Religions > Atheism > OT: Lawsuit looms in ex-teacher's affair Former student seeking custody of child
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
27 Jan 2006 11:55:36 PM |
| Object: |
OT: Lawsuit looms in ex-teacher's affair Former student seeking custody of child |
http://www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1138268448217260.xml&coll=2
Lawsuit looms in ex-teacher's affair
Former student seeking custody
Thursday, January 26, 2006
James F. McCarty
Plain Dealer Reporter
The attractive new substitute teacher at Strongsville High School
proposed a novel incentive to her class of special-education students:
Improve your grades and win a dinner date with the teacher.
No one says the contest was fixed, but the winner was the 17-year-old
captain of the football team, Steven Bradigan.
Dinner at the Dairy Queen was nothing special, but what happened
afterwards was enough to melt his ice cream. In the car in the parking
lot at Westfield SouthPark mall, Bradigan said the 36-year-old teacher,
Christine Scarlett, wrapped her arms around him and tried to kiss him.
"I said, 'Whoa!' and pushed her away, and she started to cry," Bradigan,
20, recalled recently.
They both eventually composed themselves, he said, then spent the next
half hour making out - a version of events Scarlett denies.
That was in November 2002, and began a sexual relationship that
continued off-and-on for more than two years, with stolen moments at
school, rendezvous in Scarlett's home and the birth of a son.
Now, Bradigan is pressing a custody case in Cuyahoga County Juvenile
Court, and has sent warning letters to the Strongsville schools and
Police Department threatening a lawsuit.
He accuses them of negligence for failing to pursue a criminal
investigation of Scarlett.
"They asked her if she had sex with my son, and she said, 'No,' " said
Lawrence Bradigan, Steven's father.
"That was the extent of the school's investigation."
Steven Bradigan thinks his case will be bolstered by X-rated photos of
the couple snapped by his high school buddies.
Scarlett, 39, who is married and the mother of a 9-year-old daughter by
a previous marriage, was subsequently fired from her teaching job. Ten
months later, she gave birth to a son. DNA tests show Bradigan is the
2-year-old's father.
Scarlett admits she had a romantic relationship with Bradigan, but
insists nothing improper happened while she was his teacher. She said
Bradigan was a willing partner, and the only reason he was in a
special-education class was due to a hearing problem and a learning
deficiency.
Documents obtained by her lawyer show Bradigan has an above-average IQ.
Bradigan's attorney, William Crosby, said Scarlett took advantage of a
minor, but she's not the only one at fault.
"Steve was an innocent and naive kid and a virgin with handicaps that
this teacher exploited," Crosby said. "She stole his innocence from
him."
He posed a hypothetical question: "How do you think they would have
reacted had this been a male teacher having an affair with a 17-year-old
female student? The teacher would be in prison," Crosby said.
At first, Bradigan kept quiet about his dinner date with the teacher.
But a week later, Scarlett arranged for a secret meeting with Bradigan
at his friend's house and brought along a six-pack of beer. The friend's
father discovered Scarlett hiding in a bedroom closet and blew the
whistle to Bradigan's parents.
Schools Superintendent James Gray said he fired Scarlett as soon as he
heard about the closet incident, and two weeks later he called the
Department of Children and Family Services to report Scarlett, which
agency Director James McCafferty confirmed.
Gray said he acquiesced to the family's wishes not to call the police or
to pursue charges against the former English teacher.
"My first consideration was the safety of our students," Gray said.
"That's the last I heard of it."
Police Chief Charles Goss also denied any wrongdoing.
"If anyone had brought this complaint to us, I assure you we would have
pursued it immediately," Goss said. "They never filed a police report
with us."
Gray denied knowing that Scarlett continued to see Bradigan after she
was fired, that she gave birth to his child or that she had made the
date-for-grades offer to her students.
"I never heard of that in my life," he said. "Obviously, I'm horrified
if that truly happened. Certainly, that would have been the highest
degree of unprofessionalism. That is a very slippery slope, when you
start getting involved in relationships between teachers and students."
In an interview, Steven Bradigan and his parents became emotional as
they talked about the repercussions of the affair. Someone at the school
scribbled profanity on his locker. Classmates taunted him in the
cafeteria. Teachers mentioned the affair in class, and a coach asked
Bradigan what it felt like to have sex with Scarlett, Bradigan said.
Scarlett now works part time at a furniture store. When contacted by a
reporter last week, she said, "I'm just really shocked" after learning
the Bradigans were intent on seeking civil compensation.
Scarlett agreed to an interview this week, then changed her mind,
referring all questions to her attorney, Eric Laubacher.
"She's mortified, really sorry about any pain or embarrassment she's
caused to her family," Laubacher said Wednesday. "But that's a far cry
from having any legal liability."
Scarlett denies being the aggressor in the relationship. She also denies
she was fired from her teaching job, but says she left on her own accord
after a teacher with better credentials replaced her.
"There's a lot of salacious details and smoke in this case," Laubacher
said, "but I don't believe my client did anything illegal or that she
could be held liable for."
Scarlett has resolved the marital problems that led to the affair, and
her husband supports her in the custody case against Bradigan, the
lawyer said.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
jmccarty@plaind.com, 216-999-4153
© 2006 The Plain Dealer
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
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| User: "Kate" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Lawsuit looms in ex-teacher's affair Former student seeking custody of child |
30 Jan 2006 12:51:53 PM |
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It's not that uncommon to promise a fast food meal for a reward in
schools. My daughter has won those a few times from enterprising
teachers who exploit the desire of kids for McDonalds. This doesn't
quite ring true - obviously if a girl would have won, it wouldn't have
been considered a date.
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Lawsuit looms in ex-teacher's affair Former student seeking custody of child |
31 Jan 2006 11:03:55 AM |
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On 30 Jan 2006 10:51:53 -0800, "Kate" <Kate@twoangryliberals.com> wrote
in alt.atheism
It's not that uncommon to promise a fast food meal for a reward in
schools. My daughter has won those a few times from enterprising
teachers who exploit the desire of kids for McDonalds. This doesn't
quite ring true - obviously if a girl would have won, it wouldn't have
been considered a date.
I wouldn't be surprised if some key details were missing. The article
was an oddity I thought folks would have found of idle interest.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a cornucopia of splinters.
.
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