Ex-principal in Iowa Jailed for Making Child Porn at School; California Taxpayers Paying Salary and Pension for Teacher and Police Officer Running Porno Site from School-issued Laptop

Former Elementary School Principal Jailed for Making Child Porn at School

November 22, 2011

AFP - A former elementary school principal in Iowa was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to one count of producing child pornography involving students at his school, officials said.

Robert Burke, 43, admitted that as head of the school in Dubuque, Iowa, he had "used hidden cameras in the school bathroom to secretly capture videos depicting the genitals of male students," said the US Justice Department

Burke also admitted to saving the videos on computer hard drives at his home.

He was uncovered after an FBI agent in Washington downloaded eight images of child pornography that were traced back to Burke's residence, officials said in a statement.

Burke insisted he "not touched any children in a sexual manner," and US officials said they had no evidence that contradicted that claim.

A forensic examination of Burke's computer equipment also "revealed no evidence that Burke shared the videos he produced at the school," according to the statement.

Along with 360 months in prison, Burke was also fined $25,000.

"As an elementary school principal, Burke was in a position of trust and authority over his students," said US Attorney Stephanie Rose.

"He took advantage of that trust, and he used his position of authority to exploit the children he was supposed to protect."

Calif. Teacher With Porn Sites Gets Put on Leave

November 17, 2011

AP - A high school teacher is under investigation after school officials said she was maintaining a pornographic website from her school-issued laptop computer.

Lincoln High School teacher Heidi Kaeslin is on paid leave while the district investigates whether she violated its code of ethics, The Stockton Record reported (http://bit.ly/uka7kA ).

The investigation also involves former Stockton police officer Richard Fields, who was assigned to the school as a resource officer. He told the newspaper he had acquired domain names including mysluttyteachers.com to develop them into websites.

Fields said Kaeslin's involvement was limited, and he eventually abandoned the venture.

The newspaper reports that one of the websites was active for only one day in February, which could indicate a test run.

Fields said the allegations are overblown. Kaeslin and her attorney declined to comment.

Kaeslin, a special education teacher and former girls soccer coach, has been with the district since 2002. Fields retired from the police department in May. The two are romantically linked, according to the paper.

Lincoln Unified School District has hired a computer expert to study the content on the laptop.

Chet Quaide, an attorney representing the district, said the school adopted an ethics code in 2003.

The code calls for teachers to "adhere to the highest ethical standards" and "to attain and maintain the highest possible degree of ethical conduct," he told the newspaper. "The code says that for breaches to constitute "unprofessional conduct," they must "involve jeopardy to student welfare; evidence malice, serious incompetency or bad judgment; or show a consistent pattern of misconduct."