Role Models

Apr 1, 2007 - Editorial from the Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, TN.

If only incidents that happen on campus are included in a teacher's personnel file, we are left to believe our teachers could do just about anything they want on their own time, with no ramifications. That's a disturbing scenario, because teachers, whether they like it or not, are role models for students.

Indeed, with so many parents providing a poor example, teachers are often the best role models students see.

That doesn't mean they have to live like saints, but they are held to a higher standard because they are public employees and they work with our children each day.

In Rutherford County, for example, teachers are required to tell the school system about drug- or alcohol-related arrests but only if they happen on campus. Criminal records should be part of a teacher's personnel file.

"Instead of relying on state law to take care of these matters, our own school system should form a policy to deal with teachers who break the law. Not only will it ensure our students have better role models, it could help our teachers solve personal problems that could be taking them down the wrong road."