Topic : 06/13 Teacher Sex Scandal, Part 2

Rather than trying to play amateur detective, why don't you google this case looking for the ruling of the Administrative Law Judge who ruled on her teaching license. The standards for the review is MUCH more lenient than a regular court...the school district doesn't even have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt...just more likely that it DID happen than it didn't. It COULDN'T.

On one hand you say violated children become pedophiles as evidence of your conclusions, then you turn around and claim you are NOT saying their relationship was inappropriate. The Judge found the relationship between Joelle and her husband irrelevant, and it was stated that nobody from the school thought there was anything odd about their marriage. For Heaven's sake, the same school HIRED her only a few years before.

If you read the finding of the Administrative Law Judge, which included parts of Matt's testimony and other things going on at the trial, you will see that the boys' testimony was inconsistent even then...not merely six years later...but right after the alleged incidents. Some of their accusations were proved impossible by their own conflicting testimony.

I cannot say that this teacher is 100% innocent, but can we at least look at the actual events, the findings by the legal system that had access to ALL the information at the time this happened, and the reasons why the charges against her were dropped rather than trying to read body language, analyze marital relationships,  and a perception of how people "should" react?

In small towns it is NOT unusual for teachers to see their students outside of school. Teachers are not robots who are turned on from 7:am until 3:pm. They are your neighbors, the friends of your family, the people in your church congregation, etc. Some of the teachers I worked with hired students as babysitters, grass cutters, etc. Joelle had grown up in this town. The vice principal who started the investigation was married to Joelle's babysitter. Her husband's parents were close friends with the parents of one of the accusers. Joelle may have been far too trusting in the values of the small town she grew up in.

Yes, there was a sleepover and both Joelle and the husband admitted to it. You said, te woman is innocent, well that is judging. Question why he a sexuallyactive at 14-15, souns like yo judginh again. wy don't you just very female rape vitim if they were sexually active before their rape accusation. Oh, it s against the lie. They can not ask the boys.Rape shield laws prevent the disclosure of victims identies, especially children.

Get  grip. You probably yelled that the Catholic priests, who were educators shuldbe left alone. They were simply teaching, is that yur thoughts. I applaud what good your uncle did, your father, and you. Is hat wjy you replid, to make settement about your individual life.You were teacher. News flash. You quit teaching because of your caring, but you thnk hat it was not your responsibilty to TEACH but the parents. What is the teachers responsiility? to have sleepovers ad pass coded notes.

I guess we will have to wait for the civil rial to find out if Joelle started her relationship and sexual after they were married.

IF THIS WERE A MALE TEACHER, MOST OF THE POSTERS WOULD SIDE WITH THE FEMALE STUDENT.

THEY WOULD SAY, WHY WOULD SE LIE AND PUT HERSLF THROUGH ALL OF THIS. THEY WOULD SAY RAPE VICTIMS DON'T LIE.

YES, QUIT JUDGING.. SO, I GUESS, YOU DID NOT MEAN TO SAY THAT SHE AS INNOCENT,BECAUE TAT IS JUDGING.

WAKE UP PEOPLE, JOELLE REFUSED TO TAKE THE LIE DETECTOR AND HER ATTORNEY WOULD NOT LET HER, BECAUSE HE KNEW SHE WAS LYING. ANYONE WHO THINKS SHE IS INNOCENT AND THE BOYS GUILTY BECAUSE THE BOYS FAILD ONE OF TWO POLYGRAPH TESTS, IS JUST BLIND. IF THE TEST IS RELIABLE, THENSHE WOULD HAV NO REASON NOT TO TAKE IT, UNLESS SHE IS LYNG. BUT, WE WON'T JUDGE.

WE WON'T JUDGE, THE FACT THATSHE USED THE WORD PEDOPHILE IN RESPONSE TO MARRYING HER HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER. LISTEN TO WHAT SHESAID IN . "DOES THAT MAKE ME A PEDOPHILE."  I WON'T JUDGE, BUT MAYBE SHE FINALLY REALIZED, THAT SHE MARRIED A PEDOPHILE. THIS VERY THING MAY HAPPEN, WITH THE TEACHER WHO JUST FLED TO MEXICO WITH A 14 YEAR OLD BABY. YOU KNOW A 14 YEAR OLD BOY, WHO IS 2 T 3 YEARS BEHIND GIRLS EMOTIONALLY. THE SCARS ON A BOY ARE DEEPER AND MORE PERMANENT. IF ANYONE DISAGREES,  I WILL CONSIDER THE ARGUMENT, THAT BOYS AE MORE EMOTIONALLY MATURE THAN GIRLS.

