10 WORST Teachers in History
Timothy Randall Korr
In 2016, tutor Timothy Randall Korr was arrested for a vicious assault on a student in Baltimore. The attack left the youngster with missing teeth and a fractured jaw when he was thrown against a wall after being “unruly.” Korr claimed when he was removing the boy that he tripped, and the student accidentally hit the wall. However, the surveillance system didn’t back up the teacher’s claims. After being fired by the school, Korr entered an Alford plea in court. This got him a ten-year sentence with the majority suspended except for three months and three years of supervised probation. In 2020, the victims' families entered a lawsuit against Korr and others involved, seeking $150,000 in compensation.
Julie Morris
A teacher is usually seen as a person a student can trust completely, but Julie Morris broke that in the extreme. She was the deputy head teacher and the safeguarding lead at a school in Wigan, England. In 2021, after being investigated for many cases of assault against children, Morris and her partner, David Morris, were arrested as they drove away with £10,000, seemingly to evade the police. Due to the evidence of grim text messages as well as recordings of their depraved activities, they were both found guilty. Julie Morris was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months, while David Morris received 16 years.
Mark Berndt
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After years of rumors and accusations, the crimes of Mark Berndt finally caught up to him in 2014. The California teacher was charged with 23 counts of lewd acts with students between 2005 to 2011. Berndt's crimes came to light when a film processor contacted the police about images they saw featuring students restrained in a classroom. After the arrest in 2011, Berndt was fired by the school in 2012. The following year, the school district agreed to pay $30 million to those affected by their former employee’s terrible actions. By 2014, Berndt pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 25 years.
Raymond Payne
In 1975, 16-year-old Debbie Gama argued with her mother and stormed out of their house in Pennsylvania. After days of no contact, the family began searching for the student. Unfortunately, her body was found by the police, with signs of abuse. The family hired a private investigator who realized the same type of wire used on Gama was also in the possession of her favorite teacher, Raymond Payne. After being arrested, he admitted to having slain Gama, but it was an accident. Payne insisted he didn’t abuse her. In 1977, he was sentenced to life in prison. Over the years, Payne has appealed his conviction with no success. He passed away in jail in 2020.
Violet John Berling
In 1951, the then-longest murder trial in Los Angeles Country history got underway. In it, music teacher Violet John Berling was accused of slaying ten-year-old Katherine Frances Erickson the previous year. She was found bound to a chair at Berling’s home with an accordion strap over her shoulders. She had fatally choked on regurgitated food. Berling claimed that Erickson, who was living with her at the time, had tied herself up and enjoyed hurting herself. However, the authorities claimed that Erickson couldn’t have made some of the cuts and bruises found on her body. With former students also claiming abuse at Berling’s hands at the trial, the music teacher was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
Christopher Pickup
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On the surface, Christopher Pickup seemed like a good headteacher at a primary school in Oldham. Parents and colleagues seemingly had loads of trust in him. Yet between 1971 and 1983, when Pickup was a teacher at two schools, he took advantage of 19 boys. One victim told their father about their ordeal, only to be hit and told to respect their elders. In 2019, justice came knocking for the teacher when the first formal complaint was issued. In 2022, Pickup was found guilty of 37 offenses against the students. He was sentenced to ten years, ordered to pay £58,760 in prosecution costs, and was placed on the Offender’s Register indefinitely.
Herry Wirawan
By leading a boarding school in Bandung, Indonesia, to help students from poor households through scholarships, Herry Wirawan had the respect of many locals. But that came crashing down in February 2022 when he was sentenced to life in prison. Between 2016 to 2021, Wirawan abused the trust of his students. At least eight girls bore his children, some while they were still studying at the school. Wirawan then used the babies to entice more donations to the facility’s upkeep. But by April 2022, his sentence was changed. For the first time in the country’s history for this type of crime, Wirawan was handed a sentence of capital punishment.
Galina Kovalenko
In 2016, Ukraine’s then-Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, broke news on Facebook that terrified the world. In Kharkiv, Galina Kovalenko, who had decades of teaching experience, was arrested by police. But not for crimes that we’ve already mentioned. Instead, Kovalenko was accused of attempting to sell a 13-year-old girl to an organ harvester. The buyer had already given Kovalenko $39 for photos of the student and her medical records. This deplorable plan had been in progress for a year. Unfortunately for Kovalenko, the cops had been watching her for four months. Once Kovalenko took the student out of boarding school and met with the buyer for the exchange, the police swooped in.
Norman Simons
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From 1986 to 1994, Cape Town, South Africa was in terror because of a slew of assassinations of 22 abused schoolboys. The press gave the mystery perpetrator the headline-grabbing moniker of “The Station Strangler.” This name referenced the M.O. of the person, who seemingly lured their victims away from train stations. The police investigation led them to the door of primary school teacher Norman Simons in 1994. Unable to link him to 21 cases, Simons was tried for the demise of Elroy van Rooyen. In 1995, the teacher was sentenced to life imprisonment, 10 years for kidnapping, and 25 for the slaying.
Heinz Schmidt
In 1913 in Bremen, Germany, the first documented mass use of a firearm at a school took place, an act that’s haunted us ever since. Unemployed teacher Heinz Schmidt, who left his job after a mental breakdown, walked towards the building with a stack of weapons and ammunition. He went on a rampage throughout the building, firing at anyone who crossed paths with him. It took a coachman to bravely subdue Schmidt and stop his horrendous actions. In the end, he injured 21 and slew 5 people. When the police arrived, they had troubles as an angry mob had formed, looking to get their own version of justice. Schmidt was found insane and spent the rest of his days in an asylum.
