Student Rants at Teacher in Viral Video

Hemera Technologies/ThinkStock(DUNCANVILLE, Texas) -- A Texas high school student’s rant against his teacher has gone viral on YouTube, prompting the district to look at its teaching procedures.

“If you would just get up and teach us instead of handing ‘em a packet, yo. There’s kids in here that don’t learn like that. … They need to learn face-to-face,” Duncanville High School student Jeff Bliss said in the YouTube video recorded by a classmate. “You want kids to come to class? You want them to get excited? You gotta come in here, you gotta make ‘em excited. To change him and make him better, you gotta touch his freakin’ heart. You can’t expect a kid to change if all you do is just tell him.”

Bliss, 18, was kicked out of class by his history teacher after a discussion escalated between the two. Bliss said that a test required three days to complete, but his teacher demanded that the class complete the test within two days.

In the YouTube video, Bliss was told repeatedly by his teacher to leave the classroom. However, as he made his way to the exit, he continued to tell his teacher that her pedagogical approach was wrong.

“You gotta take this job seriously,” Bliss said in the YouTube video. “This is the future of this nation. And when you come in here like you did last time and make a statement about how, ‘This is my paycheck,’ indeed it is, but this is my country’s future and my education.”

Bliss told ABC News that he wished he’d delivered his message in a different manner.

“As far as my attitude was during the video, that could have been taken better in a better manner,” he said. “But at the same time, I realize we all have our spur-of-the-moments.”

Duncanville School District Chief Communications Officer Tammy Kuykendall told ABC News she understood Bliss’ view.

“He makes a number of valid statements about how schools across America need to change, and it is creating a conversation,” she said. “We have focus groups, student panels, so we listen to students and we will continue to listen.”

Kuykendall added that she does not condemn Bliss.

“I feel it is important to share [that] we don’t blame this student or think he did something wrong,” she said. “There are other ways to go about sharing concerns happening in a classroom. Administrators need to know about that. He makes a number of valid statements.”

Bliss’s mother, Rhonda Bliss, said she is not upset with her son and respects his stance.

“I have told the people I support what he did,” she said. “I am an educator, too, and I understand his passion and I understand his concerns, and I support what he did.”

She said Bliss’s tirade was not specifically aimed at one person alone.

“It wasn’t to the teacher,” she said. “It was to address the bigger issue which is education.”

As for Bliss, he said he hopes his declaration inspires others to take action.

“I’m hoping that maybe this sparks something up in other people, teachers, and parents, and even administrators, as well,” he said. “I’m hoping that maybe they, themselves stand up and also demand more. I hope they go to their sons’ schools or school board meetings and speak and see what’s going on in the schools.”

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Virginia Teens Admit to Attempting to Poison Teacher

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) -- Two Virginia middle school students are facing felony charges of attempted poisoning after they allegedly spiked their teacher's tea at least twice with hand sanitizer.

The two 13-year-old male students, who have not been named, were removed from Hines Middle School in Newport News, Va., and placed in an alternative school after confessing, officials said. The attempted poisoning was brought to the school's attention by student witnesses on Jan. 29, who contacted the school's resource officer and assistant principal, according to Michelle Price with Newport News Public Schools.

"An investigation was started by the administrators at Hines," Price told ABC News. "This usually involves interviewing students involved, and the ones who came forward, and talking to the teacher. The students did then confess to putting some hand sanitizer in the teacher's beverage."

The school's officer then contacted the Newport News police department's Special Victims Unit, which conducted a thorough investigation, police said in a statement. On March 6, the two teens were each charged with one count of attempted poisoning, a class three felony.

The two students were removed, according to Price, and recommended for long-term suspensions. They were then referred to a disciplinary review committee, which involves three school board members, who upheld the long-term suspension.

"It's the board's philosophy that all students should be offered some sort of educational experience," Price said. "They are with students who have been convicted of or are facing charges."

The two students were sent to a separate community school in January, and will not be able to attend any other comprehensive school in the district during the police investigation, according to Price.

Price said that the 66-year-old teacher, who does not want to be named, was unaware that anything had been put in her tea until she was told, and missed a few days of teaching when she went to see her doctor.

"She did not require hospitalization. Aside from few days she's missed she's been teaching," Price said. "We don't believe a lot of it was ingested, and we believe it may have happened twice."

