Arizona Principal Caught On Tape In Make-Out Session With Assistant, Secret Video Prompts Dismissal (VIDEO)

The Scholars Academy Principal Steve McClenning and assistant Billie Madewell have both lost their jobs after the two were caught passionately making out on video, KTVK-TV reports.

According to the station, the video was taken on the cellphone of 16-year-old Myranda Garber at the Quartzsite, Ariz. school. A school board member also confirmed to KTVK that the principal resigned from his position, while the secretary was fired.

Local residents say that McClenning and Madewell are married to other people, but parents are mostly upset because the make-out and groping session took place on school grounds, during school hours, KNXV-TV reports.

The incident comes at a bad time for the school, which is not getting its charter status renewed. While the academy is appealing the decision to the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, many fear the town will not have a school next year, and many of the students feel betrayed.

“It’s just a smack in the face as far as I’m concerned,” student Joseph Hager told KNXV-TV.

This isn't the first time hidden cellphone video has gotten an educator in trouble. In February, New York City math teacher David Pecoraro was "reassigned to an administrative office" after cellphone video revealed him swatting at and spitting on a student.

According to Beach Channel High School junior Otina Rosario, the incident depicted in the video wasn't the first time Pecoraro acted inappropriately towards students.

"He’s always getting in kids’ faces and spitting all over them," Rosario told the New York Daily News. “It’s disgusting.”

Other educators who have been fired:

Loading Slideshow

• John Rossi

  A Washington state student was terrorized in a bullying attack by peers -- <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/john-rosi-washington-midd_n_1841998.html?utm_hp_ref=school-bullying">and at some points, by the teacher</a>. The incidents occurred in February at a Gig Harbor middle school. Cell phone footage shows more than a dozen students dragging the then-eighth-grade boy around the classroom, carrying him by his arms and legs, burying him under chairs, writing on his feet and stuffing his socks in his mouth. The antics last about 15 minutes while teacher John Rosi watches, and later joins in.

• Texas Teachers

  A Houston, Texas teacher and teacher's aide have been removed from their classroom for allegedly disciplining their pre-K students by placing them in custodial closets <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/25/monster-closet-used-to-pu_n_1546426.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">they nicknamed "monster closets."</a>

• Laurie Bailey-Cutkomp

  Laurie Bailey-Cutkomp, a 47-year-old Zephyrhills High School science teacher in Zephyrhills, Fla., is under fire after<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/laurie-bailey-cutkomp-teacher-uses-dog-collar-to-punish-students_n_1506376.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink"> photos of her students wearing dog collars as punishment</a> for bad behavior surfaced on Facebook.

• Louise Losos

  Clayton High School Principal Louise Losos resigned following a leave of absence after an accusation that Losos had created a Facebook profile <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/louise-losos-clayton-high_n_1495476.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">pretending to be a student named Suzy Harriston.</a>

• Patricia Mulholland

  A middle school teacher in South Carolina has been accused of dragging a student under a table during class, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/30/sc-teacher-facing-charges_0_n_1465762.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">telling the boy "this is what the Nazis do to Jews," police said.</a> The 12-year-old student said he got up to sharpen a pencil at Bluffton Middle School on Wednesday when Patricia Mulholland grabbed him by his collar and said, "come here, Jew," police said. The teacher then dragged him 10 feet under a table and made the comment about Nazis, according to police.

• North Carolina Teacher

  A state investigation was been opened at Hudson Middle School in Caldwell County, N.C., following allegations that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/17/north-carolina-student-cardboard-box_n_1524239.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">a teacher forced a student with special needs to sit in a cardboard box</a> as a disciplinary measure.

• Jack Conkling

  Jack Conkling, a Prairie Hills Middle School social studies teacher and Buhler High School assistant women's basketball coach in Buhler, Kan., is under fire <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/jack-conkling-teacher-writes-being-gay-just-like-being-a-murderer_n_1527608.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">after equating being gay to being a murderer</a> on his Facebook profile.

• New York Teachers

  Teachers at a Brooklyn elementary school are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/teachers-accused-of-givin_n_1556621.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">accused of giving their students the answers on standardized tests</a>. In return for high scores on those tests, teachers at Public School 94 were allegedly offered smaller classes and fewer non-English-speaking students.

• George C. Marshall High School Teacher

  A Virginia high school English teacher was under investigation for allegedly asking the only black student in the class <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/18/george-c-marshall-high-sc_n_1358044.html" target="_hplink">to read a poem in a "blacker" manner</a>. Jordan Shumate, a ninth-grader at George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, Va., says he was reading aloud Langston Hughes' "Ballad of the Landlord" when teacher Marilyn Bart interrupted him. "She told me, 'Blacker, Jordan -- c'mon, blacker. I thought you were black,'" Shumate said.

