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Teacher fights to keep credentials Admin hearing continues today for man who admits sex w
Our students are not safe from predators, and school district fails to act what does it take?
This is outrageous.
This is outrageous.
Teacher fights to keep credentials
Administrative hearing continues today for man who admits to sex with a minor
By Linh Tat, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 03/12/2007 05:07:02 AM PDT
UNION CITY — A James Logan High School teacher on administrative leave is fighting to keep his credentials after admitting to having sex with a minor in the early 1990s, according to documents obtained by The Argus under the state Public Records Act.
Michael Malcolm, a former assistant vice principal and science teacher at Logan, is scheduled to return to the Office of Administrative Hearings in Oakland today to challenge the recommendation by a committee of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing that his teaching and administrative credentials be revoked. His credentials are set to expire Aug. 1.
Malcolm acknowledged in sworn testimony before the committee in 2005 that he had a sexual relationship with a teen from 1990 to 1992. The Southern California girl was 16 and Malcolm was 34 when the relationship began. The two first met when the girl attended a summer camp in San Bernardino County, where Malcolm worked as program director.
During the course of the relationship, the couple had sex about two dozen times — in a camp van, in Southern California hotel rooms and on other occasions in Central or Northern California, he testified.
But he denied ever having sexual relations with the girl at Logan High. According to a statement to police, the girl said the two had sex in different offices, the weight room and in the shower at Logan, as well as in his house.
She stated in an affidavit that Malcolm would call her almost nightly
from campus pay phones and that he once visited her while he was in Los Angeles, supervising Logan's volleyball team during a tournament.
The girl — who used to baby-sit Malcolm's children and who stayed with his family during a trip to the Bay Area — also claimed in the affidavit that Malcolm took her to various
sporting events and plays at Logan; once gave her a book on sex laws and told her that nothing could happen to him if she kept quiet for five years; and gave her a ring and proposed to her the weekend she turned 18.
The relationship "lasted until about February 1992. ... He took me to San Diego and told me he needed to start thinking about his family. We had intercourse on this trip," the girl said in her statement to police.
The following year — after the teen had reported the relationship to the Camp Chinnock board of directors and hired a lawyer — the Logan teacher agreed to pay her $40,000 to help cover some therapy and legal expenses, he testified.
"I was ready to move on with my life ... (and) out of fairness to her, she deserved some compensation," he said, according to a transcript of his testimony before a Commission on Teacher Credentialing committee.
Malcolm did not return multiple phone calls for comment. His attorney also did not return a phone call.
As part of the 2003 settlement, the girl agreed not to take further action that would jeopardize Malcolm's reputation, including voluntarily aiding any action of law or administrative proceeding, according to a letter from Malcolm's then-attorney to the girl's lawyer.
In mid-2004, someone other than the girl reported the situation to the Union City Police Department, who then interviewed the girl, police said.
Because the statute of limitations had passed, police did not pursue the case further, according to a report by the investigating detective, but the department notified the New Haven school district.
Malcolm, who was an assistant principal for student activities at the time, was reassigned as a classroom teacher beginning with the 2004-05 school year.
"The district does not believe that it can pursue disciplinary options ... because the conduct occurred ... more than four years prior to (the district's learning about it). The commission, however, does have the authority to further investigate and take action," Deputy Superintendent David Pava wrote in an August 2004 letter to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The district placed Malcolm on paid administrative leave late last summer. By then, a committee of the commission had recommended revoking Malcolm's credentials, so the district could take further action at that point, Pava said last week.
The commission had informed the district of its recommendation in March 2005, but Malcolm was not placed on leave until August 2006 — two weeks after The Argus first wrote about the situation.
"When criminal authorities decline to prosecute, it's tough for us to take action," district spokesman Rick La Plante said.
Malcolm's credentials remain valid while his case goes through the appeals process, and school districts may decide whether to employ him, according to the commission's general counsel.
First hired in New Haven in 1985, Malcolm was selected a Teacher of the Year by the staff, students and parents at Logan High in 2005 and was nominated for the title again last year.
"Students truly enjoy being in Mr. Malcolm's classroom due to his exemplary teaching style, his caring nature, his sense of humor, and for the positive learning environment. ... Mr. Malcolm is one of the finest individuals I know, and I count it a privilege to call him a colleague and a dear friend. ... I would speak on his behalf in any situation," Logan High School Principal Don Montoya wrote in a reference letter dated November 2004 — about three months after Malcolm lost his position as an assistant principal because of the allegations.
