[Editor’s note: This story has been altered slightly by adding the words “according to two parents whose children were part of the session” to the first paragraph of the original text. Although we attributed the accusation to the parents in the second paragraph, given the interest generated in the story we wanted to re-emphasize its source. We have also changed the paragraph addressing the regular teacher, clarifying that she was interacting with other students at the time of the incident.]
UPDATE: This afternoon, the Aurora Police Department issued a statement regarding the incident at Waldo Middle School:
“At this time, contrary to reports on social media, APD has not received any evidence that there was any inappropriate video displayed.”
It is unclear what social media reports the department is referring to.
Parent Cory Reiser, whose son was in the class, responded to the statement. “I would love for ADP to tell my son he is a liar to his face and not in a public statement.”
The statement from APD did not address the admission from East Aurora District 131 regarding “inappropriate vendor behavior.”
Virtual learning” took on a whole new meaning for sixth-graders at Aurora’s Waldo Middle School and their parents Thursday when, during what was supposed to be a Zoom-facilitated math class, students were confronted with their teacher having sexual relations on-screen, according to two parents whose children were part of the session.
On Thursday, students at the middle school signed into a Zoom meeting expecting a math lesson from a vendor procured by the East Aurora school district. What they encountered was something very different. According to parents, what the kids saw was the teacher having sex with an unidentified man.
Comments from parents on social media expressed outrage.
“What kills me is why are we paying a teacher to be in the class room, but yet my son is on zoom with a teacher in FL. None of it is adding up and I’m not taking I’m sorry from the principal 24 hours later. They call me when my son jams his finger and needs a ice pack but not about my son and 29 others watching her have sex on zoom for a min of 5 minutes,” wrote parent Cory Reiser.
Reiser was referring to a letter issued by the East Aurora School District 131 Associate Superintendent – Teaching and Learning Lon Campbell today addressing the situation. Here is his letter in full:
The vendor involved has not been identified. The math teacher for Waldo listed on the school’s website is Ms. Ann Motter. Ms. Motter was interacting with other students in class at the time of the incident.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
20 Comments
You should remove the teacher’s name (Anne Motter) from this article. She was not the one involved in the actions written about in this article and anytime someone googles her name now she will be associated with the title of this article. If your copywriters and editors are not aware of the way search engine algorithms work in this digital age- I HIGHLY recommend educating them before you ruin someone’s life and career by being careless and irresponsible with your publishing.
Agree. That isn’t fair to her.
The waldo math teacher’s name should be removed! Horrible reporting!
Why the hell would you mention the Waldo teacher’s name when she was not involved with this at all? That will do nothing but associate her name with this incident and could be crushing for a professional career. Horrible reporting, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Does this publication make it a habit of posting teacher’s names who were NOT involved to stir up controversy? The educator involved is through an on-line school vendor, not the faculty member he shamelessly slanders. How incredibly unprofessional of the writer.
If you’re going to throw a teacher under a bus, then you should at least include the vendors name in the article. This is an Elevate issue, not a teacher issue and her name needs to be removed.
The teachers name should have never been mentioned in this article since she played no part of this incident. Why isn’t the reporters name listed on this article???? I hope the teacher files suit on the paper, and writer.
Please issue a correction and pull the teachers name who had nothing to do with this other than not being at the school that day. This is very sloppy writing if it’s not an intentional smear. If it’s intentional, there’s severe liability which will need to be paid. Do the right thing.
Where did you guys learn to write? One of the worst articles I’ve read. The teacher named in the article isn’t responsible and shouldn’t be named. Please delete this article and repost after attending journalism school!!
Does this publication make it a habit of posting teacher’s names who were NOT involved to stir up controversy? The educator involved is through an on-line school vendor, not the faculty member he shamelessly slanders. How incredibly unprofessional of the writer.
Remove the teachers name from this article. Why would you knowingly smear a teacher who wasn’t in the zoom call?
Please remove the teachers name. It was not her and she shouldn’t have to be named in this article!
The article is very misleading. The teacher should not have been named. It was not her! Remove her name. You’ve caused her enough embarrassment. Very unprofessional on your part
While the situation was inappropriate, you need to remove the teacher’s name IMMEDIATELY!
The careless action of publishing her name will quickly lead to a witchhunt against an innocent woman. And, why she was not in class is none of anyone’s business. She gets sick days and personal days to use during the school year.
It’s a shame that an innocent teacher gets smeared but an unprofessional journalist. Her life can be destroyed because of an article that mentions her name when she had no involvement. I hope she comes after y’all for defamation of character and slander. SHAME ON YOU!!! REMOVE HER NAME FROM THE ARTICLE!!!
Why are you noting the name of a teacher that had NOTHING to do with the issue?
And why did you post a comment from an alleged parent without also listing a comment from the district, or police department? (Both of which have issued statements.)
If you had gotten either of those statements, you would see that as of right now, no video was seen by anyone. Only audio. And apparently no one has a copy.
Why are you noting the name of a teacher that had NOTHING to do with the issue?
And why did you post a comment from an alleged parent without also listing a comment from the district, or police department? Both of which have issued statements that at least in part, directly contradict the parents statement.
My name is Diane Fuller and I’m also an educator. Why did you leave my name and that if the other 3.6 million teachers in the United States out of this article? We also did not teach the class! Please show better judgement in the future. You should offer Ann Motter an apology and reassign the reporter to writing classified adds.
So the middle school teacher wasn’t monitoring the online class?
The article as it stands now at 12:49PM on January 30, 2022 does not throw the Waldo Middle School teacher under the bus.
The article specifically states, “It is unknown at this point why she wasn’t teaching the class.”
Perhaps that sentence could be in all caps for emphasis, but it is a valid question that is left open because the school district and police department did not address the issue.
If the reason she was not teaching the class is simply that she had a personal day or sick day or vacation day or whatever, just say that.
Moving on, consider neither the Aurora East USD 131 school district nor the Aurora East Police Department at this time has a statement on their website or twitter accounts about the alleged incident.
Or if they do, where is it?
The letter pictured in the article from Aurora East USD 131 Associate Superintendent Lon Campbell is not posted on the district’s website.
http://www.d131.org
http://www.auroragov.org/residents/public_safety/police
https://twitter.com/EASD131
https://twitter.com/AuroraPoliceIL
One commenter named Christina above stated the vendor is “Elavate.”
“If you’re going to throw a teacher under a bus, then you should at least include the vendors name in the article. This is an Elevate issue, not a teacher issue and her name needs to be removed. January 29, 2022.”
Is Christina referring to Elevate K-12?
http://www.elevatek12.com/live-teachers
If the alleged incident involved a Elevate K-12 teacher (vendor teacher), why didn’t the school district and police department specifically state that in a press release?
It is not commonly known among parents and citizens that children are being educated by vendor teachers.
How often and why does this happen?
Vendor teachers are sometimes online substitute teachers?
A common use of vendor teachers by this school district is as substitute teachers?
How common is this in other school districts?
Thanks for the story and comments.