What is wrong with this teacher? Why in the world would she keep this little girl's winter jacket, and sell it on E-bay. Teachers aren't that hard up, they earn a decent living.

well any government founded school no a teacher makes hardly enough to survive, now private schools and colleges ya a teacher can make a decent living. But I dont condone what the teacher did that was just wrong, its one thing if she notified the missing jacket and if it wasnt claimed after two weeks then do what you want with it.

Contrary to what you might think, private school teachers rarely earn more then their counterparts in public school (a large portion of the teachers at a good private school teach there simply for the joy of teaching in a free, open, and nearly uncensored environment). Not only do they usually earn less, but they also do not have tenure, so public school teachers make out much better in general. But yeah, this is just stupid. Although how would the mother know its her daughters jacket and why would she look for a new one on ebay
(heck u can find some cheap stuff on sale and clearance so it cant be money)?

Teachers of all kinds, not just grade school, are paid embarrassingly little. That is actually one of my major gripes with society these days.

As for this incident... well I would say we have insufficient information to really get angry. It sounds like the daughter left her jacket, the teacher saw it left in class after school and sold it.

What might have happened for all this article states is that the kid left it for weeks and only later did the teacher decide that it's owner isn't going to claim it so she decided to sell it.

I just read the smoking gun article that this links to and it states that the jacket went missing in January, but that the mother claimed that the jacket went missing the same day the auction went up.

I fail to see why she is being charged with computer crime though... theft pretty much covers it.

Is this the best the police have to do with their limited resources? Is Hillsboro crime-free or something? She's a school teacher, don't they have some drug-dealers or real criminals they should be trying to go after.

Your tax dollars at work. No wonder people are so cynical about rising crime rates and the police being useless to stop it. But don't worry about violent crime or serious crime - they solved the missing coat case! Bravo I say!

according to other news reports.

The police didn't solve the case, the mom saw the jacket on Ebay and reported it.
Also, you can't let the petty crimes go by unpunished. It gets out of hand quickly.
Bravo for the mom finding and reporting the teacher.

Obviously Hillsboro is not crime-free. They have at least one school teacher who is a thief. Since when is a thief not a real criminal? Comments like these are exactly why we have crime problems. She's a teacher. Students learn by example. Do you want the kids to learn that it's ok to steal because other people do worse?

Some facts: The daughter put her coat and gloves down during recess and returned to find only the gloves. The coat was never lost. She and her mother checked the lost & found immediately the same day and thereafter. As the court document in smoking gun article shows, the crime was on January 10th. The ebay auction ended January 18th. It started 1 week prior on the 11th, the day after the theft. Not much time or effort spent to find the rightful owner there.

wow americans can be so dumb

To the guy bitching about cops not finding real criminals and crime being on the rise:
stop talking out of your ass. Crime has been steadily going down over the past 20-25 years while our population is going up. People who commit crimes should get busted. Just because you aren't a drug dealer or a rapist doesn't mean you should do whatever you like and get away with it.

As for teachers....while I've had some fantastic teachers over the year, I also had many MANY who were a complete waste and didn't care about the kids.....and yet after 20 years on the job they made as much as the good ones. Ironic?

Not saying teachers make too much or too little. Yes good teacher don't get paid enough, but bad teachers get paid too much. Sorry.

"Teachers of all kinds, not just grade school, are paid embarrassingly little. That is actually one of my major gripes with society these days."

For the amount of schooling that is required, yes. I never really though my teachers were that great; I always felt held back until AP classes in high school.

I just love it when people say “why don't police catch REAL criminals”. Guess what when you speed, or litter or sell something that you may have no right to sell you ARE a REAL criminal. There are different levels of crime and each level is handled by different levels of trained professionals. Most local police (out side of TV) never “investigate” anything larger than misdemeanors, they assist in initial reports and secure an area but larger crimes are usually bumped up to detective units. In this case a CIVILIAN REPORTED the incident. There wasn’t any robbery unit sending detectives to look for a missing coat. GET REAL people, When we get caught doing what we should not be doing we say “why aren’t you catching REAL criminals?” Believe me no murders, rapists armed robbers or terrorists were going free because the local police are filing a petty theft case against this person.

Teachers aren't payed enough as it is. Also, who cares if she sold it on ebay, a coat is fair game if it had been lost. It would probably ended up in a lost and found pile and someone else could have ebayed it. As someone stated before there are more important crimes to worry about.

