Dangerous teachers - Bad apples find ways into school – and put kids at risk
By Kevin Rothstein, Boston Herald, March 1, 2005

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Dover's police chief called teacher James Risi ``a poster boy for pedophiliac behavior'' and helped drive him out of his toney town's schools, but after he left, the boys and girls of Brockton and Chelsea called him something else: their teacher.

``It was the one thing we had all been promised, that he would never get another teaching job,'' said the mother of the 9-year-old Dover girl whom Risi traumatized. ``This is just so sad on so many levels.''

Doctors ultimately said Risi had no sexual interest in children, but the state found his record disturbing enough to eventually revoke his teaching license.

A Herald investigation found 10 disgraced teachers who hid or otherwise overcame their records to teach, and sometimes abuse, again.

Teachers continue to evade safeguards meant to protect children from repeat offenders because:

1. Reference checks on prospective teachers aren't always done thoroughly.

2. Private and public schools don't communicate with each other about problem teachers.

3. Arbitrators and superintendents sometimes give questionable teachers a second chance.

`It's called the mobile molester syndrome,'' said Nan Stein, a Wellesley College researcher and expert on child sexual abuse in schools.

Code word 'Snuggles'

The first time the Dover mother met Risi, she thought nothing about how he seemed more comfortable with kids than adults. He was, she recalled, a ``brilliant'' fourth-grade teacher. She was excited her daughter was in his class during the 1996-97 school year.

She certainly thought it was strange that he wanted a picture of her little girl in her Easter dress. She didn't give him one, but let the odd request pass.

Now, she says: ``You have to listen to that little voice.''

But she didn't then, and unknown to her, records show, Risi was embarking on a secretive and cloying relationship with her daughter. He told her he loved her almost every day by using a code word, ``Snuggles.''

He also gave her gifts, including a teddy bear embroidered with ``Snuggles'' on it, and called her repeatedly, records show.

Dover Police Chief Joseph G. Griffin doesn't call Risi a pedophile, but said the way he courted the girl is similar to how a molester grooms a child, singling her out and showering her with affection.

``You talk about pedophiliac behavior, he was one of the poster children,'' Griffin said.

No evidence was found that the girl was physically molested, and Risi was never charged. A psychologist and psychiatrist both examined Risi and concluded he wasn't sexually attracted to children.

But his secretive entreaties had a profound effect on the girl. She changed from a bubbly and athletic youngster into a neurotic pre-teen who was deathly afraid of being alone.

She was eventually diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and treated for depression.

No further complaints surfaced about Risi from his time teaching in Brockton and Chelsea public schools. Nevertheless, an administrative magistrate in April 2002 recommended that the state Department of Education revoke Risi's teaching certificate, saying he attempted to form an inappropriate relationship with the Dover girl.

Risi's lawyer, Michael J. McHugh, denied Risi acted inappropriately with the girl.

``He respectfully disagrees with these findings,'' McHugh said.

Insiders like national school employment law expert Dean Pickett call it ``passing the trash,'' shuffling problem teachers from one district to another. To combat the practice, the state Department of Education in 2001 began requiring districts to report educator abuse.

``We changed our regulations in 2001 as an indication of where we felt something had to be done statewide, to show how serious this is,'' said Education Commissioner David Driscoll.

But private schools are not obligated to report bad teachers and don't have to check with the DOE before hiring. It's a gap that has led to disastrous consequences.

A preventable crime?

Middleboro public school officials say they had no idea when they hired Gregory Pathiakis in November 2002 to teach high school math that he had ever worked at Pope John XXIII in Everett, let alone that he had been forced out after just six weeks for, the school said, maintaining links to racist material on his Web site. Parents have told the Herald he fraternized too closely with students.

They didn't learn of his old job until after his arrest on charges he raped a 15-year-old former student. The boy and his mother are outraged that Pathiakis was able to work at all.

``Do they think this is a game?'' she asked. ``We're talking about a sexual assault that could have been prevented.''

Gaps in the system

Just weeks before the alleged statutory rape, Pathiakis had resigned under a cloud from Middleboro for what the school said was inappropriate electronic communication with students. Despite that, Pathiakis was able to work as a Brockton High substitute on Jan. 5, the district confirmed. He is awaiting trial on statutory rape charges.

He was later charged with possession of child pornography for material police found on his computer's hard drive. His lawyer, Robert Jubinville, said most of those charges will be dropped.

Jubinville denied the statutory rape charge, saying the youth's credibility was questionable because, he said, the youth has told police two different versions of their encounter.

``Now the kid has two stories and they're diametrically opposed,'' Jubinville said.