• Malibu Teacher

  A teacher at Malibu High School in Malibu, Calif., was under investigation after ninth-grade student Dionne Evans went to local authorities claiming the educator <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/01/dionne-evans-malibu-high-_n_1563647.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">slapped her six times for not bringing her notebook to class.</a>

• Georgia Teacher

  A kindergarten teacher in Georgia has stirred controversy after <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/bermuda-triangle-award_n_1571656.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">presenting one of her students with the "Bermuda Triangle Award," </a>honoring the student's desk -- or "the place where things go in but never come back out."

• Kathleen Pyles

  Kathleen Pyles, a math teacher at North End Middle School in Waterbury, Conn., was on paid leave while school officials investigate allegations that she addressed a black student with a racist remark. Parents and the NAACP spoke out during a Board of Education meeting, accusing Pyles of inappropriately <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/08/kathleen-pyles-connecticu_n_1580779.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">calling a student "black boy" when she couldn't remember his name</a>.

• Union Elementary School Official

  Parents in Clinton, North Carolina, were outraged after an assistant principal <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/third-grader-strip-search_n_1609415.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">gave a third-grader a strip search</a> there. The Union Elementary School official believed the boy had stolen money and ordered him to strip to his boxers.

• Florida Teacher

  A Tampa Bay, Fla. school teacher <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/20/florida-teacher-suspended_n_1613309.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">was suspended for three days without pay </a>after allowing one of her students to write and present a speech that criticized a former Oakstead Elementary teacher by name.

• Matt Hansen

  Matt Hansen, a 38-year-old teacher for the Fort Zumwalt School District in O'Fallon, Mo., has been charged with felony possession of child pornography after a local cyber crimes unit found<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/matt-hansen-former-missouri-teacher-accused-of-taping-80-boys-undressing_n_1628926.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink"> he allegedly videotaped 80 male students undressing</a>.

• Stephan Hudson

  Diane John, the mother whose 15-year-old son suffered a beatdown at the hands of much larger teacher Stephan Hudson, sought criminal charges against the offending public school dean and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/29/brooklyn-mother-suing-cit_n_1637930.html?utm_hp_ref=teachers" target="_hplink">sued the city for $5.5 million</a> after being shown surveillance footage of the incident.

• Steve McClenning and Billie Madewell

  The Scholars Academy Principal Steve McClenning and assistant Billie Madewell <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/arizona-principal-caught-in-make-out-session-fired_n_1459968.html" target="_hplink">have both lost their jobs</a> at the Quartzsite, Ariz. school after the two were caught passionately making out on video.

• Audrey Grabarkiewicz

  Audrey Grabarkiewicz, a 46-year-old preschool teacher at Lake Bowen Baptist Church in Spartanburg, S.C., <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/01/audrey-grabarkiewicz-teacher-avoids-jail-for-teen-sex-parties_n_1641676.html" target="_hplink">managed to avoid jail time</a> despite being arrested for throwing alcohol and sex parties for teens last year.

• Texas Teacher

  A Texas teacher lost her job after ordering <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/16/district-texas-teacher-ha_n_1601980.html?utm_hp_ref=school-bullying" target="_hplink">more than 20 kindergartners to line up and hit a classmate</a> accused of being a bully. The teacher at a suburban San Antonio school is accused of orchestrating the slugfest after a younger teaching colleague went to her seeking suggestions on how to discipline the 6-year-old, according to a police report from the Judson Independent School District.

• Marcy Rubenstein

  Bronx teacher Marcy Rubenstein allegedly duct-taped a rowdy student to his chair while other classmates laughed and pushed him around, after she became irritated that the student <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/teacher-duct-tapes-studen_n_1609459.html?utm_hp_ref=school-bullying" target="_hplink">repeatedly got up during a test.</a>

• Samuel Fies

  Indiana teacher Samuel Fies <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/samuel-fies-indiana-teach_n_1148383.html?ref=Education&ir=Education" target="_hplink">was fired from Highland High School</a> after he was arrested and charged in December 2011 with multiple counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, child molestation, criminal confinement, child solicitation and attempted child seduction.

