A Newton teacher will be arraigned this morning for possessing and disseminating child porn, according to this Newton Patch story.
Charlie Breitrose reports that Steven Chan of Newton was arrested by Newton and State Police, and that there is a Steven Chan on the staff list at Day Middle School.
Here is the text of the letter David Fleishman just sent out to Newton parents:
Dear Newton Community,
I am writing with some very upsetting information regarding one of our teachers. We just learned that Steven Chan, a long time math teacher at Day Middle School was arrested on child pornography charges. We have been told by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office that the investigation does not involve any Newton students. As you can imagine, this news is very difficult for everyone in the Day and the broader community to absorb. It is even more shocking in light of the events at Underwood just a year and a half ago.
We are and will continue to work very closely with our partners in the Newton Police Department and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office as the investigation continues. As we approach the opening of school, the Day crisis team will be prepared to support students, parents and staff. Day principal Brian Turner will be communicating directly with the Day community regarding more specific plans for next Tuesday. We will work closely with Principal Turner to maintain stability and daily routine during this challenging time.
The news of a Newton teacher’s arrest and arraignment on such serious charges for the second time in a year and a half has a real impact on the entire Newton community. Due to the media attention focused on the matter, we know that students will be talking about information that may make them feel shocked, anxious and angered. While I expect that many of you will speak with your children about the sensitive nature of the allegations, they may need additional support. If this is the case, the staff in our buildings will be well prepared to address their concerns. As the school year begins, we will pay special attention to the social and emotional needs of all of our students and encourage you to share any concerns you may have with our faculty, staff and administrators.
Given the seriousness of this incident and the concerns it raises, we will be holding a community meeting on Tuesday night, September 3rd at 7pm in the Day Auditorium. This meeting will provide an opportunity to ask questions and hear from both law enforcement authorities and mental health experts.
Thank you very much for your understanding. We want to do everything possible to support the Newton community and we will continue to provide information to you as we work together during this difficult time.
Sincerely,
David Fleishman
Superintendent of Schools
Newton will be spending ~$214M in FY 2014 between operating costs overseen directly by the school department and facilities related costs overseen by the city on behalf of the school system. Let’s hope that they can spend some of that money on better screening of its staff. First it was David Ettlinger ($74,726.70/year). Now its this guy ($88,783.58/year).
Joshua,
Totally agree with you that this incident reflects a failure on the School Department’s part to spend our money wisely. What would it cost to put a single question on the application: Do you represent a current or future risk of being arrested for child pornography?
Boom. Done. No more wasted money on salaries for child pornography consumers.
I hear that’s the teacher hiring process in Hingham.
Sean and Gail, a better solution would be Newton contracting with the NSA to monitor the computer activity of its employees. After all, the NSA has a proven record of results with regards to those kinds of activities.
Now there’s a good override question.
It hasn’t been a happy day. Thanks to Gail and Sean for providing perspective.
Advanced background checks don’t find what isn’t there. I can tell you that in the Ettlinger case there was nothing any advanced screening would have uncovered. This guy Chan has been teaching here for 27 years. Nothing would have been available to implicate him when he was hired.
I say this because it’s just so lazy to go after the hiring process and hiring managers. You want someone to blame and it’s just not there for you.
Kim, I have concerns that sexual misconduct involving teachers in public schools is no longer at the “anecdotal evidence stage”. I would like to remind you that its the government that greenmails families in sending their children to government run schools.
There is a newton.patch.com news video this evening that is 49 seconds long. It is of portion of a City of Newton press conference. Short clips of Mr Fleshman and Mr Warren, our school head and mayor, appear. The head of police is visible at the table. Did the City make a full video of this event which is meant for public consumption? If not, why not? We can no longer rely on traditional news services to focus on things in Newton. Where can we see the full video??
According to the Patch article at
http://newton.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/new-details-in-newton-teacher-busted-for-child-porn
· Fleishman said the district performed a CORI and SORI check on Chan in April 2011 and was set to perform another in April 2014.
· Under state law, newly-hired teachers are CORI and SORI checked every two years, while older teachers are checked every three years, according to Fleishman.
Joshua, your point has nothing to do with this incident other than you trying to use this incident to force your agenda. Let’s deal with this incident.
You all can ask for all the video you want. The fact is that they could have checked his CORI and SORI every month and nothing would come up. People get away with stuff until they are caught. All of you know it all pedophile non-experts don’t have the answer. You only have the need to blame. This situation sucks but even you and your proposed protocol wouldn’t have prevented it.
