Teacher Draws Mustache On Sleeping Student - Fired - Wins $60k Settlement

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A teacher who drew a mustache on a sleeping student will receive $60,000 from the Rutland City Schools in a settlement agreement.

At a Jan. 9 meeting, the Rutland City Public Schools Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to sign the settlement agreement. Former Rutland Middle School social studies teacher Christopher Cosgrove is expected to receive money as a resolution to his claims of wrongful termination and denial of rights.

The settlement states Cosgrove shall be reinstated to his employment from the date of termination until the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2006. He and the district agreed that he resigned from that position July 1, 2006, and will not seek re-employment. The district will pay Cosgrove $7,934 as back pay for that time and $52,066 as liquidated damages for surrender of any rights to continued employment.

In March 2006, Cosgrove was in his fourth year as a teacher at the middle school when the incident took place. The student, then an eighth-grader, has been diagnosed as having special needs, with Asperger-type symptoms. The student had an issue with sleeping in class that went back to previous school years and was listed in an Individual Evaluation Program, according to a report detailing the arbitration.

After several class periods of the student slumbering, Cosgrove grew frustrated. On the day of the incident, class was dismissed and everyone, including the student's one-on-one paraprofessional, had left the classroom, according to the report. Cosgrove drew lines on the upper lip of the student before waking the student, saying that is what happens to students who fall asleep in class, according to the report.

The student reported the incident to Principal Will Cunningham, who also heard about it from the school guidance counselor. Cosgrove met with the assistant principal and Cunningham, who told him the incident was inhumane and borderline harassment, according to the report. Cunningham then met with Superintendent Mary Moran about the incident.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070201/NEWS/702010383/1002/NEWS01

It seems that every kid has some sort of diagnosed something or other.

drawing a mustache, pretty stupid.

When I feel asleep in class, the teacher would usually call on me. I was embarassed that I didn't know what the question was. I should sue.

The same thing happens to me these days, except it happens in meetings at work. Those things are so dull, especially if the subject is "quality" or "group dynamics". Sheesh. Of course, now I know enough to garble jargon as if I'm answering, until someone interrupts, then I can go back to sleep.

:popcorn:

:silly:

who would just let a sleeping student lie. right through to the next class.

nothing like waking up in a class full of kids you dont know, and no idea where you should be.

I've left students in the classroom at the end of the day! Imagine waking up at 3:30 in a darkened classroom! I love it and they never forget. As for drawing on them, well, not such a good idea.

excellent!

frustrated, but he is an adult and a teacher and should have handled it differently. However, I don't think he should have been fired. Disciplined in some way, but not fired.

He should have juat tied his shoelaces together and put his hand in a pan of warm water...

Six thirty o' fricken clock in the morning.

Should one fall asleep, the Prof delighted in charging up a metal ball from
a Vandergraff generator and shocking the shit (literally) out of the sleeping
beauty with like 50,000 volts.

He giggled... We looked on in terror.

ever been hit on the head with a glass eye? x(

SophieMN was, I'm convinced, permanently traumatized by the sight of my FIl taking out his eyes, at the dinner table, and my Grandpa, about a week later, removing his dentures and showing them to her.

:rofl:

I used to work in a group home for MR/DD adults. One of the guys had been dropped out of a fourth story window when he was three years old. Among other things permanently damaged was the structure of his right eye. It left him looking very popeyed, and without the usual compliment of muscles holding the eye in. The guy thought it was the absolute height of humor to walk up to new staff or visitors, work the muscles just right, and pop his right eye right out of the socket. He would laugh and laugh, with his eye hanging down his face, vetran staff would shake their head as the newbie freaked, some much worse than others. Then the nurse would be called to wash the eye in saline and pop it back in.

He was a sweet guy though, and I still go back and visit once in awhile.

Hey, I finally got those vaccination bead things... There was a note in there about
an overwhelming response to the campaign. I'd like to think you had alot to do with
that matcom. :thumbsup:

and break. Serve him right.

:bounce:

His firing and the ACLU representing him along with my LTTE got that asshat vice principal who was crucifying me assigned to a different school.

I rock. Yes, I do.

:rofl:

Would pour water over sleeping students.

This was the same guy who had a set of pillories in his room. If you insulted someone, you had a choice: 20 Minutes in detention, or two minutes in the pillories. I'll never forget the time we got the teacher in the pillories.

sleepers hand.Don't know if it ever 'worked'.
Another would take text book and slamm it on edge of deskfor the girls.Guys got it up side the head.
Then their was the headmaster who would thunk you in the head with his West Point class ring.For anything that he considered an infraction.OUCHOUCHOUCH!!!


Firing the teach in the story seems a little overboard.Stiff repramand or something similar would have been sufficient IMO.

and encourage the class to be as quiet as possible in entering and leaving. There was one guy who'd fallen asleep in first period and woke up in my fourth period class. It was funnier than hell to see him wake up, follow along with the lecture for a little bit, look around confused at all the kids in the desks around him, then take off like a shot out the door.

:rofl:

HELL YES he should have been fired. That is the most ridiculous, cruel and immature thing ever.
There is NO WAY on earth he should receive monetary compensation for his lack of teaching skills. Not to mention his lack of
humanity.

The child in question has Asperger symptoms which probably means he is on medication. Ever worked with anyone who has Aspergers? Being sleepy is one of the most common side affects. Also note that the child had a "Shadow" (One on one paraprofessional) who had been in the class. It also says in the article that the sleeping in class issue went back several years and is LISTED ON THE CHILDS IEP. The IEP would have listed goals for the child and I guarantee it didn't suggest drawing on him as a way to encourage alertness.

