Underpaid Oregon Teacher Steals 3rd Grader's Coat

[pwd72s]

Teacher accused of stealing coat from 3rd-grader
Hillsboro - The Jackson Elementary teacher allegedly tried to sell the jacket online Thursday, May 03, 2007HOLLY DANKS and MELISSA NAVAS
HILLSBORO -- "I told her, 'Be sure not to lose this coat,' " the third-grader's mother remembers reminding the girl.

"It's expensive, and I usually didn't let her wear it to school. But it was cold."

The 8-year-old promised. But on Jan. 10 she came home in tears. She had become warm during recess on the Jackson Elementary School playground and took off her gloves and the $114 navy blue Columbia Sportswear Tectonite coat.

When she returned without the coat, her teacher immediately sent the girl to look for it. The gloves were where she had left them, but not the ski jacket her grandmother had given her.

"A staff member found her crying by the lost-and-found," the mother said.

The jacket would turn up, but only after the girl's mother tracked it to an eBay auction and took her suspicions to police. On Friday, Elizabeth Lucinda Logan, a Jackson Elementary teacher, will be in court. She faces charges of stealing the coat and trying to sell it.

Two days after the coat disappeared, the girl and her mother blanketed the school with fliers showing a photo of her wearing it. For days, they searched classrooms, checked the school's lost-and-found boxes, asked teachers and staff whether anyone had seen the jacket.

"Things don't disappear into thin air," the mother said. "I just wanted an explanation. I just wanted the coat back."

An avid online shopper, the mother decided to check out eBay to find a replacement.

"I was scanning them on the off-chance that it was there," the mother said. "It was just a gut feeling."

What she found Jan. 18 she described as a punch to the gut.

The photo of the jacket that had been auctioned for $46 first caught the mother's eye. When she opened the site, she realized that the 7/8 size, colors and model perfectly matched her daughter's missing coat. Digging further, she saw the seller was from Hillsboro and the jacket was posted for sale the day after her daughter's disappeared.

The seller's eBay ID matched a name on the Jackson School Web site.

The mother made an appointment with the principal on Jan. 22, when she presented "all the coincidental information." Mysteriously, the jacket reappeared at the school that morning, ripped to pieces.

The Oregonian is not identifying the girl or her family because of her parents' concerns about their children who still attend the school.

Police were called and took up the case. Investigators connected the eBay account to Logan, a Jackson Elementary first-grade teacher.

Logan, 41, will be arraigned Friday in Washington County Circuit Court on a secret grand jury indictment. The teacher was arrested Feb. 6 and cited for theft by receiving and criminal misuse of a computer.

In a prepared statement, Krista Shipsey, Logan's private attorney, said: "Ms. Logan deeply regrets the impact that this allegation has had on her community, especially the children at Jackson Elementary. She has been a devoted and caring teacher for 20 years and truly misses working with her first-graders. Ms. Logan has been devastated by this allegation."

Lt. Michael Rouches, Hillsboro police spokesman, said Logan told investigators she found the jacket in the school's lost-and-found bin and was auctioning it on eBay until her dog tore it up. Rouches said Logan has made more than 1,000 eBay transactions.

She was still selling Wednesday under the screen name logan6921, with a 99.9 percent positive feedback rating.


Logan told police she routinely buys bulk clothing at Goodwill for $1.39 a pound, goes through the pile for hidden treasures and sells what she can on eBay.

Hillsboro School District officials said Logan was placed on paid leave Feb. 7, the day after her arrest.

Nicole Kaufman, district spokeswoman, said administrators are conducting their own internal investigation.

Logan began teaching in the Hillsboro School District in 1987 as a student teacher at Mooberry Elementary School. In 1998, she went to Jackson Elementary, where she was earning nearly $69,000 a year when she went on leave.

Jackson School principal Janis Hill said she made a "measured decision" to call or meet with only the parents in Logan's 25-student class to tell them the teacher was on paid leave during the investigation. Other parents at the 600-student school were not notified, even though the alleged crime victim was not in Logan's class.

Leana Garrison, whose 7-year-old son, Nate, is in Logan's class, said parents were left in the dark about the reason for Logan's leave. She learned about the alleged theft through school rumors.

Since Logan's departure, Garrison said her son is not as excited about school. It has been a jolting experience, she said.

"He's constantly writing to her," Garrison said. "He just misses her and really liked her as a teacher."

Hill said school counselors have been available to students to help cope with emotional stress since Logan left.

"First-grade teachers are kind of like the princes, the queen, mom rolled together," Hill said.

Holly Danks: 503-221-4377; hollydanks@news.oregonian.com Melissa Navas: 503-294-5956; melissanavas@news.oregonian.com

[porsche930dude]

All that fuss over a coat. What they need to do is find the person who suposidly brought the coat to the lost and found. And if there is noone that will be her a$$

[Komenda Fan]

Thanks, as an elementary school teacher myself, I have been wondering how to afford Porsche repairs, and the answer was right in front of me all along...

[Aerkuld]

Originally posted by Komenda Fan
Thanks, as an elementary school teacher myself, I have been wondering how to afford Porsche repairs, and the answer was right in front of me all along...

If this doesn't work try a protection racket. Those little kids fold so easily and that lunch money adds up to a large sum before you know it.

[pwd72s]

Yup..making $69K per year, NOT including bennies. Obviously, the poor lady had to steal and sell the stolen goods on ebay in order to survive.

[sammyg2]

Underpaid? Are you insane? $69k a year for a part time job is NOT underpaid.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by sammyg2
Underpaid? Are you insane? $69k a year for a part time job is NOT underpaid.

Sammy...of course this teacher was/is underpaid. I mean, isn't that what we get from the press? That teachers are underpaid?

