Scotch Brand, thank you for posting what you did. I doubt you'll ever see this, but on the off chance that you revisit this site, I wanted you to know I appreciate the time you took to write.
I just found out yesterday that Tim was sentenced to jail. Tim was a good friend all through high school and college, and I am absolutely blown away that something like this happened. The last time we spoke (before this mess), he showed me stacks of letters and emails he'd received from his students and their parents praising his efforts and thanking him for his hard work. He took out yearbooks and showed me pictures of his current and previous students, detailing things each had said in class or a funny or touching anecdote. He loved being a teacher.
Frankly, the first posts to this story are the same knee-jerk reaction I've had to countless other articles on convicted child molestors. It's different, however, when you know one of the people behind the story. This is just incredibly sad.
Mr. Munday is my former teacher. I was randomly looking up information about him and stumbled on this site. It’s still incredibly unfortunate that this happened.
Mr. Munday taught gifted students at DeSoto East Jr. High, and I was in his class during my 7th and 8th grade years (this was in 1998-2000). He was truly an amazing teacher. He possessed a talent for connecting with students, motivating them, and challenging them academically. We read a lot in his class. I remember the gifted program at the time was centered around assigning a lot of creative projects and assignments that involved critical thinking. He excelled in having us care about the content and develop a strong work ethic. Every single student I knew during both years LOVED Mr. Munday. I work in education today and I still use his education methods as a standard.
For example, I remember during 8th grade, all of the advanced English classes (led by Mr. Munday and two other teachers) got together and did the same study on literary archetypes. The method? Watching the first 3 “Star Wars” films and analyzing them. It was a great way to introduce the concept to students and even years later, everyone remembered what they learned and was able to successfully apply it to what we read.
I also remember he gave out these certificates deemed “character awards” to all of the 8th graders on the last day of school. I still have mine.
All of this aside, I remember being devastated to learn that he was being charged with molesting students. But all of us were not surprised, not as surprised as we should have been. We all thought he interacted a little inappropriately with some of the girls. Mr. Munday was a young teacher, and he looked younger. He was nice and funny, and he was that way with all of his students. But it sometimes got a little weird. I remember he made one of my friends a little uneasy when he said something about wanting to date her if he was our age. Initially, most of his former students defended him. But the older we got, the more we realized how young and impressionable jr. high school students are and how easily they can be manipulated. Mr. Munday did not behave inappropriately with all of his female students, or even most of them. I never knew a lot about the evidence in this case, but I will say that when we all first learned about it, it was much too easy to convince us that it was true.
The worst part is that he was a very good teacher. Even today, the youngest of his former students are pretty much done with college, and I bet he remains one of the best teachers any of us ever had. It’s heartbreaking that he used his position as a teacher and leader, as well for his charisma and love for students, to tarnish his reputation forever and to hurt young girls. I’ve longed to speak with him and ask him what happened, WHY? He could have helped, motivated and inspired so many more kids over the years, but he no longer deserves that privilege.
Mr. Munday is my former teacher. I was randomly looking up information about him and stumbled on this site. It’s still incredibly unfortunate that this happened.
Mr. Munday taught gifted students at DeSoto East Jr. High, and I was in his class during my 7th and 8th grade years (this was in 1998-2000). He was truly an amazing teacher. He possessed a talent for connecting with students, motivating them, and challenging them academically. We read a lot in his class. I remember the gifted program at the time was centered around assigning a lot of creative projects and assignments that involved critical thinking. He excelled in having us care about the content and develop a strong work ethic. Every single student I knew during both years LOVED Mr. Munday. I work in education today and I still use his education methods as a standard.
For example, I remember during 8th grade, all of the advanced English classes (led by Mr. Munday and two other teachers) got together and did the same study on literary archetypes. The method? Watching the first 3 “Star Wars” films and analyzing them. It was a great way to introduce the concept to students and even years later, everyone remembered what they learned and was able to successfully apply it to what we read.
I also remember he gave out these certificates deemed “character awards” to all of the 8th graders on the last day of school. I still have mine.
All of this aside, I remember being devastated to learn that he was being charged with molesting students. But all of us were not surprised, not as surprised as we should have been. We all thought he interacted a little inappropriately with some of the girls. Mr. Munday was a young teacher, and he looked younger. He was nice and funny, and he was that way with all of his students. But it sometimes got a little weird. I remember he made one of my friends a little uneasy when he said something about wanting to date her if he was our age. Initially, most of his former students defended him. But the older we got, the more we realized how young and impressionable jr. high school students are and how easily they can be manipulated. Mr. Munday did not behave inappropriately with all of his female students, or even most of them. I never knew a lot about the evidence in this case, but I will say that when we all first learned about it, it was much too easy to convince us that it was true.
The worst part is that he was a very good teacher. Even today, the youngest of his former students are pretty much done with college, and I bet he remains one of the best teachers any of us ever had. It’s heartbreaking that he used his position as a teacher and leader, as well for his charisma and love for students, to tarnish his reputation forever and to hurt young girls. I’ve longed to speak with him and ask him what happened, WHY? He could have helped, motivated and inspired so many more kids over the years, but he no longer deserves that privilege.
Mr. Munday is my former teacher. I was randomly looking up information about him and stumbled on this site. It’s still incredibly unfortunate that this happened.
Mr. Munday taught gifted students at DeSoto East Jr. High, and I was in his class during my 7th and 8th grade years (this was in 1998-2000). He was truly an amazing teacher. He possessed a talent for connecting with students, motivating them, and challenging them academically. We read a lot in his class. I remember the gifted program at the time was centered around assigning a lot of creative projects and assignments that involved critical thinking. He excelled in having us care about the content and develop a strong work ethic. Every single student I knew during both years LOVED Mr. Munday. I work in education today and I still use his education methods as a standard.
For example, I remember during 8th grade, all of the advanced English classes (led by Mr. Munday and two other teachers) got together and did the same study on literary archetypes. The method? Watching the first 3 “Star Wars” films and analyzing them. It was a great way to introduce the concept to students and even years later, everyone remembered what they learned and was able to successfully apply it to what we read.
I also remember he gave out these certificates deemed “character awards” to all of the 8th graders on the last day of school. I still have mine.
All of this aside, I remember being devastated to learn that he was being charged with molesting students. But all of us were not surprised, not as surprised as we should have been. We all thought he interacted a little inappropriately with some of the girls. Mr. Munday was a young teacher, and he looked younger. He was nice and funny, and he was that way with all of his students. But it sometimes got a little weird. I remember he made one of my friends a little uneasy when he said something about wanting to date her if he was our age. Initially, most of his former students defended him. But the older we got, the more we realized how young and impressionable jr. high school students are and how easily they can be manipulated. Mr. Munday did not behave inappropriately with all of his female students, or even most of them. I never knew a lot about the evidence in this case, but I will say that when we all first learned about it, it was much too easy to convince us that it was true.
The worst part is that he was a very good teacher. Even today, the youngest of his former students are pretty much done with college, and I bet he remains one of the best teachers any of us ever had. It’s heartbreaking that he used his position as a teacher and leader, as well for his charisma and love for students, to tarnish his reputation forever and to hurt young girls. I’ve longed to speak with him and ask him what happened, WHY? He could have helped, motivated and inspired so many more kids over the years, but he no longer deserves that privilege.