Fax attack
Facts galore in school is one thing. Fax galore is something else.
The latter is what employees of the Cape Girardeau, Mo., school district found spewing from their fax machines for several days in August. In some cases, the design-filled faxes used up so much paper or ink the machines receiving them shut down.
Employees didn’t know what to make of the runaway equipment until Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. traced the calls to the home of Richard L. Bollwerk, an outgoing associate superintendent for the 4,500-student district.
Mr. Bollwerk, 49, has been charged with misdemeanor harassment and property damage and was due to appear in court last week, said Morley Swingle, the prosecuting attorney for Cape Girardeau County.
Court documents say the faxes were intended to harass Superintendent Danny Tallent. The property-damage charge refers to the ruined paper and ink.
Mr. Bollwerk, who announced his resignation in July but was to be on the district payroll until Sept. 30, served as acting superintendent from December 1995 to January 1996. He was replaced by Mr. Tallent. Both men had been interviewed for the superintendent’s job.
Mr. Bollwerk could face up to 18 months in county jail and a $1,500 fine.
Mr. Tallent refused to comment last week, and Mr. Bollwerk could not be reached.
Stud problems
A principal has chosen to resign rather than support the Arlington, Vt., school board’s decision to allow a soccer coach to keep her pierced tongue stud.
Kerry Csizmesia, the principal of Arlington Memorial High School, resigned last month over what he called a double standard in dress codes for faculty members and students.
The Arlington school board originally told Mr. Csizmesia to have soccer coach Amy Pickering, a part-time, temporary employee, remove her tongue stud. But it later reversed the decision, citing legal opinions that it did not have the authority to enforce a dress code for adults that was intended for students.
Mr. Csizmesia resigned after he told the board that he refused to enforce one dress code for students but a less stringent one for teachers.
School officials say Ms. Pickering is still employed at the school and has not removed the tongue stud. Neither Mr. Csizmesia nor Ms. Pickering was available for comment.
--BESS KELLER & JOETTA L. SACK
