Denver, Colorado

Saturday, April 6, 1996

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

Edgewater - A day after the school board recommended firing their teacher, some Jefferson High School students said Robert Brookey let them run wild, spouting profanities that were insulting to female students.

But others said Brookey is a good teacher who got a bad rap when Jefferson County school board members voted Thursday to seek his dismissal.

"He did let things get a little wild,'' said senior Ryan Watson, who was in Brookey's psychology class. When a student used profanity "he would tell us to broaden our vocabularies, but he wouldn't seriously reprimand us.''

Brookey, placed on paid leave Nov. 29, is accused of encouraging the harassment of female, Hispanic, gay and disabled students by a group of boys in his class. He's also accused of slapping a girl on the buttocks and using sexually exploitative language during a class exercise captured on videotape...

...School officials say a videotape of a class exercise captured repeated whistling, moaning, barking, crude questions and comments about "sexual toys,'' sex and masturbation. Brookey is heard expounding his theory that "bitchiness'' is inherited, according to the school's complaint against him. He also is heard telling a girl, "Work those hips, work those hips.''

Brookey gave a 100% score and the comment, "You're a funny guy,'' to a student who wrote "penis length'' as a criterion for popularity, according to the school's charges.

Kathy Watson said her son, Ryan, answered "big boobs'' to a similar question. Brookey wrote, "Oh, Ryan, you're such a funny guy,'' in the margin, Watson said.

"I thought it was terrible,'' she said. ``He was condoning sexual harassment.''

"He tried to be really pals with students instead of being a teacher,'' Ryan Watson said. "It really didn't work that well because there really wasn't that much learning going on in the classroom.''...

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