NEW YORK
Poughkeepsie Journal
The Associated Press
ALBANY — Nicholas Provanzana was the kind of teacher administrators, fellow teachers and students at Washingtonville High School loved — "the coolest teacher alive," according to one music student's Internet posting in 2003.
They didn't know he had pleaded guilty to "offensive touching" of a minor in New Jersey after a night of heavy drinking and sex games in 2000 with two female students, according to New York state records. He served 60 days in jail and was on five years probation when he began teaching at Washingtonville, Orange County, state education records revealed.
Provanzana was among at least 77 men and women school employees, from New York City to the smallest rural districts, who lost their licenses over the past five years for sexual misconduct involving students, according to records obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law. ...
Last week, a former English teacher at the all-boys Christian Brothers Academy in Albany was charged with rape for allegedly having sex with a student. Sandra Geisel, 42, was charged with two counts of third-degree rape and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, police said.
Educator abuse in public schools costs taxpayers millions of dollars in lawsuits and settlements — New York City alone paid $18.7 million in five years ending in 2001 to sexually abused students.
Posted by kshaw at August 7, 2005 08:46 AM