STHS teacher disciplined, returns to classroom
By Kathryn Reed
South Tahoe High School math instructor Paul Kushner returned to the classroom Thursday after being off for five days while the district investigated what websites he had been looking at while at school and on the district’s computer.
“Appropriate disciplinary action was taken,” Jim Tarwater, Lake Tahoe Unified School district superintendent, told Lake Tahoe News. Because it is a personnel issue Tarwater could not divulge what the discipline was or why Kushner was disciplined.
Paul Kushner
A student earlier this month reported to high school officials that Kushner was looking at inappropriate, non-educational websites.
A filter on district computers prevents anyone from accessing pornographic websites. Even Facebook cannot be accessed from district computers. However, that still leaves plenty of websites that have half-naked women.
Lake Tahoe News was sent a video of Kushner perusing questionable websites of women in bras. A video expert told LTN it would take a seasoned professional to have altered the video. This person’s opinion is the video was authentic. Earlier a photo had been sent to LTN that was believed to have been altered.
School district personnel must sign a document that acknowledges they understand what is an appropriate use of school equipment and what is not.
Tarwater said violation of the user’s guide could result in termination. Kushner’s actions did not warrant such action.
im pretty sure you posted about the image being fake like last week, now you guys are saying its real. sooo you guys were wrong?
you guys were saying that the video was for sure altered last week. Now, this week your saying that it would of taken a seasoned professional to create such a video an that it is authentic.. sounds like you guys don’t really know what your talking about.
you guys said the video was most likely altered last week, now your saying you believe its authentic.. you guys need to get your stuff together.
you guys said the video was most likely altered last week, now your saying you believe its authentic.. you guys need to get your stuff together.
Photo — altered.
Video — not altered.
Teacher disciplined.
Do you need anymore clarification?
LTN staff
Why would anyone take the time to alter the photo if a video exists? Is the photo a still shot from the video?
So what woman were in bras, again so what. Maybe he was shopping for his “partner” and maybe they share 1 computer and wanted it to be a surprise. Granted he shouldn’t use the school’s computer for personal use. There are military communications/computer personnel that play games on government computers and there not suppose to. I were sport bras all summer when dealing with children of all ages and no one says anything. There’s women in bras on billboards, t.v., education videos, everywhere. My question is “why was the student on the computer at the same time with the teacher or was the student being “nosey” or “snooping” on the computer to get something on the teacher cause they don’t like him. The paper can only report what their told (which is never the hole truth), or discover by investigation. Don’t be quick to judge. From experience I know for a fact what you read about arrests, or crimes is only 35-45% true. To many people are being judge by what others read in the paper without all the facts. If you think what you read about arrests are true, you’ve never had to deal with are so called “law enforcers” or “kangaroo court process”. My Grampy always said “Never judge a book by it’s cover” and “What you read is What they want you to believe”, store it till you see the true facts yourself, then you have a right to make a “personally judge” based on truth.
The websites were teenage girls on some Miss Teen USA pageant sites in their bikinis. He was viewing them in his classroom on a Saturday night during a football game which is why there were student witnesses. There were tons of kids on campus. A parent became aware and told the teacher it was inappropriate and that kids were watching so he should stop. The teacher then closed his classroom blinds and continued to browse the teen pageant sites. And that’s what happened. Just the facts…
He was my teacher for years. I don’t believe any of this stuff, and it’s definitely hard to believe when you guys don’t have your facts together.
@ Iwasthere
My son is on the football team and I stay pretty aware of football activities. I never remember a game being on a Saturday. Our teams play on Thursday and Friday.
@Teresa I’m not sure who the parents are of these “children of all ages” but I would sure have a lot to say about anyone “dealing” with my kid in nothing but her sports bra.
As far as this situation goes, I know Jim Tarwater. He stood outside the school and said good morning to mine and every child every day for 8 years and to my knowledge still does. I know that he would not put our daughters at risk regardless of what it meant for the school or the district. If he says it’s handled then it’s handled and that is good enough for me.
I think this is kind of a major over reaction. It’s done and over with. Let’s move on to other things.
I am the mother of a daughter. I think it is COMPLETELY inappropriate for a teacher to be looking at teen pageant pictures on a school computer. My daughter has told me how uncomfortable she and her friends are around this teacher. Last week I was sitting next to a group of 8 high school girls and every single one of them gave examples of comments this teacher has made that made them feel uncomfortable (I was not with this group, so you can accuse me of eavesdropping).
As a parent I have had many many conversations with my children about protecting themselves, about what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior and attention from adults to children. I have told them to tell me about ANYTHING that makes them uncomfortable. Maybe these rumors are completely unfounded, but in general, where there is smoke there is fire.
At this point there has been an investigation, the school district feels this teacher is fit to return to the classroom. I bet there will be increased scrutiny and because of this, I feel comfortable in my children being at the high school.
I agree with Mrs. T. You would expect a teacher to have better judgement than to be looking at scantily clad young women while on using a district computer at the High School. And what about the poor kid who did the right thing by reporting this? He was literally torn apart by people saying that he altered the photo intentially to harm the teacher. How does this kid feel now that the school district has basically blown off his legitimate concerns. I’m sorry if this teacher is well known and well liked in the community. He exhibited seriously bad judgment and I think that he shouldn’t be alowed to work with high school kids anymore. There are plenty of qualified teachers who have been given pink slips in the past years that should get the opportunity. We don’t need teachers like this guy. What kind of example does that set for the kids?
A boy commits suicide because he is being put on the sex offender’s list for streaking at a football game. A teacher is only reprimanded for viewing naked photos of women while on campus. How does this make sense?
Crazy World, I’m pretty sure the word used was “half naked”, which in today’s politically correct world could mean at least someone in a tank top and shorts (boy or girl), and probably at most suggestive lingerie (boy or girl).
By your inference of a harsher consequence for this teacher, you are also casting guilt upon everybody that watches the Disney Channel.
This situation has been blown way out of proportion. And using other completely different situations from the past to draw any comparisons is shameful. I can’t believe someone hasn’t tried to tie in a recently convicted police officer.