Stopping Sexual Assaults By Teachers
In October this year, a 22 year old female substitute teacher at a D.C. school was accused of engaging in a sexual act with a student. It wasn't the first and certainly won’t be the last sexual assault by a teacher on a student. However, the circumstances surrounding this event warrant a closer examination. The mix of social media, the mutual seduction and the brazenness of the sordid affair make this case troublesome for educators as a massive civil claim was filed against the school as a result.
The back story
Bad Teacher
According to the newspaper account, the 17 year old student, who was a football player, was helping this teacher on her first day on the job in his capacity as an office assistant. The student admitted to flirting with the teacher and he was able to obtain her phone number. Later, the student texted her asking if she was “kinky”. The teacher replied to the effect that she would not say but rather she would “show” him. What happened next is truly disgusting. The student made his way to the teacher’s room during a school wide pep-rally where she performed oral sex on him behind the desk. The student also recorded the event and then shared that video with others including students on the football team. Disbelief
It is probably true that electronic media has contributed to the hyper-sexualization of the population, young and old. Pornography and sexting have exploded into the lives of almost everyone who owns a smart phone. There seems to have been no gradual shift into this brave new world and it has caused a lot of problems. To wit: The long held trust that teachers would nurture and protect children from harm has been assaulted by this trend. To say that what happened at this D.C. school is depraved and immoral is an understatement. Yet, as teacher-student sex becomes more frequent, the outrage becomes less intense.Backlash
Despite the sexualization trend and the soft response to it, the moral responsibility of educators in a position of power over children has not changed. Regardless of the student’s flirtatious behavior and his instigation of the event, the teacher is the only one to blame here. Certainly, any teacher who fails this morality test must be excluded from the profession. But in this case, her actions may turn out to be a costly one for the school.Ownership
So what can schools do about mitigating their exposure to such destructive and immoral behavior by their staff? Judging someone’s moral character usually takes some time of getting to know them but when it comes to employees, the best screening includes some form of background check. Here are a few things to consider:- While criminal checks are relevant and valuable, not everyone of questionable moral character has a criminal record.
- A secondary and often overlooked public record check is found civil court records. Here, you will find a broad array of filings that can help paint a detailed picture of someone’s past and possible future intentions.
- Turn the tables on social media and use it mine information on your candidate. A lot can be learned from just a few pictures.
From full time staff to volunteers, the prudent school administrator must consider utilizing comprehensive background checks in their candidate selection process. Parents are counting on schools to protect their children from threats of all kinds, including persons of questionable moral character.