Hines Middle School does not stand out as a problem school in the district, and most of the problems at the school can be characterized as "preteen and teen drama," according to Price.

If the accused teens are found guilty they will have to remain in the community school, she said.

A class three felony carries a punishment of not less than five years nor more than 20 years in prison and a fine of not more than $100,000 in Virginia, according to police. It is unclear how the teens plead, as Newport News juvenile court does not share information pertaining to juveniles.

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New Orleans Schoolteacher Missing After Leaving Bar

Click to name Right: Terrilyn Monnette on the night she disappeared. (Images Courtesy of Amy Hoyle)(NEW ORLEANS) -- New Orleans police and family members are frantically searching for an elementary school teacher who has been missing since last Saturday.

Twenty-six-year-old Terrilynn Monnette was last seen with friends at a bar in the Lakeview section of the Crescent City last Friday evening. She left the bar around 4 o’clock Saturday morning with a male acquaintance,  reported ABC’s New Orleans affiliate WGNO, telling her friends that she was going to take a nap in her car before driving home because she’d had a few drinks.

The bar’s general manager told WGNO that the two talked in the parking lot “for a little while,” but the bar’s video surveillance showed they left in separate cars. “He went one way, she went the other,” the bar manager said.

An eyewitness has told police that he saw the missing teacher with an unidentified man in the bar’s parking lot, according to information on the missing person’s flyer that Monnette’s family has been distributing.

Police detectives are searching for Monnette’s car -- a black Louisiana-registered Honda Accord with license plate number WUN494, according to the missing person’s flyer.

They are also looking at area surveillance tapes, including one from an adjacent bank, reported WGNO.  

Thursday morning a handful of people fanned out in the area near the bar, where the 5 feet 8 inch 180-pound woman was last seen. Monnette’s longtime friend and sorority sister Lezette Montion, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, has taken time off to help with the search.

”I have the experience to deal with land navigation and hunting -- and that’s kind of in a sense what we are doing,” Montion told ABC News. “We’re hunting for clues. Anything that will kind of tip us off, because all we have to go off is the video from the bar.”

"We’ve already found a calculator and brief case," said Monnette, items friends hope will help police in their investigation. "And, you know, we women...carry our whole world in our cars sometimes, and none of us know what she had in her vehicle."

 It is not clear whether the located items belonged to the missing teacher.

"It’s a huge area to cover in the search,” said Montion. “I would just like as many people as possible to come help us look.”

The search was to continue for the next couple of days, but, according to Montion, the detectives investigating the case asked her team of volunteers to stop the search out of fear that it would “contaminate” evidence.  According to Montion, police told her they would resume the search Saturday -- a full week after Monnette disappeared.

“New Orleans is huge and it’s surrounded by water.  How could you stop searching for a loved one?” Montion told ABC News.

Calls to the New Orleans Police Department by ABC News were not immediately returned.

A native of California, Monnette had been teaching in the New Orleans area for two years, and recently became a second-grade teacher at Woodland West Elementary school in Jefferson Parish. Woodland West Principal Amy Hoyle said Monnette showed outstanding promise.  

"She came after the school year started, which is usually hard for teachers.  But she handled it great, and she emerged quickly as a teacher leader," Hoyle told ABC News.

"She took the lowest-performing classes, and in a matter of four months, she turned those students into some of our highest achievers."

Hoyle said Monnette's colleagues and second-grade students were, "all very aware that this is going on."  Woodland West Elementary has provided grief counselors, Hoyle said.

Police urge anyone with any information to call 504-821-2222.

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California Student Catches Alleged Thief: Her Teacher

ABC News(LINDEN, Calif.) -- A California high school student was shocked at what she found when she decided to play detective and stop a string of thefts from backpacks during gym class.

Justine Betti said she decided to hide in a locker to see if she could catch the thief in action. She didn’t expect the alleged culprit to be her gym teacher.

After all of the students left the locker room, the teacher stayed behind, rummaged through backpacks and took money, Betti said.

“Something needed to be done. That’s not okay,” she told ABC News’ Sacramento affiliate, KXTV. Betti is a sophomore at Linden High School in Linden, Calif., about 60 miles southeast of Sacramento.