"the younger Corso had lost her Columbia ski jacket" So how long was the jacket lost? Is it illegal to sell a jacket that was lost longer than a month? At my school there is a huge lost and found table with tons of expensive unclaimed clothes. After a few months it is either taken by staff or donated to good will. You would be shocked at the volume and price of clothes and jackets kids loose on a regular basis.

stop talking about how little teachers make, this does not justify stealing in any way.. If you dont like working for a teachers salary, find a different job.

Speeding is a civil offense, not criminal, unless the speed is particularly high (as defined by whichever state the offense is committed in).

All this liberal non-sense about "catch real criminals" is a load of bull. It has taught the younger generation to "look the other way" and now we have a nation full of panty-wastes! I say execute the fool and televise it! THAT would get some attention AND let the youth of America know that THIS kind of behavior is unacceptable, no matter WHO you are!... oh, and there are those I'm sure that will argue that this would be too "draconian" - well perhaps that's what we need!

Glad (most) everyone is ready to assume she's guilty. Way to go....

People should be judged by their actions and not by their profession. Steeling is just as wrong if committed by a junkie or a teacher. Rape is bad, doesnt matter if its a priest or a famous singer or a lawyer.

Even if private and public teachers are paid the same, Im sure many ppl would prefer to work in a place where they have more resources to do their work and a more comfortable working environment like the nicer buildings of the good private schools. All kids deserve a good education regardless of their parents wealth. Oh and if there was no difference in private and public schools, when parents wouldnt spend the extra money to send their kids to them.

Please be aware that to give teachers more money, would mean the government has to either
(a) decrease surplus or get in debt
(b) increase taxes
(c) cut funding to something else.

I would still like to see them getting paid more, maybe via option b or by cutting military funding.

Doug & Stew,

Please read my previous post ("last time I checked, theft is a real crime") for the specifics. The coat was not lost, it was stolen. There is a big difference both morally and legally. The theft statute in Oregon considers lost or mislaid property to be stolen if you don't take reasonable measures to return it. A lost & found box for a while is reasonable. Listing it on Ebay the next day is certainly not.

The court will ultimately decide but I happen to know she IS guilty.

nice herd mentality. don't read any details. assume guilty without any evidense. i'm glad you people aren't judges. too bad you may be jurors some day :(

she has a very very long list of sales... very unlikely that this is the same jacket that the little girl lost.

seems like a sad coincidense with the typical cyber riot reaction.

None of you know that the teacher actually stole the jacket. Perhaps she came across it after it had been lost and decided to sell it when she couldn't locate the owner.

Ryker,

I don't need to read details. I have them first hand. She admitted to taking the coat. I can't speak for the rest of the "herd" but I'm not assuming anything.

There's never been a question about it being the same coat. Do you honestly think the police, DA and grand jury charge someone simply because it's the same type of coat?

Trust me, there are PLENTY more details I know that are not public knowledge, not one of which helps her case.

how many people in this country work minimum wage to dig pits for a living?

lots.

teachers have an easy fucking job where they get to be a little dictator, at least that was my experience jumping through the hoops...

they do not need more money. they'll get paid more when they're scarce, supply and demand, but everyone on the entire fucking planet wants to be one.

why?

because it's any easy job where you are the supreme commander over hundreds of people.

this is just stupid, internet crime? ha ha

"police, DA and grand jury " for a coat? this is what floods the courts with stupid idiotic stuff like this, i mean couldnt this be worked out privately between the 2 parties involved? Thats right paople this is your tax money being put to good use.. welldone

It's hardly a flood and obviously many consider this a serious problem. Do you not understand the implication of a teacher accused of stealing from a student, no matter how small? That is a very serious trust issue. Why do you think this became national news?

It's also not something to be worked out between private parties. In fact it would be irresponsible to do so. Other parents at this school have a right to know. What about potential other victims the police have said they are looking into?

She stole the coat, should this be a felony? No, petty theft.

