Possumblog

Maybe she should teach classes to monkeys at the zoo.

Teacher who threw feces at boy may keep job

By Scott Valentine
2 hours, 32 minutes ago

TORONTO (Reuters) - A Toronto school principal who pleaded guilty to throwing human excrement at a 12-year-old boy may get her job back, officials said on Tuesday.

"It's quite possible she'll end up back in her old position," said Grant Bowers, a lawyer for the Toronto District School Board.

Maria Pantalone, 49, a sister of Toronto's deputy mayor [emphasis added], was granted an absolute discharge on assault charges Monday after a judge said she "had already suffered enough," according to court documents.

The charges stemmed from an incident on July 30, 2006, in which police said Pantalone threw feces at the boy, who was not one of her students, hitting him on the shoulder.

The circumstances of the assault cannot be described due to a court publication ban designed to protect the identity of the victim. The judge in the case, however, said they were unique.

"I couldn't take it anymore. It was total, total frustration," Pantalone testified, according to media reports.

Well, I'm sure. I mean, I'd like to fling crap at my kids every once in a while.

But then I remember that I'm an adult.

She was suspended with pay from her position as an elementary school principal in August 2006.

In his ruling, the judge said Pantalone was "publicly embarrassed, if not humiliated. She has suffered more than most."

Just a tip, folks--to avoid public embarrassment and humilation and suffering caused by your having assaulting a child with thrown poop, Possumblog suggests you not throw poop.

Your're welcome.

Pantalone is on alternate assignment at school board offices and has no contact with students, Bower said.

I'm sure her coworkers are careful to keep an eye on her when she comes back from the restroom. And they probably keep an umbrella handy.

Once the school board completes its own investigation, she could return to her previous duties.

"The investigation won't take long," Bower said. "The fact that she admitted to the offense is certainly a factor."

Certainly.

A Toronto school board policy document details rules for the school at which Pantalone was principal that include the need to "show respect for yourself and others," and "keep hands, feet and objects to yourself."

Well, you know, some things are just too good not to share. Although fecal matter is probably not on that list.

ANYway, surely I'm not the only one curious about exactly where she procured the missile in question, and if it was her own, or produced by another manufacturer. And just exactly where is the usual chorus of people screaming about THE CHILDREN^tm!! In this case, it seems that it might actually be a good thing, for once, since all that's talked about is how difficult this has been for Ms. Stinkyflinger.

Mysteries, one and all.

(I just hope if she does get another job at a school that they avoid the temptation to welcome her by giving her a big plate of homemade chocolate fudge.)

Posted by Terry Oglesby at April 4, 2007 11:02 AM