Montoya said last week that he was directed to reassign Malcolm and that he could not remember if he wrote the reference letter as a general recommendation or specifically for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing's review. He would not say if he was aware of the specific allegations at that time.
During his testimony, Malcolm said he now realizes his relationship with the girl was not healthy and that he had ignored his responsibilities as an adult mentor.
He is fighting to keep his credentials because "education is a calling. I could just go out and get another job, but it's not what I do," he said.
"I have seen the consequences of my action. ... I am a good man. I have worked with thousands of young people and never before, during or after has there ever been (another) circumstance and never will be."
Staff writer Linh Tat covers education for The Argus. She can be reached at (510) 353-7010 or ltat [at] angnewspapers.com
New Haven teacher gives up credential
Instructor had admitted to sexual involvement with teenage girl in the 1990s
By Linh Tat, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 03/13/2007 02:28:17 AM PDT
UNION CITY — A longtime New Haven teacher who admitted having had sex with a minor in the early 1990s has given up the fight to save his credentials.
James Logan High School science teacher Michael Malcolm agreed Monday to drop his appeal of a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing committee's recommendation that his administrative and teaching credentials be stripped.
He agreed to drop the case and never to apply for another license in California if the commission doesn't revoke his credentials until after June 30.
"Because of the media attention, the outcome of the hearing wouldn't matter. At this point, I don't have the financial or emotional resources to fight this any longer," Malcolm told The Argus immediately after an administrative hearing Monday in Oakland.
Now it will be up to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to decide whether to accept Malcolm's proposal. If it accepts the offer, Malcolm will have 30 days upon receiving notice of the decision to change his mind and challenge the ruling, said Susan King, a deputy attorney general representing the commission.
Malcolm admitted in 2005 that he had a sexual relationship with a teen from Southern California from 1990 to 1992. The girl was 16 and Malcolm was 34 when the relationship began.
The two first met at a summer camp in San Bernardino County. During the course of the relationship, he regularly would travel to Southern California, and she sometimes traveled
to Northern California.
Police were not notified of the situation until about summer 2004 — long after the statute of limitations had passed — so authorities did not press charges.
They did notify the New Haven school district, which stripped Malcolm of his position as an assistant principal and reassigned him to the classroom.
The district has said in a statement that it's difficult to take action when law enforcement does not prosecute. Malcolm was placed on paid administrative leave in August 2006, just before school resumed.
The girl with whom Malcolm had been involved — now an attorney specializing in child-abuse cases who asked that her name be withheld — said Monday that the therapist she was seeing in 2004 contacted police and that she did not know the incident would be reported.
While she did not necessarily want authorities involved, she did have a desire to be heard as a victim, she said.
As for Malcolm losing his credentials, the woman said that was warranted because he was the adult in the relationship and had taken advantage of the situation.
"He knew he was breaking the law and he knew all of the consequences and he knew that he should report it," she said. "The thing he was banking on was my fear and my silence, which is what most perpetrators are banking on."
Although Malcolm has agreed not to apply for future teaching credentials, some private schools don't require their teachers to hold licenses, King said.
"We can't stop him from applying for jobs," she said.
Malcolm did not say what he plans to do next, other than to "move on" with life.
Christopher Schumb, Malcolm's attorney, said a doctor had evaluated his client and found him fit to teach, and that he is not a threat to students.
"Michael was a great teacher," he said. "He's leaving on his own terms."
Staff writer Linh Tat can be reached at (510) 353-7010 or ltat [at] angnewspapers.com.
Administrative hearing continues today for man who admits to sex with a minor
By Linh Tat, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 03/12/2007 05:07:02 AM PDT
UNION CITY — A James Logan High School teacher on administrative leave is fighting to keep his credentials after admitting to having sex with a minor in the early 1990s, according to documents obtained by The Argus under the state Public Records Act.
Michael Malcolm, a former assistant vice principal and science teacher at Logan, is scheduled to return to the Office of Administrative Hearings in Oakland today to challenge the recommendation by a committee of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing that his teaching and administrative credentials be revoked. His credentials are set to expire Aug. 1.
Malcolm acknowledged in sworn testimony before the committee in 2005 that he had a sexual relationship with a teen from 1990 to 1992. The Southern California girl was 16 and Malcolm was 34 when the relationship began. The two first met when the girl attended a summer camp in San Bernardino County, where Malcolm worked as program director.
During the course of the relationship, the couple had sex about two dozen times — in a camp van, in Southern California hotel rooms and on other occasions in Central or Northern California, he testified.