The Herald interviewed the Middleboro mother of another high schooler whom Pathiakis tutored at home. Brockton detectives told her, she said, that pornographic images of her son were found on Pathiakis' computer.

``He was devastated,'' the mother said. ``He looked at me and said, `Mom, I don't know how he got those pictures.' ''

She said the school never told her that Pathiakis had resigned under fire. So he kept tutoring her child in her home almost until he was arrested.

Jubinville said he had no knowledge of the mother's complaint.

It all could have been prevented if Middleboro had been warned of Pathiakis' record and not hired him. But an administrator at the Everett private school said their only recourse was to report it to the police, which they did.

``There's no clearinghouse where we could have put something up on our Web site and say do not hire this man,'' said Pope John Vice Principal Mary Anne DeMarco.

The gaps in the system that allowed Pathiakis to teach, coach and tutor helped Joseph Doyle continue working even after he was forced to resign from St. Sebastian's Day School in Needham for throwing a booze bash for students in 1988, the school said.

But in 2003 he was a Natick High School history teacher and hockey coach. That May, police say, he tried to set up a sex romp with ``Brad,'' a 14-year-old he met on the Internet. ``Brad'' was actually a New Hampshire police officer, though, and Doyle is awaiting trial for attempted felonious assault.

States share information about disgraced public school educators through a national clearinghouse. But that system leaves out private schools, said Roy Einreinhofer, head of the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification.

``If someone loses their right to teach in a public school they can go to a private school, and that's the last thing they want,'' he said.

Dangerous educators: Teachers disgraced – but not deterred
By Kevin Rothstein/ SPECIAL REPORT, Boston Herald, March 2, 2005

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Police say they kicked pervert educator James Ballard out of Massachusetts for asking a galpal to molest her daughter, but that didn't stop him from teaching at a North Carolina high school.

``The girl involved was 12 or 13 years old,'' said West Springfield police Capt. Daniel Murray, whose probe led to Ballard's losing his assistant school superintendent post. ``He requested (the mother) do some sexual things to her daughter and photograph them.''

Simply by moving across state lines, disgraced educators like Ballard can hide a sordid past and resume their positions at the head of a classroom. The Herald found Ballard and two teachers working with students in other states even though Massachusetts had yanked their licenses.

It can be just as easy to flee another state and teach here. That's because the Bay State is one of five states that doesn't perform national criminal record checks on teacher candidates.

``If I were stopped for speeding this afternoon on Route 495, my understanding is the state trooper who stopped me can do a national records check on me from his cruiser,'' said Methuen Superintendent C. Phillip Littlefield. ``I want the same ability for every superintendent in Massachusetts.''

Littlefield has launched what he calls a ``crusade'' to expand background checks after one of his teachers was arrested for groping students. He didn't know the man had faced similar charges in New Hampshire.

When Ballard, the assistant superintendent, was fired in West Springfield, it wasn't his first run-in with the law. In 1992, he left his job as a North Carolina high school principal in disgrace after pleading guilty to making harassing phone calls.

``It was obvious he had some issues,'' recalled Craven County Sheriff Jerry Monette, who staked out the phone booth Ballard used. ``He was just bragging about his prowess and that type of thing.''

A year later, he was hired as the West Springfield schools' second-in-command. His past wouldn't come to light until his girlfriend, an Internet penpal living in Nevada, told authorities about his perverted request to photograph her daughter, police said.

Police couldn't charge him after the woman stopped cooperating. But during the investigation authorities also found that Ballard accessed ``teen'' porn sites from a school computer, state Department of Education records show.

Ballard, 57, was fired in 2000, the same year he renewed his North Carolina educator's license. That's where the Herald found him in January, teaching science at Salisbury High School.

Questioned as he hopped into his shiny red Mercury Grand Marquis in the school parking lot, Ballard's surprise at being discovered quickly faded.

``I hope you like your job,'' he muttered and drove away.

School and district officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Hiding a dark secret

Hiding a criminal past can be as easy as lying about it. That's what Zack Burwell did when he applied and was granted a Pennsylvania teacher's license, records show, despite having pleaded guilty to rape in Massachusetts.

His troubles began two years after the Boston University football standout graduated, when a night of partying ended with his having sex with a female acquaintance. At some point, another man and another woman became involved.

Burwell, 35, said the 1996 encounter was consensual, but prosecutors called it something else. He was indicted a month later on two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14.

Despite pleading guilty in 1998, Burwell kept teaching in Boston until 2000, when he left for his home city of Philadelphia. He taught there until 2004, when the Pennsylvania Department of Education barred him from teaching.

Burwell acknowledged someone with his record should not have been able to teach ``because the kids are so important,'' he said.

