As first reported to the public by my blog, no charges will be made in the situation involving Susan Wiseman and allegations of misconduct with a student. Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith will not be pursuing the case.
Ms. Wiseman, a teacher at East Forsyth High School, is still suspended without pay by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System, whose investigation of the matter is still unresolved.
The School System’s investigation is completely separate from the police investigation.
The Winston-Salem Journal article concerning the matter is below:
Accused teacher won’t be charged
Student, 17, doesn’t want to prosecute, Forsyth DA says
Journal Reporters: DanĀ Galindo & Danielle DeaverĀ
No charges will be brought against a teacher at East Forsyth High School who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student, District Attorney Tom Keith said yesterday.
“All I can tell you is the victim does not want to prosecute, we have no other evidence, and we’ve closed the matter,” Keith said.
Susan Wiseman, 27, a social-studies teacher in her fourth year at East Forsyth, was suspended without pay on Feb. 1.
Officials with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools said that Wiseman is still suspended without pay. They would not release the status of their own investigation into the allegation.
Keith ’s decision will not affect the school system, Superintendent Don Martin said.
“It’s two separate investigations,” Martin said. “Obviously, we’re both interested in the facts of the matter, but employment and criminal matters are two separate things.”
The school system won’t make a decision until at least early next month. Wiseman’s attorney, Carl Parrish, requested a 30-day extension of the suspension, starting in early February, Martin said.
Martin said he wants to finish the investigation and have a recommendation ready for school-board members before he talks to them about the case, possibly as early as the March 14 meeting.
They have not talked about it yet, he said.
A decision to fire Wiseman would require a vote by the school board. Its approval would not be needed if Martin decided to end the suspension and allow Wiseman to return to the classroom.
Nearly all details of the case – including the student’s age, the teacher’s name, age, place of employment and employment status – were initially sealed by a Feb. 3 order by Judge Lisa Menefee of Forsyth District Court.
Keith said that his office sought the order so that it would have time to investigate without media scrutiny.
Menefee rescinded her order the same day that the Winston-Salem Journal filed a motion calling the order “manifestly unconstitutional” and asking that it be overturned. Keith said that the Journal’s motion had nothing to do with the order being rescinded.
Once case documents were unsealed, the school system identified Wiseman and said that she had been suspended.
Police released these details of the case:
A 17-year-old student had told police that she had a sexual relationship with her teacher, according to the initial investigation report. The Journal generally does not identify a person making an allegation of sexual assault.
The accusation, reported Jan. 26, was that the sexual activity happened some time between February and May 2005. Police did not give an exact location where the student said that it happened but listed the same block as an address for the teacher in Ardmore, according to a search of online records.
Part of the initial police report asks the victim and others involved if they want to prosecute.
An officer checked “No” for the student.
“Yes” was checked for two other people involved: the student’s mother and the school system’s attorney, Doug Punger.
Chris Clifton, an attorney representing the student’s family, said that the family came to the decision that it did not want charges pressed.
“In (the mother’s) words, she doesn’t want to see her child get any more publicity or attention than she’s gotten,” Clifton said.
“In no way do they want the fact that they don’t want to go forward with the criminal charges … make anyone believe that nothing happened,” he added.
Wiseman declined comment yesterday, referring questions to Parrish, her attorney, who did not return phone calls.
Wiseman has been open about working with gay students and her interest in gay issues. She was a member of PFLAG, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. She also was an instructor at a seminar about “The New Gay Teenager” at last year’s Governor’s School.
Wiseman led a support group for teenagers until the allegations were made, said the Rev. Susan Parker, a local gay activist.
“She decided that she wanted to step away from that until these allegations are cleared,” Parker said.
Parker said that the situation has been frustrating.
“Here’s a teacher with master- teacher certification who’s sitting on the sidelines at a time when we need every teacher we can get, particularly master teachers like Susan. I would think it would be incumbent on the legal system to move forward with this as quickly as possible,” she said.
Should it really come as any surprise that Punger, one of the most anti-gay employees of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System, wanted to prosecute Ms. Wiseman? Anyone who has been involved in LGBT advocacy in the schools knows that Punger has done nothing but make life harder for LGBT students and their allies. At every turn and in every situation there was one constant I could always count on while I was a student in Winston: Punger would be there, standing in the way and planting barriers in front of any and all measures which could be even remotely considered LGBT-inclusive.
I echo the Revered Susan Parker’s statements, however. Not only can the state not afford to lose a great (and innocent) teacher like Ms. Wiseman, LGBT students cannot afford to lose their only advocate who also happens to be an employee of the very system and institution which is lead by those who would like nothing more than to see all homosexual “sinners” receive their just reward.
EDIT: The most up to date information regarding this issue can be found at: http://www.onlinegreensboro.com/~matthillnc/?s=susan+wiseman
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