The Co-Knucklehead of the Day award Part Three

Our third winner today is Scott Keatley. Keatley a Volusia county schoolteacher gets one of today's awards for using his students for personal gain. He offered them extra credit if they brought in specially marked cups from Wendy's. These would help Mr. Keatley get a free plane ticket. Instead Keatley is being suspended from his job and may even lose it.

What a knucklehead. Keatley doesn't even see what he did as wrong and tried to pass the blame onto others. Being college educated doesn't make someone smart and Scott Keatley is living proof.

For using his students for personal gain, Scott Keatley is one of today's Co-Knuckleheads of the day.

Open Post- Bright & Early, Basil's Blog, Right Wing Nation, Cao's Blog, Jo's Cafe, TMH's Bacon Bits, Third World County,

DeLAND -- A first-year teacher at Deltona High has been disciplined for exposing high-school students to profane language on a Web site and for asking them to collect Wendy's restaurant paper cups that he could cash in for a free plane ticket.

The Volusia County school district found Scott Keatley, 23, guilty of unprofessional conduct and determined that he exploited his relationship with students for personal gain. On Tuesday night, the School Board suspended him without pay for five days.

An internal investigation found that Keatley, who teaches social studies, gave students extra credit toward their final grades if they brought in specially marked cups being offered in a promotion with AirTran Airways. The investigation found that Keatley tried to cash in the cups for credits toward a ticket.

A letter from the district's professional-standards director also reprimanded Keatley for "exposing students to a website that contained profane language." There was no further explanation of the site.

On Wednesday, Keatley said he didn't know that collecting the cups was wrong. As soon as it was called to his attention, he said, he took steps to make things right. A letter in the investigative file shows he wrote to AirTran and asked the airline to remove 32 credits from his account -- the number needed for a free one-way coach ticket in the promotion.

Keatley also said he briefly, inadvertently exposed ninth-graders last semester to a satirical Web site that contained mild profanity while he was teaching a lesson on Greek political satire.

"As soon as it came up, I put it down," he said.

The investigation began after a student complained about Keatley in March. The child's parents wrote a letter to the school principal in January claiming that the boy deserved an A instead of a B in Keatley's class. The letter also criticized Keatley's teaching methods.

"I feel that they're simply out for my job because I didn't give their son a different grade," Keatley said.

The father, Danny Allen -- who asked that his son's name not be used -- reiterated Wednesday that he thought Keatley's grading was unfair.

"I think the district let him off too easy," said Allen, a former DeBary City Council member.

But Keatley, who has not yet served his suspension, said the penalty is anything but lax.

"This will stay with me forever," he said. "Plus I'm probably going to lose my job. It's a nightmare."