Comments on: Nancy Drew, 2013

By: manybellsdown

manybellsdown — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000

I taught for 10+ years, and I agree, what we pay our lower-grade teachers is laughable. But stealing from your students is still wrong. It’s not their fault. And how many of the students she stole from are lower income? How many of them lost their lunch money for the week or the few dollars they earned at an afterschool job?

By: manybellsdown

manybellsdown — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:57:00 +0000

My daughter’s old school only took cash for lunch, so sometimes I’d give her a $20 for the week because that’s what comes out of ATMs. It was kind of a shitty school too, so this wouldn’t have surprised me much. Fortunately we moved to a good school district.

By: dculberson

dculberson — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:40:00 +0000

Oh yes, poor people that have full time jobs always steal, and it’s definitely okay for them to steal since they’re desperate!!

Seriously, you’re as bad as the “rich people can do no wrong” sort.

By: Ean Moody

Ean Moody — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:44:00 +0000

Her reasons really don’t matter: She was stealing from children in her care. If you’re going to assume that the teacher is desperate, how many children might themselves be poor, desperate, and working at minimum wage after school for their money?

And then their teacher swipes it while they’re forced to attend class. Even prison guards are expected to be above that kind of treatment to their prisoners.

By: Ean Moody

Ean Moody — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:40:00 +0000

Yeah, but a dollar per student per day can add up quick, and if these are high school students some of them will have jobs and extra cash as a result.

Since most schools I know do gym with two classes at once and a teacher of each gender for supervision purposes, this teacher probably has access to 15-30 students per class period (assuming classes are 30 people, co-ed, and gender is randomized) for six class periods a day.

If you assume an average of $1 per student, that’s about $90 per day with a 15 person pool to steal from. I’ve worked full time jobs that didn’t pay that well…

Plus, the teacher would have time to talk to the students, see what they wear and how they act. She’d know which ones have jobs and are likely to have more cash on hand. Her average is probably higher since she only goes after the promising targets.

By: Ean Moody

Ean Moody — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:32:00 +0000

“What is this, a school for ants?!”

Sorry. Obligatory.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:21:00 +0000

If she’s been in the same job for 30 years, she’s making over $70K plus benefits. Stealing from her students is indefensible.

By: Brusyur Soksow

Brusyur Soksow — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:13:00 +0000

yeah, those PE teachers are all paid so much money that how could this possibly be a crime of desperation. and semi-anonymous internet users everywhere have every right and reason to judge her based on a couple of skim read paragraphs and a minute or 2 of video. I wonder what an appropriate punishment would be in the United States of Humiliation for being poor…

By: cservant

cservant — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:22:00 +0000

Is this a rich school or something? I generally thought highschool students don’t have enough money worth stealing.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 03:33:00 +0000

Hemet.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 03:28:00 +0000

I saw this earlier on abcnews, and nobody in the comments could believe that the reporter passed so lightly over the principal ordering her to delete the video.

But they do tell us 60 or 70 times that her decision to figure out who was stealing her money was “not an easy one”. If only the police had such delicate consciences and respect for the privacy of serial thieves, what a world it would be.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 03:22:00 +0000

I thought that was Barstow’s gig. Or Santee’s.

By: wygit

wygit — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 02:57:00 +0000

I saw this earlier on abcnews, and nobody in the comments could believe that the reporter passed so lightly over the principal ordering her to delete the video.
About as lightly as the reporter in this story treated it. (It looks like this is a rewrite of the abcnews story)
On second read, this story says the principal “asked” her to delete the video.
I can’t believe that neither reporter thought it was a big deal.

By: cameronhorsburgh

cameronhorsburgh — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 02:40:00 +0000

I can imagine a high school student fitting in a locker, but not a high school.

In Australia we put lockers in our schools, not the other way around.

By: Promethean Sky

Promethean Sky — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 02:38:00 +0000

Well I doubt she had room to stretch out. In my experience, most students could fit in a standard locker, but it would be cramped, and require a little crouching.

By: cameronhorsburgh

cameronhorsburgh — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 02:33:00 +0000

The photo caption:

“A California high school hid in a gym locker to catch her teacher stealing kids’ money.”

Just how big are the schools and/or lockers in the US?

By: redesigned

redesigned — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:26:00 +0000

also i like how they always say the teacher “was well liked”…yeah up until the point where everyone found out they were stealing from all the students. heck, charles manson was “well liked”, kind of irrelevant to the crimes committed.

By: redesigned

redesigned — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:23:00 +0000

meanwhile the boy hidden in the locker next to her with his mobile phone camera was sweating bullets and glad he didn’t get caught!

By: Pjay (Patti) Pender

Pjay (Patti) Pender — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:43:00 +0000

She actually says she suspected a student was doing it and was shocked to discover it was a teacher.

By: Petzl

Petzl — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:19:00 +0000

If this goes according to the Abu Ghraib playbook, the school will institute a policy banning cameras and recording devices..

By: jimh

jimh — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:05:00 +0000

Who else have you told about this?
(puts on gloves….)

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:01:00 +0000

Good thing she was smart. If you get video footage of criminal wrongdoing by an authority figure, make sure you’ve shared/distributed/copied/uploaded that video before showing it to other authority figures. (See also: Oscar Grant)

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:51:00 +0000

Surely he can be charged with attempting to destroy evidence or suborning perjury or something.

By: Timothy Krause

Timothy Krause — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:48:00 +0000

And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids.

A great argument for the rights of school-aged kids and young people to their digital devices in school.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:40:00 +0000

The city of Stockton exists to keep California from feeling too good about itself.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:33:00 +0000

I miss Veronica Mars.

By: Mostafa Alattar

Mostafa Alattar — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:26:00 +0000

I like how she went from being a mastermind to being a masternind midway through the video.

By: Work_Watch_Buy_Repeat

Work_Watch_Buy_Repeat — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:25:00 +0000

Tomorrow’s headline:

“Area teen charged with felony wiretapping, trespassing, and disorderly conduct.”

Or at least it will be, if the school administrators follow the now-standard US playbook for handling citizen-videotapes-corrupt-authority-figure incidents.

By: crummett

crummett — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:15:00 +0000

Very brave of her. I can imagine the school system trying to make her life a living hell for the rest of her HS career. Drew on!

By: Gilbert Wham

Gilbert Wham — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:13:00 +0000

“Betti showed the video to the school principal who said he’ll look into the matter. The principal also asked Betti to delete the clips” Jesus tittyfucking christ…