Betti decided to hide in the locker again — this time, with a cellphone camera to record what she saw. She set up a second camera in another locker to get two angles.

Once again, she said she saw the teacher go through the bags.  Her video shows someone digging through the bags, and one video appears to show the person taking something out of a pink duffel bag.

“I didn’t want to believe that she would do something like that because she was so nice, but then she did it,” Betti said. “It was really scary. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I can’t believe I just got this on video.’”

Betti said she kept watching it “over and over” and eventually took the video to her principal with some friends.

“He said that he’ll investigate it and he told us to delete the video, but I had already sent it to my dad,” she said.

The teacher is on administrative leave, according to KXTV. The Linden School District told ABC News that it is investigating the matter, but the superintendent did not immediately respond to requests for further information.

The teacher has not been identified, but is a 30-year teaching veteran described as a “great teacher” by many students.

Betti said she struggled with recording and sharing the video, but said classmates have supported her.

“They’ve been supportive and said that we did the right thing,” she said. “We feel like we did the right thing, but it’s still kind of hard.”

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Kindergarten Teacher and School Nurse Held in Murder-for-Hire Plot

ABC News(FRANKLIN, Va.) -- A Virginia elementary school teacher and a school nurse are facing charges in what police are calling a murder-for-hire plot.

Angela Nolen, a 47-year-old kindergarten teacher, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly plotting to hire a hit man to kill her ex-husband for $8,000. According to police, Nolen’s friend 37-year-old Cathy Bennett, a school nurse, worked with Nolen to find a hit man.

According to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Nolen’s plan unraveled when she gave a police officer, working undercover as a hit man, an up-front fee of $4,000 to kill her ex-husband, 63-year-old Paul Strickler.

Strickler, who is the father of Nolen’s 7-year-old daughter, told the Roanoke Times he had been working on a deal to sell his house to Nolen.

“If I was dead, she would not have to give me the money,” he told the Roanoke Times. “That scares the H-E-L-L out of me. I’m just so glad that the state police found out about this and uncovered it.”

Strickler’s attorney, Stephen Meddy, said his client was “distraught” when he heard about the alleged plot and that the couple’s divorce proceedings had raised no red flags. Nolen had full custody of their daughter before her arrest.

According to The Franklin News-Post, Nolen had filed a protective order against her ex-husband in October 2012.

Franklin County Superintendent Mark Church, who oversees the school system where the two women work, tried to reassure parents and students that no one in the school was threatened.

“These events as we understand them did not involve the school or any students and they are as safe as we can reasonably make them,” he said.

Franklin County Commonwealth Attorney Tim Allen said the prosecution would ask for at least a $75,000 bond for Bennett at the school nurse’s bond hearing.

“The mere fact of what she did is so egregious, you have to look at that as a danger to the community,” Allen said. “That’s what the commonwealth is worried about.”

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Former Florida Teacher in Sex Case Ordered Back on Probation

ABC News(TAMPA, Fla.) -- Debra Lafave, the former Tampa, Fla., middle school teacher and pin-up model who pleaded guilty in 2005 to having sex with a 14-year-old student, has been ordered back on probation.

A trial judge released Lafave from the remainder of her probation obligation before she served her full sentence of three years house arrest and seven years probation.

On Thursday, a Hillsborough County, Fla., judge reinstated LaFave’s probation, ordering the mother of twins to serve another four years and two months probation, to observe a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and to stay away from schools, according to ABC News affiliate WFTS in Tampa, Fla.

Attending court Thursday morning with her parents, Lafave told reporters how she spent her year off of probation.

“My mom was diagnosed with cancer for the second time and I spent my … off-probation taking care of her,” she said, according to WFTS.  “I’m so fortunate that I was able to take her to chemo treatments and spend the nights with her when she needed me the most.”

Even with Thursday’s ruling, though, the matter may not be settled.

“The Supreme Court of Florida has accepted jurisdiction of the case,” said Lafave’s attorney, John Fitzgibbons, according to WFTS.  “We’re hopeful we will receive a favorable ruling in the next six months to a year from the Supreme Court, and that should finally conclude things one way or another in this case.”

