TAMPA -- The Hillsborough School Board is not usually a magnet for TV cameras, but no fewer than three packed into a tiny classroom today and suffered through two hours of talk about district goals.
They were waiting for five minutes at the end of meeting, when the discussion turned to what Board member Candy Olson summed up as "sexy teachers, or teachers and sex."
A recent one-two punch -- the arrests of teachers at Freedom High and Davidsen Middle within two weeks of each other -- has Board members using words like epidemic. Four Hillsborough teachers have been arrested in the last five months for inappropriate sexual contact with students. Three of those teachers were women.
Now Board members are calling for a special meeting to discuss what to do the spate of teachers having have sex with students. The meeting is April 15 from 1 to 2 p.m. Special guests include Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober and Public Defender Julianne Holt.
Until then, here's a primer on names of Hillsborough female teachers with sex charges:
March 20, 2008: Mary Jo Spack, a 45-year-old honors English teacher, accused of having sex with a 17-year-old boy after buying liquor and bringing him to a motel.
March 13, 2008: Stephanie Ragusa, a 28-year-old math teacher, arrested and accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy.
Oct. 23, 2007: Christina Butler, a 33-year-old special education teacher at Middleton High School in Tampa, arrested, accused of having sex up to a dozen times with a 16-year-old boy.
Oct. 8, 2007: Former Wharton High School teacher and coach Jaymee Wallace pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with a student who played on her girls basketball team.
Former Greco Middle School teacher Debra Lafave was sentenced to three years of house arrest and seven years of probation after pleading guilty in 2005 to having sex with a 14-year-old boy.
Get inside the world of Florida education with St. Petersburg Times staff writer Jeffrey S. Solochek and the rest of the Times education reporting team. We'll bring you up-to-date information about the latest education trends, fads and news and dig deep into Tampa Bay area school issues.
We are a group of Christian adult women that have formed a mission to fight against local businesses that exploit young women for profit called CCC-AIM (Countryside Christian Center Anti-Indecency Mission). We have been successful with targeting perpetrators and raising awareness campaigns throughout the Tampa Bay Area. You'll find dozens of additional perpetrators that live among us and our children that will suprise you on our website. We are fighting to stop these disgusting human beings from exploiting the young boys and girls of Tampa Bay.
Our website is http://cccaim.blogspot.com Any help or information would be greatly appreciated. God Bless.
Posted by: CCC-AIM | July 01, 2008 at 01:47 PM
It is against the law to have sex with minors. There don't need to be any extra laws that single out teachers for special punishment. Teachers are are subject to the existing laws. When they break the law, they need to be punished - without any special treatment (too pretty for jail) or extra disdain. The law is the law and it applies to all people regardless of chosen occupation.
Posted by: Ann E. Mouse | March 26, 2008 at 05:48 AM