But he denied ever having sexual relations with the girl at Logan High. According to a statement to police, the girl said the two had sex in different offices, the weight room and in the shower at Logan, as well as in his house.
She stated in an affidavit that Malcolm would call her almost nightly
from campus pay phones and that he once visited her while he was in Los Angeles, supervising Logan's volleyball team during a tournament.
The girl — who used to baby-sit Malcolm's children and who stayed with his family during a trip to the Bay Area — also claimed in the affidavit that Malcolm took her to various
sporting events and plays at Logan; once gave her a book on sex laws and told her that nothing could happen to him if she kept quiet for five years; and gave her a ring and proposed to her the weekend she turned 18.
The relationship "lasted until about February 1992. ... He took me to San Diego and told me he needed to start thinking about his family. We had intercourse on this trip," the girl said in her statement to police.
The following year — after the teen had reported the relationship to the Camp Chinnock board of directors and hired a lawyer — the Logan teacher agreed to pay her $40,000 to help cover some therapy and legal expenses, he testified.
"I was ready to move on with my life ... (and) out of fairness to her, she deserved some compensation," he said, according to a transcript of his testimony before a Commission on Teacher Credentialing committee.
Malcolm did not return multiple phone calls for comment. His attorney also did not return a phone call.
As part of the 2003 settlement, the girl agreed not to take further action that would jeopardize Malcolm's reputation, including voluntarily aiding any action of law or administrative proceeding, according to a letter from Malcolm's then-attorney to the girl's lawyer.
In mid-2004, someone other than the girl reported the situation to the Union City Police Department, who then interviewed the girl, police said.
Because the statute of limitations had passed, police did not pursue the case further, according to a report by the investigating detective, but the department notified the New Haven school district.
Malcolm, who was an assistant principal for student activities at the time, was reassigned as a classroom teacher beginning with the 2004-05 school year.
"The district does not believe that it can pursue disciplinary options ... because the conduct occurred ... more than four years prior to (the district's learning about it). The commission, however, does have the authority to further investigate and take action," Deputy Superintendent David Pava wrote in an August 2004 letter to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The district placed Malcolm on paid administrative leave late last summer. By then, a committee of the commission had recommended revoking Malcolm's credentials, so the district could take further action at that point, Pava said last week.
The commission had informed the district of its recommendation in March 2005, but Malcolm was not placed on leave until August 2006 — two weeks after The Argus first wrote about the situation.
"When criminal authorities decline to prosecute, it's tough for us to take action," district spokesman Rick La Plante said.
Malcolm's credentials remain valid while his case goes through the appeals process, and school districts may decide whether to employ him, according to the commission's general counsel.
First hired in New Haven in 1985, Malcolm was selected a Teacher of the Year by the staff, students and parents at Logan High in 2005 and was nominated for the title again last year.
"Students truly enjoy being in Mr. Malcolm's classroom due to his exemplary teaching style, his caring nature, his sense of humor, and for the positive learning environment. ... Mr. Malcolm is one of the finest individuals I know, and I count it a privilege to call him a colleague and a dear friend. ... I would speak on his behalf in any situation," Logan High School Principal Don Montoya wrote in a reference letter dated November 2004 — about three months after Malcolm lost his position as an assistant principal because of the allegations.
Montoya said last week that he was directed to reassign Malcolm and that he could not remember if he wrote the reference letter as a general recommendation or specifically for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing's review. He would not say if he was aware of the specific allegations at that time.
During his testimony, Malcolm said he now realizes his relationship with the girl was not healthy and that he had ignored his responsibilities as an adult mentor.
He is fighting to keep his credentials because "education is a calling. I could just go out and get another job, but it's not what I do," he said.
"I have seen the consequences of my action. ... I am a good man. I have worked with thousands of young people and never before, during or after has there ever been (another) circumstance and never will be."
Staff writer Linh Tat covers education for The Argus. She can be reached at (510) 353-7010 or ltat [at] angnewspapers.com
New Haven teacher gives up credential
Instructor had admitted to sexual involvement with teenage girl in the 1990s
By Linh Tat, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 03/13/2007 02:28:17 AM PDT
UNION CITY — A longtime New Haven teacher who admitted having had sex with a minor in the early 1990s has given up the fight to save his credentials.
James Logan High School science teacher Michael Malcolm agreed Monday to drop his appeal of a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing committee's recommendation that his administrative and teaching credentials be stripped.
He agreed to drop the case and never to apply for another license in California if the commission doesn't revoke his credentials until after June 30.
