Comments on: Joe Ballmann- Teacher and Kid Toucher

By: lt124

lt124 — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:58:58 +0000

seems like a sad state of affairs.

By: lt124

lt124 — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:57:48 +0000

One of the tragedies of Ballmann’s case, or that of any other teacher who sexually abuses kids, is the effect it has on all the good teachers out there who work hard to make sure kids in general get a good education. Teachers who are dedicated and whose conduct is unimpeachable, which compose the wide majority of them. It puts into question any teacher who goes the extra mile for students. I suppose I was fortunate that I never had any teachers that abused their students. Some were of lousy quality, but most did a good and/or even outstanding job educating me…like the math teacher who always took extra time after class to tutor me on a particularly difficult problem. I wonder how many teachers out of fear of being branded as a molestor won’t tutor kids one on one alone after class or otherwise provide help outside of the assigned class period. Let’s be clear, Ballmann and those like him are responsible for this sad state of affairs. He was the “cool” teacher who tried to make learning fun, but in retrospect it is clear that this was all a ruse to lure kids in. I guess what concerns me is how many qualified or innovative teachers ideas will be stifled or will be discouraged because of the environment of suspicion created by this. I do not have a solution for it, but it just

By: Frostie

Frostie — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 01:26:16 +0000

Pat, You Suck

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:03:07 +0000

Court records indicate that on 11/07/08 Joseph Ballmann pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a minor child and one count of exhibition of obscene movies to a minor.

Following his guilty pleas, Ballmann’s bond was revoked and he was remanded to custody pending sentencing. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

And Bethechange, you cannot forgive someone until they ask for it. Did your molester ask you for forgiveness?

And no, we dont all have problems that require help. Survivors of sex trauma do and I hope you can get yours.

By: hahaha!

hahaha! — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:41:54 +0000

“so that someday these problems will no longer exist…”

whatever you’re smoking, please share it. the world will NEEVER be rid of pedophiles. this man hurt children, and as someone who was also the victim of childhood sexual abuse, i feel entirely justified in my anger. it is a totally natural and healthy reaction, and for you to try to convince me that i’m being ridiculous because i post a comment on an blog is a testament to how much more time you need to spend in therapy working out your own denial. sure victims need to be able to move on from their past trauma, but that doesn’t mean that we should gloss over the serious nature of Ballmann’s behavior. for you to assume that just because the people posting comments here don’t do things to contribute positively to the community is completely baseless. I am a former student of his, and I can tell you first-hand that there seemed to be something a little off about him, which i picked up at age 12. Not that i assumed that he was touching kids back then, but he made me uncomfortable. Even if he hasn’t yet been convicted, the allegations are coming from former students of varying ages, some of whom have no connection to each other whatsoever. this is a pretty clear indication that something inappropriate happened. why are you so quick to jump to his defense without having known the man at all?

By: bethechange

bethechange — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:22:42 +0000

I happened onto this website while trying to research Asperger’s syndrome. What strikes me about most of the postings is the high degree of anger and hatred for this person (has he even been proven guilty yet?) If you really care, get off your computer and volunteer in your community to help people who have problems. You may not be a sex offender, but no one of us is perfect. We all have problems that we need help with. Additionally we all have time we can give to help others less fortunate. Spewing hatred and anger does little to help those of us who have been victims of child sexual abuse, and yes, I am one of those people. Forgiveness and a desire to understand how to help these offenders in the future–so that someday these problems will no longer exist–these are the needs–not a metaphorical stoning.

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:20:42 +0000

Observer, thanks for pointing that out. Ballmann was a perverted 47-year-old who groomed children by befriending them and luring them to his home where he would show them pornography and then sexually assault them. A 47 year old forcing himself on an unconsenting child is RAPE.

Out of curiosity, why are you splitting hairs on the definition I use? Why do you think I need to be more precise?

By: observer

observer — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:45:07 +0000

Pat, you have used the term rape twice in your latest post. What crime was Ballmann convicted of? Are you sure you are commenting on the right case here? Is it possible you are mixing up the acts Ballmann was convicted of with other cases you are monitoring? Perhaps you should go back through your postings here as well as postings on other cases and make sure you haven’t made other errors. Or do you refer to any crime against a child by that term? I think it would be better to be more precise and accurate.

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:06:01 +0000

Student,

You are a sadly mistaken person if you think Ballman was “born” with a problem of molesting children. He made a choice to do it. Its not genetic, and therefore, inexcusable. Its not like being born black.

Are you born this stupid that you excuse heinous crimes in others but have the balls to scold me, a total stranger who is exercising freedom of speech? So compared to a child-raping monster like Ballman, I’m the bad guy??

And as I repeated often above, and something you need to learn as a young adult entering the real world- Ballman was a lousy teacher. He used his job as an opportunity to rape children. Anyone who uses their job to deliberately commit a crime automatically makes them suck at their job.

This is a fundamental fact of life and you need to learn it. If you can’t grasp this you need to talk to a counselor about whatever it is that is wrong with you that makes you easily forgive a monster who did this to children. You could have been a victim too.

By: Student of Ballman

Student of Ballman — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:04:37 +0000

I am a former student of Mr. Ballman too, during 2000, and I have to say, he is truly one kickass teacher. He was a very fun person to be around, and he showed me how to enjoy writing. A shame he was born with this problem, but that does not diminish what he did for everyone else. I see tons of comments praising Mr. Ballman’s teaching, and I have to agree with them.

You, Mr. Blogger, should learn to stop demonizing others and stealing up the pain of others for your own grandstanding. The kid wasn’t the only victim of this tragedy; the former students of this amazing teacher are saddened by the loss of this great educator from the MCPS system.