As for the teachers dont make enough money...THEY DONT, think about it...a guy puts a basketball in a hoop and makes 2.5 mill a year. The same person who taught him everything he knows makes 50-70K a year after 7-10 years or 24K to start, in California where I am currently residing....Pay teachers more, get better teachers as the supply increases and the demand dwindles. Anyone who thinks sports players or anyone else should get more then the people that basically are the 2nd-3rd most important person in your life growing up is retarded. Dictator? Would that happen to be because your currently a HS or Mid School kid that has to get homework? Just asking. Also it would help if parents were actually parents and TV and Video Games weren't babysitters.
As for the people dig ditches for less money argument, yes they do, how much of a brain does it take to dig a ditch compared to Properly educating a child?

Why is it "theft by computer"?? She didn't use the computer to steal the coat. God I hate crappy lawyers.

Also, why is there two different dates on the filing? Stamped March 30, 2007 and written May 30, 2007.

Many student handbooks state that "lost" (anything the owner doesn't know where it is), is not the responsibility of the staff. ALL students and parents sign a page stating that they agree to the rule. I guess I'm the only teacher here, otherwise someone else would have mentioned this.

Now, do I condone what the teacher did? NO. Shame on her. Petty, childish, dumb, but technically (because of district acceptance contracts), not against the law. The DA is trying to further his/her career.

Lastly, WHY didn't the parent teach her daughter to keep an eye on her stuff??? Why didn't the parent write the daughter's name inside the coat so the staff knew without a doubt who's coat it is? Why didn't the daughter go to the office when she couldn't find her coat?

Again, shame on the teacher for taking advantage of the rules.

harrison schaerr,

You have got to have your head in a hole. I'm finishing my 3rd year teaching 11/12 graders at a Career Center. I used to be a full-time MCSE consultant.

The average teacher works more hours between Sept 1 and June 10th than the average non-teacher does ALL YEAR. This is FACT. Don't believe it, do some homework yourself. I get to work at 6:30am, get a 30 minute lunch period (usually have 2-5 students in my room asking questions) and leave around 3:30pm. I go home, and by 5p I', digging in to grading, calling parents with updates, researching info for lessons a few days out, doing MY HOMEWORK (us teachers have to continue our education too), etc. etc. I typically spend 2-3 hours a night on work. During the summer, I have to re-work my curriculum for the next year, MORE HOMEWORK, and go to meetings relating to district changes.

So, when you get home from your 8hr job and are sitting there watching TV, try to think about us who helped you get to the point where you have a job you can forget about when you go home.

To IamMe,

I went to private school for both middle and high school and after 30 years at the school, the highest paid teacher was just over $30,000 a year. This was a private Catholic school. Those teachers were there because they love to teach.

Public school teachers make far more money. They're unionized (at least in Florida) so they're always pressing for more money. Not saying they don't deserve to be paid well though.

To Harrison Schaerr,

You are obviously someone who is ignorant. Teachers have one of the hardest jobs out there. They have to teach kids who increasingly are less willing to learn, put up with parents who think its their(the teachers) fault that their kids aren't learning (nevermind that the kid doesn't do his homework and the parents don't push him to), work long hours grading tests, preparing lessons, etc., and so on.

So how is it they have an easy job? Digging a ditch requires no mental thought whatsoever. Unskilled laborers shouldn't be making tons of money. It requires no education or thought, only physical labor. It may not be easy to do because you get tired, but teachers get just as tired trying to control kids they have no power over anymore since liberals have helped take all the authority away from teachers. Hell if they even yell at the kids anymore they get in trouble. God forbid a kid feels like he's done something wrong.

There is a large difference between low and middle class.
The difference?
Low class doesnt value education.
Low class, low sallary citizens have no problem with no action satisfaction.
I'm sure that a ditch-digger thinks to himself after a long day of work, "Think of all those people I've helped. I love my job."

And I'm also sure that my first grade teacher gets home from work, pops open a beer and watches tv for a few hours, before he crawls into bed with an unsatisfied wife and lays his head down to sleep 10 minutes later.

Sounds like the policy template of a liberal. Way to go Jay! Great idea, lets not make our politicians actually do their jobs by finding ways to balance the budget, lets just raise taxes...yeah! Then we can cut spending money on our military...that will show AlQueda who's in charge...another good call from out liberal friends. Who's up for electing one as president next year? Not me. I don't like paying more taxes, and I like being protected by our military, 'nuff said.