"Because of the media attention, the outcome of the hearing wouldn't matter. At this point, I don't have the financial or emotional resources to fight this any longer," Malcolm told The Argus immediately after an administrative hearing Monday in Oakland.
Now it will be up to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to decide whether to accept Malcolm's proposal. If it accepts the offer, Malcolm will have 30 days upon receiving notice of the decision to change his mind and challenge the ruling, said Susan King, a deputy attorney general representing the commission.
Malcolm admitted in 2005 that he had a sexual relationship with a teen from Southern California from 1990 to 1992. The girl was 16 and Malcolm was 34 when the relationship began.
The two first met at a summer camp in San Bernardino County. During the course of the relationship, he regularly would travel to Southern California, and she sometimes traveled
to Northern California.
Police were not notified of the situation until about summer 2004 — long after the statute of limitations had passed — so authorities did not press charges.
They did notify the New Haven school district, which stripped Malcolm of his position as an assistant principal and reassigned him to the classroom.
The district has said in a statement that it's difficult to take action when law enforcement does not prosecute. Malcolm was placed on paid administrative leave in August 2006, just before school resumed.
The girl with whom Malcolm had been involved — now an attorney specializing in child-abuse cases who asked that her name be withheld — said Monday that the therapist she was seeing in 2004 contacted police and that she did not know the incident would be reported.
While she did not necessarily want authorities involved, she did have a desire to be heard as a victim, she said.
As for Malcolm losing his credentials, the woman said that was warranted because he was the adult in the relationship and had taken advantage of the situation.
"He knew he was breaking the law and he knew all of the consequences and he knew that he should report it," she said. "The thing he was banking on was my fear and my silence, which is what most perpetrators are banking on."
Although Malcolm has agreed not to apply for future teaching credentials, some private schools don't require their teachers to hold licenses, King said.
"We can't stop him from applying for jobs," she said.
Malcolm did not say what he plans to do next, other than to "move on" with life.
Christopher Schumb, Malcolm's attorney, said a doctor had evaluated his client and found him fit to teach, and that he is not a threat to students.
"Michael was a great teacher," he said. "He's leaving on his own terms."
Staff writer Linh Tat can be reached at (510) 353-7010 or ltat [at] angnewspapers.com.
For more information:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/
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As for Malcolm losing his credentials, the woman said that was warranted because he was the adult in the relationship and had taken advantage of the situation.
"He knew he was breaking the law and he knew all of the consequences and he knew that he should report it," she said. "The thing he was banking on was my fear and my silence, which is what most perpetrators are banking on."
This is absolutely criminal lets fire some people and change the Law.
The phenomenon of teachers accused or convicted of having sex with their students has come to the forefront of national and international news in recent years.
Some of the cases involving women have been chronicled by WND,. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53479
California, statutory rape is defined as: “An act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is a minor, a person under the age of 18" (Penal Code § 261.5(a)).
California, statutory rape is defined as: “An act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is a minor, a person under the age of 18" (Penal Code § 261.5(a)).
I was very good friends with one of his children for many years when I was between the ages of 10 and 15, often staying in his home overnight. Throughout this time, Mr. Malcolm always displayed the deepest love for his family and friends and from my view was a great parent, and great family friend.
Obviously, the YMCA, high school and the school district did not see anything wrong with Mr. Malcolm’s behavior until the media blew the whistle. Based on his ferocious fight to keep teacher credentials, Mr. Malcolm does not fully realize what he has done, either.
The state law was named for Amie Zyla, now 17, of Sussex, who was assaulted at age 8 by Joshua Wade, of Waukesha, when he was 14.
Wade was convicted and served time at Ethan Allen School.
Wade, now 24, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of second- degree sexual assault of a child and one count of child enticement and faces up to 70 years in prison when he's sentenced Aug. 1.
After his arrest in January, Wade, who claimed to be a youth mentor, told police he videotaped more than 30 children in his bathroom with a concealed camera and sexually assaulted some of them repeatedly, according to a criminal complaint.
Assistant District Attorney Brad Schimel said authorities could identify only one boy when they viewed the tapes.
Ile Ife, Nigeria - When Nigeria's education minister faced an audience of 1,000 schoolchildren, she expected to hear complaints of crowded classrooms and lack of equipment. Instead, girl after girl spoke up about being pressured for sex by teachers in exchange for better grades. One girl was just 11 years old.
"I was shocked," said the minister, Obiageli Ezekwesili, who has several children herself. "I asked - was it that prevalent? And they all chorused 'yes.'"
