The Laurie S. Cook case gets stranger by the day. The testimony that has emerged so far in the administrative hearing for the Anne Arundel County Board of Education portrays the Northeast High School science teacher as fixated on a disturbed 14-year-old student.
On the first night of testimony, a police detective outlined the allegations of kissing, fondling and oral sex. Since then, the details of the alleged affair have become increasingly bizarre. We've heard allegations that Ms. Cook was intrigued by the boy's interracial family; that she wanted to have his baby; that she frequently ate dinner with his family and stayed late at their home watching television; that she asked his teen-age sister to accompany her on a blind date, and sunbathed in his yard. Not only is she alleged to have had a relationship with one of her pupils, testimony suggests that she also helped cover up trysts between convicted child abuser Ronald Price and another Northeast student.
Ms. Cook hasn't had the chance to give her side of the story yet; her attorney has provided little clue as to how the teacher is going to defend herself against the parade of witnesses who include not only the alleged victim and his family, but other students and the boy's neighbors.
Ms. Cook's reputation and teaching career depend upon the outcome of this administrative hearing, but even more at stake is the reputation of the Anne Arundel school system.
Four Northeast High teachers were charged last year with sexually abusing students in a sequence of events that rocked the system and led to the ouster of the then-superintendent. But only Ron Price -- who confessed on "Geraldo!" -- was convicted.
The acquittals did not quell the suspicions, however, and new superintendent Carol Parham initiated her own investigations. She decided that in Ms. Cook's case enough evidence of misconduct existed to warrant dismissal.
This is the first major test of Ms. Parham's superintendency, one that will set a tone for her leadership. Parents are no doubt as riveted by the reported testimony as they were about the Price revelations. But those who think this case is all about sex are missing the point: It's about what the public deems an acceptable relationship between teacher and student.