RANT OF THE DAY
In a story about the arrest of high school teacher Jerry Wayne Linton, 58, in Mathews, North Carolina, community reaction and concern was included, but also the school district and the teacher's association.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools plan random background checks during the school year. They said they hope parents keep such charges against teachers in perspective.
And then the news source contacted the union.
Some teachers said incidents involving teachers and children have thousands of them fighting to keep their reputations and parents’ trust. Judy Kidd of the Classroom Teachers Association of North Carolina said she hopes criminal incidents don’t reflect on those who are trying to make a positive impact on children in the community.Linton was arrested and charged with three counts each of taking indecent liberties with a child, first-degree rape of a child under 13 and first-degree sex offense on a child under 13 for sex games and sexual activity with three children. Two were relatives. He took nude pictures of the children and kept them on his computer. TT - LINK
“Don’t let a few teachers ruin the name of the profession for everyone because there are very few teachers who would even think of doing such a thing. We’re all good people. We have a few bad apples. It’s just like in any other profession,” Kidd said.
She said all teachers receive rigorous training in ethics before stepping into the classroom.
Linton was the second teacher arrested on the same day. Amanda Athey, 27, was arrested, accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a female student. TT - LINK
Two other Charlotte-Mecklenburg teachers were arrested for drugs in June. One was selling cocaine and the other was caught shooting up in a classroom. Both had previous arrests.
The teacher caught shooting up heroine in the elementary school classroom had a 2005 arrest for drugs and got deferred prosecution and charges dismissed after completion of the program. Also found at the news site on the same day was yet another C-M teacher who resigned for sending sexual text messages to a student. That story didn't end with an arrest and there was no further information. LINK and LINK
The problem is that, increasingly, it is becoming clear that teaching isn't a profession. It's a job where tenure and collective bargaining contracts means that professional oversight is not guaranteed, where children are the LAST concern, where parents are the last to know of abuse in the classroom, and, then, only if the school has to admit it. Amazingly, drug use is not grounds for license revocation but a question of rehabilitation with the goal of returning the teacher to the classroom.
Teachers are judged by the same people who hire them.
The lack of transparency in teacher discipline guarantees more privacy for the offending teacher than concern evidenced for the student. And it shows genuine contempt for parents.
Bad teachers who don't teach or become sexually involved with their students are genuinely despised by good teachers.
But until the day that a teacher is automatically fired - as are many charter school teachers and non-tenured teachers - for being arrested for having sex with a student or using or dealing drugs or failing to show up for work 50 days out of a 170-day school year or just plain not teaching - giving children first priority and concern and not a union contract - teachers are just industrial union workers.
Most schools aren't as bad as this district. But the rules that are the same in every state that allow behind-doors negotiations for revocation of a teaching license or suspensions for reasons, the knowledge of which ought to serve to alert parents and taxpayers.
RECOMMENDED READING: A 2005 series by Scott Reeder called "The Hidden Cost of Tenure" (Subhead: Why are failing teachers getting a passing grade?) ought to be on the reading list of every parent. Because what the six-month investigation found in Illinois isn't unique to that state.