It is understood that neither Ettlinger nor Chan would have been picked up on a Cori or Sori.
However – Does anyone know if the NPS is doing CORI checks on all new hires in the STATES that they have lived – not just Massachusetts? That was a HUGE loophole that was discussed in the Ettlinger case and I hope that the Mayor and Superintendent fixed that last year. Lets hope that at the minimum the NPS is doing those checks.
UTTER NONSENSE….nothing posted would have caught these
threats to every child…nothing….silly…no focus..here!
THE UTTER FAILURE OF A MAYOR WHO HAS NO EXPERIENCE IN LEADERSHIP A FALLOUT OF THE HATE FOR COHEN AND GREAT TEETH..
the protection lies in a regional pairing of experienced special unit PD trained in outing preditors, usually filtering into the porn sites, connected to all continents…that in time reveal the users of the porn sites and THE LOCATIONS… these criminal minds are sick and need per se interconnections…sharing the garbage…..there is simply no other way to weed out this mindset….they usually pass all test, inspections, and reviews…
the point— aside from procedural is a mayor who is incapable to run a cvs a pointless non-leader of a city of 80000+ and a high paid super about as bright as the setti warren….
i not interest in debate….so i will leave the issue here remember asking a predator and expecting the truth is plain dumb!……
until newton and other surrounding dept’s with exp intel is in place you get the illusion but no protection….!
gail..
nice site thanks for the retweet….best to all for the holidays…
Kim, during the override debate, Matt Hills lectured me on “the need to pay for performance”. Unfortunately, Matt Hills’ rhetoric doesn’t match up with results.
I’m not asking for the staff of the Newton Public Schools system to be Supermen and Wonder Women. My priorities for the Newton Public Schools system are a little less grandiose than yours. My agenda as you put it is progressive good-governance in education. I believe in moving educational excellence forward with fiscal responsibility. Are these objectives too much to ask for from our school system & its administrators?
To not engage in sexual misconduct
To provide a high quality education for Newton’s schoolchildren
To stop coasting on Newton’s academic reputation earned before the teachers union took over control over the NPS staff
To refrain from engaging in left-wing indoctrination and social engineering
To build (or hire contractors to build) high quality school buildings that are in line with better-managed Bay State communities in terms of resources and costs
Keeping its compensation package in line with better-managed Bay State communities
If you have objections with my progressive reformist agenda of good governance in education, feel free to share them with me. Because the government schools have a de facto monopoly over the K-12 educational system, parents are greenmailed into sending their kids to government run schools. I expect accountability from any educational system and especially from a government run school system that has a de facto monopoly over elementary and secondary education.
Josh –
I don’t think you understand the meaning of monopoly. The government does not have a monopoly on schools. We are lucky in this area to have a wide variety of schooling options – public, private, parochial and homeschooling. If you mean they have a monopoly on non-tuition schools, that’s a different issue – but there are charter schools (and I know many people who have had good success with them), but why would you expect anyone other than government to provide schools for free?
I realize that not everyone can afford private or parochial school and homeschooling isn’t for everyone. But if the government had a monopoly on schools (as it does in some countries), we wouldn’t have all these other options.
mgwa, why should individuals and businesses pay high taxes for government-run education? For business taxpayers, why can’t they give a donation to a private school in lieu of paying taxes to underwrite government run schools. Approximately 65% of Newton’s budget goes for the benefit of the schools (57% overseen by the Newton Superintendent and 8% overseen by the city on behalf of the schools). Why can’t a city or town allow its individual taxpayers to pay a lower tax bill in exchange for not using the municipality’s government run school system?
Government’s “market share” of the elementary and secondary educational market is comparable to that of Microsoft when the DOJ tried to break it up. If people weren’t paying high federal, state and local taxes, they could afford to send their kids to private schools. Why is the government afraid of introducing competition in the educational marketplace?
Government run education is not free. Too many people have the mindset that education is free to give away. This has resulted in a model in which there are no limits to expectations by parents for services and by the unions for compensation.
Quick – call 911 – I want to report a hijacking in progress. Please, folks, keep comments ON TOPIC. This thread and the Aquinas thread have been hijacked.
Start your own blog, or send letters to the TAB, or write an op-ed, or speak on NewTV, but please stop corrupting the threads.
JLF, I disagree with your remarks. I have expressed my concerns as to how frequent sexual misconduct takes place in government run school systems and I’m displeased that this is not the first time that this has happened in the Newton Public Schools system.
