another day, another accusation
tommyJust days after reports of sextracurricular activities by a Hillsborough County school teacher, here we go again.
Freedom High School teacher Mary Jo Spack was arrested for engaging in sexual activities with a 17 year old student at the high school. This one is even weirder.
The student victim is nearly 18, so you can almost understand a May-September tryst. But the surrounding story is super-creepy. Cops say that in addition to the sex act, Ms. Spack was socializing with a handful of students at the hotel, and even supplied the Crown Royal. What the hell is that?
Well, listening to some of her students’ quotes, it almost sorta fits. For Ms. Spack, anyway. Check these from My Fox Tampa Bay (check the video, too):
- “she’s a really nice person, she’s really funny, really engaging,”
- “she was one of my favorite teachers”
- “she jokes with the kids, and have a good time,”
Less trustworthy, but perhaps noteworthy are the online comments supposedly left by students defending her, such as those via WTSP and TBO:
- “Nooo! Mrs. Spack is one the sweetest, most amazing teachers in the universe. She was good friends with my mom, and I adore her! I just want to say that she’s probably going to get a lot of crap for this incident, but she is honestly such a great lady. And I feel bad for anyone that judges her…”
- “Mrs. Spack was by far one of the best teachers I have ever had! Her charisma was uncontested and it made her all the more a brilliant person. Not only that, but she has gone out of her way to be nice to her students- without any sexual or drug-related intention, for you skeptics out there.”
- “this teacher is really cool”
- “she used to buy kids cigarrettes [sic] last year and alcohol”
Again, these last comments are from anonymous internet posters claiming to be students (or ex-students) of Ms. Spack, but she sure sounds more like a “friend” than any sort of authority figure.
Now, cops think there may be more victims.
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March 21st, 2008 at 5:46 pm
victims?
are you kidding me? get real. kids dont grow up in the 1950s anymore.
March 21st, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Duuude!! We’re in Florida, where we know how to put the fun in dysfunction!
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
never mind the teacher…what were these kids thinking? did they take a close look at this old porker? how did they even manage to get hot for teacher in the first place?
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Dreaming: Teen age boys? Sex? Booze? Teacher? Thinking is not a part of this equation.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I’m so tired of the idea that just because these were teenage boys instead of teenage girls it isn’t a big deal. This was a woman in a position of power who plied the boys with alcohol and had sex with them. How would you feel if your boss took you to a hotel room and got you drunk and then had sex with you? Because that’s what this teacher was- their boss. They may have even felt pressured to give into it for fear of getting a bad grade.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:11 am
oh noes not sex!
March 24th, 2008 at 11:27 am
So what will it take for the School Board of Hills County to get serious about this issue?
Convenient responses: a)Oh, there’s just more reporting, not more actual bad behavior; b)gosh, the number of good teachers outweights the number of deviants
As stated below, the School Board needs to have a Come to Jesus meeting with its employees. Stop making excuses. Here’s a game plan, for free:
1)Immediately (now, not next school year) require every teacher and administrator to undergo ethics/sexual misconduct training, at least a half-day, and institute this for new teachers. Bring in someone from the outside to conduct these full-day sessions, and make sure that they include lots of information on which types of behavior are and are not acceptable; the best way to avoid temptation; the extent to which teachers’ careers will be hurt if they’re involved in this type of behavior (as in, teaching certificate revoked). You’d think that teachers wouldn’t need info that borders on the obvious, but apparently common sense and a basic moral core no longer applies
2)Immediately enhance criminal background checks, because the current system isn’t working. Push for a Florida-wide system or nationwide system so that when teachers are kicked out of one district, anywhere in the U.S., for these types of violations, that information will be available to anyone in the country who might receive an application from that person. Again, to make sure that the schools are doing the job, they need to hire an outside agency/expert to help improve the background checks.
3)Set up a hotline, staffed by someone outside of the schools, so that students or teachers who hear these rumors (where there’s smoke …) can report them. Yes, there are concerns about false allegations, but that’s no excuse for not taking this step.
4)Following up on step 1 - Each teacher should be required to undergo ethics/sexual misconduct “refresher” training at least once every two years.
5)Bring in law enforcement as soon as allegations/rumors surface. don’t wait around for internal school investigation to conclude.
6)Schools/education officials/teachers unions should encourage legislators to prosecute these pervs to the full extent of the law
7)Provide information, similar to the ethics/sexual misconduct training for teachers, to students, encouraging them to let administrators know if a teacher
demonstrates inappropriate conduct
So will the School Board actually do something in response to the current crisis, or just give a lot of lip service?
We’re watching.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
These kids should claim they were duped, like they’d been led to believe one of their hot female classmates would be in that hotel shower but when they went in it was this ole hagrid who threatened to call their parents if she didn’t get her way. That would be the ONLY way any of this makes sense!
March 25th, 2008 at 9:47 am
5′7″, 230 and “medium” build
OINK OINK - PCSO was being too nice!
March 29th, 2008 at 10:57 am
“Sextracurricular!” I wish I’d thought of that…Oh well.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:53 pm
This is a new class,called sex 101