What do you do with a problem like Chuck Yocum?
If you’re Anne Arundel County Public Schools, you tuck him into an obscure job and never, ever let him teach children again.
If you’re a Pasadena voter, you might elect him to the county school board next month. And if you’re state Dels. Nic Kipke or Brian Chisolm, County Councilman Nathan Volke, departing school board member Corine Frank or county Republican Party Chair Susan McConkey, you enable his campaign with donations.
In an exhaustively researched story published Tuesday, my Banner colleagues Liz Bowie and Dylan Segelbaum reported on accusations 30 years ago that Yocum had sexually abused a student, the dilemma faced by school district officials after he was acquitted of criminal charges, and their decision to drop an attempt to fire him.
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Those actions, negotiating a secret deal that allowed Yocum to keep his job despite grave reservations about his moral fitness, are coming back to haunt voters in this election.
None of the elected officials who contributed to Yocum’s campaign — Kipke’s $1,000 donation in July was the largest single contribution — would explain their choice. But this is a solidly Republican district and support for Yocum runs deep among the GOP establishment.
Donations from past and present Republican elected officials, activists, club leaders and former candidates accounted for more than two-thirds of Yocum’s campaign contributions through August, the latest state campaign finance report shows.
Donors include former Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides and his father, John. Amy Leahy, a longtime leader of the Severna Park Republican Women’s Club, gave $500. The Elephant Club topped that, with more than $700.
This is about more than party, though. It’s about a deeply flawed candidate who has taken advantage of a moment of deep division to reach the cusp of power he absolutely should not have.
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What happened at Northeast High School in the 1980s and ’90s is no secret in Pasadena, and Yocum’s persistent use of hateful language on his Facebook blog — “bitch,” “slut” and “whore” — paint him as someone who holds women in contempt. He uses the word “retard,” considered a slur by most educators.
Yocum was the third Northeast High teacher charged with sexually abusing students in the early 1990s. The first, Ronald W. Price, was sentenced to 26 years in prison and was released early to house arrest so he could die at home of cancer.
Yocum and the other teacher charged were acquitted at trial. Both were fired. Both appealed to get their jobs back.
The other teacher lost, but Yocum cut a deal that let him keep his job despite a damning assessment of his character.
“Mr. Yocum was found not guilty of sexual child abuse in a criminal court,” investigators wrote in their 1994 report. “This investigation, however, reviewed additional allegations against Mr. Yocum which were not criminal behaviors but possibly indicative of misconduct or immorality.”
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Then-county Superintendent Carol S. Parham put Yocum in administrative roles, and for the next 25 years he worked in HR, planning and marketing, a school system spokesperson said. He retired last summer as senior director of business and community partnerships, making $185,085 a year, and he qualified for a comfortable state pension.
Last month, Bowie, a veteran education reporter, interviewed two of Yocum’s former students. Both stand by their allegations, including the woman whose statement to police led to Yocum’s 1993 arrest and trial. They urged voters to reject their former teacher.
In an email to The Banner, Yocum denied it all.
But 30 years later? There were doubts about the young woman’s story at trial — the defense sought to make her look unstable and called 27 witnesses — but her constancy should ring a loud warning.
Yocum’s troubling past has been obscured by rancorous division over school policy in this election. Many Republicans are fighting LGBTQ representation in textbooks and classrooms. Democrats are defending it.
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In the 5th District, LaToya Nkongolo wants to unseat Dana Schallheim, the first open member of the LGBTQ community. Nkongolo talked in a June speech about her opponent’s sexuality and school policies that she claims cause gender confusion.
“This is an institution of grooming and not an institution of learning,” Nkongolo said in a video reposted by Annapolis Pride and the county teachers union. “That’s what they’re turning our schools into.”
In an emailed statement, she did not deny the accuracy of the video but restated her ideas in less personal terms. Schallheim dismisses them as ridiculous.
“I’m past being offended,” she said. “It’s super weird that this would be her focus.”
But Nkongolo’s conservative views have won the support of county residents such as Diane Larrimore and Michael Eckard of Crofton, a couple who donated almost $10,000 to Nkongolo, even though they don’t live in her district.
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“We just want students to be able to read and write when they graduate,” Larrimore said.
Democrats are spending to support candidates on the other side, including those whose views contrast with groups like Moms for Liberty and its opposition to LGBTQ-friendly policies.
State Sen. Sarah Elfreth — an Annapolis Democrat favored to win the race for Congress in the 3rd District — contributed $3,000 to Yocum’s opponent, independent Erica McFarland.
Other Democrats have pitched in smaller amounts, including state Sen. Dawn Gile, Del. Heather Bagnall, County Court Clerk Scott Poyer, County Councilwoman Lisa Rodvien, Annapolis mayoral candidate Jared Littmann and Annapolis Alderman Brooks Schandelmeier.
The District 30 Democratic Club made similar contributions to board member Joanna Tobin in District 6, which includes Annapolis, and to candidates in Districts 5 and 7. The state teachers union has contributed thousands to the campaigns of McFarland and Schallheim.
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“This school board election is a referendum on Moms for Liberty,” said Fish Stark, president of the District 30 Club.
Into this has slipped Yocum.
The long screeds on his Facebook blog deny that climate change has a role in creating monster hurricanes such as Helene or Milton. On his campaign site, he describes himself as a career teacher and falsely attacks classrooms today as if he had recent first-hand experience.
“Gone is instruction as it once was,” Yocum wrote. “Replaced by ideology. Replaced by DEI, CRT, light skinned people bad, people of color are oppressed. Biological males are birthing people. Parents are evil and should have no say in their child’s education. Enough’s enough.”
Nowhere does he explain that he was banned from teaching or why.
Maybe Republicans didn’t know about the past accusations against Yocum. Instead, I think Kipke and the others allowed their rhetoric to blind them to Yocum’s flaws. They should disavow his bid for office.
McFarland won the nonpartisan primary by a few votes. She could do that again.
District 3 voters should understand that Yocum — while innocent of any crimes— is disqualified by his conduct not only from teaching but also a seat on the Board of Education.
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