WTNH.com reports that Nate Fisher, the high school teacher who gave a student a copy of Eightball, won’t be charged. “Police say an investigation shows no criminal charges are necessary,” the site reports in a very brief story.
Edit: Kevin Melrose points out that the New Haven Register has a longer story up with comments from Fisher:
“It’s something that had been hanging over my head, and my entire family had been affected by this,” Fisher, 29, said. “It was a very, very hard thing to sit around for a month and wait to find out whether or not I’m going to be arrested, and I was relieved when I found out that I wasn’t going to be; it was kind of a signal to me that now I could move on with my life.”
Because of the criminal investigation, Fisher had previously declined to talk to the media. He said police told him that the crimes being investigated were breach of peace and impairing the morals of a minor.
Fisher said he gave the student the graphic novel, which features a number of intersecting stories told in comic book form, because she had not done a summer reading assignment. It was part of a collection of his own books that he had in the classroom. He read the book in a graphic novels course when he was a student at the University of Connecticut and had not reviewed it for some time, he said.
“I was literally looking for … something that she could read over the weekend, something quick, because all the kids had a test on Tuesday, the weekend after, and I didn’t want her to start the year behind in her school work,” he said. “In my mind, any book that you give to a student that’s going to create a reaction like this in the student’s family is an inappropriate book, so you’ll never hear me say this was an appropriate thing to do. I just think the way it was handled wasn’t right, and it was bad for everybody.”
October 18th, 2007 at 11:39 am
This just shows you the stupidity of some parents. The kid was behind in class and the teacher was just trying to help. That issue was so good.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Good.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:44 am
I’m glad nothing is going to happe.
I’m annoyed though at how the therm “graphic novel” is thrown around. Its a comic book.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
It disgusts me that it even came to this.
The graphic nature of comics provides a convenient shorthand for determining the nature of the content. It’s a good thing that most parents don’t actually read, or else we’d be hearing this every time a teacher handed a student THE SOUND AND THE FURY, or KAIFER BOY, or HUCKLEBERRY FINN, or one of a dozen other books that were handed to ME when I was a student.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Well, it’s not strictly true that “nothing is going to happen”—it would seem Mr. Fisher is still out of a job, and with a mark on his record that will be difficult to play down. I am pleased to hear he isn’t being charged with a crime, though.
October 18th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
What was it about this comic that got the teacher in trouble? I’ve never read Eightball…
October 18th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
What was it about this comic that got the teacher in trouble? Boobs.
October 18th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
My 12th grade english teacher had us read Ghost World after we read Catcher In The Rye, so I really don’t see what the big deal is.
October 18th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
The weird thing is that this all happened in a town literally right next to where I live.
And yes the people who live there are very stupid, so it’s not that surprising.
October 20th, 2007 at 12:29 am
What’s lame is these are the same a-hole parents who didn’t see that the girl was doing her summer reading assignment. I work in a book store and every year it’s the same thing come the last week of August -”My kid needs to read five books by next week. Here’s the week, find the shortest ones.” Shock of shock that these idiots would cause this kind of problem for a guy doing his best to help their kid. And there’s nothing in that issue of Eightball that would have gotten him in trouble had it been in print, rather than illustration.
October 20th, 2007 at 12:30 am
That should be, here’s the list, not the week.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:09 pm
outrageous.
the guy’s career is ruined and he is out of a job over a fucking comic book. culturally impoverished degenerates should not have a say in what teenagers should for literary enrichment.
October 23rd, 2007 at 5:15 am
Jesus Christ, what is wrong with people? I guess I’m not jaded because it never fails to astonish me how idiotic and provincial some (most?) people are. That someone should have to worry about being arrested for trying to do a student a solid is sick. It’s not like he handed her a copy of R. Crumb’s “Snatch”, but even if he had, who the hell brings in the law for that kind of thing? It’s like that case in Georgia where the retailer accidentally gave some kid a copy of a comic that had some minor nudity in a panel or two and he was thrown in jail and spent a year fighting the case in court. Honestly, Jenny Ginns is an unfit parent. She’s clearly a deeply stupid, totally closed-minded ignoramus. On the original article post someone using the designation “concerned parent” cited every “questionable” bit of content in Eightball #22. Who are these people? Do their kids live under rocks? I was reading underground comics at 13. I just don’t get it. There’s a difference between being a “concerned parent” and being a puritanical control freak. That teacher shouldn’t have resigned. At most he should have apologized, and I don’t even think he owed anyone that much.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
If it were me, I’d get a lawyer and sue the stupid parent. The lesson here is clear: don’t help people and don’t help their kids. No wonder America’s education system is swirling around in the toilet. Pretty soon people are going to have to sign full legal disclaimers before any kind of book or film is shared in public or distributed by retailers.
May 13th, 2010 at 8:32 am
“The lesson here is clear: don’t help people and don’t help their kids.”
Is singling out one kid to stay alone with you after class and assign that student more sexually explicit material than you assign the rest of the class your idea of helping the kid?
Way to promote the stereotype of comics fans having no people skills.
May 13th, 2010 at 11:28 am
“It’s like that case in Georgia where the retailer accidentally gave some kid a copy of a comic that had some minor nudity in a panel or two and he was thrown in jail and spent a year fighting the case in court.”
Nah, that retailer gave it by accident, didn’t have authority over the kid, and wasn’t singling the kid out to stay after the store’s closing hours.