[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...;ArticleID=6291

Teacher Drank Poisoned Water
Instructor at career center said caustic substance had been put in her bottled water.

Georgette Senter
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - A 48-year-old computer instructor with Michigan City Area Schools' A.K. Smith Career Center filed a report with city police Friday, Oct. 26, after doctors at St. Anthony Memorial confirmed she had come into contact with a highly caustic substance that had been put into a bottle of water on her desk.

According to hospital emergency room reports provided by the teacher, Diane Britton, her mouth and lips were blistered. According to a police report, she had had eaten lunch that day in her classroom and left a half-full bottle of sports water on her desk.

The report came to light only recently, after members of Britton's family contacted The News-Dispatch.

Britton told The News-Dispatch that she left the classroom and was in the hall speaking with several students when one of her students arrived carrying a silver gift bag.

"I stopped him, asking what was in the bag," she said. "He told me a mother board [computer equipment]. I did not look in the bag or question him more, he just went into the classroom where he was the only person in there until just before class began."

As she began class, she took a drink from the bottle. "As soon as it hit my lips I felt grit," she told police. "I turned and spat it all out right on the floor."

She told police she then asked the class if anyone had tampered with the bottle and asked what had they put in the water.

At first no one in the class responded.

She then notified her superior, Karen Robinson, director of the A.K. Smith Career Center. Robinson declined to comment when contacted by The News-Dispatch.

After students initially did not responded to Britton about her water bottle, she said that before class ended for the day a male student asked her if her lips and mouth felt numb. A female student who overheard the question asked the student, "Why would you ask that?"

Now, 10 days after the incident, Michigan City Area Schools officials and the director of the A.K. Smith Center declined to talk about what steps are being taken to ensure the safety of students and school personnel.

Michigan City police said they cannot comment on an open investigation.

The director of the A.K. Smith Career Center took the contents of the water bottle from Britton the day of the incident and kept it in her office at the center. Police retrieved the bottle on Oct. 29, and turned it over to the Indiana State Police crime lab.

Police say it could take as long as two years to get a full report because the lab is so backed up with cases.

Britton returned to class the following Monday, missed school that Tuesday because of a relapse of burning, but has since been in class every day.

Britton said she is concerned that the student that may have been involved in the incident remains in her class. She also said that during afternoon class Monday Detective Sean Steele came to the school and spoke with several students.

Betsy Kohn, spokeswoman for MCAS, said Monday that the administration is now aware of this incident and that it is being fully investigated.

"Until the investigation is complete I cannot make any comments," Kohn said.



Contact Georgette Senter at gsenter@thenewsdispatch.com

[ChickenCityRoller]

This is nuts! What ever happened to the days of simply nailing a grade book to the desk? I hope they find out who did it and I hope the "poison" isn't anything really bad.

[Ang]

Diane Britton is one of the most easy going people I know. I can't understand why anyone would want to poison her to begin with.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=50239.16

Tainted Bottle Remains With Local Police
State authorities bash statement that it could take years to test water; officer says he misspoke.

Georgette Senter
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - A bottle of water belonging to a teacher at A.K. Smith Career Center reportedtly tainted with a caustic substance is still in the hands of Michigan City police.

Police said Wednesday they are taking the incident seriously. They learned of the tainted water when it was reported to them by the teacher, Diane Britton, 48, after the incident Oct. 26.

After reporting the incident, however, Britton said she was discouraged to learn it could take two years for the contents of the bottle to be analyzed by a police lab.

Det. Sean Steele said when he first told Britton it could possibly take as long as two years for the Indiana State Police laboratory in Lowell to have results, he misspoke.

Indiana State Police laboratory manager Paul Fotia said Wednesday the ISP lab in Lowell does not handle poison or toxicology matters

"If we do, I would guarantee that it would not take two years to get results in this kind of case," Fotia said.

Fotia said he also checked his records since the Oct. 26 incident and found no contact on any level with the Michigan City Police Department.

