Learn your le$$on$ well, kids....
"Second Boston headmaster is accused of a crime" by James Vaznis and Andrea Estes | Globe Staff, February 07, 2013
The acting headmaster of Madison Park Vocational Technical High School in Boston was placed on administrative leave Wednesday amid a federal investigation of his alleged role in a multiple-state credit fraud ring.
Queon Jackson, 39, of Milton is the second Boston school headmaster to spark controversy about alleged criminal activities in less than a year. Last summer, School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson came under fire for taking no disciplinary action against the co-headmaster of the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science after learning he was briefly jailed for punching and choking his wife.
This time, school officials placed Jackson on leave as soon as they learned he has been under investigation by the US Secret Service in allegedly fraudulently obtaining credit and then not paying the bills. A teacher may also be involved, according to someone who was briefed on the inquiry....
Jackson was placed on leave as the Globe was questioning the district about why Jackson was promoted in September, despite past run-ins with the law. In 2000, before he was hired by the school system, Jackson admitted to sufficient facts for a finding of guilty in a drug case and a domestic abuse case that required him to take an anger management class. This type of plea is commonly used by defendants to avoid a criminal record.
Johnson’s spokesman said she had no knowledge of past criminal charges against Jackson when she promoted him because her human resources department, which does employee background checks, tells her only of applicants’ criminal convictions.
As recently as Tuesday, school officials were defending Jackson, saying there was nothing in his criminal record that would “disqualify him from employment.”
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His leave comes months after the controversy over Rodney Peterson, the former co-headmaster of the O’Bryant School who admitted that a jury could have found him guilty of assaulting his wife. Johnson faced calls for her resignation after the Globe reported that she not only failed to discipline him when he was arrested in June 2011, but wrote a letter in support of Peterson to the judge who sentenced him. Peterson resigned in June 2012 to take a job out of state.
Related: From Memphis to Massachusetts
And BACK again?
Jackson, who has been employed by the Boston schools since 2000, is under investigation for allegedly participating in a “credit-fixing scheme,” which typically involves using false identification to get credit, and then racking up large bills and not paying them, according to the official briefed on the matter.
School officials have questioned Jackson about the case, the official said. Jackson asserted he was victimized by someone who stole his identity to try to buy a car, the official said.
Jackson, who earned $133,000 in 2011, benefited from Boston’s criminal background screening policy, which is less strict than those of eight other school school systems reviewed by the Globe.
And he still needed to steal?
Those school systems give their superintendents discretion to consider nonconvictions and any other information the superintendents consider relevant in determining whether to hire or promote someone.
“We look at the totality of the circumstances,” said Heather Richards, director of human resources for Newton public schools. Richards said that if a candidate had cases that were resolved in the way that Jackson’s drug charges and assault were — called “continuances without a finding” — school officials would “dig deeper” to make sure the circumstances would not disqualify him or her.
Most of Jackson’s legal troubles occurred in three separate incidents in 2000, when he was employed by the state as a social worker....
In addition to being unaware of Jackson’s criminal record, Johnson’s office also acknowledged it did not know that Jackson had serious financial problems as late as 2012. In that year, the state Department of Revenue issued a lien against him for not paying sufficient taxes in 2009. Before the lien was removed in August, he owed the state $6,385.47 in taxes and interest, according to court records.
School officials also were unaware that Jackson lost his $209,000 Brockton home in a foreclosure in 2007....
Yeah, poor guy.
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NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Boston school chief knew about of investigation of headmaster" by Andrea Estes and James Vaznis | Globe Staff, February 08, 2013
School Department spokesman Matthew Wilder said Boston School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson’s decision to place Queon Jackson, acting headmaster of Madison Park Vocational Technical High School, on paid leave from his job — he earned $133,000 in 2011 — had nothing to do with reporters’ inquiries.
I suppose it is simply a fact in 21st-century AmeriKa that all institutions and official authorities lie. When it comes from the education sector, what more is there to say? I hope you kids learn the lessons well, and I'll never blame you for lying or looting. You are only learning from those above you.
And he's still being paid, huh?
On Wednesday, the same day city officials told Johnson that Jackson was a target of the credit investigation, she called the acting headmaster at 5:30 p.m. to inform him that she was placing him on administrative leave.
Several School Committee members and city councilors declined to comment or did not return phone calls.
Michael O’Neill, the School Committee chairman, praised Johnson’s response Wednesday. “Dr. Johnson came aware of this [Wednesday] and took immediate action,” O’Neill said. “That speaks for itself right there.”
The article tells me she kept quiet for months!! WTF?
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As word spread that Jackson had been removed from the school on Thursday morning, Madison Park students walked out of class, hoisting hastily written signs that read, “Bring Back Jackson.”
“He’s the reason some of us are still here,” said Kemauree Williams, a 17-year-old junior. “Some kids have nothing to look forward to. He motivates them.”
Students had taken to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #bringbackjackson, to announce the walk-out.
How nice of the Globe to notice.
By 9:45 a.m., more than 100 students streamed out into the football field, then marched to the front of the school on Malcolm X Boulevard. They were soon joined by dozens more, who came out after someone pulled a fire alarm.
You damn kids!! That could be DANGEROUS! What if there is ANOTHER FIRE SOMEWHERE ELSE while the firefighters are responding to a false alarm? Is THAT WHAT THEY TAUGHT YOU at SCHOOL?
“We want Jackson! We want Jackson!” they yelled, many of them shivering in the 27 degree temperatures. Some had rushed out without their coats. One student donned a white shirt with the words “MP for Jackson” scrawled in red marker on the front and “Bring Back Jackson” in black marker on the back.
Sort of flies in the face of the global ecology class and its global warming theme, 'eh? That and the blizzard I'm still waiting for as of 8:30 am.
Several students said they did not believe the report detailed Thursday in the Globe that their 39-year-old headmaster, known for his conservative bow ties and high-water slacks, could be part of a credit-fixing scheme.
Well, THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND!!
“He’s a great person,” said Brandon John, a 17-year-old junior. “He kept me out of trouble.”
Another junior, 17-year-old Paris Thomas, and her friend, senior Brianna Odom, were circulating a petition calling on the school to bring Jackson back.
By 10 a.m., they had gathered nearly 1,000 signatures, Odom said....
Honestly, kids, I'm bothered by the unquestioning worship of authority here. You guys haven't learned anything because you have been indoctrinated, inculcated, and brainwashed by the agenda-pushing AmeriKan ejerkashunal sistym. Just sing the praises of the leader, forget critical thinking.
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