Posted by
Playful Walrus on Monday, March 31, 2008 12:31:30 PM
Is there an equivalent to the "Dilbert" comic strip that highlights the absurdities in the public schools?
South Pasadena, California, is known for their public schools. The city has a high percentage of residents with graduate degrees who are involved in education themselves, and even though the small city is adjacent to the City of Los Angeles, and, obviously, Pasadena, it maintains a small town feel in large part because families settle in for generations. Many of those with roots in the city teach or assist in the schools, and property values have an extra kick because of this community educational tradition.
So when a story like this pops up, it becomes a big deal and makes the Pasadena Star-News.
District officials are investigating an incident in which a substitute teacher allegedly reprimanded a student inappropriately, authorities said Friday.
Police were called to South Pasadena Middle School on Wednesday following a report that a teacher had assaulted a child, said Cpl. Craig Cooper of the South Pasadena Police Department.
Sounds right, doesn’t it? A teacher assaults a child, you’d darn well call the cops.
After investigating, police closed the case, determining no abuse had occurred, Cooper said.
The teacher "used the tip of her finger and patted (the student) on the forehead," Cooper said. "She was all, `Come on, you, you can do better than that."'
Yep. You read that right. Encouraging a student and tapping them with a finger can get a sub fired.
School officials, who also made a complaint to Los Angeles County child services representatives, are continuing to look into the case, said South Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Brian Bristol.
You don’t just get fired, you get reported to the county for child abuse. Doesn’t that make you want to be a teacher?
"There was a substitute teacher that engaged in conduct that we consider to be physically and verbally assaultive," Bristol said, declining to confirm details about the alleged forehead-tapping.
The incident was reported by students to other teachers, who told school administrators.
I happen to know a little something about this case. The student, known for having a difficult time keeping statements truthful, told the regular teacher that the sub “hit” her and called her “stupid”. Of course the teacher had to report that. But that’s where it should have ended.
"She made a poor choice, and we do not tolerate that. Such conduct is unacceptable," Bristol said of the teacher, adding that she will not be allowed to teach in the district again.
Translation: We’d rather take our chances fending off a wrongful termination charge (hard for a substitute to prove) than risk a lawsuit and bad publicity from the parents of failing, problem student.
Bristol declined to give the names of the teacher or student involved, citing privacy.
Good idea.
There are some good comments by readers after the article.
Schools can’t be run effectively this way. Children need structure. They need standards and expectations and boundaries. They need encouragement. They need discipline, and they need to respect authority. Not all students are the same. If a student has an issue with being touched at all, they should tell the teacher, and that should be that. But the public school system is often horrible to teachers, largely due to fear of litigation.
Schools should be able to fire bad or abuse teachers. But if the schools refuse to keep students in their place and back up teachers in their legitimate actions, then I should not have to support them. This is yet another reason we need separation of state and school.