"Perhaps they meant to say they had sent it to Indiana State Toxicology Lab in Indianapolis," Fotia said.

Police Chief Ben Neitzel said the half-full bottle of tainted liquid is in the possession of the Michigan City police.

"We have had the bottle since Oct. 29, when we collected it from the school," Neitzel said.

"At this point we are searching for the right lab to send the evidence to to have it analyzed," he said, adding he could not go in to detail as to which lab the department is considering.

Fotia noted that in cases that need immediate results, most labs would work with the investigating departments to get the analysis done as quickly as possible.



Contact Georgette Senter at gsenter@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=50239.16

Instructor Talks Of Tough Times
Diane Britton says she hates to think one of her kids may be a suspect in attempting to harm her.

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Michigan City Area Schools officials still are saying little about the tainted water consumed by a teacher at the A.K. Smith Career Center on Oct. 26.

Diane Britton, 48, sustained lip and mouth blisters in the incident - and authorities are investigating.

"The police have come to talk with my students," she said.

She said she hates to think one of her students may be a suspect in trying to harm her.

"I'm having a very difficult time now," she said.

Betsy Kohn, MCAS director of communication, said school officials investigate any report of injury to a teacher or a student.

While not commenting specifically about the incident, she said school officials might interview "teachers, students and anyone else who might have information about the matter."

"We encourage anyone who has information about the matter to come to us," Kohn said.

Michigan City police, who took possession of the half-full bottle of water from MCAS three days after the incident, have also declined to comment, saying it's an ongoing investigation.

Britton, meanwhile, a computer networking and programming teacher at the A.K. Smith Area Career Center, remains in the awkward position of being in a classroom with someone who may have tainted her drink.

More than a week after the incident, she said she feels left out of the loop.

Britton said that on Oct. 26 when she took a sip of water, she felt grit in the water and immediately spat it out.

Britton had eaten her lunch at her desk with some colleagues and she had drunk some water from a bottle purchased from the school's culinary arts department. Nothing about the water seemed unusual during lunch.

But at the beginning of a class period when she took a sip, she noticed grit in the water.

She said she finished the school day, ran some errands at Wal-Mart and only after she had seen her husband - and kissed him - did she think about seeking medical attention. He called her on her cell phone and told her his lips began to blister after her kiss, and she experienced the same blistering.

At the St. Anthony Memorial emergency room, she said she was instructed to wash her face for 15 minutes. Emergency personnel also took cultures from her mouth and her husband's.

"And they took about eight vials of blood." Since that time, she has learned that she had no bacterial infection and her blood showed no signs of drugs.

On the day of the incident, she contacted Karen Robinson, director of the A.K. Smith Career Center. Robinson sent Tom Kurzhal, assistant director to see Britton.

"Tom and I have been close friends," Britton said. "He asked if I was OK," she said. "I automatically said, 'I'm fine.' I think I was in shock and that's how I respond. I don't want anyone to think I'm not all right."

According to Britton, Kurzhal's response to that was, "Oh, I was told this was an emergency."

Kurzhal told The News-Dispatch he was instructed not to comment on the incident. Kurzhal took custody of the bottle of water and later Michigan City Area Schools gave it to the Michigan City Police Department.

Detective Sean Steele, who is investigating the case, said he could not discuss the case because it is an ongoing investigation.

Not surprisingly, the rumor mill is rife with speculation. Britton has heard, for example, that her water had been tainted with some laundry product. Britton said her husband and adult children are worried about her.

"My husband is very protective," she said.

And while they are worried about her, she is concerned about her students.

"These are my kids," she said, her voice overflowing with emotion.

Contact Deborah Sederberg at dsederberg@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Roger Kaputnik]

I'da kept a sample of the water and had it tested myself.

[Southsider2k12]

Not a bad theory... I wonder how much something like that would cost to test in an independant lab, and why the administration wouldn't push for that so that they could get a potential attempted murderer out of our schools.?

