School board president lied, grand jury declares Saturday, June 04, 2005 By The Associated Press STEELTON, Pa. -- A school board president reportedly lied to a grand jury when he said he didn't know that a former high school hall monitor had a drug conviction. The hall monitor now is awaiting trial on charges that he sexually assaulted students. A nine-page grand jury report released yesterday cited the hall monitor's employment as an example of problems at the district. The Dauphin County grand jury also accused a teacher of having inappropriate relationships with students and alleged the school district had drastically underreported violence, allowed bedlam to reign in high school halls and permitted troublesome students to roam the streets when they should have been performing community service. Steelton-Highspire board President Derek Lewis knew hall monitor Rodney Ramsey had a criminal history because Ramsey's probation officer had told him, according to the grand jury report. The grand jury's report described Ramsey as a longtime friend of Lewis and said he had listed Lewis as a reference on his application. Ramsey had prior convictions for receiving stolen property in 1989 and simple assault in 1995. Although Superintendent Kenneth Kitch was reluctant to hire Ramsey based on those convictions, Lewis said he should be given a second chance because the offenses were only "youthful mistakes," according to the grand jury report. Lewis on Thursday night told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg he didn't lie to the grand jury. Neither Lewis nor Kitch immediately returned telephone messages left with the district office yesterday. District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said his office is trying to determine whether it can charge Lewis with perjury, but investigators first need to find two witnesses to Lewis' prior statements. "Many of these conversations that were the subject of these lies were one on one," said Francis T. Chardo, Dauphin County's first assistant district attorney. The grand jury also recommended that a former teacher be charged with corruption of a minor. The teacher, Elizabeth Berthoud, was on a one-year contract acting as a math teacher in the 2004-05 school year, and allegedly had inappropriate relationships with several students, including playing strip poker with a 15-year-old student. A 14-year-old student also allegedly witnessed Berthoud clothed only in a bedsheet with a 17-year-old student while at a private residence. Berthoud was recently fired by the district, according to the grand jury's report. She did not appear to have a listed telephone number, and her attorney, Terrence McGowan, did not immediately return a telephone call yesterday. She was released on $25,000 bail following her arraignment. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/05155/515796.stm |