The Principal Lacked Principle
Booze, drug, sex scandal rocks educators at Ohio middle school
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The Principal Lacked Principle
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The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle -
The Principal Lacked Principle
SEPTEMBER 21--When we heard about the latest scandal embroiling a U.S. middle school, well, we assumed it must have involved a teenage boy and a confused math teacher.
So imagine our relief when this investigative report--authored by Columbus, Ohio public school officials--found only that Wedgewood Middle School educators drank booze during the school day, got kinky with each other in the boiler room bathroom, and spoke about where to score cocaine.
According to the report, Principal Loy Koeller (pictured at left) and teacher Thomas Mannarino engaged in such a variety of inappropriate conduct that they should be terminated. A second teacher, Abbi Terry, has been issued a written warning and may be ordered into counseling.
While the investigative report--which relies on interviews with other Wedgewood employees--is loaded with sordid, frat-like details, we particularly enjoyed one recollection of Lisa Baker, a special needs teacher. Baker told investigators that last May she spotted Terry "in the Boiler room restroom pulling her pants down with the door open and [Koeller] went into the restroom and started kissing Abbi and doing other things."
Baker also said that on the last day of school in 2004, she observed Terry "doing a seductive dance" for Koeller in the principal's office. Before she began gyrating, Terry had removed her shirt, "leaving herself in a bra only," said Baker.
The probe of the Wedgewood hijinks was aided by information provided by Terry's estranged husband, who blamed Koeller for stealing his wife away from him. In a letter to the executive director of Columbus's school system, David Terry branded Koeller "an alcoholic, a drug abuser, a liar, and a wife stealer." He noted that Koeller once told him that she smoked pot daily en route to school because "I can't stand those kids." (11 pages)
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