You People Beat All I Have Ever Seen.
You Know That???
Have You Ever Really Observed What All Has Been
Said Here???
You People Have Haven't Got The The Sense GOD Gave
A Rock!!!
Arguing Over " A THIEF " Stealing Something & Then
Making An Issue Over What Teachers Earn For A
Living, Like That Is Suppose To Justify Why A THIEF
Done What They Did?????????
Excuse Me, BUT A THIEF IS A THIEF IS A THIEF!!!!!
You'd Think A Teacher Of All People Would Know
Better!( I Wonder Who Were Her Teachers Growing Up? )
Now People, No Way How You Try To Explain It, It's
Like I Said: " A THIEF, IS A THIEF, IS A THIEF!!! "

> Is Hillsboro crime-free or something?

Pretty much, yeah.

You realize that the rent on a one-bedroom apartment in Hillsboro is more than $2k a month, right? If someone makes $69k, that's under the poverty line in that part of California, the cost of living is so high.

And the police didn't provide the inquisition. A DETECTIVE (Kari Skinner) was sent in to terrorize the teacher. Does the Corso family have some pull with the Skinner cabal or WHAT? I notice a Chris Skinner is a Commander of the Hillsboro PD and there's a Gina Skinner who's a Deputy DA for WA County. Why would a principal allow this event to transpire? And who got it spread everywhere on the web? I'm totally disgusted.

first, this teacher should be ashamed of herself. What would possess her to do such a thing as this? She would not be charged unless there was enough evidence, so you know the legal system believes they have a case.

Secondly, it does NOT cost $2k to rent a one-bedroom apt. in Hillsboro. What the heck are YOU (poster) smokin'??

You'd better be afraid. Be VERY VERY afraid. I found out just WHO this Gary Corso is. Now I understand why there's so many posts on the internet about this teacher for so minor a "crime" that SHOULD HAVE BEEN handled very quietly by the school principal instead of a DETECTIVE. But Gary Corso is head of Yahoo in Oregon. I guess that's why there's the STRETCH of this being a COMPUTER CRIME. Is Jackson Elementary a private enclave of the greedy, overpaid, anti-social technocrats of the Silicon Forest or WHAT? The teachers' union better be right smack on this.

Why haven't all the local news departments picked up on this (and the "skinner syndicate"? This is ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL! I think everybody should complain to the founders of Yahoo and demand that Gary Corso be FIRED! I wouldn't trust him any futher than I could THROW him. Here's what I found at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/694/479:

Gary Corso Senior Sales Manager at Yahoo! Inc.
Portland, Oregon Area
Contact Directly
Get introduced through a connection

Current Senior Sales Manager at Yahoo! Inc.
Past Senior Sales Manager at WebTrends/NetIQ Corp
Distribution/Channel Manager at Tektronix, Inc.
Education Oregon State University
Oregon Health and Science University
Recommended 2 people have recommended Gary Connections 22 connections Industry Internet
--------------------------------------------

Gary Corso’s Summary
Gary has held several key management positions in sales and marketing in the technology industry over the past 15 years. His trademark is building winning marketing plans and and executing sales strategy by building, managing and motviating high performance teams that are focused on exceeding expectations for the company.

Today Gary is with Yahoo! (NYSE: YHOO) and manages multiple teams focused on every element of sales, service and operational excellance for their Search and Display Marketing Sales organization. Recruited to build the organization from scratch in Oregon, Gary successfully recruited, hired, trained and managed a team of 3 managers and a team of 60 to meet the goal of Yahoo! Over the past 3 years Gary has also been tasked to manage addtional projects, and continues to build out on the organization they have today.

Prior to Yahoo!, Gary held management positions at Tektronix, where he led business development for their top-tier distribution partners; Fortix LLC, a business continuity management company and WebTrends (purchased by NetIQ), a website analytics company. Gary holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Communications from Oregon State University and a Masters Degree in Managing in High Technology Companies from The Oregon Graduate Institue (Exec MBA Program).

Gary Corso’s Specialties:
Contract Negotiation, Behavioral Interviewing, Marketing Plans, Cost/Budget Analysis, Outsourcing, Software vs. ASP offerings, Kronos Tool, Siebel, Saleforce.com, Executive Reporting and Presentations skills.

What I wanna know is how this stupid non-event got the notoriety it did. And why was a DETECTIVE assigned the inquisition in this case? Are Keah & Gary Corso “connected” somehow to a “Skinner Syndicate”?