Joshua, if reports are correct, no one in this case is accused of sexual misconduct in the school system. Speaking as a parent, it doesn’t sound to me as if the system failed anyone in Newton.
Let’s think of the accused teacher’s family with compassion and focus on how to help his students (my son was one, this past year) come to terms with what they may have to learn about a teacher they thought they knew. It’s a sad and confusing time–but also a chance to remind our kids that we live in a society where people are innocent until proven guilty.
Marya, should I have rephrased my remarks to say that another teacher employed by the Newton Public Schools system is potentially possessing and distribute child pornography. So far, Ettlinger and Chan aren’t known to have sexually violated anyone in the school system, or at least not yet.
As for his students, he was my 7th grade teacher many years ago. I was shocked myself to hear about the arrest. I am aware of the concept of innocent until proven guilty. Either we have a Norman Swerling redux or we have a David Ettlinger sequel.
I posted this on the TAB blog.
Actually, this is the third time. I don’t recall the name of the second, but it came out not long after Ettlinger. Newton’s liberals are afraid to ask the questions that need to be asked because we are supposed understand when people seem different (ask candidate for mayor Ted Hess-Mahan). Nearly every parent that knew Ettlinger felt he was creepy in some way they couldn’t explain.
Really, Barry? He was my daughter’s kindergarten aide, and many of her friends had him as a teacher at Peirce. All loved him. I don’t know of anyone who would have predicted how he turned out. I guess we know very different people!
I didn’t know him. That’s what I heard.
Barry, the case you’re thinking of was not a teacher or NPS employee, it was a city employee whose job did not involve the public.
I believe Barry is thinking of the case involving a staff worker from the Newton Free Library. Tricia is correct that his role did not involve direct public interaction. But the fact that he was working in a building visited by so many children is certainly very disturbing. I believe the person had also previously worked at the Tab.
Barry,
You are full of it. My wife worked with Dave and I know every teacher at that school. I’ve been to their weddings and went to their work parties, sometimes with Dave. There were parents who didn’t like him and his ways of teaching. He was known to be harsh but the only thing that ever came out was after he was arrested by a parent who was on a field trip with him and thought it was weird that Dave accepted a girl sitting on his lap on the bus. This parent was so alarmed she told no one at the time. She was so alarmed that she didn’t say anything until he was charged.
Tell the truth Barry. I know that hurts your agenda but it’s just the better way.
Isn’t it ironic even when an accused pervert teaches children in NPS the hoity-toity ‘progressive’ views in Newton are to protect the current administration (Mayor, Superintendent, process, etc.)?
It IS okay say the leadership fell down on this one! I thought one of the great benefits of living in a democracy was our right to criticize the leadership we collectively elected.
Janet – I have no interest in protecting the current school administration, having decided for a wide variety of reasons not to use the NPS for my child. I just don’t see what more they could have done in this case. They already were doing periodic CORI/SORI checks. As far as we know, the only malfeasance occurred on the individual’s private computer and therefore was not possible to detect absent a sting operation of the sort that was carried out by the feds.
Do you have a practical suggestion on how the NPS could have detected this sooner? If someone doesn’t have a criminal record in MA or any other state and does not do anything untoward at school (as seems to have been the case for Chan), how is NPS supposed to know there’s a problem?
If someone tells me how NPS screwed up I’ll change my story but I think a more appropriate response is to be thankful that the public safety officials caught this guy, because what’s likely is that there are other school districts with such people working with children as well. There’s no way Newton is an anomaly. The better detectives become at deciphering child pornography operations on the Internet, the more we’re going to hear about this.
A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER NOT UNDERSTOOD
i indeed scanned the responses and found them interesting and spot-on, yet it is always simple to see, after the fact, those facts that define the dangerous mind of a deeply troubled abuser or potential abuser….if the accusations are true, the predator was in plain sight for years!