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Transgender Teacher Sues Catholic School over Firing

Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A transgender teacher is suing the New York City Catholic school where he worked for more than 30 years, claiming he was wrongfully terminated for growing out his hair, painting his fingernails and being "worse than gay."

In a lawsuit, Mark Krolikowski, 59, alleges that after 32 years of teaching at St. Francis Prep in Queens, N.Y., and receiving numerous accolades for his work, including leading students in a musical performance for Pope Benedict XVI, he was fired last year after the parents of a ninth-grader complained about his appearance.

Krolikowski remains anatomically male and routinely wore suits and neckties to school where he taught music, social studies and a class on human sexuality. He also wore earrings and manicured his nails in "a feminine style," according to court documents.

In 2011, Krolikowski was summoned to the office of the principal, Brother Leonard Conway, where he revealed that he was transgender and that he intended to start coming to work dressed as a woman. According to Krowlikowski's lawsuit, Conway told the teacher that being transgender was "worse than gay" and that he could no longer appear at public events if he planned to begin appearing as a woman.

"He is extremely upset given the dedication and devotion he showed to the school for 30 years," Krolikowski's lawyer, Andrew Kimler, told ABCNews.com.

Kimler said that although his client worked for a private, religious school, Krolikowski was still protected under city and state discrimination laws.

Kimler would not reveal the damages his client hopes to claim through the lawsuit.

A lawyer for the school said the school had cause to fire the teacher and he was not relieved due to his gender identity.

"His employment was terminated for appropriate non-discriminatory reasons," said the school's attorney, Phil Sempervivo.

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NY Teacher Claims First-Grader Beat Him Up

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Rodrigo Carpio is a 6-year-old second-grade student at a New York City elementary school who stands less than five feet tall.

John Webster, is a 27-year-old, 5-foot-10, 220-pound former college football player who claims that Carpio, his former student, caused him physical damage so severe that he has not been able to return to his teaching job at P.S. 330 in Queens. He's now threatening to sue the city, Department of Education and possibly even the child's family.

"This young boy was clearly a tiny terror," Webster's attorney, Andrew Siben, told ABC News. "He [Webster] was, in short, assaulted by a 40-pound first-grade student who has an extensive history of violent behavior at the public school he was attending."

Webster, a physical education and health teacher, claims that Carpio had a history of violent behavior at school that went unregulated by administrators. He told the New York Post that, last April, when Carpio was a first-grade student, the boy acted out while walking to the cafeteria for lunch with his classmates.

When Webster, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday by ABC News, tried to discipline him by taking him to the principal's office, Carpio allegedly kicked his teacher in the knee and ankle, causing serious damage, according to his lawyer.

"This young boy repeatedly attempted to hit Mr. Webster 20 times and landed two serious kicks, one to his right knee and one to his right ankle," Siben said. "With the kick to the knee, he sustained a meniscus tear that required surgery and, with the kick to the ankle, an avulsion fracture which might also necessitate surgery."

According to the Post, which first reported the story, an "occurrence report" filed by the school principal that same day, April 26, backs Webster's account that Carpio "was physically aggressive" towards him, as well as the acting school principal and the school safety officer.

Carpio's parents deny that their son is a "tiny terror" but acknowledge he is now taking medication to help him focus.

"To every mother, their child is an angel," Josefa Marcia da Silva, 33, told the Post. "I know that he has problems, but he doesn't deserve to be called such names....He is getting help, and he is much better now."

Carpio is reportedly still at P.S. 330 as a second-grade student, but Webster has not returned to the school because of his injuries. Webster, according to his attorney, is undergoing physical therapy and has been advised by his doctors to not return to the school.

The school has requested that he be evaluated by a doctor of their choosing and return to work, Siben says. He and his client are investigating a lawsuit against the city and Department of Education for their alleged failure to prevent the incident from happening by ignoring earlier warning signs.

"What's truly sad is that Mr. Webster and teachers within the school and the students were not afforded adequate security to prevent injury which ultimately happened to Mr. Webster," Siben said. "Teachers and students proceed each day at their own peril when you have a student that badly misbehaves."

"I think the school should have acted more aggressively and perhaps found a different school to place this young boy who was clearly presenting issues of oppositional defiance," he said.

A message left for the school's principal, Lashawnna Harris, was not returned. Attempts to contact Carpio's family were not successful.

