Merrimack Valley

Teachers' union pans principal's racy book

Some officials outraged she's selling it at school

By Mark E. Vogler
mvogler@eagletribune.com
Published: April 28, 2009

LAWRENCE — Oliver School Principal Beth Gannon has penned a romance novel the teachers' union says is so racy and revealing a student would be punished for bringing it into school.

And the union says the principal is peddling her steamy story on the school department's dime, urging teachers during faculty meetings to buy the $13.95 paperback "Crazy Fortunes."

The union is considering a no-confidence vote in Gannon at its May 6 meeting, while one School Committee member says Gannon should be fired.

"It's totally illegal to do what she's doing," said School Committee member James Vittorioso. "It's totally unethical. If you are here to teach and here to administrate, you're not here to make money."

"Crazy Fortunes" is a self-published book which came out in 2007 on the iUniverse.com label. It tells the tale of a woman who is engaged to be married but who reunites with her one-time lover, and contains explicit sex scenes. The union complains it also makes numerous references to promiscuity, binge drinking, drug use and suicide. The union also says Gannon uses any opportunity to promote and sell it, including faculty meetings.

"If any teacher brought that book in, they would be immediately disciplined — severe enough to be removed from the building. If students brought it in, they would be dealt with harshly, too," said union president Frank McLaughlin. "That type of genre is entirely inappropriate in a school setting."

Gannon declined to be interviewed about the book or issues raised by the teachers' union against her. She could be the second principal in three weeks to receive a vote of "no confidence" by the teachers. The union took the same symbolic vote against International High School Principal Terika Smith for several reasons including her failure to report to police an underage drinking incident in the school.

Several School Committee members expressed outrage over the apparent use of school resources to essentially hawk the principal's book.

"She's doing that on my school property?" asked School Committee Vice-chairman Greg Morris. "That's not what we hired her for."

State Ethics laws prohibit the use of one's official position to obtain unwarranted privileges. The law also forbids people from using public resources for political or private purposes.

Oliver School teacher Margaret "Peggy" Lynch says she complained about Gannon promoting the book by bringing it into the school and selling it. Lynch was transferred last month out of her eighth-grade classroom into a detention hall for troubled youth without explanation from Gannon.

Lynch has filed a grievance with the School Department over her transfer which mentions her complaint about Gannon's book.

"I told her that I didn't think the book was appropriate to be sold in school because I think it's porn," said Lynch. "I don't embarrass very easily. But I really think this book is embarrassing. I know teachers have complained. I know parents have complained."

Lynch recalled that Gannon announced at a faculty meeting that she had a book being published.

"If somebody wants to write a book on their own, that's their own business. If they want to put it on line and sell it on line, that's their own business. But I know that any book that is pushed by a principal in school on school time, that's inappropriate no matter what the subject," Lynch said.

Stephen Crawford, spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers — Massachusetts, said Gannon has gotten away with unethical conduct because Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy has never taken her to task. Laboy did not respond for comment.

"Every teacher in the Lawrence public schools, and perhaps every citizen in the city understands that if a member of a faculty brought this material to school, they would be disciplined," Crawford said. "But because it is a principal protected by the administration, nothing is done."

He added, "It's just astonishing that this pattern of behavior is witnessed in the Lawrence public schools, week after week after week."

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Photos

Handout/Staff Photographer