look - people are snapping
Metro News
Ex-teacher's e-mails to old students spur inquiry
St. Bernard sheriff looking into parents' complaints
01/14/02
By Michelle Hunter
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau/The Times-Picayune
A math teacher at Andrew Jackson Fundamental Magnet High School in St. Bernard Parish who resigned Jan. 4 has been sending inappropriate e-mail messages to students, including one quizzing students on which U.S. president they'd like to kill, according to students and parents at the school.
Although he has not been arrested, Mark J. Maloney is under investigation by the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office and has been questioned by the Secret Service, the federal agency charged with, among other things, protecting the president, former presidents and their families.
He could not be reached for comment but left a phone mail message saying he is under psychiatric care.
St. Bernard Parish Schools Superintendent Frank Auderer said he can't discuss personnel matters, but he said Maloney "doesn't work for us anymore."
On Monday, Andrew Jackson sent home letters informing parents that Maloney, 25, whose address is unknown, is no longer employed by the school and apologizing for any inconvenience. It also tells the parents that they should monitor any e-mail messages their children get from Maloney, who was a first-year teacher at Andrew Jackson.
Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Richard Baumy said there have been complaints about Maloney. "They are being investigated, but at the time there are no charges against him," he said.
Michael James, Secret Service special agent in charge of Louisiana, confirmed Maloney was questioned Thursday -- probably because one of his e-mail messages was an "assignment" asking students which president they'd like to kill and how they'd do it. But questioning him was "as far as it went," James said. "We have no interest in him."
Conflict over assignment
According to Nick Lambert and Jonathan Morgan, two of Maloney's former students, Maloney told his classes before the holidays that the school district was trying to fire him.
Because school officials won't discuss the matter, there's no information about why Maloney was in danger of losing his job, although later e-mail messages allegedly sent by Maloney allude to conflicts he had with Andrew Jackson Principal Kathy Boyd and another math teacher.
Soon after the holiday break, students said, Maloney handed out an essay assignment that drew the ire of the school's administration. Details of that assignment are unclear.
However, after Maloney resigned, students and parents said he sent an updated, more vulgar version of the essay assignment via e-mail.
"Those bastards fired me, I love you guys. This is why I'm going to continue to teach you and to help you to become better people," it said.
The 10-page e-mail, which promises the two students who write the best essays $250 each, provides a list of about 89 possible topics including: "This is what sexual intercourse means to me . . .; This is what masturbation means to me . . .; Being Gay vs. Being Straight: What's Better?; If I could kill one person, this is how I would do it . . .; If I could kill thousands of people, this is how I would do it . . .; Describe which president would be better off dead and briefly describe how you would kill him/her; I think John Walker is a hero because . . ."
Michelle Boudreaux, whose son attends Andrew Jackson, said: "This scares the hell out of me. I don't want this man teaching anybody else's kids."
In an e-mail message sent Wednesday, Maloney refers to himself as the students' "E-teacher" and gives them an assignment to dig a fish pond in their back yards. Near the end of the instructions for the assignment, the message says: "The best pond builders should get together and go do the same thing to Mrs. Boyd's front lawn. . . . When you are finished with the pond on her front lawn, fill it with urine and chicken bones. I think that would be funny."
The next day, Maloney sent an e-mail message telling students not to destroy any personal property.
In other e-mail messages to students, Maloney details past mental problems and ongoing marital woes.
Students sympathetic
Although some of Maloney's former students rave about their ex-teacher, many of their parents are concerned -- and questioning how someone who seems so disturbed could have been hired as a teacher.
"What kind of process do they have to check these people?" Boudreaux asked, citing Maloney's claims in e-mail messages to students that he's been hospitalized twice for mental problems.
Auderer said the hiring process forbids the school district from asking certain questions, such as the applicant's age or religion. He said he's not sure whether the district can screen for a history of mental illness.
As for dealing with a teacher who has a mental breakdown during the school year, Auderer said officials would have to determine how the situation would affect students. "There's so many possibilities (for dealing with that situation) that it's impossible to answer that question," he said.
School Board President Ron Nicosia said he wants to look into the Maloney incident, as well as the district's process of screening teacher applicants.
"I think it's pretty terrible that he would even send these (e-mail messages) to students, . . . and we appreciate the parents who worked with us," he said.
Despite the uproar, some students remain sympathetic to Maloney, who they say was a good teacher whose offbeat style struck a chord with his students.
"I thought he was a great guy. Brilliant, really intelligent," Morgan said. "All the students like him. He doesn't treat you like you're just a stupid student."
Lambert added, "He won't talk down to you. He makes you think. Every day he'd challenge us with interstellar formulas or he'd relate a lesson to astronomy."
Morgan and Lambert -- who formed a band with a friend and decided to name it "Maloney Got Fired" in honor of their former teacher -- said that despite their affinity for Maloney, they understand why parents and school officials might be upset by his e-mail messages.
They say, however, that they're not taking the messages literally. "That's just Mr. Maloney," Morgan said.
