Cedarburg teacher who viewed porn at school fired
How often he accessed images is disputed
By TOM KERTSCHER
tkertscher@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 17, 2006
Cedarburg - A Cedarburg High School teacher who used his school computer to view pornographic Web sites was fired Tuesday night.
The decision came in a 6-0 vote of the School Board, which held an unusual evidentiary hearing on allegations made against Robert Zellner, an 11-year teacher at the high school who is chairman of the Science Department.
Testimony conflicted on how many times Zellner, 40, has used his school computer to access the sites, which show images of people engaging in sex acts.
School officials said they began monitoring Zellner's computer in November 2004 after it had to be reconfigured for the second time because "pop up" ads for adult Web sites repeatedly appeared on his computer. A filter meant to limit access to certain sites had been turned off.
The monitoring found that Zellner accessed five sites, which School District attorney James Korom described as "hard-core pornography," for one minute and seven seconds on Nov. 6, a Sunday. That was about three months after Zellner and other teachers signed a revised policy on school computer use, which, among other things, prohibited accessing or sending offensive messages or pictures.
Three of the sites show images of sex acts on their home pages. The other two sites show nude females on their home pages.
Korom said Zellner viewed the images for about 20 seconds at a time, which he described as "a long time when you've got a screen of pornography in front of you."
At one point, Korom stopped the hearing for 20 seconds to depict that time frame.
Zellner's lawyer, Jina Jonen, said Zellner acknowledged visiting the sites on Nov. 9 while doing school work.
But she said Zellner told school officials, when they confronted him Dec. 20, that he may have used the school computer to access such sites on only one other occasion.
That differed markedly from testimony by Superintendent Daryl Herrick about his meeting with Zellner, during which Zellner was asked to resign. Herrick and Zellner had clashed when Zellner served as president of the Cedarburg teachers union, a post he held until last year.
According to Herrick, Zellner said he used the school computer to access the Web sites on "numerous" occasions, about once a month, and that on some occasions he did so shortly after dismissal time on school days.
Herrick said the district searched Zellner's computer for evidence of him visiting the sites on occasions in addition to Nov. 9, but found no such instances. He indicated that might have been because of limitations in the search technology.
There were no allegations that Zellner viewed child pornography on the Internet and no allegations that any students or staff saw what he had viewed on his school computer.
There was a dispute, however, about the nature of 34 photographs of Cedarburg High School girls wearing swimsuits that were found stored on Zellner's computer. The pictures were from Science Club visits that Zellner leads to Hawaii.
Korom, the school district attorney, said the girls appeared "in various poses wearing bikinis."
Jonen said the pictures were among several hundred from the trips. She also said they were similar to photos that appeared in Cedarburg High yearbooks.
Jonen said the School Board could get its "pound of flesh" by firing Zellner, but students would be harmed because he is an outstanding teacher.
"Like the rest of us, Bob is a human being, and human beings make mistakes," she said.
Zellner, a Grafton resident who is also an assistant scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts and a youth sports coach, did not answer questions during the hearing. In a prepared statement that he read aloud, he said he was sorry for what happened and that he used "poor judgment."
Supporters testify
Five women, including a student, a former student, two colleagues and former colleague, testified that Zellner is an outstanding teacher. A male scoutmaster praised his work with the Scouts.
Herrick said Zellner has no disciplinary record and is a competent teacher. He said he was on a committee that nominated Zellner for a Kohl Fellowship award in 1997.
All seven members of the School Board are men. Board member Rich Krause did not attend.
The board members were given pictures of the images on the Web sites that Zellner viewed and pictures of the Cedarburg girls who were on Zellner's computer. Those images were not displayed at the hearing.
More than 150 people attended the hearing, some of whom wore "Bob" name tags. They applauded Zellner when he entered the meeting room but did not applaud during the hearing.
Herrick testified that he first warned Zellner about pornography when a "community member" expressed to him concern about Zellner's use of pornography long before any concerns were raised about Zellner's computer use.
Jonen, however, labeled the conversation an intimidation tactic, saying Herrick informed Zellner after a bargaining session over a teachers contract. Zellner was the teachers union president until last year and was president when the union held a no-confidence vote against Herrick.
Among those in attendance was Ben Siebert, the former Cedarburg High School boys basketball coach whose firing in June 2004 led to a recall election that ousted two School Board members.
http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/6112/Teacher_Who_Viewed_Porn_At_School_Fired
lmao.. i wonder if any of my teachers are just like him
How often he accessed images is disputed
By TOM KERTSCHER
tkertscher@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 17, 2006
Cedarburg - A Cedarburg High School teacher who used his school computer to view pornographic Web sites was fired Tuesday night.
