Religions > Atheism > OT: Teacher busted for lying {also the pastor of a Bronx church}
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
13 Dec 2005 10:17:09 PM |
| Object: |
OT: Teacher busted for lying {also the pastor of a Bronx church} |
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/374363p-318185c.html
Teacher busted for lying
Got time off for Brazil trip by saying Guard unit was aiding flood
victims
BY ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A Bronx teacher was yanked from his classroom yesterday after
admitting he lied about needing time off to join his National Guard
unit to aid New Orleans flood victims, officials said.
Special-ed teacher James Thomas, also the pastor of a Bronx church,
actually spent those October days at a religious conference in Brazil,
said Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon.
Thomas, 55, told the Daily News last night that his troubles began
when he fell off a ladder last year in his church, St. Paul
Evangelical Lutheran, and didn't get mental health care afterward.
When he gave his school the bogus excuse for time off, he forged
military orders to cover his tracks - but a suspicious school
secretary triggered an investigation.
The probe ended yesterday with the school seeking to fire him.
He'll have to repay $828 he earned for four excused absences from the
Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology, and the case
has been turned over to the Bronx district attorney's office, which
could investigate him for theft and forgery.
Thomas also was forced to resign from the Air National Guard's 106th
Rescue Wing after 28 years, officials said.
"It's almost sad," Condon said. "It makes no sense. He's a Lutheran
minister. He's been a chaplain for 28 years. He was a teacher in the
school system - and for $828, he just ruins all of that."
Reached by phone last night, Thomas declined to say whether he plans
to fight his dismissal.
"I enjoyed working with kids. I enjoyed helping them," he said.
Teachers union President Randi Weingarten urged leniency for Thomas
because of his good reputation, suggesting milder punishment, like
restitution.
Thomas has been a public school special-ed teacher since October 2000
and makes $56,014 a year. He was put on administrative duty yesterday.
His Suffolk County Air National Guard unit has conducted search and
rescue missions around the world, a unit spokeswoman said. A biography
of Thomas says he was a stress management counselor after 9/11.
In the past, Condon's office has busted teachers for wrestling in
Japan, conducting a symphony and playing semipro basketball on school
time.
"No one seems to stay home and read," he said.
Originally published on December 13, 2005
/end
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
.
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