David B. Novinski
Posted by: Webmaster in Church Schools, Hall of Shame, High Schools, ME-FV, Texas(7/26/07 - Initial BBT Report)
David B. Novinski, 35, a former teacher at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, a private Catholic all-girls school in Dallas, Texas, has been arrested on allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old student.
According to his attorney, Novinski turned himself into police Monday and has since posted bond.
The improper relationship is alleged to have started in February of this year and the 17-year-old alleged victim reportedly told police in June that she had a sexual relationship with Novinski.
Novinski was first suspended by the school, which sent a letter to parents and students on July 25th regarding the allegations. According to that letter, Novinski is no longer employed by the school.
1/25/08 - Grand Juror Investigated For Posts Here
An unidentified member of the grand jury which indicted David B. Novinski last month is under investigation for allegedly making posts to this site and doing so under the pseudonym of “Knows status”. The posts were reportedly made during the month of December.
The Dallas County DA’s office is looking into the postings by the unidentified grand juror, who allegedly has admitted making posts to this site regarding the Novinski case.
Attorneys for Novinski are asking for a hearing regarding the grand juror’s conduct and to determine if their clients rights were violated.
2/15/08 - Guilty Plea
Today David B. Novinski pleaded guilty to having sexual contact with a 17-year-old student.
In exchange for his guilty plea, Novinski received 10 years of deferred adjudication, which is basically probation. If Novinski successfully completes his probation, he will not have a criminal record and he is not required to register as a sex offender.
The issue of the grand juror posting comments to this site is yet to be resolved.
According to the Dallas Morning News:
John Grau, the chief prosecutor in the intake/grand jury division, said Friday that because Mr. Novinski’s case is resolved, the DA’s office can consider whether to take action against the grand juror.
Hopefully the DA’s office will NOT take any action against the grand jury member for providing our readers with a bit of background information on the case via comments to this post.
We will do our best to keep our readers informed of any developments regarding the grand jury member.
References:
Ex-Ursuline Academy teacher gets probation for sexual contact with student (2/15/08)
Blogging about Ursuline Academy teacher’s sex case may spell trouble for grand juror (1/24/08)
Teacher Fired, Arrested After Student Alleges Sexual Relationship (7/31/07)
Ursuline teacher accused in sex case (7/30/07)
Ursuline teacher accused in sex case (Same report - second source)
Ursuline teacher accused of sexual contact with student (7/27/07) - Does not name suspect
Dallas private school under investigation for teacher-student sexual misconduct (7/26/07) (Contains letter to Parents, Guardians, Students, and Graduates)
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March 24th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
lets all get on with our lives now. From the DA’s office:
From: John Grau
To: (secret)
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 8:36:59 AM
Subject: Re: Novinski/Juror blog
Mr. X, our office has decided not to proceed further with this matter. We regard it as closed at this time.
John Grau
March 24th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
To NEW PERSPECTIVE:
Your relabeling Novinski as an “ephebophile” is technically and legally correct. However, don’t forget to add Sociopath to the list of terms that suit this person. He exemplifies all of the known and standard characteristics of such.
As for his being a great educator, that may hold some validity. However, truly great educators not only have knowledge, but have ethics, morals and values that include respecting and valuing others. Great educators are invested in passing on information, creating and giving opportunities for others to learn, to experience, to grow and to succeed. Their rewards are certainly not realized in the pitifully low salaries that they receive. Rather, their true rewards manifest as their students advance through life, hopefully meeting with success and are able to apply some, if not all, of the knowledge that they were given or gleaned from their teachers. While Novinski had valuable knowledge to share, his manner of doing so was clearly manipulative, demeaning and clearly self-serving.
Yes, “teaching acting often necessitates a different relationship between the teacher and the student than does more traditional subjects.” It requires a stronger sense of ensemble, not of just being the ego-manical, self-indulgent “expert or hot dog.” It necessitates patience, creativity, the ability to recognize, to encourage,to support, to guide in a healthy manner the miriad of personalities that are drawn to the craft. Further, truly honorable and skilled teachers of any performing art possess a higher level of respect of others, a willingness to give to others without expecting something in return, a higher level of self-discipline, a stronger set of morals, standards and values. These individuals experience pleasure in the mere act of passing on the knowledge, the ability, the joy that are associated with their craft. The list goes on. This “man”(even that term is not appropriate as has proven himself to be the opposite of a mature, responsible adult male) has not and by his own admission, does not possess or demonstrate respect for others and it is now questionable if he has or ever had any of the other qualities listed above. The facts speak for themselves. Furthermore, he is yet another negative, disgusting blot and disgrace to the historic craft of acting and theatre. He, like many others of his ilk, is a prime example of what not to be as a member of the theatrical community. Those honored, ethical and professional members of the craft won’t tolerate such behavior, won’t be willing to associate or to hire someone with his reputation. He will have to deal with negative consequences in that area as well.
March 10th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
As a former student of Mr. Novinski’s I have had a very difficult time understanding all of this. When I first heard the allegations I was shocked; I couldn’t for a moment believe that Mr. Novinski had done anything outside of what is appropriate for a theatre classroom. I talked with a few friends, all other former UA theatre girls, and we all agreed that it couldn’t possibly be true. Theatre necessitates a different relationship between teacher and student than required to effectively teach a more traditional subject. I had thought that perhaps this girl had misunderstood something. I will say that I was devastated to be wrong. It somehow taints all my fantastic memories of high school theatre. Not to lessen any damage suffered by the girl in question, but it’s a real shame to lose Mr. Novinski. He is an exceptionally good teacher and one of the most impactful teachers I have ever had. When he and Miki Bone took over the UA theatre department they turned it into something that I knew was my calling. It’s a terrible thing Mr. Novinki’s crime, and I certainly do not think that he should be put back in a classroom, but I can’t help but feel like we’ve lost a great educator. I, like so many others, wish Mr. Novinski had chosen another path because this one has caused so much damage.
As a final note I feel compelled to point out that the proper term for someone who is primarily attracted to adolescents is an ephebophile, a pedophile is someone who is primarily attracted to pre-pubescent children. Also, it is important to note that a person cannot be labeled as an ephebophile if he/she is attracted to one or two adolescents, labels like ephebophile and pedophile require the person to be mainly or exclusively attracted to adolescents or children.