The decision came in a 6-0 vote of the School Board, which held an unusual evidentiary hearing on allegations made against Robert Zellner, an 11-year teacher at the high school who is chairman of the Science Department.
Testimony conflicted on how many times Zellner, 40, has used his school computer to access the sites, which show images of people engaging in sex acts.
School officials said they began monitoring Zellner's computer in November 2004 after it had to be reconfigured for the second time because "pop up" ads for adult Web sites repeatedly appeared on his computer. A filter meant to limit access to certain sites had been turned off.
The monitoring found that Zellner accessed five sites, which School District attorney James Korom described as "hard-core pornography," for one minute and seven seconds on Nov. 6, a Sunday. That was about three months after Zellner and other teachers signed a revised policy on school computer use, which, among other things, prohibited accessing or sending offensive messages or pictures.
Three of the sites show images of sex acts on their home pages. The other two sites show nude females on their home pages.
Korom said Zellner viewed the images for about 20 seconds at a time, which he described as "a long time when you've got a screen of pornography in front of you."
At one point, Korom stopped the hearing for 20 seconds to depict that time frame.
Zellner's lawyer, Jina Jonen, said Zellner acknowledged visiting the sites on Nov. 9 while doing school work.
But she said Zellner told school officials, when they confronted him Dec. 20, that he may have used the school computer to access such sites on only one other occasion.
That differed markedly from testimony by Superintendent Daryl Herrick about his meeting with Zellner, during which Zellner was asked to resign. Herrick and Zellner had clashed when Zellner served as president of the Cedarburg teachers union, a post he held until last year.
According to Herrick, Zellner said he used the school computer to access the Web sites on "numerous" occasions, about once a month, and that on some occasions he did so shortly after dismissal time on school days.
Herrick said the district searched Zellner's computer for evidence of him visiting the sites on occasions in addition to Nov. 9, but found no such instances. He indicated that might have been because of limitations in the search technology.
There were no allegations that Zellner viewed child pornography on the Internet and no allegations that any students or staff saw what he had viewed on his school computer.
There was a dispute, however, about the nature of 34 photographs of Cedarburg High School girls wearing swimsuits that were found stored on Zellner's computer. The pictures were from Science Club visits that Zellner leads to Hawaii.
Korom, the school district attorney, said the girls appeared "in various poses wearing bikinis."
Jonen said the pictures were among several hundred from the trips. She also said they were similar to photos that appeared in Cedarburg High yearbooks.
Jonen said the School Board could get its "pound of flesh" by firing Zellner, but students would be harmed because he is an outstanding teacher.
"Like the rest of us, Bob is a human being, and human beings make mistakes," she said.
Zellner, a Grafton resident who is also an assistant scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts and a youth sports coach, did not answer questions during the hearing. In a prepared statement that he read aloud, he said he was sorry for what happened and that he used "poor judgment."
Supporters testify
Five women, including a student, a former student, two colleagues and former colleague, testified that Zellner is an outstanding teacher. A male scoutmaster praised his work with the Scouts.
Herrick said Zellner has no disciplinary record and is a competent teacher. He said he was on a committee that nominated Zellner for a Kohl Fellowship award in 1997.
All seven members of the School Board are men. Board member Rich Krause did not attend.
The board members were given pictures of the images on the Web sites that Zellner viewed and pictures of the Cedarburg girls who were on Zellner's computer. Those images were not displayed at the hearing.
More than 150 people attended the hearing, some of whom wore "Bob" name tags. They applauded Zellner when he entered the meeting room but did not applaud during the hearing.
Herrick testified that he first warned Zellner about pornography when a "community member" expressed to him concern about Zellner's use of pornography long before any concerns were raised about Zellner's computer use.
Jonen, however, labeled the conversation an intimidation tactic, saying Herrick informed Zellner after a bargaining session over a teachers contract. Zellner was the teachers union president until last year and was president when the union held a no-confidence vote against Herrick.
Among those in attendance was Ben Siebert, the former Cedarburg High School boys basketball coach whose firing in June 2004 led to a recall election that ousted two School Board members.
http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/6112/Teacher_Who_Viewed_Porn_At_School_Fired
lmao.. i wonder if any of my teachers are just like him
