VT- Teacher who spoke out on sex abuse loses job

Apparently Mr. Laramie works for the Vermont Achievement Center, his testimony must have been inconsistent with policy, see the description of programs for the Vermont Achievement Center is the following:

"COLLABORATION WITH HOWARD CENTER FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES — 77 PARK STREET Beth Merrill, Director of Education

VAC collaborates with the Howard Center for Children and Families of Burlington on The Park Street Program, a comprehensive residential treatment and education program for adolescent males who have sexual offending behaviors between the ages of 12 and 17. A secure residence is located across from the main VAC campus. The Howard Center provides the residential and clinical components of the Park Street Program and VAC delivers the education through the Fay Honey Knopp Memorial School. A VAC nurse also provides health care management for the students. The Park Street Program began in 1992 to meet the needs of adolescent boys with sexual offending behaviors within Vermont, who at that time were sent out of state for treatment. The program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)."

10-24-2008 Vermont:

MONTPELIER -- A Rutland alternative school teacher who worked with juvenile sex offenders for 16 years was removed from his job in September, weeks after testifying to a legislative committee about the likelihood that offenders will commit new crimes.

Chuck Laramie, 51, who taught English and history to teenage males at a residential school called the Park Street Program, was placed on leave Sept. 19, two days after its funding source, the Burlington-based Howard Center for Human Services, said he should be dismissed.

Laramie said he had been told he has a choice of taking a job at an affiliated agency paying $15,000 less than his current, $52,000-a-year position, or leaving. He said he is fighting for reinstatement to his prior job.

Some Vermont lawmakers are expressing concern that the treatment of Laramie will place a chilling effect on the willingness of others to testify to legislative committees.

"No Vermonter should be afraid of testifying before a committee," said Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The only way we can make good decisions in Montpelier is if people share their experiences and share their ideas without fear of retribution."

Laramie was emphatic that he was speaking for himself and not for his employer, refusing even to identify where he worked as he testified before the Judiciary Committee on Aug. 28.

In that testimony, he took a tough stand against sex offenders, saying they were likely to re-offend and that records of someone's offenses while a juvenile should be open for use by police and prosecutors if the offender later gets into the same sort of trouble as an adult.

Officials at the organizations of which the Park Street Program is part deny Laramie's charge that he was disciplined for speaking out. He said he was told June 19 that he was being placed on leave due to an incident in June when he and another teacher restrained a combative student.

He said he doubted this rationale for two reasons: the three month delay between the June incident and the September discipline, and the fact that the other teacher involved in the restraint was not disciplined.

Two days before Laramie was placed on leave, Catherine Simonson, director of Children, Youth and Family Services at the Howard Center, wrote a letter severely chiding Laramie's public comments. The Howard Center funds the Vermont Achievement Center, which administers the Park Street Program.

"It is our opinion that Charles Laramie's behavior ... would warrant immediate dismissal through our personnel policies," Simonson wrote. She added that if the Vermont Achievement Center "did not immediately remove" Laramie from his position, "... the Howard Center is left with no other choice but to explore alternative options that may be available to provide educational services to the clients of the Park Street Program."

Simonson did not immediately return a call Thursday seeking comment.

..News Source.. by AP