[tabs]

That just goes to show U, U can't trust Teachers. They lie, steal and have sex with their students. Besides that most of them are Liberals which is even worse. It does seem that Oregon is the breeding ground for a lot for alot of corrupt Teachers though.

[on-ramp]

oh no, not another 65 Million $ lawsuit !

[sammyg2]

In her defense, she probably was broke after giving her entire paycheck to the teacher's union so it could influence votes and politics so the teachers can get more money, more percs, and less responsibility and accountability.
I don't know about Oregon, but that's how it works in Mexifornia.
The strongest and most active political action committee in California is the teacher's union. Over the past 6 years they have spent more money on political ads and campaigns in California than the teamsters or any other group.

I'm picking my kids up from school today at 11:30, after all it is Friday and the teachers don't like to work more than 3 1/2 hours a day this close to a weekend.

Once again, I ask why don't the good, honest, hard working teachers stand up against the rest that are giving them a bad reputation?
It's time.

[pwd72s]

Works that way here as well Sammy. Every time the Oregon legislature opens, as sure as Oregon rain, "they" show up. Teachers, moms, and kids. Carry signs about a funding "crisis" in the schools, begging for another few $Billion to be added to the budget. Seems to me it's not a funding crisis, it's a spending crisis. Keep in mind that $69K was salary...add another 30-35% for benefits to get the true cost of this one teacher to the taxpayers.

[the]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Keep in mind that $69K was salary...

And of course that's for only 8 months of work.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by sammyg2

I'm picking my kids up from school today at 11:30, after all it is Friday and the teachers don't like to work more than 3 1/2 hours a day this close to a weekend.

But you're in that infinitely superior religious private school. You mean you think they're lazy and incompetent as well?

I think home schooling is your only option. At least then they'll get brilliance in the classroom as well as learning tolerance and a breadth of opinions. And you can get rid of those useless arts and music...

[sammyg2]

Private schools take the lead from the public schools, only they don't abuse it quite as much. The teachers at this particular private school don't go on strike, they don't belong to the teachers' union, they know that if they don't like the pay they can go somewhere else. they like it there because the students are all there to learn, they all understand the language, the parents are interested and involved in their kid's education (they are paying for it) and if the kids cause trouble or don't make grades they get kicked out.
I have some involvement in the board that makes decisions regarding the school, although at a lower level. I know what the teachers make, and I know the teachers there work more 5 day workweeks than the local public shools, we do comparisons. Still the precident has been set to give the teachers time off for every single holiday, a week in november, a week in the spring, and over two weeks off at the holidays, and either a half day or a full day off at least one friday every month that school is in. During parent/teachers conferences and open house they get more time off. People have grown to think it is normal for school to be out, they are used to it.
BTW we have a waiting list at this school for teachers who want a job.

In the real world (not talking about the union workers), most people work close to 2800 hours a year to make the big bucks and they have to perform to keep their job. Some (like me) work more hours than that. If they don't perform at an acceptable level, they are replaced.

In contrast, once a teacher at a public school gets tenure, he or she can't get fired unless they do something so bad it makes the headlines in every paper in the country.
And still they complain that other people make more money than they do even though they work half the hours (or less).

[pwd72s]

There was a followup story in THE OREGONIAN. Seems parents are furious at the school administration. Parents were given no notification of this teacher being placed on (paid) leave, let alone any reason for the paid leave. The only reason anybody has a clue is because of the press. Standard bureaucracy procedure...cover yer donkey.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by sammyg2

In the real world (not talking about the union workers), most people work close to 2800 hours a year to make the big bucks and they have to perform to keep their job. Some (like me) work more hours than that. If they don't perform at an acceptable level, they are replaced.

That is a 56 hour week assuming 2 weeks vacation. They may be sitting somewhere but they aren't "working" that. Typical law partner is 2100 hours billable. But many partners pad, and attorneys make a hell of a lot more than 69K per year.

I used to see lots of people who "worked" 70-80 hour weeks. Their work product was crap, and they mostly did it so they could brag about it. Or whine about it. Or both.

[pwd72s]

One of my peeves with the public schools is that teachers enjoy BOTH collective bargaining and tenure. Tenure means the only way they can be fired is for criminal activity. This case should apply...I hope.

[Tobra]

I work about 70-80 hours most weeks, and have only taken two weeks off in a row once since graduating podiatry school. Since I became a solo practitioner, I have taken one week off, and a few three day weekends. That is since 1/02. It was my choice to be self employed, and am not complaining. I am union, and you can bet your ass I complain about that, even considering dropping my membership in the APMA.

I work hard for my money so you better treat me right.

[ZOO]

All these posts are correct. Teaching is a great job, with, in many cases, excellent benefits and pay, and generous time off. But don't ***** about it. Instead, go do it. There's a shortage in many areas.

Honestly, griping about teacher pay and all that is mostly sour grapes, and sour grapes make a poor whine

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by ZOOMiata
All these posts are correct. Teaching is a great job, with, in many cases, excellent benefits and pay, and generous time off. But don't ***** about it. Instead, go do it. There's a shortage in many areas.

Honestly, griping about teacher pay and all that is mostly sour grapes, and sour grapes make a poor whine

I'm not griping, really...I'm just tired of paying master craftsman wages (through my taxes) for apprentice level job performance. Sour grapes? Nope. I have "enough" to live on...The problem is that most bureaucrats, teachers included, "enough" is never enough. What do the members of the teacher's union expect? A BMW in every garage, and a weekend beach cabin as well?

Sure seems to be that way in Oregon. Yet still, a teacher with a $69K paycheck per year feels the need to "allegedly" steal?????