It was standing room only when Laurie S. Cook was on trial last year, charged with having a sexual relationship with one of her Northeast High School students. But seats have been easy to find this month at her equally public dismissal hearing.
The hearing at school system headquarters in Annapolis has drawn fewer than 10 spectators, who pass the time doing everything from needlepoint to napping.
Chris Kirby, the parent of a Northeast student and former Citizens Area Council member, had a simple explanation for the lack of interest: "People are just Northeast-ed out."
The Pasadena high school has endured the spotlight for nearly two years since the arrest of Ronald W. Price, the first of four Northeast teachers to be accused of having sex with students, but the only one convicted.
Price confessed on the "Geraldo!" television show that he'd had sex with a 16-year-old girl and at least seven other young women during his 25-year career as a social studies teacher at the school. He was convicted in September 1993 of having sexual trysts with three female students.
Price's claims that other teachers were involved devastated the Northeast community and shook the entire school system.
It led to a $108,000 independent investigation that concluded that the school system was half-blind to the problem.
That was followed by the resignation of then-Superintendent C. Berry Carter; the transfer of Northeast's already controversial principal, Joseph Carducci Jr., to the central school system offices; and a rewriting of systemwide policies that is still under way.
"We went through so much back then," said Northeast PTSA member Patsy Plowman.
After an Anne Arundel County jury acquitted Ms. Cook last December of charges of sexual child abuse and a fourth-degree sex offense that involved fondling, the incident faded in the memories of everyone but school administrators, who continued their own investigation into her behavior.
Superintendent of Schools Carol S. Parham in July charged Ms. Cook administratively with four misconduct counts and recommended her dismissal to the school board.
Ms. Cook appealed Dr. Parham's recommendation and demanded a public hearing on the charges.
"People are viewing this as an aftershock," Mr. Kirby said of the hearing. "They weren't concerned about Laurie Cook because she was exonerated in court. People thought it was ended."
To Ms. Cook, her hearing, which began Dec. 2 and will continue through Jan. 18, is every bit as crucial as her trial. If the Anne Arundel County school system fires her for misconduct, Arundel administrators must ask the state to revoke her Maryland teaching license.
Many Northeast parents have read about Ms. Cook's hearing, but say they believe the problems at the school have been addressed, giving them no reason to sit through a rerun of Ms. Cook's criminal case.
"It's really a school board issue, not a community issue," Ms. Plowman said.
Linda Tetrault, Northeast PTSA president, echoed that sentiment. "I sincerely don't think this is having an impact on Northeast High or the community," she said. "This is in the past. The students, faculty and administration at the school are looking to the future.
"I haven't heard anyone discussing it at school. As far as I'm concerned, this is between Laurie Cook and the policies and procedures of the Anne Arundel County school system," Ms. Tetrault said.
Administrative hearings rarely draw crowds, said Susan W. Russell, associate counsel for the Maryland State Teachers Association, who has defended teachers in half the school districts in the state.
"Generally, you have to beg them [the public] to come," said Ms. Russell, who is serving as co-counsel for Ms. Cook. "I've had umpteen million open hearings, and usually nobody but some family and close friends come."
Only when the community has a particular self-interest in the teacher involved do people turn out, she said.
An administrative hearing in Anne Arundel County that did bring crowds was one that was neither a firing, nor was it open to the public.
Northeast's revered baseball coach, Harry Lentz, now 51, was one of two teachers accused in 1993 of sexually harassing another teacher more than five years earlier. His baseball team had been ranked No. 1 in the nation in 1991; he had been at the school for 26 years, and he remains a prominent figure in the Northeast community.
The hearing was to have been closed, but throngs of his fans gathered outside the Riva Road headquarters of the Board of Education -- so many that the teacher who said she was harassed turned back and left. Charges against Mr. Lentz were dropped, and he was reinstated.