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Danza says class act isn't just for show

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Actor Tony Danza teaches English at Northeast High School in Philadelphia last week for a yet-to-air A&E reality show called “Teach.”

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PHILADELPHIA — Mr. Danza was having a bad day.

The laptop acted up. Few students were ready to present their projects, and the group was restless, giggly, distracted. A few snickers erupted when the new reading assignment, the classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," was passed out.

"Turn around. Turn AROUND. Put your feet this way," the first-year teacher urged one of his sophomore English students, motioning to the front of the room.

Last year, actor Tony Danza arrived in Philadelphia with Hollywood credentials and a long-ago college education degree but no teaching certificate. With the blessing of city and Philadelphia School District officials, he became a first-year English teacher at Northeast High School and the star of an A&E reality show called "Teach," telecast date yet unknown.

Six months in, Danza loves the job. But it's also tougher than he ever imagined, and sometimes he wonders if he's done the right thing, he said last week.

His first week in the classroom, he cried three times, he said.

He said he felt like calling every teacher he'd ever had and apologizing because he just didn't get how difficult their jobs were.

So far, Danza has guided his 26 sophomores through units on poetry and social justice, Although he teaches only one class, a double period mid-morning, he signs in at 7 a.m. like everyone else. He submits lesson plans, attends daily meetings with his colleagues, and covers others' classes.

Yes, it's a show, but it's also a real 10th-grade English class, a real school year at a real high school in a working-class neighborhood.

"I just come to work every day; it's not like there's a makeup trailer outside," said Danza, 58.

Ex-Edwards aide avoids jail

PITTSBORO, N.C. — A former aide to John Edwards avoided jail again Friday in a dispute over a tape that allegedly shows the past presidential candidate and his lover in a sexual encounter.

Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones ruled that Andrew Young was not in contempt of court for his accounting of how he handled items Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter is seeking. The judge had threatened to jail Young earlier this week and said he was troubled by a series of conflicting statements Young has made under oath.

Hunter has sued Young for invasion of privacy, seeking the return of items including the tape. Hunter's attorneys also pressed Young to surrender the tape now in court custody, which would end the debate about who has rights to it. Young lashed out at them, saying Hunter, John Edwards and his estranged wife, Elizabeth Edwards, have destroyed his family's life by calling him a liar and a thief.

No contest in 'bling ring'

LOS ANGELES — A fugitive and convicted drug dealer who allegedly helped a "bling ring" sell off luxury items stolen from the homes of young celebrities including Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom, pleaded no contest Friday to several felonies, authorities said.

Jonathan Ajar, known as "Johnny Dangerous," was the fence for the items stolen in at least 10 burglaries that also targeted the residences of Rachel Bilson, Brian Austin Green, Megan Fox, Audrina Patridge and Ashley Tisdale, authorities said.

Ajar, who previously served 37 months in federal prison beginning in 2002, pleaded no contest to three felony counts, including possession of cocaine for sale, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and receiving stolen property, authorities said.

Authorities said Ajar was a peripheral player in the so-called bling ring, largely composed of young women who attended Indian Hills Continuation High School in Agoura Hills and had a taste for the luxury goods and accessories worn by young celebrities. More than half a dozen defendants are awaiting trial in the case.