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Xequecal
PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 6:21 am 
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http://www.wboc.com/story/26367051/cambridge-maces-lane-middle-school-teacher-on-administrative-leave

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CAMBRIDGE, Md.- He's a man with many names, and the books he has written have raised the concerns of the Dorchester County Board of Education and the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office.

Early last week the school board was alerted that one of its eighth grade language arts teachers at Mace's Lane Middle School had several aliases. Police said that under those names, he wrote two fictional books about the largest school shooting in the country's history set in the future. Now, Patrick McLaw is placed on leave.

Dr. K.S. Voltaer is better known by some in Dorchester County as Patrick McLaw, or even Patrick Beale. Not only was he a teacher at Mace's Lane Middle School in Cambridge, but according to Dorchester Sheriff James Phillips, McLaw is also the author of two books: "The Insurrectionist" and its sequel, "Lillith's Heir."

Those books are what caught the attention of police and school board officials in Dorchester County. "The Insurrectionist" is about two school shootings set in the future, the largest in the country's history.

Phillips said McLaw was taken in for an emergency medical evaluation. The sheriff would not disclose where McLaw is now, but he did say that he is not on the Eastern Shore. The same day that McLaw was taken in for an evaluation, police swept Mace's Lane Middle School for bombs and guns, coming up empty.

Dorchester County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Wagner said the Dorchester County Board of Education has taken its own action.

"We have advised our community that the gentleman has been placed on administrative leave, and has been prohibited from entering any Dorchester County public school property," Wagner said.

The 23-year-old language arts teacher had already taught at the school for a year.

With school starting Tuesday, some parents tell WBOC they are concerned about safety, but both Wagner and Phillips said there is nothing to worry about.

"There will be a Cambridge Police Department presence at Mace's Lane middle school for as long as we deem it necessary," Wagner said.

"I think that the various police agencies that we have, working in conjunction with the board have a handle on the situation and I think we're going to have a safe and happy opening day of school tomorrow," Phillips said in an interview Monday with WBOC..

Phillips said law enforcement across Delmarva have been sent McLaw's photo and information. The sheriff said McLaw is banned from county properties in Dorchester and Wicomico counties, as well as the Delmar School District.


I guess they're applying the zero tolerance policies to the teachers now too.
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Rorinthas
PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 7:07 am 
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Two words: school choice

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FarSky
PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 8:37 am 
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Good God. Arrest him instead for the terrible book covers.

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Rorinthas
PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 8:57 am 
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He probably didn't have anything to do with those covers. Also is it too much to hope that maybe officials had something more actionable than he wrote a couple of fiction books.

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shuyung
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 9:33 am 
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Somebody is gonna get their *** sued off.

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Kaffis Mark V
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:05 am 
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He's probably the most qualified middle school language arts teacher in at least the surrounding 9 counties... dude's published!

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Arathain Kelvar
PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 11:39 am 
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FarSky wrote:
Good God. Arrest him instead for the terrible book covers.


I like 'em.
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FarSky
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 12:21 pm 
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/\ Arrest him too.
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Müs
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 2:08 pm 
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Kaffis Mark V wrote:
He's probably the most qualified middle school language arts teacher in at least the surrounding 9 counties... dude's published!


I know right!

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Talya
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:05 pm 
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And suddenly Dr. K. S. Voltaer's books end up on the best seller list...

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Raell
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:04 pm 
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That first cover is horrid.

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Stathol
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 5:58 pm 
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The earlier reports left out a lot of information.

Mental health concerns, not novels, cause of teacher being placed on leave

Prosecutor: Concerns over teacher's letter, not his books

TL;DR:

According to the school district's attorney:

  • law enforcement already knew about the books two years ago from a 2012 police report regarding McLaw. The article doesn't mention why McLaw was the subject of a report.
  • McLaw wasn't running around with a bunch of false aliases. He published his books under his pen name. He legally changed his surname from Beale in 2009. No explanation was provided, but given that McLaw was then 18 years old, I'd speculate that it was probably just a family matter. In any case, there's nothing particularly strange or relevant about that.
  • Just prior to when this all went down, a teacher in another school district (Delmar) filed a complaint with McLaw's district alleging that (s)he was being harassed by McLaw. Two days later, they informed Delmar police of allegations (presumably from the teacher in Delmar) that McLaw was having a relationship with a student (possibly a minor at the time) in Delmar.
  • Sometime thereafter, McLaw delivered a letter of resignation. They don't give any details about what he wrote, but apparently it caused the district administration to wonder if his cheese had slid off his cracker.
  • The district and police haven't disclosed anything about his whereabouts because of HIPAA concerns and because proceeding from emergency petitions (i.e. involuntary committals) are automatically sealed in Maryland. They've since decided that maybe they were being a little paranoid about HIPAA and disclosed that he's in the Peninsula Regional Medical Center.

Edit:

As an aside...

I don't whether this guy is crazy or not. I'd have to see the letter and the allegations by the Delmar teacher, which is obviously not going to happen. That said, supposing that he is bonkers (apparently at least one judge was convinced he was a danger to himself or others), this outcome is a lot better than it could have been. A lot of people don't realize this, but severe mental illness as an adult is essentially criminal in the U.S.. So is homelessness. Unsurprisingly, there's a huge overlap in those demographics. In most states, you can't just petition for a competency hearing out of the blue. The only way to have someone involuntarily committed is to charge them with a felony offense first. And in a lot of cases, you actually need to get them convicted, and then cross your fingers that the judge remits them to psychiatric care instead of prison. Either way, they'll carry that conviction for the rest of their life. It's fairly well ****.

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Rorinthas
PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 9:27 pm 
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Imagine that. Actionable information we didn't know about.

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Raell
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:43 am 
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Talya wrote:
And suddenly Dr. K. S. Voltaer's books end up on the best seller list...



If this is true we need to spread some rumors about my book...ALOL

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