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Weird Teacher Watch: Daniel Jacobs Offers Kids A Lesson In Used Car Ethics

By Chris Parker in classroom creepiness, fraud
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 9:00 am
originality autos_opt.jpg
​It's so hard to ensure kids learn from proper role models. So we're excited that someone with real world experience, like used car lot owner Daniel Jacobs, is still able to teach business to students at Johnson Middle School in Melbourne, Florida. Sure Jacobs has switched the odometers on some high mileage vehicles, but that's the kind of example kids need to one day conquer Wall Street, or at least end up on this week's Weird Teacher Watch...

Admittedly, the location of Jacobs' lot -- a couple blocks from the Melbourne International Airport -- and his dingy building (see pic) don't necessarily scream, Successful Businessman! Nor does the business name, Originality Autos, Inc., imply someone that put a lot of time into his business plan. But when you're advertising low mileage/senior citizen-owned cars at cut-rate prices, they practically sell themselves!

The 39-year old Jacobs has been teaching at Brevard County Schools since 1997, and has owned the dealership since 1999. And he would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for that meddling Car Fox, er, Carfax.

It seems Jacobs sold a 2005 Mustang alleged to have 68,000 miles on it to a man giving it to his daughter as a graduation gift. When it soon developed transmission problems, he checked the Carfax vehicle history report, which suggested something closer to the actual 164,000 miles on it. So he contacted the police. They found three more vehicles on Jacob's lot with replaced odometers, and have since talked to three victims, though they expect more to come forward.

Jacobs was charged with six counts of selling motor vehicles with an altered odometer, a third-degree felony. However, fraud's not the type of charge that mandates immediate removal from the classroom, like assault or sexual abuse. He's a cheat, not a perv. While he will be fired if found guilty, even if removed from the classroom now, Jacobs is still legally entitled to his salary until then. And with school budgets being what they are these days...

Parents are, of course, outraged, which seems a bit over-the-top. Isn't this really a teaching moment, which suggests at least the possibility of consequences? Besides, according a Brevard County Schools official, what Jacobs really teaches is not an actual business course, but "keyboarding." If he were teaching water-boarding, that'd be an entirely different issue.

Read last Wednesday's Weird Teacher Watch: Charles Plummer's Tough Love Leaves Children Battered & Bruised.
Tags: Florida, Weird Teacher Watch

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