Teacher accused of fondling four students at Braintree elementary school

[proud2BlibKansan]

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A long-time Braintree teacher pleaded not guilty today to four counts of indecent assault and battery after four girls in his fourth-grade class accused him foundling their buttocks at Donald Ross Elementary School.

Braintree police Chief Paul H. Frazier said at a press conference this afternoon that the girls each accused Francis X. Campbell Jr. of touching their buttocks on the outside of their clothes. On Nov. 30, the girls got together and told another teacher, who alerted school administrators. Later that evening, one of the girl's parents went to Braintree police.

Campbell, 60, who has taught in Braintree public schools for about 40 years, appeared today in Quincy District Court, where Judge Mark Coven released him without bond. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each count.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/01/teacher_charged.html

So a 40 year veteran teacher all of a sudden starts fondling girls? Yeah, right.

[The Straight Story]

1. As soon as I saw this I thought:

The Stand. The novel by Stephen King, The small East Texas town is canceled by the government, and its inhabitants are taken away to a medical facility in Braintree....

[tridim]

4. Isn't that also the name of the town in "Deliverance"?

Maybe that was Aintry.

[WI_DEM]

2. He is innocent until proven guilty but you can't discard that something may have happened

[dsc]

3. actually certain diseases like alzheimers decrease inhibitions

so it would be remotely possible though unlikely.

[Kerrytravelers]

5. I see this two ways:

1- This teacher has gotten away with this for years and finally got caught.

2- The girls are getting back for something and this teacher never touched a one of them.



That is why we have the court system, although this clearly does not always works. Hopefully things will be sorted out in a just way. Unfortunately, whether this is true or false, the lived of everyone involved will forever be changed.

[Ian David]

9. Or, he had a mental breakdown of some sort. n/t

[Porcupine]

13. Or a change in medications or.......

any of a hundred things that might have modified his mental state. We live in a world soaked with weird chemicals. Documented cases of med changes causing changes in sexual orientation are common.

On the other hand the girls could just be 1)telling the truth a)making the whole thing up or fi)responding to endless "stranger danger" lectures by interpreting accidental or incidental contact as "fondling."

At this point in our society many grown men are treating young girls like so many jars of nitroglycerine. You never know when one of the things is going to go off.

The sad thing is that this is national news. Nobody was physically injured or killed here, there are no bodies writhing in the streets in pain.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. 40 years

I think it would be nearly impossible to get away with fondling kids for 40 years.

[MazeRat7]

6. Isn't this how the Salem witch trials got started ??? -nt

[mzmolly]

7. I'll await more info personally.

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Fair enough

:hi:

[Ian David]

8. I wonder how many in his family tree signed the anti-gay marriage amendment

<snip>

Knowlton, Mildred Campbell, 90, of Braintree, died October 4 at Berlin Health & Rehab Center in Berlin. She was born April 14, 1915, in East Brookfield the daughter of I. Ernest and Mary Louise (Barcomb) Clark. She graduated from Randolph High School in 1932. She then attended Lyndon Normal School graduating in 1934, and taught for 5 years in a one-room schoolhouse in Rochester Hollow. She married Francis Campbell Aug. 24, 1935 in Hartford. Mr. Campbell died in 1987. She was later married to Winfred Knowlton, who died in 1998. From 1951 to 1958 she had her own kindergarten in her home. In 1958 she went to work at the White River Valley Clinic, and in 1965 worked at Gifford Memorial Hospital in Randolph, retiring as assistant comptroller in 1980. She had wintered in Brooksville, Fla. for many years and returned to Vermont year round in 2000. Her memberships included the First Congregational Church of Randolph Center, the Beulah Chapter #15 O.E.S. and the Fern Lodge of Rebekah's in Randolph, and she was a charter member of the Maple Leaf Chapter of the North American Family Campers. She was a former member of Bethany Church in Randolph. She is survived by three sons: Clark Campbell of Melbourne, Ark., Malcolm Campbell of Randolph and Alan Campbell of Randolph Center; a daughter, Linda Wakefield of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; a step-daughter, Nancy deForest of Pittsfield, Mass.; three sisters; Norma Lombard of Clinton, Conn., Eleanor Trickett of New Haven, Conn. and Verlie Farnsworth of Braintree; 13 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren; special friend Paul Webster of Randolph, and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by a brother, Stanley Clark.
http://www.vt-world.com/Archive/2005/October_12_2005/Obits.htm

See:
http://www.knowthyneighbor.org/thelist.php

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Sorry I am not following you here