Thursday's Internet Edition, August 28, 2008.
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Cooking up some tofu, Jimmy McAllister checks the extractor that separates soybean fiber from soy milk at the Phoenix Organics soy dairy in Spencer. |
Publisher - A substitute teacher at the center of a controversy after parents at Spencer Middle School complained that she discussed sex in a sixth-grade social studies class resigned this week.
Kathryn Beilstein submitted her resignation letter Monday to Roane Superintendent of Schools Steve Goffreda.
The letter, addressed to members of the Roane Board of Education, said she was resigning “with great regret.
“I wish to thank you for this wonderful opportunity to participate in a very noble position in life, that of being a teacher,” the letter said.
“I have had the opportunity to work with many fine people who serve the best interests of the children of Roane County. In my earnest effort to continue serving the best interests of those same children, I desire to depart my Substitute Teaching position at this time,” the letter said. “Though I have cooperated to the best of my ability with the district’s administration, I now feel this action would be mutually beneficial.”
Goffreda said the resignation would be on the agenda at the board’s next meeting on April 15.
The controversy erupted after Beilstein worked at the school on March 12 in place of social studies teacher Dennis Hicks. According to a letter sent to parents by Principal Kevin Campbell, Beilstein responded to a number of student questions and comments regarding human sexuality, growth and development and sexually transmitted diseases. In the letter, Campbell said Beilstein should have referred the questions to a health teacher or school counselor.
Campbell’s letter said human growth and development is addressed in the sixth-grade science curriculum and seventh-grade health classes. Campbell’s letter apologized for what he called Beilstein’s “lapse in judgment.”
One student even tape-recorded part of the class discussion and some other questions allegedly answered by Beilstein during recess. A copy of the tape was provided to school officials and the newspaper.
Beilstein previously worked as an attorney in Mansfield, Ohio. According to published reports, her law license is still active. She was hired in 2006 as a substitute teacher in the Roane school system.