I was at a WA County trial in 2006 when a web-listed Portland attorney (not licensed in Oregon but with the CA bar, with an office in Santa Monica) pleaded guilty to stalking a couple from a Kaiser pharmacy to a restaurant & breaking into their car to steal their pain prescription. Luckily a woman saw him, got his license number, & got another woman with a cellphone to call police who told the victims that being followed from the pharmacy just DIDN’T HAPPEN.

After dealing with police at the restaurant for a couple of hours, when the victims returned to Kaiser to ask for a refill the thief’s fancy black Volvo with the ZZZ plate & a Santa Monica parking sticker was parked in the 30-minute zone of the LARGE parking lot (had he parked anywhere else, he wouldn’t have been caught). When the victims called the police from the clinic lobby, a middle-aged woman asked what was going on, then revealed her elderly mother had her pain pills stolen from their car at a nearby buffet. When the victims asked for more pills, they were treated like criminals until the pharmacy found out the police were on the way to arrest the creep, then stated this had happened "quite a bit lately." Another pharmacist said people told them their pills were purloined at other nearby parking lots, including Target. Even though the victims hadn’t SEEN the thief, THEY were able to pick him out at the crowded pharmacy as the guy bent over a newspaper but watching the “roving pharmacist” advising patients about their narcotic prescription. Why wasn’t Kaiser able do the same after the first few reports of stolen meds?

The attorney’s attorney sent an assistant to the victims’ home to make a “deal” to DROP CHARGES, saying they could all meet with DA GINA SKINNER to seal a deal. The victim, feeling stalked all over again, reported this to Victims Assistance and also told them a google search revealed the stalker was a lawyer with an office in SW Portland & his wife was a director at OHSU. When the victim refused to talk to the lawyer’s lawyer, DA Skinner arranged a “deal” without consulting the victims.

The serial stalker’s whole defense in court was that he was a lawyer, his wife a VIP @ OHSU, and (the clincher) he was TERMINAL (aren't we all?. The victims actually showed up for sentencing and when testifying AFTER HIS FELONY WAS DROPPED by the judge at the recommondation of DA Skinner, were treated like they were the criminals. The attorney/thief got probation (transferred to Eugene) & only after prodding by the victims, was ordered to report his “felony” to the California Bar.

Of course this somehow didn’t make it onto the orders sent to the stalker’s probation officer (almost impossible to reach). The CA Bar has stated they’ve had nothing reported, so it can only be presumed that after nearly a year he still hasn’t reported. As an excuse, Victim’s Assistance told the victim the judge didn’t say WHEN he had to report it (after he TERMINATES, I suppose). If they were concerned about REAL crime, it would seem the sooner the better..wouldn’t it? UNDER DISCIPLINARY RULES OF THE CA BAR THE OFFENDING LAWYER, THE DA & COURT ARE ALL REQUIRED TO REPORT ALL CONVICTIONS TO THEM. Why hasn’t THIS been done?

And why wasn’t this scumbag filmed in court, featured on SMOKIN’ GUN, reported on endlessly in the Whoregonian and on KGW, KATU, KOIN, CNN, FOX etal & a million websites?? Does it perhaps have anything to do with CLASS?

I hope Liz Logan gets a million dollar lawsuit against all the REAL criminals involved in this ridiculous travesty. And that includes the PRESS.

The whole Columbia jacket case is disgraceful for many involved - the family who chose not to handle this in a more appropriate manner, their fellow " Christian " congregation members who obviously did not counsel them on morality and forgiveness, and the greed and insecurity that drives people to spend large amounts of money on material possession. This situation was a waste of time and energy for educators and administrators, and has taxed the positive momentum the Hillsboro schools have been gaining. It is unacceptable for a teacher to steal, but it is equally unacceptable to be so litigious over an overcoat.

I am so sick of hearing teachers whine about their salaries. They make $60,000 for essentially 8 work months per year. And their work day? 6 hours. I couldn't even get a teacher to stay 15 minutes after her work day to have a teacher/parent conference with me. Instead she expected me to leave work for the conference. So don't whine about all the extra hours teachers put in outside school hours - they have assistants to grade papers, few are involved in extra-curricular activities, and they don't come to meetings outside school hours. Sorry, no pity here. And what this teacher did was deplorable - to leave a small child in her charge cold so that she could make a few bucks on ebay. Unbelievable!!