Yikes! My kid's teacher was put on administrative leave!
 

In the past, this math teacher has been viewed as inappropriate by some parents, for slow dancing with a middle school student while chaparoning the middle school dance.

I know him to be arrogant. His wife left him this fall and before Christmas, he was flaunting his 20 something year old girlfriend (he's 40) at his daughter's sport events.

So now he's on administrative leave. All us parents got was a letter explaining that our children will be taught by a qualified sub, the kids are getting gentle guidance through "this difficult" time.

There is no explaination of the nature of the teacher's offense. Some kids say it has something to do with his computer.

You can imagine what is going through my mind - worst case scenario - and I want real answers and not just gossip!

Should I call the school?

I doubt if the school will give you any more information than they already have. They should be upfront about it as not knowing will cause rumors to fly.

I am disgusted for you, though I think that the school cannot legally tell you anything :( I am a teacher and I know that teachers and administration have a very tight cap on what can and cannot be said. I am happy that he is gone though!

have you by chance checked the schools website for information? you MIGHT be able to look up his court records as well to see if you can find out information. I dont think the school can tell you anything even if you are concerned for your child which is kinda sad you have a right to know...hope you find out what you want to know dear!

K, I checked the website - nothing. I C-CAPped the teacher - nothing. Weird, though, not even his divorce was listed.

If there are such strict information "laws", then how does the media get info on such things? I would guess that a criminal offense had taken place in those scenarios. Maybe he didn't commit a crime, and my thinking is much worse than what really happened.

But if that's the case, doesn't this teacher deserve to have the parents know that it's not a creepy offense?

As a mother I would say yes, you deserve to know (because I sure as heck would!!!), but legally the district would be opening itself up to possible defamation actions, possibly breaking it's own privacy policies, and if it's a criminal offense, then violating freedom of information acts. Unless it comes out in the rumor mill, it will probably be months or even years before you truly know!

Did you check civil and criminal court records for the state and the surrounding counties?

Keep checking those sites as there may be up to a 6 month delay for updates (especially the civil actions).

Does you local newspaper have a "police blotter" section? Check that too.

Here is a website for free crime alerts http://www.crimereports.com/
I subscribe for my neighborhood.

His divorce may not be final, if in fact one was filed.

He may not have committed a crime. Good Lord, if marrying someone half your age lands you in jail, then I would have been because my late husband and I had 27 years between us.

PDA with the girlfriend at his daughter's sporting event shouldn't be illegal. Not recommended but not illegal unless he had his hand down her pants or something.

How close were they when he was slow dancing with the student. If it was the old hold your partner out in the box step, then that shouldn't be an issue. However, the slow dancing with the student is what really upset people.

IA with the others, the school district has to protect itself. They won't say anything until an investigation is complete. However, have you called the local newspaper and asked them if they know anything? That would be sneaky way to get some info.

I just hope your kid will have a good sub and will continue to learn. How much was this teacher liked? I truly hope there was no kiddie porn on the computer. Porn in school is bad enough and should get some charges, but kiddie porn is going to mean (as it should) jail time.

Let us know what you find out.

Well, I misspelled his name so when I realized that, his divorce did show up on C-CAP. Nothing else. I found out that the paper is running a story on it so I'll find out on Wed.

cbmare - Thank you for reminding us to keep things in perspective. I hope my statement was clear that others had a problem with the dance (i did not witness, I do not judge) and that my only judgement was he was arrogant based on my own dealings with him. As far as the gf at the sport events...I don't care if she just showed up and they didn't even speak. The mom had been kicked out that same month. His daughter deserves more than a few weeks to process what happened.

i would definatley call... it's your child and you deserve to know all the details of whats going on!

So today I ran into a teacher in the same district. She didn't even know the math teacher was put on leave. It seems the school is trying to keep this under the radar. That can either mean it's not a big deal. Or that it's a REALLY big deal.

I'll post later when I find out what "it" is.

Exactly this. When a teacher is put on leave, it's not uncommon for some pretty nasty defaming rumors to occur. You can only imagine if one child whispers "child porn" how that fire spreads. And those accusations can lead to depression, law suits, or even suicide. Seen it happen a few times. It's best to keep things under wraps so as not to encourage this sort of thing.

If he was truly considered a danger to the children at this point, the district would have notified the police and some sort of no-contact conditions would already be in place.

I don't think his personal divorce life should really matter. Maybe this is healthier for the daughter now. You don't know what happened behind doors.

If it is about a computer, I would just guess porn, not kiddie, but just porn. OR maybe he was downloading music that he wasn't supposed to. I work for the government and I saw someone get "time on the street" for downloading music.... Maybe he was put on leave because his personal life was too much to bare while he taught. maybe it was a mutual thing for him to take leave.

Several years ago when my son was a first year teacher one of his students, a girl, came into another class to make-up a test. When she was finished she took it forward to his desk, while the other students were studying quietly.

My son told her "thanks for coming in"....

One of the boys in the class, a friend of the girl's boyfriend, thought he heard something like..."I will see you tonight"....

The boyfriend was having a lot of teen-age issues with this girl at the time...long story short...

after meeting with the principal/the girl/her parents/the boys parents and several students present (all supporting my son) and the boyfriend the issue was dismissed....

kids say the darndest things....sometimes

In no way am I sticking up for or against the teacher since I have ZERO fatcs...and I am ALL FOR our children being protected....

It is a sad :( story when, in this day and age, a teacher cannot hug a child to comfort them....

Here it is. He was arrested today for viewing child porn on his computer at school.