Substitute Teacher

John J. Lang Jr. may have been dishelved, unkempt, poorly organized and unable to control or discipline the fifth-grade class he was called in to teach in Camden in February 1988, but those are not crimes, his defense attorney said yesterday. Lang, 39, of Lansdale, Montgomery County, is charged with aggravated sexual assualt on a child, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and 27 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Walnut Street Theatre presents the stage production of Miss Nelson Is Missing, a musical based on the children's book by author Harry Allard. The disobedient students of Room 207, the worst-behaved class in the school, take advantage of their teacher, Miss Nelson. However, when witchy teacher Viola Swamp comes in as a substitute the students regret their behavior and wish for Miss Nelson to return. Will these unruly kids be stuck with their horrible substitute forever? Miss Nelson Is Missing, 10:30 a.m. Friday, 10:30 a.m., 1 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday through April 20 at Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St. Tickets: $10-$20.

A man who burned himself to death on the Amherst town common in an apparent protest against the Persian Gulf war was identified yesterday as Gregory D. Levey, 30, a substitute teacher. Authorities said Levey acted alone when he doused himself with two gallons of paint thinner and set himself ablaze Monday afternoon in a protest that horrified onlookers in the center of Amherst, a university town of about 35,000 residents about 75 miles west of Boston. Levey was the son of Robert Levey, Boston Globe restaurant critic, and the stepson of Ellen Goodman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Globe.

Mary Mascaro Ferri, 78, a former teacher of public school and church classes, died Wednesday of congestive heart failure in the health-care facility of the Twining Village Retirement Community, Holland. Mrs. Ferri had been a substitute teacher for the Bensalem School District for seven years. She taught Bible studies for 10 years for the women's circle of Northampton Presbyterian Church in Holland, and before that taught at the Bristol Assembly of God, where she served as Sunday school superintendent.

Former Philadelphia substitute teacher Mohammed Abdo said two girls retaliated against his scoldings by making up claims that he kissed and fondled them. "I swear to Allah that I'm innocent," he said through a translator in court yesterday. "I would never have done such a thing. " Family Court Judge Tama Myers Clark found him guilty anyway. Abdo, 53, was convicted of two counts each of corrupting the morals of a minor, indecent assault and simple assault. He faces a maximum prison term ranging from one to five years when he is sentenced July 31. The mother of Heather Ackurman, the 10-year-old girl who accused Abdo of hugging her and rubbing her genitals, said she was relieved by the verdict.

A 25-year-old Eastern Regional High School substitute teacher was arrested yesterday on charges of making inappropriate sexual comments to three female students, police said. Jason Gerner, of the 700 block of Bringhurst Avenue in Audubon, was charged with three counts of harassment after he was accused of making the remarks to three 14-year-old girls between Nov. 16 and Nov. 20, Voorhees Police Capt. John Prettyman said. Gerner has denied the charges. Gerner and the girls exchanged e-mail addresses when he was teaching in the school on Nov. 16, Prettyman said.

Armed only with her experience and wit, substitute teacher Jane Varnes must encounter unknown challenges each day at Octorara Intermediate School. "My friend John tried to sit with me today, and Mrs. Varnes wouldn't let him," said 12-year-old Bobby Hilton, one of the seventh graders she taught for a day on Sept. 25. "He tried to make up an excuse that he forgot his glasses, and he said he had to (sit there so he could) see the blackboard. " It didn't work. "She's strict," said Bobby's classmate Mike Byczkowski, 12. On every schoolday, substitute teachers are working in Chester County public schools, usually earning $50 to $60 per day. Daily substitutes working in the Octorara and Unionville-Chadds Ford school districts have the opportunity to earn more because those districts offer a graduated pay scale.

A federal judge has acquitted a Philadelphia substitute teacher on drug charges in a case authorities said marked the first appearance of "brown heroin" in the city in years. After hearing the prosecution's evidence, Judge James T. Giles on Wednesday acquitted Patrick Nweze, preventing the case from going to the jury. However, the jury did continue hearing evidence on Nweze's nephew, Sunday Obialo, and yesterday convicted him of conspiracy to distribute heroin. Sentencing for Obialo, of Griscom Street near Orthodox in Frankford, was set for June 16. Nweze was arrested in a raid on his house on Hawthorne Street near Wakeling in Frankford Aug. 5. Police said that in Nweze's basement, they found brown heroin, worth more than $500,000, in the covers of four textbooks.

A substitute teacher convicted of kissing and fondling young girls at public schools in South Philadelphia and Kensington was sentenced yesterday to 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison. Mohammed Abdou, 52, was convicted at a nonjury trial last summer of indecent assault, corrupting the morals of a minor, and simple assault by Common Pleas Court Judge Tama Myers Clark. The judge sentenced him yesterday to prison, to be followed by six years' probation. Abdou's first assault took place last year at Bok Vocational-Technical School in South Philadelphia.

