UPDATE: West Des Moines School Officials Aren’t Saying Much About Nude Home Movies

West Des Moines Community School officials are saying little about a dust-up earlier this week when a substitute teacher allegedly showed Crossroads Park Elementary School third-graders a video clip featuring nudity and alcohol consumption.

The teacher was removed from the classroom and escorted from the building as soon as school officials were told by another teacher that the video — which the substitute teacher said was taken during a family vacation — had been shared with students on Tuesday, district spokeswoman Elaine Watkins-Miller said.

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The video clip included scenes of adults playing Frisbee without clothing and consuming alcohol, Crossroads Principal Britt Cameron said in a letter to parents. The clip showed the adults’ backsides, did not include frontal nudity and did not include children, Watkins-Miller said.

What do you think of this mishap? Is there anything the school could have done to prevent it, or was it out of officials' control? Tell us in comments below.

Watkins-Miller said the clip in question was not shown with the knowledge and permission of the classroom teacher, Michelle Capobianco. Typically when classroom teachers are gone, they make arrangements with their substitutes on activities and lesson plans for the day.

Video Shown Without Permission

“The substitute teacher acted on his or her own,” Watkins-Miller said. “There was no relationship to the class and activities that day. Showing that video was not part of the lesson plan for that day or at the direction of the classroom teacher.”

The district conducts background checks on substitute teachers, who must be licensed under state rules, but there was nothing in the record of the teacher in question to indicate a problem, Watkins-Miller said.

The teacher’s name has been removed from the pool of substitute teachers available to the district. “This teacher will not be teaching in the district,” Watkins-Miller said Thursday.

She declined to say whether other Des Moines metro schools will be told the teacher’s name.

Substitute Teacher Could Face License Penalties

The Des Moines Register reported late Thursday night that the district repoted the incident to the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, which oversees teacher licensure. Also, the Register reported, parents may file complaints with the school's board of education.

Beth Myers, an attorney an investigator for the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, told Patch that privacy laws prevent her from disclosing whether an ethical complaint was filed against the teacher.

In general, the board could dismiss ethics complaints against teachers, in which case they would remain confidential, or move forward to a public hearing before an administrative law judge.

After a hearing, the board could impose sanctions, including:

• A letter of reprimand and public acknowledgment that a violation took place is issued in instances where the board determines “the teacher made a mistake and can be re-educated and can be a successful educator again,” Myers said.
• For more serious allegations, a teacher’s license may be suspended for periods of time ranging anywhere from 30 das to 10 years.
• In more egregious situations in which criminal behavior occurs, the teacher’s license may be revoked for life.

West Des Moines Police Lt. Jim Barrett said detectives met with school officials Thursday morning, but said the substitute teacher's actions did not rise to criminal behavior and charges won't be pursued.

Letter From Crossroads Principal to Parents

Cameron, the building principal, sent two letters to Crossroads parents. A second letter, printed in its entirety below, clarified that the students did not see frontal nudity:

Dear Crossroads Parents:
I want to make you aware of a situation that occurred in a third-grade classroom yesterday involving a substitute teacher. In the afternoon, the substitute teacher showed a video clip with a scene referencing alcohol and a scene of adults playing Frisbee without clothing and with their backsides facing the camera.

Another teacher immediately reported this to me when she heard the substitute teacher talking about the clip. I immediately investigated. Please know that the substitute did not remain in the classroom and I reported the incident to our human resources department, which has taken appropriate action. The individual will not be substitute teaching in our district. We have also notified the parents of the students in that classroom and made our counselor available to answer any student’s questions.

Britt Cameron, Principal