No joke: Teacher's in trouble
Practical jokes can backfire, badly. Just ask Russ Karsten.
Karsten, 33, is a third-grade teacher at Mesa Elementary School in Boulder whose apparent attempt at humor has attracted adverse attention from the school district. Some parents are convinced that Karsten will be fired for a dumb but non-malevolent mistake. They are outraged.
Details are scarce, but here's what we know: Priscilla Kohn, a literacy teacher at Mesa, arrived at school on May 3 and checked her mailbox. Inside, a police report says, there was a cut-and-paste note saying, "The flood failed. You must die!"
The term "flood" refers to a literary teaching strategy in which students are flooded with reading material. On May 3, Mesa had just recently received disappointing scores from the Colorado Student Assessment Program third-grade reading test. This year, 78 percent of third-grade Mesa students scored as being "proficient or above" in reading. Last year, 84 percent scored that well. The year before, it was 94 percent.
When Kohn received the apparent death threat, she notified the principal, who called the cops. Boulder police interviewed Kohn, who offered the names of other teachers who might have threatened her. The police noted that Kohn was "visibly upset" on the morning of May 3.
Two hours later, Mesa's principal informed the police that Karsten had sent the note as a joke. The police officer noted that the Boulder Valley School District assured him that Karsten "would be disciplined." The police closed the case. No charges are pending.
Parents of Mesa students believe the school district wants to fire Karsten. Many have signed a seven-page letter requesting an independent review. The parents concede the note was "inappropriate and that some punishment is called for." But they questioned "the severe actions proposed by the BVSD in light of significant exculpatory information, countervailing factors, flaws in the execution of the administrative process, and apparent personal history between a key BVSD official and Mr. Karsten."
The parents also contend that Karsten and Kohn were friends "who enjoyed a friendly, joking relationship." The note, they say, must be understood in this context. Karsten, who has no criminal record, declined to comment.
The school district is fairly mum, too. Mack Clark, the district's deputy superintendent, said he couldn't discuss "specifics" about a personnel matter. He said there is an investigation at Mesa involving two teachers, a "perpetrator and a victim."
Clark said the district will make a recommendation on the case to the school board on Tuesday. The public will not be able to scrutinize that recommendation before the board sees it, he said. The board will either accept or reject the recommendation, and a specific proceeding could follow, Clark said.
It's hard to know what the cryptic school district plans to do with Karsten. It's hard to believe that a boneheaded practical joke would be a firing offense at BVSD. But stranger things have happened. That's no joke.
Reach Clint Talbott at (303) 473-1367 or talbottc@thedailycamera.com. Will Melton contributed research to this column.
May 23, 2002
E-mail this story to a friend | Printer-friendly version