I was getting more and more disgusted as I read the posts against this courageous woman, and was preparing to answer, but you have articulated my views exactly!!  People who continue to suspect her of abusing her students will do so because they want to believe she's guilty.  With our culture's tabloid mentality, it's much more titillating and entertaining to believe the worst. Her calm demeanor does credit to her good sense and emotional maturity. If she had become verbally aggressive and emotional in her own defense- as so many of Dr Phil's guests usually do- the good Dr might have questioned her emotional stability or maturity.  (I'm sure she could and did display a lot of crying and anger when she was first accused, and her freedom, career and reputation were under attack.)  The "details" provided by these "victims" only indicate that some hormone -buzzed adolescent males did a lot of fantasizing about an attractive teacher's inability to resist the lure of their "manly" charms. 

I was getting more and more disgusted as I read the posts against this courageous woman, and was preparing to answer, but you have articulated my views exactly!!  People who continue to suspect her of abusing her students will do so because they want to believe she's guilty.  With our culture's tabloid mentality, it's much more titillating and entertaining to believe the worst. Her calm demeanor does credit to her good sense and emotional maturity. If she had become verbally aggressive and emotional in her own defense- as so many of Dr Phil's guests usually do- the good Dr might have questioned her emotional stability or maturity.  (I'm sure she could and did display a lot of crying and anger when she was first accused, and her freedom, career and reputation were under attack.)  The "details" provided by these "victims" only indicate that some hormone -buzzed adolescent males did a lot of fantasizing about an attractive teacher's inability to resist the lure of their "manly" charms. 

Your points are so well thought and well written--you must thank a teacher for that.

This is one teacher who was wrongly accused and decided to stand up for herself.  Look at what it has cost her.  I am amazed that there are still people who want to become educators. 

I was disappointed in Dr. Phil exclaiming repeatedly about her lack of outrage on stage.  What did he expect her to do?  She was clear, direct, and intent on keeping the facts straight and accurate.  I applaud her composure under this type of pressure. 

And, if you believe in polygraphs enough to do them, then why wasn't more made of the fact that they FAILED?!

I  hope that this teacher is able to reclaim her life and that one day these 'boys' will be man enough to admit what they did.

I have seen both sides of stories. There are teachers that have gotten into trouble for molesting students. But also, I know how high school kids can be. Kids love to see a higher authoriy people get into trouble. And I really think this is what's going on in this case. It seems to me that the kids in this case are real inconsistent with their stories. I think that if they were really telling the truth, at least one polygraph test that was administered curtesy of Dr. Phil wouldn't have been showing signs of deception. For one guy to back off and tell the truth, and for two polygraph tests to come out as they were lying, my side lies on the teacher. I really hope that she regains the respect that she once had as a teacher. Good Luck Joelle. 

1.  An adult male who marries an adult female is not a pedophile.  I am very sick of reading posts from people who defame her marriage and claim her husband must be a pedophile.  Do your research.  They became involved after she graduated.   This is well documented and it appears that the marriage was supported by the community as many of the faculty and town members attended the wedding.

2.  The point people are trying to get you to see is that the 'sleep over' was actually called 'French Camp' and was conducted with the approval/consent of the school and the parents.  There is a big difference between what you view as a sleep over and what was a structured but informal educational event.

3.  She refused the lie detector test because she currently has ongoing litigation against the school distict and was advised by both her attourneys not to take the test.  Why pay a laywer if you are not going to listen to them?

Dear Dr. Phil,

As a parent of two children, daughter 20 and son 17, I can't understand why this teacher would put herself in a situation like driving a male student home alone or having sleepovers.  She is a teacher not a "friend".  I would never even think of driving one of my son's friends home alone.....it is just common sense.  We live in a world were we have to think ahead! I too live in a small town and would think it was funny that a teacher would ask anyone of my kids to help he or she move furniture or go over to their home for a sleep over.....flags would go up!!