``I'm not blaming anyone but myself. I put myself in that situation,'' he said. ``I miss teaching. I know I'm good with kids.''

Tomas Hannah, the Philadelphia Public Schools senior vice president for human resources, said the district complied with all regulations when they hired him.

``Who dropped the ball? At this point in time, based on the rules at that point in time, I would say no one dropped the ball,'' he said.

Sometimes school leaders are willing to give educators another chance. Palmer High teacher and coach Kim-Michael Mertes was never charged with a crime, but lost his Massachusetts teaching license for sending explicit e-mails to a 14-year-old high school girl.

``I wanted to tell you about this dream I had last night,'' began one note. ``It was that we made love in the woods (again) but is (sic) was like it never was before.''

The note ends: ``Oh wait a minute . . . it wasn't a dream it was today with you.''

He surrendered his teacher's license in October 2000, but that wasn't the end of his career. Mertes, 44, is now an award-winning girls lacrosse coach at Virginia Wesleyan University. He declined to speak for publication.

A 2003 Boston magazine article revealed Mertes' past, but the school continues to back him.

``We think he's done a fine job for us,'' Virginia Wesleyan Dean David Buckingham said. ``We see this as a closed issue.''

System failure

Then there's Dennis Sheehan, the Methuen special education teacher facing charges of groping his students. He had been fired in 1999 from Londonderry, N.H., after students reported he masturbated in front of them and groped girls.

Sheehan was never convicted, but the arrest didn't surface when Methuen performed a mandatory Criminal Offender Record Information check because that reveals only Massachusetts data.

He is awaiting trial on charges he inappropriately touched two Methuen high school girls.

A more thorough nationwide system might have stopped Donald Pomeroy from working in Massachusetts. The 53-year-old was able to hide his sordid past when he moved from an upstate New York school back home to Western Massachusetts to work as athletic director at the Southwick-Tolland Regional School.

He was apparently never arrested in New York but his past is laid out in a lengthy 1995 New York state education department report. The hearing officer found credible student testimony that Pomeroy tried to grope and kiss girls at school, among other offenses. But Southwick-Tolland officials didn't find that out until 1999 when he tried to renew his Massachusetts teacher's license, which has since been revoked.

``It's our duty to call and do a background check,'' said former Southwick-Tolland Superintendent Michael G. Waring. ``In this case it's likely the ball was dropped.''

Massachusetts Education Commissioner David Driscoll said the state should not be blamed for the hirings of Ballard, Burwell or Mertes because the state Department of Education reported them to a national clearinghouse for disgraced educators. He said it was the other states' fault.

``Not only didn't they check with us, which they would typically do, where they would have found out we had taken their licenses away, they also didn't check with their own national group,'' said Driscoll.

But the national database is only as good as the data going into it. In Burwell's case, Massachusetts didn't report him until February 2001 - nearly three years after he pled guilty to rape.

BALLARD TIMELINE: James Ballard continues to work in a classroom after questionable behavior.

1974: James Ballard receives a North Carolina teacher's license.
1992: Ballard is principal at a Pamlico County High School in North Carolina when he's arrested, and, in August, pleads guilty to making harassing phone calls.
Feb. 17, 1993: He applies for Mass. certification as assistant school superintendent, but lies about his criminal record, Mass. DOE documents show.
2000: He renews his North Carolina educator's license.
June 30, 2000: He resigns as West Springfield assistant superintendent after police say he solicited kiddie porn.
October 2000: Mass. DOE finds probable cause to revoke Ballard's license and reports him to a national clearinghouse, a database of problem teachers.
Dec. 13, 2000: Ballard's Mass. license is revoked.
January 2005: Boston Herald finds Ballard teaching science at Salisbury High School in North Carolina.

Sources: Mass. and N.C. education departments.

BURWELL TIMELINE: Zack Burwell worked in Boston and Philadelphia public schools for six years after pleading guilty to rape:

May 1994: Zack A. Burwell graduates from Boston University.
Sept. 1995: He begins a four-year stint as a Boston public school gym teacher.
March 9, 1996: Burwell rapes two women after a night of partying.
April 23, 1996: Suffolk County grand jury indicts Burwell for rape.
May 14, 1996: He pleads not guilty at arraignment.
June 21, 1998: He pleads guilty to two counts of rape.
Aug. 1999: He begins work as a physical education teacher at Boston Renaissance Charter School, but leaves when a criminal records check reveals his rape conviction.
Oct. 2, 2000: Burwell is given an emergency permit to teach health and phys ed in Philadelphia public schools for the school year.
Sept. 1, 2001: Burwell again receives emergency permit to teach.
Feb. 2001: Mass. DOE finds probable cause to revoke Burwell's teacher's license and reports him to national clearinghouse.
March 3, 2001: Burwell's Mass. license is revoked.
Sept. 1, 2002: Burwell receives a third emergency permit in Philly.
2003-04 school year: Burwell is employed at Philly's Learning Partnership Charter School.
Sept. 20, 2004: Pennsylvania DOE bars Burwell from employment.

