Arlington School System Turns Into Peyton Place

Grace Metalious would be proud. Arlington always seemed kind of quiet and calm, but there's something bubbling under the surface. But principal Stavroula Bouris and teacher Chuck Coughlin at Ottoson Middle School are accused of turning the school into a hotbed of moral turpitude with their steamy e-mails.

The Globe reports that the principal and teacher exchanged "sexually inappropriate e-mails" while at work. The Arlington Advocate reported that one of the e-mails from Coughlin to Bouris said, "Hey beautiful. Want to get naked? Chuck." (We'll say this for Coughlin - he gets to the point.)

But that's not the end of it. What looked like the ordinary salacious goings-on in the teachers' lounge is turning into a power struggle.

The assistant principal and the head of the teachers' union are furious with Superintendent Nate Levenson because they feel Levenson, through his lawyer, tried to use the e-mails as leverage to fire the two. Levenson already tried to fire Bouris, as yourarlington reported back in March. But parents supported Bouris, and she kept her job.

Then the e-mails turned up. The school attorney is saying that another teacher who didn't like Bouris and Coughlin's behavior accessed the e-mails (uh, isn't that illegal?), but no one is naming this teacher. Suspicious minds might think that it's quite convenient these e-mails turned up when Superintendent Levenson already didn't like Principal Bouris.

But with all this attention going to the hanky-panky and political machinations at the middle school, has anyone prepared lesson plans for when the little ones return in the fall?

Image of Peyton Place soundtrack cover from soundtrackcollector.com.