For years, sexual harassment has been rampant in Nigeria's universities, but until recently very little was done about it. From Associated Press interviews with officials and 12 female college students, a pattern emerges of women being held back and denied passing grades for rebuffing teachers' advances, and of being advised by other teachers to give in quietly.
The problem has spread into schools, says Ezekwesili, and there are signs the government is finally ready to intervene. Now that harassment even features in a song by a popular Nigerian musician, Eedris Abdulkareem, it is almost impossible to ignore.
"Mr. Lecturer, come get it on with me," croons a young girl in the song. "I'm gonna rub your back and your potbelly, make you pass my paper." With a deep chuckle, Abdulkareem replies, "Come into my office."
Most victims are college students such as Chioma, a slim, quiet 22-year-old with a B average, who repeatedly failed political science after refusing her teacher's explicit demands for sex. She said he was a pastor and old enough to be her grandfather.
"Now it has been two years and everyone else has graduated," she said sadly, arms folded neatly in her lap. She is desperate to finish her studies and begin working to help support her family, yet "my life is stopped," she said.
Chioma and others who spoke to The Associated Press asked that their surnames be withheld. All said they and several close friends had been harassed.
Stigma prevents many more from speaking out, says Oluyemisi Obilade, a professor who teaches adult education at prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University at Ile Ife in central Nigeria.
Like many Nigerian universities, the seemingly peaceful campus with its flame trees and soaring art deco architecture has witnessed horrifying sexual assaults. After a student was gang-raped nine years ago, Obilade formed WARSHE - Women Against Rape, Sexual Harassment and Exploitation.
Obilade estimates she has helped hundreds of female students - and the odd male - who have been attacked by students or harassed by lecturers. Students have been raped in libraries, reading rooms and their own dorms, she says. When one student needed reconstructive surgery after a particularly brutal attack, Obilade and some colleagues gave their year-end bonuses to help pay for treatment.
"Some lecturers see young girls as fringe benefits," she said, wearing a black T-shirt that says "this is what a feminist looks like." "We've had cases where the girls have complained and the heads of their department have called them and said, 'Give him what he wants.'"
Mayowa, a 20-year-old student, said six of her friends are having problems and none has sought help. "It's tough to fight," she said. "Sometimes you just have to give in."
In a recent survey carried out by a graduate student and funded by WARSHE, 80 percent of over 300 women questioned at four universities said sexual harassment was their no. 1 concern.
But with a strong African tradition of respecting one's elders, families or teachers, harassed students can rarely expect support, even when repeated complaints are made against one individual.
Bola, a 27-year-old political science graduate with a C average, said she was repeatedly harassed by a teacher who had assaulted several other students.
"He was troubling me to go and see him at odd hours, very late, but I didn't go," she said, gold earring glinting under her long hair. After she refused, she said, she had to retake the class twice, along with four other female students who spurned the professor's advances.
"Even my parents didn't want to help with the problem," she said. "I wish we could get someone with courage to face that man."
Harassment is commonplace in schools and colleges in many African countries, says Miriam Jato, a senior adviser to UNFPA, the U.N. agency that deals with gender issues. She says dodging teachers' advances consumes a girl's school years.
"In some rural areas, parents withdraw girls from schools when they reach a certain age because they are afraid they will have to have relations with teachers."
"It ruins their job prospects ... or they get pregnant and they are kicked out of school as well.... The only possibility for her to get anywhere is for her to get married, and she can't even do that if she is pregnant. So she may even be forced into prostitution."
Yet attitudes are slowly changing. Ile Ife university recently fired a professor after repeated complaints. Chioma has found a woman lecturer to plead her case to school authorities, and Bola was finally allowed to take her test after Obilade, the professor, intervened.
WARSHE has extended its program to six other universities and a nearby secondary school, and Ezekwesili, the education minister, says she wants to set up complaints programs and join forces with women's organizations.
"We are going to take punitive measures against these teachers and give a voice to students," she promised.
On Tuesday, CALCASA kicked off our first hearing of the session testifying in support of AB 261 which eliminates the statute of limitations on most sex crimes. Authored by Assemblywoman Sally Leiber, the bill passed out of committee on a unanimous vote!
The coalition was pleased that Chairman Solorio allowed focused testimony from proponents, particularly the excellent comments offered by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala D. Harris.
Committee members (in particular Ma, Leno and Portantino) considered the bill carefully and asked excellent questions and made statements of support for sexual assault victims and their quest for justice.