Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Does anyone know anything about Ralph Andrew Salzer, who was mentioned in Sunday's Dispatch article, ''Teachers get a second chance?''

According to the article, ''He fostered an online friendship with a 14-year-old Texas girl whose mother provided details to The Dispatch.''

''The mother, who had been monitoring her daughter's online friendships, put an end to the relationship after Salzer wrote that he loved the girl. The mother tracked Salzer to Pickerington North High School, where he teaches and coaches.''

(skip a paragraph)

''Pickerington officials kept him in the classroom. State officials gave him a written warning.''

Which Pickerington officials kept him in the classroom? Is he still teaching and coaching at North? I checked the school's online staff directory and there is an Andrew Salzer at North who teaches Social Studies. Is this the same person?

Is anybody looking into whether he really did these things, and if so, will he now get fired?

I've heard the new superintendent is taking a tough stance on students who misbehave. Is she also taking this stance on teachers who misbehave?

Doesn't Lisa Reade's campaign literature emphasize student safety? How safe can students be with a predator in their midst?

What does the Pickerington Education Association have to say about this?

Is anybody else concerned?

Last paragraph is important

''He wouldn't be teaching in Texas. I would have been in the face of everybody, making sure of it,'' the mother said. ''It's totally unacceptable behavior.''
Lisa or Jim, didin't you used to post here? Tell us the details or is this acceptable behvior to you.

By Anon for a reason

Dispatch link

Dispatch has a link where you can look up teacher discipline by zip code - check 43147.

Ralph Salzer only says ''ALLEGED IMPROPER E-MAIL CONTACT WITH A MINOR'' - it doesn't look like anyone pressed any charges or there was enough to press charges. Based on the article it looks like ODE & PLSD investigated. Were any other agencies involved - police? Children's services? If so, you can't call someone a predator if they haven't met the criteria.

Unless you know the whole story it's hard to make a call like this one.

What actions were taken on the part of the district? If he wasn't found to be guilty of anything do we invite a lawsuit to fire him?

Think more facts are needed before we can pass judgement.

By Lawyer guy...

The sky's not falling, Katelyn

Personally I?’m unimpressed with this entire series. Dispatch spent 10 months working on this? Who cares? The data ?– like all public school district data ?– is available to everyone. Newspapers don?’t have any special passes to obtain this information. If we're so ''concerned'' about our teachers, the information is out there for us to obtain.

I?’m with ?“Lawyer Guy?”. We need not jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. Seems to me ?– given the statement that the ?“crime?” Salzer committed is simply an allegation ?– that there might just be more to the story than the quotes from the Texas mom.

The Columbus Dispatch has a very bad habit of confusing REPORTING the news with CREATING the news. It should focus on the former, and run like hell from the latter.