Superintendent Ron Duerring plans to recommend the board fire Jennifer Kristin Carte-Priestley, a librarian at Hayes Middle School in St. Albans. She was hired there in November 2002, according to county records.
School investigators began looking into Carte-Priestley's actions last school year after a parent complained about language she used while communicating with middle school students on the social networking site MySpace.com.
According to site records, Carte-Priestley posted pictures of herself and claimed to be a 14-year-old to hide the page. Anyone who lists their age as older than 18 would have to have been her "friend" to communicate and read the page, according to the site's regulations.
When a second parent complained about that practice in fall 2006, Carte-Priestley was suspended with pay. An investigation revealed a more elaborate relationship with two male students, which included alleged drug use and in-home visits, the memo said.
One particular student repeatedly skipped his other classes to visit the library, and the librarian allegedly gave him an anti-anxiety drug called Xanax while he was at the school. She also drove the boy and another male student to Taco Bell and returned to her house, where the group allegedly smoked marijuana, according to the termination recommendation.
I simply cannot figure out what the hell is wrong with these women! Maybe somebody should check the water. Maybe there is some additive being put in the water supply which makes women, who are exposed to pre-pubescent boys, go out of their damn minds!
I just do not get this.
About the Hayes Librarian from WV: here is some information very few are aware of.
ReplyDelete1) The inappropriate relationship with boys was her giving them a ride home in the pouring rain after taking them to get food at Taco Bell as they requested. She did this out of simple good heartedness, and never even thought something of this magnitude would come of it.
2) Xanax? Marijuana? The day she was suspended from teaching she was followed home by a WV State Trooper who searched her computer for any inappropriate material and then searched for drugs. NOTHING WAS FOUND because there was nothing to find.
3) The inappropriate language on MySpace was her blogging of her considering suicide during the holidays after her father had suddenly passed away unexpectedly and her younger brother had a wreck and killed an older man.
4) Ever heard the saying "No good deed goes unpunished"? Well this is a statement that certainly holds true in this situation. Someone saw money in this...Carte-Priestley's mothers car was broken into and a note was left inside that said "families see money in this". One kids stepmom has recently had a tummy-tuck...interesting hmmmm? I used to believe in justice, but after watching 2 students who skip school, have failing grades often and will do any drug they can find are believed before a woman with a 4.0 GPA who is working on her Masters Degree. Yet, this 36 yr old woman has lost everything and will never be viewed the same in her hometown. This is truly an injustice. Something is wrong with this picture.
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DeleteI live in the community where this farce is taking place. The local elected Board of Education is a joke. The boys in question are "not quite tugs", but don't miss it by much. They are out of school (either by suspension or "sick". This is the 5th year in a 3 year middle school for one of them. Ms. Carte-Priestly is a well loved teacher who takes time for her students and is well known for helping them through difficult times. There aren't an abundance of teachers who care enough to do this. These students prefer to seek her out than go to the counselor. You can see that this could cause some ill-feelings.
ReplyDeleteThere have been a multitude of unsolicited letters (from parents) sent to the BOE on behalf of the librarian. There were parents and students who appeared at her hearing. All of this was to no avail. They simply were not listening. I doubt seriously that the letters were ever looked at, and at the hearing where the students and parents appeared, the 2 boys not only failed to show up, they nor their parents bothered to call and indicate they weren't coming, or why. BUT. . . there was a continuance granted. Had Carte-Priestly been a noshow the book would have been thrown at her. At no time were records of the discipline of these boys allowed to be brought into bearing. BUT. . . the integrity of this young woman, who has NEVER in her life been in troublt for any reason was raked over the coals. Never in trouble in school, in the community. She is not a party girl. Hell, with her schedule she hardly has time to sleep. She is working on her 4th degree. In all her graduate work she has never made less than an A. That and a full time job and a new husband are enough to keep you busy. And did I mention that she is not just a librarian, but a teaching librarian? She teaches 6 classes. Do that and run a library and you need to know too that the library is the media lab for the 8th grade. Also there is no holding area for students who are in house suspended or are waiting to be sent home because they've been suspended, so they are put in the library too. Makes for a very complicated way of doing your job. This is an example and it ia a direct quote from her lawyer of "the worst teacher abuse" I've ever seen.
Yes, I do have a lot of facts. Many people in our area have them. Another fact we have is that someone in the heirarchy of the BOE (either elected or in one of the top jobs) gave to the media her confidential file. You think that might have been just a little illegal? This case is not over. You might want to watch and see where it goes.
Anonynous
Librarians should NOT have to teach classes, but they should have books on the shelves in some sort of order. Carte-Priestly claimed she'd "never heard of that number syste." How could anyone be unaware of the Dewey Decimal System? Get real. She wanted to be the students' friend and confidante. That wasn't her job at all. She used poor judgment time after time and enabled students to get into trouble by skipping class to talk with her. It was a deplorable situation and her teaching license ought to be revoked immediately. She also dressed like a slut, and wore flipflops to school--most unprofessional! She covered the windows of the library with construction paper so no one could see in. Shouldn't that have aroused some curiousity about what she was trying to hide?
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