• John Freshwater

  Ohio science teacher John Freshwater was fired in early 2011 after being accused of preaching religious beliefs in class and keeping a Bible on his desk. Freshwater appealed the firing, but <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/john-freshwater-ohio-scie_n_997996.html" target="_hplink">a judge upheld the decision in October 2011.</a>

• Jill Lyle

  Jill Lyle, a substitute teacher in Santa Fe, N.M. was fired in November 2011 after she was<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/jill-lyle-santa-fe-substi_n_972437.html" target="_hplink"> reportedly found passed out drunk while on the job.</a>

• Sean Loftis

  Sean Loftis, a Florida substitute teacher who starred in gay porn films under the pseudonym Collin O'Neal, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/sean-loftis-gay-porn-star-fired-teacher_n_935199.html" target="_hplink">lost his teaching job in October 2011</a> after his X-rated activities came to light.

• Andrew Harris

  Andrew Harris, a science teacher at Glacier Creek Middle School in Cross Plains, Wis. first lost his job for looking at porn at work. The school district decided in March 2012, however, that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/andrew-harris-teacher-who_n_1317517.html" target="_hplink">he would be offered to be reinstated and given back pay and benefits estimated at $200,000.</a>

• Bernadette Camacho

  Bernadette Camacho, a 39-year-old teacher in Queens, New York, was fired from Hillcrest High School in January 2012 after reportedly telling students they had their <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/03/bernadette-camacho-former-teacher-fired-for-badmouthing-students_n_1181678.html" target="_hplink">"brains in their ass" and attempting to bribe them to keep quiet.</a>

• Unnamed Teacher

  An unnamed teacher at Tallulah Elementary School in Tallulah, La. was fired in March 2012 after she failed to notice two third grade students <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/third-graders-oral-sex-tallulah-elementary-school_n_1375399.html" target="_hplink">allegedly having oral sex under a classroom table.</a>

• D.C. Teacher

  A teacher at the Friendship Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. was fired after she <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/christian-washington-taped-to-chair-by-teacher_n_1341817.html" target="_hplink">allegedly taped Christian Washington, a 9-year-old vision-impaired student, to his classroom chair.</a>

• D.C. Teacher

  A Washington, D.C. teacher was fired in March 2012 for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/05/teacher-fired-for-giving-_n_1322173.html" target="_hplink">sending home violent, morbid and traumatizing math problems</a> to third graders at Center City Public Charter School's Trinidad campus.

• Brooke Harris

  Teacher Brooke Harris says she was let go from her position at Pontiac Academy for Excellence in Pontiac, Mich., in March <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/brooke-harris-michigan-teacher-fired-trayvon-martin-fundraiser_n_1414870.html?ref=Education&ir=Education" target="_hplink">after attempting to help students organize a hoodie-themed fundraiser for the family of Trayvon Martin.</a> In this AP photo, a man wears a hoodie and a scarf with the likeness of Trayvon Martin during a "One Thousand Hoodies March for Trayvon Martin" event Thursday, March 29, 2012 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Renee Jones Schneider)

• Jarretta Hamilton

  Jarretta Hamilton, a fourth grade teacher, was fired from the Southland Christian School in St. Cloud, Fla. in 2009 because the child she was carrying <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/jarretta-hamilton-teacher_n_1416122.html?ref=Education&ir=Education" target="_hplink">was conceived two months before she and her husband married. </a>

• Emily Herx

  Indiana teacher Emily Herx says she was fired from her Roman Catholic school -- St. Vincent de Paul school in Fort Wayne -- <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/catholic-school-ivf_n_1453524.html?1335557656" target="_hplink">for using in vitro fertilization to try to get pregnant.</a>

• Meredith Burris Pruitt

  31-year-old Meredith Burris Pruitt was fired in March 2012 from Forestview High School in Gastonia, N.C. after she was accused of selling, and employing students to help sell,<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/meredith-burris-pruitt-teacher-arrested-for-using-students-to-sell-drugs_n_1400135.html" target="_hplink"> prescription drugs around the school.</a>

• Jeffrey Robert Sears Jr.

  Jeffrey R. Sears Jr., a 29-year-old former teacher at Glen Burnie High School, faces more than 50 years in prison after allegedly having sex with <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/17/jeffrey-robert-sears-jr-accused-of-sex-acts-with-students-at-school-in-car_n_1432069.html" target="_hplink">15 and 16-year-old students over the course of two years.</a>

• Megan Denman

  Megan Denman, a 29-year-old social sciences teacher at Hoover High School in Fresno, Calif. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/12/megan-denman-teacher-arrested-for-having-oral-sex-with-student_n_1421237.html" target="_hplink">was placed on paid leave in the spring of 2012</a> for allegedly performing oral sex on and sleeping with a student who was under the age of 18.

