Former 'Teacher Of The Year' Embroiled In School Sex Scandal

What a difference a year makes.

Erica DePalo, 33, won the Essex County, N.J. Teacher of the Year award in 2011. Last Friday, she was arrested and accused of having a sexual relationship with one of her 15-year-old honors English students, according to CBS New York.

Many of the students that the station spoke with were blindsided by the allegations.

“I was kind of shocked,” Arnold Ajondo said. ”I was a little surprised. She was really close with the students and we all liked her. She was always there after school if you ever needed any help.”

DePalo was charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Star Ledger.

The paper reports that authorities believe the relationship began on June 15 and ended last Tuesday.

Police declined to release further details about the alleged relationship and also did not reveal how authorities first learned of it, according to Montclair Patch.

In a statement obtained by Patch, the West Orange Public School district announced that DePalo has been suspended "immediately and indefinitely.

Hat tip: Fark

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Teacher Tries To Skip Work By Saying He Killed A Girl

Music teacher Derek McGlone, 42, lied to school officials, saying that he had just run over a girl with his car, in order to get off work for the day.

There's faking sick, and then there's telling your employers that you just killed a small child.

42-year-old teacher Derek McGlone was well known at Calderhead High School in Scotland for making up stories to get out of work, the Telegraph reports. At an August 1 hearing of the General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS), McGlone admitted to lying on a number of occasions between June 2008 and May 2011.

In his most egregious fabrication, the music teacher told school officials that he had just run over a little girl with his car, according to UPI.

"He said he felt his car wheels running over her body," Calderhead High School head Joyce Kilmartin wrote in an official statement.

On another occasion, McGlone called from his home in Glasgow, claiming he was stuck in a volcanic ash cloud in Iceland.

At the Council, McGlone took heat not only for his lies, but for his reaction to being reported. After discovering that some of his colleagues at Calderhead had made statements about his conduct to the GTCS in April 2011, McGlone went on a "drunken rant" over Facebook. He admitted to the Council panel that he referred to his coworkers as "bitches" and wrote that he would "hunt them down," according to the Scottish Sun.

McGlone resigned later that year, the Mirror reports, but now says he wants to return to teaching.

"I can give no reasonable explanation for my actions," he told the Council, adding that he was "embarrassed and sorry."

The hearing panel concluded that McGlone's behavior "falls short the standards expected of a registered teacher." He received a reprimand that will remain on his record for 12 months.

The GTCS is an independent professional body with duties that include maintaining educational standards and keeping a registry of teachers in Scotland.

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