Marge Scardino Dauber, 99, formerly of Elkins Park, a community activist and teacher, died of cerebral atherosclerosis Thursday, March 29, at the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington in Rockville, Md. In 1954, Mrs. Dauber, her husband, and their young daughter moved to Lynnewood Gardens, then a new apartment complex in Elkins Park in Cheltenham Township. She organized a nursery school co-op and a babysitting club, circulated a petition to have a swimming pool built, and helped form a tenants' committee at the 1,800-unit complex.

Walnut Street Theatre presents the stage production of Miss Nelson Is Missing, a musical based on the children's book by author Harry Allard. The disobedient students of Room 207, the worst-behaved class in the school, take advantage of their teacher, Miss Nelson. However, when witchy teacher Viola Swamp comes in as a substitute the students regret their behavior and wish for Miss Nelson to return. Will these unruly kids be stuck with their horrible substitute forever? Miss Nelson Is Missing, 10:30 a.m. Friday, 10:30 a.m., 1 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday through April 20 at Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St. Tickets: $10-$20.

Allen Briscoe died trying to do the right thing. About 7:30 p.m. Monday, Briscoe, 66, struck a pregnant pedestrian, 16, with his black Ford pickup at 30th and Berkley streets in East Camden. The girl, who authorities say had stepped in front of the slow-moving vehicle, received minor injuries, and Briscoe got out of his truck to help her to her feet, according to officials. Within minutes, the teenager's boyfriend, Aleem Mayes, 16, a Woodrow Wilson High senior, arrived at the scene.

WHEN Marialyse Henry's fiance was serving with the Army Air Corps in the Pacific Theater in World War II, she attended Mass daily throughout the war and prayed for his safe return. News of the horrors of the Pacific war unnerved her, but Frank Mitchell came back with a chest full of medals and nary a scratch. "He always believed she prayed him safely home," said her daughter, Mary Jule Mitchell. Marialyse and Frank were married on Dec. 27, 1945, just after his return from the war. Marialyse Henry Mitchell, whose love of Latin and English influenced countless students during a quarter-century of teaching in the Philadelphia School District, died Dec. 29 after a long illness.

Natalie Munroe, the Central Bucks High School East teacher who was suspended in February for her scathing blog posts about students, was back teaching 11th-grade English on Wednesday, though her classes were far smaller than normal. "Things went well," Munroe said about the first full day at the Doylestown school, where she had classes of 12, 15, and 8 students instead of the normal 30. A substitute teacher taught the students who had been allowed to transfer out of Munroe's classes, she said, handling classes of 5, 14, and 20. Munroe's homeroom of 11 students was smaller than the one of 17 students she had last year, she said.

Natalie Munroe, the Central Bucks High School East teacher who was suspended in February for her scathing blog posts about students, was back teaching 11th-grade English on Wednesday, though her classes were far smaller than normal. "Things went well," Munroe said about the first full day at the Doylestown school, where she had classes of 12, 15, and 8 students instead of the normal 30. A substitute teacher taught the students who had been allowed to transfer out of Munroe's classes, she said, handling classes of 5, 14, and 20. Munroe's homeroom of 11 students was smaller than the one of 17 students she had last year, she said.

Instead of transferring students out of controversial teacher Natalie Munroe's three classes, Central Bucks High School East will probably use a substitute to take over the classes, a district spokeswoman said Wednesday. But the district does not know what Munroe will do when she returns to school Monday for the first time since she was suspended in February for her critical blog posts, spokeswoman Carol Counihan said. Sixty-two of the estimated 90 students assigned to Munroe's two English classes and one debate class requested transfers, leaving her with about 28 students, Counihan said.

Central Bucks High School East will probably use a substitute to take over the three classes of controversial teacher Natalie Munroe, a district spokeswoman said Wednesday. But the district does not know what Munroe will do when she returns to school Monday for the first time since she was suspended in February for her critical blog posts, spokeswoman Carol Counihan said. Sixty-two of the estimated 90 students assigned to Munroe's two English classes and one debate class requested transfers, leaving her with about 28 students, Counihan said.

Yvonne Briscoe Ireland, 74, of Erdenheim, a retired office manager, died of organ failure Thursday, May 19, at Abington Memorial Hospital. In 1982, Mrs. Ireland became office manager for Erdenheim Pediatrics, which later became Lockman & Lubell Pediatric Associates in Fort Washington. After retiring at 65, she worked part-time for the practice as a referral specialist until January. Mrs. Ireland graduated from Yeadon High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Millersville University.