Gay Seminar Teacher Investigated [NC Governor's School: Sexual abuse of minor]

A Carolina Journal Exclusive ^ | February 14, 2006 | Paul Chesser

[TaxRelief]

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K-12 Education

Gay Seminar Teacher Investigated

Teacher probed for sexual misconduct with East Forsyth student

By Paul Chesser

February 14, 2006

RALEIGH — A co-teacher of a controversial seminar on homosexuality at last year's taxpayer-funded Governor's School is under investigation in Forsyth County for alleged sexual misconduct with a student.

Susan Wiseman helped lead a lecture based on a book called "The New Gay Teenager," given at the Governor's School West. The six-week Governor’s School is conducted every summer, with 400 students each at two locations: Salem College in Winston-Salem (West) and Meredith College in Raleigh (East).

The residential program draws public high school students who are approaching their senior years, and who are nominated by their high schools’ teachers and administrators. Students are identified as “intellectually gifted,” and the program “integrat(es) academic disciplines, the arts, and unique courses….”

According to a report in the Winston-Salem Journal on Friday, Wiseman is being investigated for allegations of sexual activity with a 17-year-old student. The report was confirmed to Carolina Journal by a source involved in the investigation.

Wiseman, according to the Journal, is a social studies teacher at East Forsyth High School. She is also listed as a youth coordinator for the Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)-Winston-Salem.

Wiseman co-led the "New Gay Teenager" seminar with a 19-year-old office assistant at the Governor's School — Wesley Nemenz — who is homosexual, a former Governor's School attendee, and a student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The seminar was heavily criticized by James and Beverly Burrows, whose son attended the school last year and said their son returned home from the school “confused” about homosexuality as a result of the seminar, and that they have had to seek family counseling.

“We feel that this was totally inappropriate for the students who were 15, 16, and 17 years old,” the Burrowses wrote to officials at the State Department of Public Instruction last August. “We feel that our rights as parents have been violated by this program.”

The Burrowses accused the Governor's School of having a "pro-homosexual agenda."

DPI and Governor's School officials defended the seminar, saying it was optional for students to attend, as is the Governor’s School itself.

The state budget fully funds the program, with $1.3 million set aside for it this fiscal year. Students are nominated based on specific areas of academic or performing-arts excellence, and pay nothing to attend, other than the cost to travel to the schools.

At least two other families were also disturbed by the changes in their children after returning from the Governor's School last year, based on students' writings on the MySpace Internet website.

Wiseman has not been charged with any crimes. Vanessa Jeter, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Instruction, was unaware of the investigation and said she would make sure the agency's attorneys were aware of it.

"We would take that kind of thing very seriously," Jeter said.

Paul Chesser (pchesser@carolinajournal.org) is associate editor of Carolina Journal.

[TaxRelief]

It is supposed to be an honor to be asked to attend Governor's School. Now, in order to accept that honor, parents must accept the risk of exposing their children to homosexual tyrants, and homosexual recruitment. These kids are academically inclined and come to Governor's School to develop their *minds*.

[WayneS]

"Students are nominated based on specific areas of academic or performing-arts excellence..."

So what does a seminar on homosexuality, taught by gay activists, have to do with furthering academic or performing arts excellence?

[Constitution Day]

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day, TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[TheBattman]

I believe NC followed Arkansas's example for their Governor's School (started by Bill Clinton here). And yes, lots of homosexual and other liberal topic indoctrination. Very graphic videos and such have been shown, as well as speakers supporting vastly leftist points of view.

And now we see what happens when you have the types of peopel involved in said topic have contact with the kids....

[davisfh]

"These kids are academically inclined and come to Governor's School to develop their *minds*."

Indeed! And, hopefully, to not warp their minds.

[krb]

Nope. North Carolina's Governor's School was 100% the brain-child of our own Terry Sanford, and dates back to 1963, long before Slick entered the scene.

The North Carolina Governor's School progam has been the standard that other states followed, more or less, although not all of them stay strict to the original goal of fostering "contemporary thought."

[wintertime]

The state budget fully funds the program, with $1.3 million set aside for it this fiscal year. ( from the article)
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The taxes paid by the citizens to support this pro-homosexual indoctrination is **not**optional.

This is just another example of why government must get out of the education business. Education (optional or not) can never be neutral in content or in consequences. Education will always favor and **establish** the political, cultural, and moral/ethical values ( that means religion) of some citizens while actively undermine those of other citizens.

