Teachers

IN THE MID-1950S, Bobby Palese and Joe Giglio graduated from Camden Catholic High School with one conviction: They weren't going to take 9-to-5 jobs. They wanted to be entertainers. Lots of kids start out with fanciful notions of what they want to do with their lives: cop, fireman, pilot, professional athlete. Most come to their senses when confronted with the realities of the world. Not Bobby and Joe. They went on to pursue and fulfill their dreams, eventually as two of the four members of the Echoes doo-wop group, which performed widely and cut some records that got airplay in the Philadelphia region.

HELEN DIVERS fed Mayor Nutter some sumptuous fare over the last few years - macaroni and cheese, chicken wings, meatballs and beans. Of course, the mayor had to share the feast with neighbors who crowded into Helen Divers' compact rowhouse in Southwest Philadelphia on at least two occasions to talk about city finances. Why Helen Divers' house? Because Helen Divers was one of the most active, community-minded, dedicated, passionate civic leaders the city has known. She's done everything in the neighborhood "but plow the back 40," as Inquirer writer Annette John-Hall put it in a report of one of those meetings in 2009.

Sister Margaret Mary Murray, 82, an elementary schoolteacher in Philadelphia and elsewhere, died Friday, April 26, of natural causes in the nursing facility at McAuley Convent in Merion. She was known as Sister Mariella until her order allowed members to use their given names in 1970. Then she switched back to Margaret Mary. In light moments, "she called herself M cubed," said a colleague, Sister Patricia Carroll. Born in Philadelphia, Sister Margaret Mary attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in South Philadelphia and remained devoted to the school throughout her life.

A rising number of New Jersey students say they learn more when they can put their teacher on pause - or rewind and replay. Instead of listening to lectures in school, they are watching their teachers' lessons on computers or cellphones at home. Then when they come back into the classroom the next day, they tackle the kind of problems that used to be assigned as homework - only now, a teacher or their peers can help them immediately when they get stuck. It is called the "flipped classroom," a national trend that is a growing part of the fast-changing world of education as teachers harness the power of digital tools.

WHEN Sumo Dukulah began to work for the school district in November 2011, he had been raping a young relative for years, authorities alleged yesterday. Dukulah, 39, a teacher at L.P. Hill Elementary School in Strawberry Mansion, was charged with raping a family member for eight years, the District Attorney's Office announced. The cruel acts began when the child was 8 years old and continued until the victim was 16, the D.A.'s Office said. Dukulah was arrested Thursday by detectives with the Police Department's Special Victims Unit.

A former Episcopal Academy teacher arrested in the sexually abuse of boys at a Massachusetts summer camp told investigators that about 35 years ago, he molested one of his Episcopal students and admitted the incident to the head of the school, according to court documents obtained by The Inquirer. The former fourth-grade teacher, Richard Perkins Smith, 65, of Media, told police that at some point after his admission, he was removed from teaching but kept on as an Episcopal fund-raiser, according to a search warrant application filed in the case.

In January, Michelle Friedman of Mount Laurel celebrated her 46th birthday with more than 100 friends, many of them e-mail buddies who came from all over the country to wish her well. Afterward, she described the experience on her blog, "I'll Say It Once!": "Nine days ago I had people treat me like a big star. I know what it's like to be treated like a VIP. It rocks; I hope you all get to experience it, especially for something like a birthday. " To her family, said her husband, Ken, she was always "a rock star.

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy has reached a settlement with a former math teacher who filed a civil rights suit against the school in December. According to documents filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, Arthur "Chuck" Matthews and the private school have ended the suit. Terms were not disclosed. Matthews, who is African American, had alleged that the school defamed him and violated his civil rights when he was fired last fall after allegedly sending inappropriate text messages to a female student.

WASHINGTON - Investigators say Eric Justin Toth's five-year run as a fugitive began when he was fired from his teaching job at a prestigious private school in Washington after he was confronted about images of child pornography taken with a camera that was in his possession. It ended over the weekend when Nicaraguan authorities, acting on a tip, found him living in that Central American country illegally - with phony passports, driver's licenses and credit cards, authorities said.

The Washington Township school board and teachers' union reached a tentative agreement early Wednesday to settle a nearly three-year contract dispute. Negotiations continued well after Tuesday's board meeting, with the sides hashing out an agreement at 4:30 a.m. The contract between the Washington Township Education Association, which represents 850 teachers and secretaries, and the Board of Education expired on June 30, 2010. Neither side released details of the settlement. Both the union and board still need to ratify it. At issue was whether part of the board's $5.8 million budget surplus and $6 million in savings from staff attrition since 2010 could be spent on teacher salaries.