NOWM MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACKS NEVER EVER LOSE A GAME!!…
there are two fundamentals…in the matter of protection:
first, understanding these predators need to share their doings…whatever they are….with like mindsets….
second, most times, with rare exceptions, predators use the internet usually from a computer detached from the school….
most predators until outed never reveal their mindsets….those good folks here ‘that saw’ in hindsight what now they tendered as declaration as revelations will likely place all teachers in the eye of the scanning target…
the issue us not complex…knowing the weakness….for a multiregional police org to form, funded by discreet allocations of approved government access to be put in place as quickly as possible in a professional fashion in a setting unknown even to school administrations….being tasked with the sole mission of outing local area targets that interact with children…
the mindset used in the Salem witchhunts simply fail and indeed violate sacred Constitution rights.
the one fact is certain…if indeed thousand, indeed tens of thousands were saved, this sicko did not act alone and more to the point….was interconnected with others in plain sight….and therein lies the danger that setti warren and the supperless adm cannot see, did not see, and are incapable of seeing…
the risk of the same political coordinates are with voters….indeed a very careful review of the qualifications of one setti warren never fully vetted should now be key in the days ahead…….because the risks of a continuation are just to high…
i leave the matter to Gayle Spector and her assets to continue, with the hope you folks place a meaningful set of eyes on reality…beyond the smile….the task is awesome..!
best to all
unp
The only minor criticism of the city in these two examples is the communication. In both cases Fleishman’s first statement was no kid in Newton was involved. Look, if our caring extends only to our own neighbors and not across city lines, than we’re not very good at public service. Then the mayor say’s he’s sending his daughter for her first day of school with no worry. That’s kind of like the Toyota chair saying he still drives his Toyota amidst reports others are dying. Open up your level of caring and show it with real words!
Hoss, you and I both appreciate that this story is part of a broader tragedy. But I don’t experience our public official’s comments as suggesting indifference for others. Last year when my wife called to tell me she was just in a car accident, my first question was “Are you OK?” It wasn’t for lack of caring for others that I asked about her first; I started with the most personal. The words of David Fleishman and Setti Warren regarding the safety of Newton children has given me true comfort, on a personal level, even while I experience deep sadness that this story has other child victims.
Steve Siegel — Do we provide free mental health services in NPS, the kind that in a corporate environment you call an outside service for free and your information is completely private?
to gail et al:
newton did not “..screwed up…” —the voters did and might well, again….look at the leaderlessness– of the video….a zero….and no one truly yet knows, if true, whether newton assets were involved….directly or indirectly…simply to soon to know…..
setti warren’s response that he sending his child to kindergarten is like saying the titantic was safe to sail….my family is sailing….newton schools did not screw up newton schools low 19th with all that time and money and newton schools with allegedly TWO child porno kings….ought to give all but the true setti warren believers a serious issue re that leadership…..or lack thereof….no one asked gail to change anything this is a democracy….stand by your ideals thu objectively —wrong! indeed gail has that right to stand her ground w/o consulting one national prevention expert[s] on the matter….gail has that right, right? consult-zero…but a democracy …newton usa
the video is a horrid response…..first disregarding the alleged tens of thousands of helpless children depicted allegedly on the screen on the alleged pervert….not a word of sympathy for thousands of innocent children allegedly depicted on the screen of a public school teacher……alleged child pervert #2 outed w/in a few months of the other…..
newton voters screwed up by electing a ‘wannabe’ ….and the cost is a teacher, in plain sight, enjoying sick pleasures of alleged mindless pervert with not a word addressing prevention or sympathy for the alleged victims on screen…..and indeed gale this might well be the tip of the iceberg….indeed it is alleged that two perverts one sentenced to 45 federal years in federal prison [got to believe this was a serious newton school predator sentenced by a federal judge to what mounts to life]and allegedly another teaching the kiddos with allegedly 10000 child porn flicks and warren is silent as to the tragedy of these children and one ..not one suggestion of further prevention…..26 years in plain sight allegedly undiscovered indeed there is a great deal wrong with any voter who places the titantic captain back in command….the fact that warren sends his child to newton school is an argument that equals minus zero….THERE IS AN APPARENT PROBLEM IN NEWTON A HUGE PROBLEM…..NOT A SINGLE WORD OF SYMPATHY FOR THE ALLEGED CHILD VICTIMS [10000+ ALLEGEDLY CHILDREN VICTIMS– RUINED LIVES– PAIN LIFEX SUFFERING] TELLS U A LOT ABOUT —CHARACTER OR THE LACK OF SETTI WARREN REVEALED ON VIDEO, U THK? .best to all
unp
I have to agree with Barry. I met David Ettlinger, and from the beginning I thought he was very creepy, like you could sense something. My husband also met him, and told me to stay away from him, he also felt something “weird” about him. I know two parents (from my gym) whose kids were in his classes, and these parents also felt there was a creepy feeling. Just a gut feeling, so probably nothing can be done, but I think some of us tune in to those gut feelings and others don’t.
Lassey,
Thanks for the post. I’ve been out of it for a couple of days and was glad to see someone who understood what I heard but didn’t actually experience myself.