of teacher sex scandals for 2009!

• Christine McCallum, Boston, MA
• Lisa Lavoie, Holyoke, MA
• Christy Lynn Martin, St. Petersburg, FL
• Linda Nef and Valynne Bowers, Bountiful, UT
• Sarah L. Tolzien, Richton Park, IL
• Autumn Faulkner, Randolph County, WV
• Lindsay Massaro, Hackettstown, NJ
• Lauren Breslin, Vineland, NJ
• Kristina Anna Baeta, Union City, CA
• Raeanna Jewell, Apache Junction, AZ
• Jennifer Lea Burton, Orangefield, TX
• Tamara Hofmann, Chandler, AZ
• Jennifer Marie Collier, Jacksonville, FL
• Gina Marie Watring, Durham, NC
• Alison M. Peck, Greenfield, MO
• Maria Guman Hernandez, Hialeah, FL
• Helen Goddard, London, UK
• Alini Brito & Cindy Mauro, Brooklyn, NY (no students involved)
• Amanda Watkins, Muscle Shoals, AL

Hard to believe it, but this is the 2000th post on this blog.

Now, that isn’t 2000 consecutive days (I’m at 1,662 days), but it is a total of 2,000 separate posts that I’ve made, some of them even before I started this non-stop run attempt.  It really isn’t that large of an accomplishment compared to most big blogs, some that can do that many posts a month, but when you are the lone writer on a blog, I think it’s worth some form of acknowledgement.

So I thought I would do a quick walk down memory lane of a few of my favorite posts.

Who Is The Best James Bond?

No clue why, but I really liked doing this post, and people seem to like it also as it continues to get new visitors every day.  It was just kind of nice to discuss something that has been a part of pop culture for so long, and is something just about every one has some sort of an opinion on.  I don’t think any two commenters had the exact same order of which actor played the role the best, but that was half the fun.

It also led to me doing Who Is The Best Doctor Who and Who Is The Best Star Trek Captain.

Who Is The Best James Bond?

Anonymous Takes On Scientology

It’s nice to do something on here once in awhile that actually feels like it might open someone’s eyes to the things going on in the world around them. If I can ever get even one person questioning the motivations of the Church of Scientology, then I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something.

Anonymous Takes On Scientology

Teacher Sex Scandals

I know, I’m cheating by just listing a group of posts, but it’s my blog, and I can if I want!

A lot of friends have asked me privately if there is something in my past that causes me to write about the teacher sex scandals, as in have I ever been sexually assaulted by a teacher.  I can tell you without hesitation that absolutely nothing like what these teachers have done has ever happened to me.  I simply write about these stories because I have known a great number of teachers in my life, and in general I just find it disgusting that any teacher would betray the trust of the student, their family and the community.  So, if they do it, they should be talked about.

I have actually pondered spinning those stories off into their own blog, but that is something I am weighing the pros and cons of at the moment.

Teacher Sex Scandals

47-Year-Old Susan Boyle Wows The Judges On Britain’s Got Talent

For all of the negative things I write about on this site, it is nice sometimes to write about a positive, uplifting story. Susan Boyle was definitely one of those stories, and kudos to her. And, yes, I did actually spin stories about her off into their own blog at SusanBoyleFandom.com which I am still updating with various tidbits about her and her upcoming album entitled “I Dreamed A Dream”.

47-Year-Old Susan Boyle Wows The Judges On Britain’s Got Talent

On To The Next 2,000

I know my favorites seemed heavy on recent posts, but that is partially because I think I am finally finding my voice as a blogger.  One would certainly hope I have after this many posts!

I am excited about the future, and have no intentions of stopping blogging any time soon, so here is to 2,000 more posts of my rambling!

Well, that didn’t take long.

A mere month after 26-year-old Helen Goddard, a trumpet instructor at the City of London School for Girls, was discovered to be having a sexual relationship with one of her 15-year-old female students, she has been given her sentence.  While I normally don’t do follow ups on the sentencing of the teachers I write about, this one just filled in too many holes to be ignored.

According to the London Evening Standard, it was the teenager who instigated the relationship by first discussing personal issues with the teacher, and then eventually going for coffee together that led to the girl attempting to kiss the older woman.  The girl said in a victim impact statement that she felt remorse for the situations he had gotten the teacher into.

While the original story on Helen Goddard had the parents saying they would have no problem with their daughter eventually reconnecting with Ms. Goddard, they have now taken a much harder line over the situation. The young girls parents are now angry and say that the teacher betrayed their trust.  They also revealed that the girl had been telling them she was staying at a friend’s house when she was sneaking away to see the teacher.  Nothing specific was mentioned on how Ms. Goddard ended up taking the girl to Paris for a weekend to attend a Gay Pride parade, but they somehow managed to pull that off also.

As the evidence was presented, more details of the raid that found the two together was revealed.  When the police went to question Ms. Goddard, they found the girl there also, and confiscated numerous sex toys, including “fluffy handcuffs”.  They also seized the girl’s cell phone which contained one text message from Ms. Goddard that read:

‘It’s going to be a beautiful day. I love you. You were on my mind all night.

With the amount of evidence against her, Ms. Goddard confessed to six sexual encounters with the student between February and July of this year.

Speaking on her own behalf, Ms. Goddard said she had been “pressurised” (yes, she said “pressurised”) into the affair by the young girl.  Seeing as the woman is so much older, Judge Anthony Pitts apparently didn’t care; he sentenced Ms. Goddard to 15-months in jail, she must register as a sex offender for 10 years and she is banned for life from working with children.

Other teacher sex scandals from this year

• Christine McCallum, Boston, MA
• Lisa Lavoie, Holyoke, MA
• Christy Lynn Martin, St. Petersburg, FL
• Linda Nef and Valynne Bowers, Bountiful, UT
• Sarah L. Tolzien, Richton Park, IL
• Autumn Faulkner, Randolph County, WV
• Lindsay Massaro, Hackettstown, NJ
• Lauren Breslin, Vineland, NJ
• Kristina Anna Baeta, Union City, CA
• Raeanna Jewell, Apache Junction, AZ
• Jennifer Lea Burton, Orangefield, TX
• Tamara Hofmann, Chandler, AZ
• Jennifer Marie Collier, Jacksonville, FL
• Gina Marie Watring, Durham, NC
• Alison M. Peck, Greenfield, MO
• Maria Guman Hernandez, Hialeah, FL
• Alini Brito & Cindy Mauro, Brooklyn, NY (no students involved)
• Amanda Watkins, Muscle Shoals, AL