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When a priest, this NJ teacher impregnated a 16-yr-old... you can't fire him, school dist. is told
NJ.com ^ | Wednesday, May 1, 2019 | Kelly Heyboer

Posted on 05/01/2019 12:26:11 PM PDT by Jyotishi

Complete title: When he was a priest, this N.J. teacher impregnated a 16-year-old. No, you can't fire him, school district is told.

A veteran Burlington County teacher who had a baby with a 16-year-old girl while he was a Catholic priest nearly 30 years ago should not lose his job because of his past, a state arbitrator told the school district.

Cinnaminson school officials brought up tenure charges against middle school teacher Joseph DeShan earlier this year after parents learned about his history as a priest in the diocese in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

DeShan left the priesthood in 1994, four years after he impregnated a teenage girl in a church youth group he had allegedly been sexually abusing since she was 14, according to news reports in Connecticut newspapers after the relationship was revealed in 2002.

By then, DeShan was already a popular teacher in Cinnaminson. School officials removed him from the classroom for three weeks in 2002 while they investigated. But he quickly returned to teaching after some parents and students rallied to his defense.

Earlier this year, the school district changed its mind and filed tenure charges against DeShan after the parents of current students learned about the former priest's past and complained to the school board that a “rapist” was teaching their children at Cinnaminson Middle School.

DeShan is included on a list of current and former clergy members credibly accused of sexual abuse released by the Diocese of Bridgeport. DeShan said the sexual relationship with the teenager was consensual and he was never prosecuted in Connecticut due to the statute of limitations law on sexual abuse.

Cinnaminson school officials argued “parental and societal views have changed” in the last few years, according to tenure charges filed against the teacher in January. The district said DeShan should be

(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: abuse; catholic; child; christian; church; clergy; education; girl; newjersey; pedophile; priest; sex
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1 posted on 05/01/2019 12:26:11 PM PDT by Jyotishi
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To: Jyotishi

I’m as surprised as anyone to hear that he wasn’t a fag.


2 posted on 05/01/2019 12:28:12 PM PDT by Sirius Lee (“Individual liberty and freedom are not outmoded concepts.”)
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To: Jyotishi

Fire him... out of a cannon...


3 posted on 05/01/2019 12:29:20 PM PDT by Fido969 (In!)
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To: Sirius Lee

Terrible, but my first thought too.


4 posted on 05/01/2019 12:31:07 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: Jyotishi
DeShan was already a popular teacher in Cinnaminson."

Cinnaminson?

Guess they like it spicy there.

5 posted on 05/01/2019 12:32:49 PM PDT by Veto! (Veto! (Political Correctness Offends Me))
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To: Jyotishi

How does he pass a child safety background check? Why bother with them if they are going to let known pedophiles teach?


6 posted on 05/01/2019 12:35:08 PM PDT by Clean_Sweep
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To: Jyotishi

This is nuts. No tenure agreement would protect him from this. Something else is going on.


7 posted on 05/01/2019 12:35:44 PM PDT by econjack
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To: Jyotishi
Cinnaminson school officials argued “parental and societal views have changed”

As much of a scumbag as this guy is, no court in the land is going to allow that as a standard for terminating employment. Should have canned him the first time.


8 posted on 05/01/2019 12:37:08 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Jyotishi

I wish they had taken this attitude with Kavanaugh. ;)

But no. It is not reasonable to fire someone for this. It’s like firing someone who was in prison and, when asked, said they had been in prison.

Now, if they asked him about this in the job interview or application and he said no or did not mention it, then they could fire him. But it seems that is not what happened.


9 posted on 05/01/2019 12:37:41 PM PDT by cuban leaf
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To: Clean_Sweep

My question as well. Perhaps because he was never officially prosecuted for the crime? So nothing ever would show on a background check of him?


10 posted on 05/01/2019 12:37:57 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Clean_Sweep
How does he pass a child safety background check?

Probably because his Catholic Diocese never reported it to law enforcement. Background checks only reflect things they know about.


11 posted on 05/01/2019 12:38:40 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Veto!
DeShan was already a popular teacher in Cinnaminson."

Cinnaminson?

On the far away island of Salamasond, Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond.

For some reason, my mind went to Dr Suess.

12 posted on 05/01/2019 12:39:57 PM PDT by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
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To: Jyotishi
Must be a union thing. At the school I taught at he would have been gone the 1st time it came up, the 2nd if necessary.

Unless he was an administrator, different rules for them it seems.

13 posted on 05/01/2019 12:55:36 PM PDT by fungoking (Tis a pleasure to live in the 0zarks)
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To: pgyanke

Good one :)
Seuss would have had a field day with today’s idiocy.


14 posted on 05/01/2019 12:56:35 PM PDT by Veto! (Veto! (Political Correctness Offends Me))
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To: fungoking

There have been cases in New York State of union school teschers being arrested, tried, and convicted, while continuing to draw full salary and benefits until the day they had exhausted their final appeals.


15 posted on 05/01/2019 1:36:53 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Jyotishi

We had a case very similar to this when I was chair of the SB. We fired him anyway and took our chances legally. We gambled he wouldn’t sue and have his history drawn out.


16 posted on 05/01/2019 1:44:42 PM PDT by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: Jyotishi

This is why you homeschool .. no teachers who are pedophiles...


17 posted on 05/01/2019 2:13:11 PM PDT by ConservaTeen (WFLA's Jack Harris: Brooklyn is missing their village idiot. Right you are, Jack.)
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To: Jyotishi

Can’t fire him? Just tell the school he voted for Trump and Kate Smith is his favorite singer...Problem solved.


18 posted on 05/01/2019 3:15:59 PM PDT by LeoTDB69
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To: ConservaTeen

I had to endure a “conservative” theologian in 1984 at a Bible Conference extolling day care centers over home environments, because, he contended, most abusers are close relatives.

So much for parental authority and God’s design.


19 posted on 05/01/2019 4:48:07 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: Jyotishi

I’m gonna give him a pass - a (apparently) single incidence of consensual sex with a 16 year old 30 years ago and nothing else on his record.....how many of us would be unemployable if everything we ever did was held against us ...


20 posted on 05/02/2019 4:05:10 AM PDT by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
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