[JHeath]

Not a bad theory... I wonder how much something like that would cost to test in an independant lab, and why the administration wouldn't push for that so that they could get a potential attempted murderer out of our schools.?

I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it attempted murder, but it was definitely a malicious act with intent to cause some type of harm.

Ang, I agree. I'd have had an indpendt test run...somewhere. I'd also be upset about the way that the Administration seems to be dragging their feet here.

[Ang]

"We at the MCAS appreciate our staff and students. However, we won't share information with the public, nor will we spend money to catch criminals and murderers. That is the MCPD's job, not ours. Our money is spent on plane tickets and hotel accomodations for unnecessary trips."

[Southsider2k12]

Getting past the hyperbole, how great of a move would it be for the administration to reach out accross the aisle to the teachers and say we value your safety and welfare and we will do anything we can to protect that bond. If you give us a sample, we will test it at our own expense.

The irony is that if you think back to the Michael Harding contract extention, one of the clauses in his contract is that if he decides he feels threatened, he can request a security detail at the MCAS's (ie you and I's) expense. What about the teachers? I guess even when someone poisons them, they won't act? That's just sad. The worst part is the teacher has to go to school everyday, knowing someone tried to poison her. To me it would be akin to sending a rape victim back into the situation they were attacked in.

[Roger Kaputnik]

harding should be feeling threatened by the lack of positive vibes

[Ang]

Of course Rick Richards has something to say on this issue...
It's acutally pretty good.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...21&TM=45053

Poisoned Teacher Left To Dangle
Rick Richards
City Editor, The News-Dispatch


If I was a teacher for Michigan City Area Schools, I'd be looking over my shoulder.

Why?

Because if someone hurts me - or tries to poison me - I'm on my own.

Anyone who doesn't think so needs only to ask Diane Britton. Someone plunked something in a bottle of water on her desk at the A.K. Smith Career Center that caused blistering on her lips and inside her mouth - and was passed to her husband when she kissed him.

You'd think her bosses at MCAS would be knocking on her door to see if she was OK. You'd think so, but you'd be wrong.

You'd also think this kind of an attack on a teacher would have everyone in the school district up in arms. But so far, the only thing anyone has heard is silence.

School officials are not talking. Betsy Kohn, the school district's $60,000-a-year public relations flack, isn't saying much of anything, except that the incident is being investigated and the school district is encouraging anyone with information to come forward.

Even the Michigan City Education Association - the group you'd most expect to be shouting its outrage - is silent.

President Phyllis Stark told me three times she couldn't talk about it because the union was conducting its own investigation.

"It's in the grievance arena," was all Stark would say, although she did promise to call me with the results of the investigation - possibly as early as today. We'll see.

As a former union member who was involved with a couple of grievances, I know it didn't stop my union leaders from talking about worker safety, especially when a member was attacked - and that's precisely what this was.

Stark made it a point to tell me that the MCEA has been with Britton "every step of the way," but that hasn't stopped Britton from feeling disconnected from the process. After the attack, Britton visited the emergency room at St. Anthony Memorial, had swabs taken from inside her mouth, had blood drawn and was told to scrub her face for 15 minutes, all in an effort to find out what was in her drink and to remove any residue of whatever it was.

Like every teacher I've come in contact with, Britton does her job because she sees the young people sitting in front of her as "her kids." She has knowledge she wants to pass on to the students in her class.

That one of them (allegedly) would put a caustic substance in her water leaves her fearful. Every day in the classroom, she stands there knowing that someone she's talking to tried to harm her, yet she's been left to cope with that alone because no one is talking.

And speaking of the parallel investigations going on, you have to wonder how serious they are because the Michigan City Police Department (which also isn't talking), still has the tainted bottle of water in its possession. MCPD is trying to figure out which lab to send the sample to, but a better question is why it took three days for the water to be turned over to police.

