According to published reports in the Scranton Times (2-22-2008) and other sources, Corey Gesford, an English teacher in Mt. View School District, was arrested yesterday, charged with forgery, making unsworn falsifications to authorities and illegal use of a professional title. These sources stated the criminal complaint indicated among other things that he copied a legitimate teaching certificate and changed it to include his personal information, falsely claimed to be certified to teach high school English and Social Studies. Additionally, the sources said that on applications to the school district in 2004 and 2006, he falsely claimed to have earned a bachelor’s degree from Penn State.
Of course, if found guilty, one could and should be very unhappy with Mr. Gesford’s actions. According to the report he could face years in prison and a hefty fine.
Presuming Mr. Gesford is innocent until proven otherwise is a critically important matter for everyone to remember, as this is what our country is built on. One would hope that this is all just a very bad mistake or mixup of paperwork and that things would get straightened out in due course.
However, either way, there are several questions the community should rightfully ask the Mountain View School Board - Why did it take so long to find this out? If an application was made to the School District in 2004, why wasn’t this checked out then? Certainly, if it was missed then, shouldn’t the 2006 application been checked out? Wasn’t the name at least checked against a state registry by school officials? What about the references and background check? What plan of correction is being put in place to assure this will not happen again?
That this could possibly occur here in our little corner of the world is very disturbing at best, to realize that it could be happening right now anywhere else and many times over is absolutely chilling. For how do we know that someone else, somewhere else hasn’t faked credentials to have improper access to our children?
This matter is an outrage. If it did occur, it never should have. Basic checks and balances MUST be in place to protect our children.
I am interested to see what develops with this story. I went to school with Corey and he was a nice guy. He was near the top of our class. I know he did attend Penn State, but have no clue if he graduated. I am wondering if he did graduate with a degree, but embellished having two degrees instead of one. Either way, I doubt we will see any details in the Independent newspaper in Montrose, since his mother is the editor…….so keep us up to date here when you can.
I am so shocked by this! Corey and I were great friends in our High School days. I agree that he was a very nice guy. I hope this is just a bad mistake or a mix up.He was very smart and did go to Penn State. If guilty though, One thing I feel confident about is that Corey would never mean any harm to the students. I am sad for the kids. I am sure Corey was very well liked by them. The Corey I know had a wonderful personality and was alot of fun! I have compassion for his Mom . I hope for her sake that the Independent does not make her have to deal with this. I do want to be informed though so please do keep us up to date. I will cling to ” innocent until proven guilty.”
As a teacher I find this very disheartning. I worked my butt off to get a degree and certified to teach in Pennsylvania, one of the hardest states to get certified in due to our very high standards for teachers.
I know Corey and he is a very nice guy, but what he did is an absolute disgrace, point blank he lied and in doing so he hurt not just the kids at Mt. View but all who know him.
Does anybody know if he is still substituting? I hope not, if he is I hope all school districts drop him from the sub list. You must have at least a four year degree to even get emergency certified to teach in the public school system.
Todd: Corey is substituting at Elk Lake. I asked my kids. As of Monday (two days ago) he was at Elk Lake. I have seen no updates on this story on other sites. Maybe he is allowed to teach until proven guilty in the courts?
Corey Gesford has a college degree. That is something that the media has failed to point out in their zealousness to sensationalize this story. He also has a current permit from the state to teach. He is legitimate at this point. I’m sure there might be future actions, and maybe he will lose that permit, but remember we do live in a country where someone is innocent until proven guilty. Also, I’ve seen nothing written about his performance as a teacher. WNEP’s blog has several positive comments from former students. He is highly regarded as a basketball coach as well.