I am just ill over this. Mad as hell too, mostly at her father now, for not telling me, and not pushing the matter harder with the school. Back during that time, we were at the peak of our conflict, to put it as concisely as possible. So it was not out of character for her father not to inform me of things. That the school didn’t tell me, is inexcusable though. I do know that, if I had known, that school would have done a whole lot more than give the guy a “vacation” to overcome “the stress of his job” … they would have had to deal with a hellbrand of a mama determined that her baby get justice. I am just sick with the thought that if something had been done then, this girl and her family would not be going through this now. It just seems like the schools either don’t care, or are more concerned with protecting their own interests.

Yep, that school is pretty screwed up … it was not long after that 2000/2001 incident that I called to consult with my son’s guidance counselor over my gut feelings that he was being abused by his father. They pretty much refused to do anything to help, not even bring him in to talk or anything. Basically, they blew me off as a vengeful, trouble-making non-custodial parent. It was only a few weeks later that a neighbor witnessed his dad beating the crap out of him and reported it to the police. A week later, he was living with me. Way to take care of the kids, Jefferson!

So far, though, ORHS seems very concerned with the current sitch and my daughter and how she is handling the memories being dredged up. I just hope they remain supportive of her.

I dunno … I’m just mad as hell.

I’m glad to hear that corporal punishment is no longer being used in Oak Ridge schools. I recall the public paddlings (beatings, really, in some cases) administered by the gym and science teachers at the time. Alan Beauchamp was a repeat recipient.

Mr. Koons was always a great guy, and did alot of great things. Everyone felt safe around him. Heck, I even remember when I overheard Koons asking a student from my class “How he was doing” and the kid gave a response like “Good, the voices stopped now”. I (being a curious kid) asked the kid about it later, and he told me that he had gone to Mr. Koons about the voices in his head, and Mr. Koons talked to his parents and the school counsellor and got him help. He really cared for his students. And the students felt comfortable talking to him.

I was a total slacker and was bombing all my classes untill Mr Koons would actually get on my case for not turning in homework. He’d say “I’m so dissapointed in you. You’re smart, and I know you can do better than this.” Before you knew it, I had A’s and B’s in all his classes.

I find it sad that people are so fast to gossip and to accuse. I’m not calling the girl a liar, but I just don’t see Mr. Koons doing something like that. I could be wrong, but I’m not going to believe it till there is some proof or he admits it.

If he’s innocent, then I feel quite sorry for him. That sort of accusation, even if false, destroys a career. Heck, I saw this one thing about one teacher who was accused, investigated, fired, etc…then, after a year the girl FINALLY admitted she lied because her parents were mad at her for stuff, and she wanted to take the attention off her and not get grounded. Even when she admitted it, almost none of the new stations that covered the “pervert teacher working at local school” story even mentioned the girl admitting what she did.
His career had gone down the hole, he couldn’t get a job, and had to move because his house kept being vandalized and he kept getting hate mail (some with razorblades and bad things).