Old Bridge teacher loses 120 days pay for talking with female students about stripping

OLD BRIDGE - A "cool" Old Bridge High School teacher will lose 120 days pay for having an "inappropriate" conversation with female students about stripping and prostitution.

More serious charges against Thomas Strassle, a tenured teacher at the school with an $106,778 annual salary, were dismissed by an arbitrator in October.

Those charges, for which the school district sought his dismissal, alleged that the 12-year veteran had given money to a female student and had requested sexual favors in exchange for the money. Those charges were dropped because of the absence of "competent and reliable evidence," arbitrator Melissa Biren wrote in her decision.

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However, BIren found that Strassle, who had no other disciplinary action against him in the dozen years at the school, violated school district policy by having a discussion about stripping and prostitution with several female students in a darkroom during a January 2015 photography class.

One student testified at a hearing before Biren that one of the 16 or 17 students in the darkroom said that one of the fastest ways to make money was to become a stripper, according to the arbitrator's decision.

Strassle then asked the four of five students involved in the conversation if they would do anything for money "like with someone around his age," the student testified.

The girls responded "like, umm, not really," the student testified, and the students never discussed the conversation again. The student also testified that Strassle, "a cool teacher," had never discussed anything of a sexual nature in class.

Another student testified that the conversation was not serious. She said that "Strassle would never hurt a fly. He is one of the kindest people I've ever met."

In her decision, Biren decided that Strassle's behavior did not rise to the level where his tenure should be revoked. However, she found that Strassle engaging in a conversation with female students about stripping was "improper for a teacher" even "if it was intended as a joke."

"It was entirely unrelated to the curriculum for the class," she wrote.

"As a tenured teacher, Strassle should have known that joining a conversation with female students about the students' willingness to engage in stripping or prostitution was inappropriate," Biren wrote, explaining that his "serious lapse in judgment" violated school district policy.

Biren said that Strassle should not be fired because the conversation did not make students "uncomfortable" or "adversely impact" his ability to teach.

However, Biren said that forfeiture of 120 days pay, after tenure charges were filed in April, was warranted. She also ruled that Strassle, who had been suspended, should be returned to his teaching position.

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com