Lakeland Local

Scott Lake Pron Principal Update

Posted by Chuck Welch on December 23, 2007 9:02 PM | Permalink   | Comments (1)

It seems Buffalo News reporters asked the questions I had regarding recently charged Scott Lake principal John Stelmack:

Thomas was adamant Saturday that Stelmack’s resignation from Ellicott had nothing to do with any kind of child pornography or endangerment issue.

“Nothing like this,” she said, regarding the Florida case.

Stelmack seemed overwhelmed by the many responsibilities that came with managing Ellicott — a 700-pupil school, Thomas said. She said Stelmack had trouble keeping up with the fast pace at the school.

Thomas said she met with Stelmack over many weeks before he finally decided in February that he would resign at the end of June. Thomas arranged for Stelmack to work out of the central district offices.

She said one of the factors that led to Stelmack’s resignation involved parents’ dissatisfaction with how he handled the news that a contracted school bus driver who transported Ellicott children was charged with possessing child pornography.

“I got complaints that parents didn’t think he was aggressive enough in handling the situation,” she said.

But there was no indication that Stelmack and the bus driver had any connection, she said.

Thomas added that no one in the district knew of any complaints about inappropriate behavior against Stelmack.

“We have absolutely no knowledge of any type of behavior that’s inappropriate, ever at all,” Thomas said.

Paul Grekalski, the former Orchard Park superintendent who was forced to resign after he was accused of an array of improprieties, also said he had not received any complaints about Stelmack.

“There were no problems whatsoever while I was there,” he said. -- The Buffalo News

I'd like to hear more from those parents who complained. The bus driver was charged on Monday and Stelmack's resignation was on Tuesday. How did he handle the news that Monday? What sort of aggressive response could Stelmack have given in a day?

The other question I had was answered. It seems they immediately took him out of the school, "Thomas arranged for Stelmack to work out of the central district offices."

Billy Townsend has the story in this morning's Tampa Tribune.

Reminder: "pron" is used so legitimate sites will rank high when people Google for the other term. It's not a perfect control, but it helps.