In light of another teacher scandal, one educational leader says it's up to parents to instill moral values in the hearts of their children.
Heidi Kaeslin, a special education teacher at Lincoln High School who reportedly used a school laptop to run pornographic websites, now wants her job back. According to her attorney, the school district fabricated a situation that "simply didn't happen."
The Stockton teacher was removed from her job for keeping thousands of pornographic photos on her school-issued laptop and for lying to officials when she was questioned about them. The Lincoln Unified School District says Kaeslin has "set an appalling example for a teacher" and that her character is "so fundamentally flawed" she cannot return to the classroom.
Finn Laursen, executive director of Christian Educators Association International (CEAI), says morality is a quality that needs to be instilled at home.
"We can't turn our children over and necessarily believe that the teachers there will have the same moral character that we want our students to have," he asserts. "That has to come from home. That has to come from our churches. That has to come from the Word."
Kaeslin's attorney claims the former teacher's role with the websites was short and that the photos found in her computer are not pornographic in nature. But school officials simply are not buying it.
A three-member panel will decide the issue after hearing from about 15 witnesses. News reports indicate the case could then be appealed to San Joaquin County Superior Court.
Meanwhile, the fact that students at one California school were awarded for sex further shows the CEAI executive that youth today need a moral compass.
A "Fantasy Sl-- League" that gave male athletes points for sexual encounters with female students is ending at one Bay Area school. Parents of students at Piedmont High School were told that the league has been active on campus for more than five years, but officials only learned about it a few weeks ago.
Laursen explains that male students on varsity teams reportedly set up the league, where female students were unknowingly "drafted" so male students could have "documented sexual encounters" with them.
"It really showed the depth, the concept that our students in our public schools are missing a moral compass," he decides.
Many students at the high school apparently knew about the "fantasy league," but never spoke about it to parents or officials out of fear of discipline or losing their popularity.
"I think it's important that no matter what school parents send their children to, they need to have them prayed up," Laursen concludes. "They need to pour in them the standards they expect them to live their life by."
Officials do not plan to discipline the students involved.