Teacher Faces Sentencing in Porn Case
Substitute teacher Julie Amero tells it this way:
A few students were crowded around a PC; some were giggling. She investigated and saw the kids looking at a barrage of graphic, hard-core pornographic pop-ups.
Amero was nonetheless "convicted of impairing the morals of a child and risking injury to a minor by exposing as many as ten seventh-grade students to porn sites." According to the prosecution, Amero accessed the porn sites deliberately. Amero contends that she was the unwitting victim of malware.
The school district (which may have an incentive to throw Amero overboard to avoid broader blame) assures the parents of Norwich that its filtering software is usually impenetrable, at least now that they've paid the bill to keep it updated. A suspicious mind might wonder whether there's a connection between a fellow teacher's support for Amero and her firing for insubordination.
Amero rejected an offer of probation, believing a jury would understand her innocence. Although she faces 40 years, probation is a sufficient sanction given the impact the conviction is likely to have on her career. Amero will be sentenced in March.
< Kerry Won't Run in 2008 | Thursday Open Thread > |