Teacher Allowed Back In Class Was On Paid Leave After Taking Students Home To Bake Cookies
A Spokane schoolteacher who was placed on paid leave after she took students to her house to bake Valentine’s cookies is back on the job.
Susan Francis told school officials she took two Sacajawea Middle School students home Feb. 13 to demonstrate a unit on measurement. They were involved in a minor traffic accident on the way.
She was recently allowed to return to work, although investigative records made public this week conclude the trip “lacked any positive purpose or educational value.”
Francis also showed “substantial poor judgment” concerning student safety and supervision, according to a memorandum by Mark Anderson, Spokane School District 81’s human resources director.
Francis returned to work May 5 after receiving a written warning about the incident. During the three-month leave, she continued receiving her $46,740 annual salary while a substitute taught her class.
Her new assignment in a resource room doesn’t include field trips, Anderson said.
On Wednesday, Francis said the girls were in a program for developmentally impaired students and she’d been teaching them about fractions by using measuring cups and reading recipes.
“We try to provide as many practical applications as we can for what the students are doing,” she said.
“It was the day before Valentine’s Day and they were pretty excited about making things in the shapes of hearts.”
The students were in a community-based program that went on field trips about twice a week.
In a written response to Anderson, Francis said she signed out for a field trip using the same procedure she’s used for years.
As Francis drove the girls from the South Hill school to her house, her car collided with another in an intersection. She returned the students to class late.
Francis should have told a supervisor about the accident immediately after it happened, Anderson said. “That shows poor judgment.”
The parents of one girl were angry because no one told them about the wreck until their daughter came home and complained she wasn’t feeling well.
Alfredo Llamedo said his 13-year old daughter Mandy was treated at the hospital for whiplash.
Llamedo also objected to cookie-baking field trips. When he signed a permission slip at the beginning of the year for occasional trips, he said he expected educational visits to the library and post office.
Sacajawea has since changed its policy so that separate permission slips are now required for every out-of-school activity.
Anderson said he found nothing to support allegations that Francis tried to cover up the matter by giving “a mean look” to one of the girls when she talked about the wreck.
, DataTimes