Britton's water was tampered with on Oct. 26, but it wasn't until Oct. 29 that the school district notified police and gave investigators the bottle. Where was that bottle kept for three days? Who had possession of it? Better yet, who is being protected by all this silence. But with no one talking, the lack of information about what happened pollutes the atmosphere at MCAS and further drives a wedge between the school administration and its teachers.

And while dueling investigations are taking place, a dedicated teacher is left to fend for herself and that's something everyone should be ashamed of.

[Ang]

And a Soundoff! remark....

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=45462.25

Teacher Drinks Poison
ENOUGH !! Our high school is out of control. Let’s put this in perspective; if you were out to dinner with your friend or neighbor who happens to be teacher, the waitress knowingly adds a caustic substance to their water glass then comes over swears at your friend and throws a punch. Of course, neither you or your teacher friend is allowed to protect themselves or restrain the waiter. Would you sit there and continue your meal as if nothing happened? Would you continue to go to this restaurant only to berated by the spewing of verbal threats or physically abused? If we need armed guards in every classroom, so be it. Our teachers are in need of protection, call it martial law, call it anything you want, it is time for people to become disgusted with this behavior. I am calling on all teachers, it is time to go to your union leaders, it is time for you to strike, each and every time you are verbally or physically abused, every time you have to push a panic button, every time you are ignored while disciplining a student. DO NOT, I say, DO NOT extend the school year for strike days. Demand to be paid in full for every day on strike. When these children, and they are children ( please leave the young adult description behind) have to repeat a year of school at the same class level, you can bet that parents, school board members, principals and students will finally stand up and take action on this matter. I feel like I am being held hostage and enslaved by a bunch of hoodlums that I cannot even sign my full name to this call for action because of the retribution that my daughter, a student at Michigan City High School, will have to face after these comments. I invite every parent to questioned Officer Day on how many class interruptions, arrests and fights that he is called to a week. Please light up the phone lines at the High School and the School Administration Building, start questioning guidance counselors, the Madison Center school program, your child’s teacher. Let these teachers know that you fully support the fact that they should not feel fearful of going to work every day knowing they could be injured or feel the trepidation of dealing with yet another “problem child” being placed in their classroom. Strike, Strike, Strike, for these are truly unfair and dangerous conditions which you should not have to work under.

[Southsider2k12]

Richards hits it right on the head IMO. Its bad enough we have the lowest paying school system in NW Indiana, our teachers are in a constant fight with the administration, and our schools rank in the bottom quintile for test scores, now we can't even protect our teachers, even after the fact? Stuff like this means we are never going to be able to recruit top notch teachers to MC because they could deal with way less problems for a lot more money.

[Ang]

Yeah, I think teachers on the south side of Chicago have it better than the teachers at MCAS

[Southsider2k12]

Yeah, I think teachers on the south side of Chicago have it better than the teachers at MCAS

A first year teacher in the CPS makes $43,233 with a bachelors degree.

IIRC a teacher at the MCAS makes about 27 or 28k in their first year.

[Roger Kaputnik]

The lack of support from the Harding Admin is the worst thing I can imagine teachers have to deal with.

[Ang]

I wasn't speaking just about pay, I also meant safety and protection

[Southsider2k12]

A very nice letter from one of our own!

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=38343.62

Treatment Of Poisoned Teacher A Travesty
I think it is a travesty how the Michigan City Area Schools is handling the situation with Diane Britton. Although this attack does not include physical battery, someone tried to seriously injure Diane and that someone needs to be found and punished.

But, as I see it, MCAS is going to just sit back and wait for it go away - as they always do. Diane is one of the most wonderful people I know and I can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt her to begin with. I just can't imagine having to sit in the classroom all day wondering "who?"

To Diane and Ricky, I miss you guys. You are two very strong, tough people and I know you will get through this. I am praying for you to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible and to have the perpetrator brought to justice. God bless you both!

Angelique Peters

Casper, Wyo

[Roger Kaputnik]

Go, Ang!