• Stacie Halas

  California teacher Stacie Halas was fired from Richard B. Haydock Intermediate School in April 2012 for<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/stacie-halas-fired-porn-film_n_1437467.html?1335557660" target="_hplink"> performing in a pornographic video.</a>

Comments

[lambofgodrules]

8 minutes ago ( 3:40 AM)

that 16 year old girl was just looking for publicity.

[Cynthia Jendrejcak]

01:14 PM on 11/11/2012

In the grand scheme of "Teacher Controversies" (the slideshow that brought me here) - this is ridiculously tame. Two consenting adults making out is really not that major a deal. I can see how it probably breaks morality clauses in their contracts and whatnot but no students were actually abused by their actions.

[melindaleacook]

05:18 AM on 10/21/2012

They kissed..so what. These teenagers have never seen a kiss?? They see WAY worse than that on Prime Time television and on the school bus. Get over it.

[NeoConsAreFinished]

04:14 AM on 10/20/2012

The poor children saw 2 adults being affectionate. Get them mental healthcare immediately.

[walk1111]

10:32 AM on 11/25/2012

Yeah, but the girl was rather portly to say the least. ewwww

[Mas8baller]

10:57 AM on 05/10/2012

Aw the democrats & what they call education. Thanks democrats this is your idea of education? Teachers and principles betraying and mistreating students way to go all to save welfare for illegals nice. Great priorities.

[Victoryin2008]

08:22 AM on 05/23/2012

A pretty generalized statement don't you think? (LOL). Your comment is particularly odd since Arizona is one of the most conservative states in the union.

[NeoConsAreFinished]

04:15 AM on 10/20/2012

What? What students were betrayed and what students were mistreated? LOL are you really that scared by 2 adults showing affection? Obviously the answer is yes.

[velvetcookie]

01:03 PM on 05/09/2012

People in AZ are well fed.

[walk1111]

10:34 AM on 11/25/2012

If the Principle found this girl attractive, he should be fired for bad taste.

[cffthree]

08:20 AM on 05/08/2012

everytime I view these videos, i can't help but ask myself the same question. Is all of America overweight or just those in the news? Want to set an example for your kids? Lay off the twinkies

[Bill Jones123]

11:44 AM on 05/05/2012

The parents look like losers and trash.

They look like they would do the same thing.

[Bill Jones123]

11:42 AM on 05/05/2012

A CHARTER SCHOOL!

[Bill Jones123]

11:41 AM on 05/05/2012

They should be fired.

Pretty much one can be fired for just about anything in education.

The students can commit the most egregious offenses and walk away with minimal praise at the worst.

Our publics have become repositories of the ignorant, the stupid, and the criminal.

This is not the fault of teachers. It is entirely the fault of the community.

[nowandagain]

05:03 AM on 05/04/2012

Snitches. Comes around goes around. Thanks for making the works a better place... sarcastic font on that one...

[kid icarus]

10:39 PM on 05/03/2012

Yeah, these guys were dumb, got caught, and are paying the price for it.

What I'll say is this though - what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If students can record teacher and principal behavior, teachers should be able to record the behavior of their students.

I mean, let's be honest about this here - maybe if more Americans knew what it's like in America's schools, maybe they'd be more inclined towards disciplining their own kids and practicing good parenting.

By the way, I'm not excusing this action here - they got fired for doing something very unprofessional.

Oh also, please note - this happened at a Charter School so please don't think scandal is found only in public schools. Scandal occurs everywhere in every profession because scandals involve and a result of decisions made by humans, not an institution.

[jaimemachado9]

12:51 PM on 05/09/2012

you are so right and lets see if the parents like to see how their kids act in school and for those mothers on the news i think they were jealous. just look at them and the guy seems to be in good shape.

[Daeira]

11:52 PM on 05/02/2012

The principal gets to resign, but the secretary gets fired. Stone the woman syndrome.

[killmenow]

09:15 PM on 05/01/2012

I'd be a hell of a lot more worried about those mothers interviewed in the news report than the former principal and the former secretary.

[sailordan2]

07:59 PM on 05/01/2012

Amazing. The parent Erin Josilin was able to put down her Bon-Bons and get off the couch and make it to school. She should be E-X-E-R-C-I-S-I-N-G.

[Zzzz1234]

12:53 PM on 05/04/2012

Wow seriously? That's so uncalled for and rude. You don't know her life, maybe she has a disorder. You are so judgemental, there was no call for that. Seriously, what if your child had a disorder, you wouldn't be saying, "Looks like my child was able to put down her Bon-Bons and get off the couch and make it to school. She should be E-X-E-R-C-I-S-I-N-G." How would you like it if people made fun of her, the way you are of this lady.
Smh, sad people