The teacher was cruel and unusual and meant to humiliate the child. I really hope that he isn't allowed to teach in another district because he CLEARLY could not care less about the childrens well being.

I'm a teacher and believe me I KNOW that there are some kids you don't love love love. But treating them poorly is unacceptable.
:rant:


UGH- this story made me sick.
:banghead: :puke::banghead: :puke::banghead: :puke::banghead: :puke:

teachers .. adults .. in care of children .. should not behave so immaturely.

this is for "normal" students however (Idk what the PC term is- sue me). If the kid really did have a physical/mental disability, then he should have special help with that.

I maintain that there really is no good excuse for sleeping through a teacher's class. Skip it, leave the room, whatever, but if you aren't consious enough to answer questions or acknowledge a lecture, then you really shouldn't be there until you are ready/capable of respecting that teacher.

Go back and read the article. He had a "shadow". A shadow is a qualified person who is hired to follow the student the entire day EVERY day. People are not normally given shadows for no reason. (Perhaps the shadow should also explain why he/she left the class without making sure the child was moving along)

I guess the teacher should demand respect but the 8th grade CHILD didn't deserve any?

You do realize that he can't HELP sleeping in class? Are we only empathetic to handicaps we can see?
Is it only real if you can see or hear it?

As a teacher you are held to a higher standard. Drawing on the face of a special needs child is hitting below the belt.

I didn't realize the guy was the kids shadow. And you're right, drawing on the kid was wrong, and the teacher was an asshole, but why is the kid in this class that the report says he often slept through? Wouldn't everyone be better off if it was just skipped by the kid? He isn't gonna be learning much while he's sleeping, and all it is doing is pissing the teacher off.

Because I've had several aspergers children in my classrooms who everyone had written off. I found them to be just as delightful as the other children in every way. Every child has issues- be it spelling, reading, math, comprehension, sight, hearing, socialization.. the list is long. In very extreme cases Due Process hearings will be held if the school determines that the child is unable to adjust to the school.

As many people know, public school teachers are subject to very high child to teacher ratios. The shadow assigned to the child would be extremely helpful in facilitating daily classroom interactions. Also, this is an 8th grade student which suggests to me that there is movement throughout the day. This is most likely not the teacher he is with all day. It sounds as if this class took place at the end of the day (I assume this because everyone else left including the child's shadow- normally the shadow would be very involved in the class changing portion of the day) and the child clearly has a long term issue with being tired. Again, the medicine that aspergers children take can cause extreme drowsiness.

A public education is offered to every child in our country- you don't get to exclude children because of color, gender or disability. I'd be furious if a teacher drew on my child for any reason. I'd be particularly furious if the teacher (who is supposed to be the adult) drew on my disabled child. Imagine that he had drawn on a child in a wheelchair because they fell asleep.
Would it still be ok then? IMHO it is never ok. At the very best it is unprofessional. At worst, cruel.

social consequences.

They also don't have the skills necessary to make friends.

It is considered on the high-end of autism.

Now my son has Asperger's. He takes meds, but he doesn't sleep in class because his anxiety levels are so high due to his perfectionism and OCD complications.

To actually pick on a kid with Aspergers is unbelievable and to mark him as a sort of pariah is the opposite of what a kid in that situation needs.

These kids suffer from depression as a result of this disorder...it isn't funny and being "creative" with them is cruel.

it is extremely cruel and unusual. Clearly the teacher was immature- and IMHO has no heart.
You don't do that to a child EVER.

Dayum, that dude is ROLLIN in bling

:sarcasm:

So noted.

because you aren't good at it.
Did alot of teachers draw on you?

and he didn't deserve the cash either.

Imagine being my son. An 11 year old boy with no friends, no ability to really socialize properly, and the knowledge that you are different. Imagine having pragmatic skill problems, not being able to communicate well in language or writing and viewing the world in absolutes. Things are either black/white, right/wrong....

My son is so fearful of socializing with people that he searches in vain for the table at lunch with no one sitting there so he can be safe...imagine being the child who hasn't got one friend because he just doesn't know what that means...

Imagine being a child like that and having someone draw on your face...

Those are the children you walk the extra mile for.
I just can't imagine ever EVER doing that to a child.
It's such a violation.

I see this story and peoples responses to it and I literally want to scream.
How can people really think that abusing a child is excusable, much less funny???

If you fell asleep in Mr.Hortons chemistry class you would get your hand in a beaker of warm water. Unfortunately the class laughing would usually wake them up before anything happened.

During the 2005 school year, Cosgrove had received a written reprimand on an unrelated matter, according to the report.





So he'd already been written up for something else. He sounds like a real winner

Geez, I can only imagine what the poor kid felt as he discovered his face. And what about the students that laughed at him when he exited the room. It isn't bad enough that this kid is struggling with the everyday life that some asshat of a teacher has to pick on him?

Blue

Chem 105 for scientists and engineers

I had made a friend during orientation week who was also an engineering student. this was our first class ever, Monday @ 8AM. Mike convinced me to sit in the front row so that the prof would notice us. This was a huge freshman class, about 750 student in a large auditorium. Well Mike would would always fall asleep in the front row, stretching his legs out as far as they would go with his head back, mouth open and often snoring loudly. Yeah, he was really making an impression on the prof alright. Turned out that Mike liked to party every night and 8AM was just too early for him.

At first, the professor would just kick his legs to wake him up. It was also where the professor needed to walk during the lecture. Then he resorted to throwing erasers.

Probably get sued or something these days.

making students who were caught chewing gum put it on their nose. in high school, a math teacher was known for flinging (with stunning accuracy) the rubber thing on the end of his cane at kids who slept in his class. i don't recall anyone causing a fuss about either. i would hardly call putting a moustache on some sleeping kid 'inhumane'. what a crock.