Sources: Mass. and Pa. education departments, Burwell's resume.

The goal: National tracking system
By Kevin Rothstein, SPECIAL REPORT, Boston Herald, March 3, 2005

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Last of three parts.

A whole new teacher-tracking system is needed to stop dangerous educators like those exposed in a Herald special report from hiding criminal records or questionable behavior with kids and returning to the classroom, experts say.

``The time has come to address this and address this properly with no compromises with what's best for kids. I know we can do it,'' said Methuen Superintendent Phillip Littlefield, who unwittingly hired a teacher arrested in New Hampshire on charges he masturbated in front of students.

That teacher - who is now facing new charges that he groped Methuen schoolgirls - is one of 10 profiled in a Herald investigation that showed how educators can keep working despite having been arrested or even convicted of sex crimes or having resigned in shame for bad behavior.

Shoddy reference checks, lack of communication between private and public schools, state foot-dragging in revoking teachers' licenses and not checking prospective teachers against the FBI criminal offender registry all contributed to the problem.

Some of those gaps could be stopped by creating a new agency, said attorney Daniel Heffernan, who represents students abused by educators. The organization would track where teachers work, making sure they can't omit an employer on their resume.

Former employers would be exempt from being sued for divulging damaging information from personnel records. Out-of-state criminal records would be checked. Civil lawsuits, restraining orders and even divorce proceedings could possibly be examined.

``There are a lot of things you can do to better ensure there is not someone inappropriate getting a job,'' he said.

Littlefield, the Methuen schools chief, said there must be a national solution to the problem that education insiders call ``passing the trash'' or the ``mobile molestor syndrome.'' He wants a nationwide tracking system for teachers that will instantaneously reveal blemishes on a teacher's record.

Massachusetts wins kudos from some experts for being one of 17 states requiring superintendents to report abuse to the state Department of Education. But even Education Commissioner David Driscoll acknowledged that schools aren't doing enough.

`They don't as a routine matter go through the kind of background checks they ought to do, and in this day and age there is no excuse for that,'' Driscoll said.

But checking references as part of a background check can be misleading, especially if the former employer fears a lawsuit for disclosing the real reason a teacher left, school officials say.

``Unless there is a fairly shut and closed case of misconduct that is then processed through some legal system, there are limitations to exactly how much and what can be said,'' said Thomas Scott of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.

That may not be so, according to the state's top education official.

``It's not actionable if they tell the truth,'' said Driscoll.

Fully investigating accusations would help eliminate uncertainty about teachers' records and also protect wrongly accused ones, said Terri Miller of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct, and Exploitation.

``A teacher should never be allowed to resign under suspicion. An investigation needs to be completed,'' she said.

And Bay State superintendents don't have a backgrounding tool that their counterparts in 45 other states do have: the ability to conduct nationwide criminal record checks through the FBI for about $50 per teacher.

Even after a 2003 Boston Magazine story revealed how Massachusetts was one of a handful of states that doesn't conduct such checks, a bill to expand the checks has only just been filed.

``What we need to do is tighten up the hiring requirements as well as make sure the teachers who are in the system now don't have criminal backgrounds,'' said state Sen. Steven Baddour (D-Methuen), who filed the background check bill.

Principals and superintendents should also pay closer attention to behavior, such as giving a student drugs or alcohol, that can be a precursor to abuse, said attorney Wendy Murphy, who represents sexual-abuse victims.

``What we know to be true is red flags that are not often actual incidents of sexual assault are better predictors of future violence than a single episode,'' Murphy said.

One such red flag, she said, was when Joseph Doyle resigned from a private school post in 1988 after, the school said, hosting a booze bash for kids. But he was hired by Natick High in 2001, and is now facing charges of soliciting sex with a police officer posing as a 14-year-old boy.

Related story from the files of The E-Accountability Foundation:

In New York City, Jerry Olshaker, employed by the New York City Board of Education as Administrator of the Office of Support Services at the Division of Personnel, had his sex crimes concealed by Howard Tames and others in that office in order to keep him on the job:

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE SEX CRIME CONVICTION OF FORMER PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATOR JERRY OLSHAKER AND THE CONCEALMENT OF THE CONVICTION BY THE DIVISION OF PERSONNEL

Pennsylvania has a complaint procedure that is a step in the right direction:

Pennsylvania Department of Education Employee Misconduct Complaint Procedures