Why hasn't this teacher been fired?

kayleamay

kayleamay

I'm on the phone.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
15,143
Reaction score
4,250
Location
Vantucky, WA
Link: http://www.imperfectparent.com/topics/2012/04/24/autistic-boy-bullied-by-teachers-caught-on-tape-called-a-bastard/



Akian was in a self contained classroom for children with autism that have moderate to severe communication capabilities. Akian wasn’t able to tell his father what was happening while he was at school. After six months of meetings, on the morning of Friday, February 17, Stuart put a wire on his son and sent him to school.

“That night, my life changed forever,” Stuart said in his YouTube video. “What I heard on that audio was so… disgusting, vile, and just an absolute disrespect and bullying of my son that happened not by other children, but by his teacher and the aides, the people that were supposed to protect him. They literally were making my son’s life a living hell.”

In the video, two teachers who Stuart identifies as “Kelly” and “Jodi,” tell Akian to “shut your mouth,” call him a “bastard,” and tell him he won’t see his father again after a weekend visit with his mom.
Click to expand...

I won't say much here because this type of thing make me mostly incoherent with rage. From what I've been able to find, one aide was fired but the teacher and others involved in the abuse were "reassigned". I applaud this father for acting so maturely in the matter. If I were that boy's parent, I'd be running around like the Queen of Hearts. "Off with their heads!"

Heck, I'm not his parent and I feel like doing it anyway.

Youtube link of father here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfkscHt96R0
 
L.C. Blackwell

L.C. Blackwell

Keeper of Fort Blanket
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Messages
2,373
Reaction score
521
Location
The Coffee Shop
I'm not sure about tenure practices in New Jersey, but if the teacher has tenure, it could make a firing difficult. My guess would be some sort of discipline is more likely to happen if the parent chooses to sue the teacher (or the school district) and wins. I'm not sure if it's possible to press criminal charges here--as the parent, I'd certainly try--but it should be possible to institute a civil suit.
 
kayleamay

kayleamay

I'm on the phone.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
15,143
Reaction score
4,250
Location
Vantucky, WA
I have great appreciation for educators and am lucky enough to have many that I still reflect on today that taught me lessons I will keep with me for the rest of my life, but I can not, for the life of me, understand the tenure process. If it takes a civil suit being filed and won to remove a tenured teacher from a position he/she is abusing, the entire process needs to be reviewed. There are certain things, abuse of power being one, that should not be overlooked due to tenure, that should be immmediate grounds for termination regardless of how many years that teacher has been employed. If any other persons in any other occupations showed the same absolute disregard for their purpose, they would lose their jobs. Why should this be different for educators?

As a nurse, I know for a fact that if I were to abuse a patient, I would be fired, and justly so. So, why is it that a teacher can prove unqualified in terms of human decency, yet still keep her job?

This teacher should not be allowed to teach children, particularly children with disabilities who may not be able to communicate well enough to make the quality of their care known. I was a special education aide in high school and, at the time, there was an aide employed in the classroom that was disgustingly inappropriate in dealing with special needs students. It was usually just a comment on the sly every now and then, but one day, I watched him taunt a boy who was severely mentally retarded into an absolute fit by repeatedly knocking the ballcap off his head and making him pick it up. I thought I was going to vomit right there in the class. That afternoon, I walked into the principals office and told her exactly what I'd witnessed. The next day, that aide was gone.

Of course, he was an aide. No tenure there. Do I feel bad that the jackass lost his job? Not for a second. Why do special rules apply to teachers? Teachers are important, but they are also replaceable.

Someone, please explain this before my head explodes.

ETA: And if by "discipline" you mean paid probation, my head will explode. Paying someone to not come to work is not discipline. It's paid vacation.
 
Last edited:
Shakesbear

Shakesbear

knows a hawk from a handsaw
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
3,628
Reaction score
463
Location
Elsinore
There should be no special rules for teachers. In England and Wales there are set procedures to deal with teachers who abuse their authority and the trust placed in them. If their offence is serious enough , in most cases, they are suspended pending an enquiry. They can be sacked and depending on what they have done they can face a trial. An ex-colleague of mine was sent to prison for six years. Until March of this year there was an organisation called the General Teaching Council that would investigate cases and call the teacher to attend a disciplinary hearing if it was thought appropriate. The GTC was not popular with teachers as it was wished on the profession by the government. Had it been created by a need from within the profession then it would, probably, still be in existence today. Teachers need to want to alter their own status and decide what to do with colleagues who bring themselves and their profession into disrepute. They cannot be above or outside of the law of the communities they work in.
 
Teinz

Teinz

Back at it again.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
2,440
Reaction score
186
Location
My favourite chair by the window.
kayleamay said:
This teacher should not be allowed to teach children, particularly children with disabilities who may not be able to communicate well enough to make the quality of their care known.
Click to expand...

I agree. Not only is she a bad teacher, she a foul person aswell. I mean, come on, picking on children who lack the skills to respond or complain. I bet she thought she had it all figured out. I bet she thought that she was safe.

About the tenure-process. On one hand, teachers are very vulnerable, they must have a sure footing if they are to do their job right. They work with people. Not only children, but they have to deal with the childrens' parents aswell. The potential for conflict is enormous. Parents, of course, are entirely within their rights to be vigilant, they are handing over the most important things in their life on a daily basis and to complete strangers too.

But it is the teachers job to dish out bad news from time to time and to to take measures to assure the child reaches his/her diploma and develops into a complete human being. A teacher must be secure enough to take a harsh stance on children who are in need of it.

The need for this security is only growing. The trend is, at least here in the Netherlands, that parents seem to hand over more and more of their responsibilities as parents to the schools. They expect the school to teach their children about values and social skills. Yet they are usually the first to complain if a teacher punishes their child when it misbehaves.

So, as a teacher, I need to feel safe enough to take impopular measures. It's in the best interest of the children. It's not a luxury, not having to worry about my job, it's essential for a good teaching-process and a healthy teacher-student relationship.
 

VirtuousKnight

Registered
Joined
Nov 30, 2011
Messages
18
Reaction score
5
Location
Alaska
Wow.

I have an older brother with autism who was bullied constantly in public school. I can relate with this father and I hope that the teachers get what they deserve. I will never understand how people can be so malicious to others with special needs. Bullying is wrong, period. But to puposefully antagonize and hurt those who need nurturing the most is horrible.
 
Alpha Echo

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
9,615
Reaction score
1,852
Location
East Coast
Shakesbear said:
There should be no special rules for teachers. In England and Wales there are set procedures to deal with teachers who abuse their authority and the trust placed in them. If their offence is serious enough , in most cases, they are suspended pending an enquiry. They can be sacked and depending on what they have done they can face a trial. An ex-colleague of mine was sent to prison for six years. Until March of this year there was an organisation called the General Teaching Council that would investigate cases and call the teacher to attend a disciplinary hearing if it was thought appropriate. The GTC was not popular with teachers as it was wished on the profession by the government. Had it been created by a need from within the profession then it would, probably, still be in existence today. Teachers need to want to alter their own status and decide what to do with colleagues who bring themselves and their profession into disrepute. They cannot be above or outside of the law of the communities they work in.
Click to expand...

I really wish it were this way here as well. I don't understand tenure at all. Why a teacher who has worked for so long or whatever should be able to abuse his students and not be immediately, at the very least, placed on suspension...I don't get it. There should be absolutely no new assignment.

I hope news about this gets out, and any students that end up in his classes are immediately removed by their parents. Maybe, if there's enough protest, no one will want to hire him. Regardless of his f-in tenure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.