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Michigan State Professor Strips Naked in Class

Michigan State University(EAST LANSING, Mich.) -- A Michigan State University professor was taken into protective custody Monday after taking off his clothes in front of his class and shouting in the school hallway.

In a statement posted on the university website, the university said that a call came in to the local police dispatch center just after 1 p.m. “about a man in the Michigan State University Engineering Building shouting in the hallway.”

“MSU police responded and took the man, a university professor, into protective custody and transported him to a local hospital,” the school said. “No one was injured and the professor is not being charged with a crime.”

Students posting on social media named the professor, but the university spokesman would not confirm the man’s identity.

Monday afternoon a student posted a photo on the social media website Reddit with the comment, “My math teacher just stripped naked during class and was arrested! Go MSU!”

Another student described what happened in greater detail.

“I was in Calc 1 at Michigan State University, and my teacher was always pretty eccentric, but today he went overboard. Half way through class he started screaming at us, swearing left and right,” the student said. “He then started slamming his hands on the window and pressing his face against it, still screaming. Eventually he walked out and down the hallway to the end, all while screaming. He then came back into the classroom and took off his clothes, except for his socks. You know someone’s crazy when they leave their socks on lmao. At this point everyone in class ran out. We were literally scared for our lives. The police took about 15 minutes to get here and during this time he continued walking around screaming.”

Another student posted, “As someone who is also in this class, I can confirm his eccentricity. He wore the same set of clothes every single day up until today and his mind never seemed to be stable. Everyone in the class could probably have seen this coming from day one, it was just a matter of time until it happened. He made the weirdest analogies, the most notable being about beating his wife.”

The university said the school’s counseling center “has reached out to students who may have witnessed the incident to offer any support they need.”

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Murder-for-Hire Teacher has History of Disciplinary Problems

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office(TAMPA BAY, Fla.) -- A Florida high school teacher accused of masterminding a murder for hire plot against a coworker  has a history of disciplinary problems.

In a letter dated November 2001 and obtained by ABC News affiliate WFTS-TV, James Pepe, 55, was chastised for an apparent outburst.

“Your unprofessional conduct… caused a disruption of a school function and created an uncomfortable and hostile situation…” said a letter from the Professional Standards Director at Tampa Bay Technical High School, where Pepe worked at the time.

“Several professionals described your demeanor in terms such as ‘hostile,’ ‘aggressive,’ ‘extremely volatile,’ and your anger as ‘alarming,’” the letter stated.

Despite the letter, the station noted that Pepe’s evaluations were nearly perfect.

Pepe, a social studies teacher at Bloomingdale High School in Hillsborough County who liked students to call him “Doctor Professor Pepe,” was arrested at school on Thursday.

In a Sept. 13 phone call, Pepe, allegedly told an undercover officer that he was willing to pay $2,000 for  ”an issue that he might need taken care of,” according to WFTS-TV.

He is accused of trying to put out a hit on Robert Meredith, a former co-worker. The two men had apparently worked together at Strawberry Crest High School.

Both schools are in the Hillsborough County public school district.

Authorities began investigating Pepe in August after the man he allegedly contacted to kill Meredith became concerned that he was serious and called authorities.

“It had moved beyond just a fixation to an actual anger,” a spokesperson for the Plant City Police Department told ABC News.

Police called the FBI which then, according to authorities, taped a series of phone calls between Pepe and an undercover agent.

In the recording made just two weeks ago, in which Pepe allegedly told the undercover officer he would be willing to pay him $2,000, Pepe balked at the officer’s request for an in-person meeting.

Meredith told WFTS-TV he knew of Pepe, but did not socialize with him and has no idea why he would be targeted.

“When you are at school you have limited time to talk to co-workers, period.  So, as far as going out and having a drink, never,” Meredith said.  “This came as a complete shock.”

Pepe reportedly told police he and Meredith were best friends and had a falling out.  He also claimed Meredith was spreading rumors that he was a child molester.

Meredith, who is still a teacher, said he never had any harsh words or a confrontation with Pepe.

“I don’t feel that I’m in any way culpable for this,” he said.  “If there is a problem, it is 100 percent on the other side.”

Pepe is being held at Hillsborough County jail on one charge of solicitation to commit murder. He was not offered bail.

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