[wintertime]

Wiseman is being investigated for allegations of sexual activity with a 17-year-old student. ( from the article)

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If your child is homeschooled they will not be sexually, physically, or emotionally abused in school.

[QwertyKPH]

Susan Wiseman

[TaxRelief]

Homeschooled kids do go to Governor's School as well. It's a summer "camp" for high school students.

[TaxRelief]

LOL. That looks like a 4th grade science project.
Look at that cute contrasting construction paper behind the project paragraphs typed in an oversized font!

Great graphic.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

It is sad to think that society should be pleased that the gay teacher didn't molest a younger child, I mean whew- the kid was 17, almost an adult- so he must have enjoyed it... (right?) *sarcastic eye roll*

Now we have a new risk at school- pedophiles celebrating their attacks out in the open during a tax funded party ,on public property~ with no limit of fresh victims.

I know the left is proud~they have worked very hard for this~*right of freedom*.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

These things are designed to confuse and disorient the moral values of the young. They are leftist madrassas. Once values are dislodged from their anchors, they are up for grabs by the athiestic and immoral left. Confused youth are easily led.

[krb]

That's a load of crap, too. Check out that legible panel about the Mayflower Compact. I've never read the darn thing, but I sure as heck remember what I was taught about it. Not that I'm against her "primary sources" methodology per se, but I think her theory is BS.

I'll posit that you can't just be given a copy of, for instance, the Magna Carta and exect to glean its sheer profundity without loads of instruction regarding history and its place in time. In fact clauses such as "* (11) If a man dies owing money to Jews, his wife may have her dower and pay nothing towards the debt from it." may require a little explanation...

Sorry for the digression from the real topic of the Governor's School Buggery...

[freema]

When did she put that presentation together, is this a 7th grade project? She looks older than 7th grade. What's with all the adhesive tape? I've seen much better presentations by other 7th graders. This certainly wasn't an adult/professional presentation, do you think?

[TaxRelief]

...pedophiles celebrating their attacks out in the open during a tax funded party ,on public property~ with no limit of fresh victims.

BINGO. You should send that comment to the editor of the Winston-Salem Journal.

[krb]

When I went there I heard some of the teachers complaining about the low salaries instructors get. Often I thought "then don't teach here."

Now I think I get it...

[Clemenza]

Why does North Carolina seem to attract more liberals than other Southern States? Is it because of all the universities?

[TaxRelief]

From today's Winston-Salem Journal:

"Wiseman's identification lifted a veil of secrecy a week after a Forsyth District Court judge issued a sweeping gag order on the case that prevented the disclosure of the name of the accused, her employment status and the school where she taught. Judge Lisa Menefee, who signed the gag order last Friday, signed another order yesterday allowing documents to be unsealed. Her actions came hours after the Winston-Salem Journal filed a motion asking the N.C. Court of Appeals to overturn the protective order.

Menefee and Tom Keith, the Forsyth County district attorney, said that the appeal did not factor into the decision to overturn the gag order. Menefee declined to say why she revoked the order, and Keith said that it was no longer needed to protect the investigation.

Keith said he wanted to protect the case that he was trying to build. He said he knew that the case would lead to intense media coverage that would discourage witnesses from coming forward.

Also, the investigating officer, who specializes in investigating sex offenses, was tied up in a trial, he said.

"I'm not ready to turn over the prosecution of criminals in this county to the newspaper," Keith said, calling the order a "slight inconvenience" to the news media.

"I don't think the First Amendment trumps everything," Keith said.

Hugh Stevens, an attorney for the Journal, said that it is still unclear to him why the protective order, which the Journal's lawsuit called "manifestly unconstitutional," was written and why it was then rescinded.

"Obviously, we're certainly pleased that the judge has vacated her order, which we viewed as totally improper. But it's not clear why she did that," Stevens said.

Both school officials and Winston-Salem police said they did not request the gag order.

"There's a little bit of an implication ... that we were out there lobbying, cajoling," said Don Martin. the superintendent of the school system. "We didn't know that records could be sealed, quite frankly. That was on the DA's side, and of course there is an attorney for the alleged guilty party here."

Police were preparing a news release about the case when the protective order was issued, said Capt. Bill Cobb, a police spokesman. "We were not the petitioners on that (order)," he said.

(excerpt)

[Clemenza]

In fact clauses such as "* (11) If a man dies owing money to Jews, his wife may have her dower and pay nothing towards the debt from it." may require a little explanation...

A pound of flesh, Mr. Shylock?