Cop takes 'midnight photos' of teacher's classroom

Times Argus ^ | David Delcore

[MineralMan]

"Had I been the janitor, I'd have noted the cop's badge number and department to give to the principle/superintendent in the morning and then told the cop to specify why he wanted admittance, and if not satisfied, tell him to get a warrant and pound sand until it shows."

Bingo! In fact, I'll bet that the janitor has instructions _not_ to admit anyone into the school after hours.

[hedgetrimmer]

I can't believe schools like that exist any more. Where are they? It certainly has not been my experience in any California public school, or university.

[gcruse]

If he went into the office during the day the excess administrators would have been called on the phone; they would have gone down while he was being stalled in the office; they would have emptied the walls of everything; there would have been nothing to see.

In retrospect, he should have done that very thing....the morning after
his night of picture taking. Then release the pictures when the administration
denies there was ever anything in there.

[fella]

Even more reasons to home school, fortuneately my children graduated before all this PC BS started. Useing a few bad incidents to create panic and then to make knee-jerk bad laws is how we loose are freedoms, if we just lay down and take it that is.

[Trace21230]

"Under what authority do you support your claim that a uniformed police officer is committing the crime of trespass when he goes onto the premises of a publicly owned building?
Mott was outside his jurisdiction. He had no official business inside the building. He improperly used his uniform to gain access to the classroom in order to perform a personal errand.

You doubtless understand also that "publicly-owned" is not synonymous with "I can go inside anytime I have a hankering to do so."

Case closed."

Again, if you have any authority to support your opinion, please show it to me.

Please refer to the first paragraph above if you forgot the question I asked you. Thanks.

Trace

[Travis McGee]

Thank you, you get it.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Funny how the liberals and media had no such outrage regarding the methods used to obtain the Pentagon papers, Linda Tripp's records, or Bill Bennett's gambling info.

[zeugma]

If the drawer is not locked, the teacher has no reasonable expectation of privacy for the documents, and they are not subject to 4th amendment protection.

The drawer may not have been locked, but the room was. That should cloud things up a little. Personally, I don't leave anything at work that I wouldn't want handed to my boss or police. I pretty much figure my employer has the right to anything there. This issue gets more dicey when it is a public instution involved, but since I'd never work for a public institution, I haven't devled into the details of the matter.

[Calpernia]

So, he did nothing wrong ^-^

[lepton]

Yeah, I don't know why he didn't just tell some of the parents about what he'd heard was going on.

It sounds to me like such was being said, but the teacher and school administration were trying to claim it wasn't.

[Travis McGee]

223: You are SO right! Clever! Clever!

[lepton]

Yeah, I don't know why he didn't just tell some of the parents about what he'd heard was going on.

It sounds to me like such was being said, but the teacher and school administration were trying to claim it wasn't actually going on.

[ValerieUSA]

You are taking this "outside his jurisdiction" thing way too seriously. It's not that big of a deal. Leaving his jurisdiction on break is not wrong. Often you will find city cops and sheriff's deputies assisting each other along with state troopers on a call. Have a fit about it - see where it gets you.

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

May I remind you to e-mail the school

migilshs@u61.net;magilshs@u61.net;scalcshs@u61.net;
wigrshs@u61.net;mritcshs@u61.net;gdesmshs@helicon.net;
mhadlshs@u61.net;jhatcshs@u61.net;jgoddshs@u61.net;
mjarvshs@u61.net;mlafrshs@u61.net;jlewishs@u61.net;
drapashs@u61.net;csmitshs@u61.net;mstuart42@hotmail.com;
ttreeshs@u61.net;kbearshs@u61.net;kbearshs@u61.net;jbiology@aol.com

[hedgetrimmer]

Our high school has several known communists teaching history. They do not teach the Constitution is an ideal. They do not teach the kids how to think, only to regurgitate offensive remarks about America. The class spends _weeks_ discussing lynching and the japanese internment. The kids are not taught about the American Revolution at all-- they skip it.

[af_vet_rr]

The cop stepped over the line here. If he wasn't on official business, he has no more of a right to be in that building at 1:30 in the morning than anybody else.

And the teacher's a jerk, and the custodian is a walking cliche.

My thoughts exactly - I find the cop's actions to be much worse than a teacher who can't keep their politics out of the classroom. He should be prosecuted, the teacher and janitor perhaps fired.

[r9etb]

That bring us back to trespassing - he was let in by the person in charge at the time.

Mott claims he just walked into the building -- which is trespassing.

The school claims that Mott banged on the door and the janitor let him in because of the uniform -- which is an improper use of the uniform by Mott.

The truth may be in the middle -- which means that both sides are lying. Which still says that Mott was trespassing.

[MineralMan]

"I can't believe schools like that exist any more. Where are they? It certainly has not been my experience in any California public school, or university."

They do, and in California, too. Our local school system is outstanding, and that's because the community supports the schools, both by taking interest in the actions of the local school boards and by, in many cases, directly volunteering to help in the schools.

It wasn't always this way. But after a couple of school board recalls and constant attendance at school board meetings, the word is out that the community cares about its schools.

I volunteer to teach about my area of expertise, and do that several times a year as a guest of the school. We had trouble with the budget for the music programs, too, so local musicians stepped in and filled in to keep the programs going, donating time, instruments, and more.

Maybe you just live somewhere where nobody cares about the schools enough to do something about them. I'm sorry to hear that, but it all starts with your first school board meeting.

[longtermmemmory]

no case open, public schools are public. The school property often doubles as a park. The fact that he was let and no one disputes he clearly said he was on a break, negates the fact that he was permitted on the building. In fact if he tried, as a parent especially, to do this when students were there then he would not have been allowed because of disruption. You may feel unconfortable but his presence and enter were legally sound.

[Lauratealeaf]

In most public schools to gain entrance to a classroom one must go to the office to get permission and sign in. It is doubtful that the officer would have been allowed to go to the classroom during the day.

Teachers know that the materials that are displayed in the classroom are part of the subliminal instruction of the children. In every school where I have taught my administrators have always made note of the materials that I had displayed on the walls, whether it was childrens' work or instructional posters.

After hearing what was on the wall of Treece's classroom I believe that he is teaching the students to be adversaries of our government and not to be good citizens. Pictures speak louder than words.

If there is any hope for the children of our nation teachers such as this should be fired and school boards who allow such teachers should also be fired and finally, a superintendant who behaves in such a way to try to blame the cop instead of the teacher should also be fired.