If the authors of the teacher misconduct legislation expected HB79, 190, and 428 to stop educators from inappropriate behaviors toward their students, they were sadly mistaken. Laws are not going to stop deviate behaviors. Laws cannot change a person’s innate character. I would speculate that most of the folks who were featured in Lindsey’s presentation did not go into the profession of teaching thinking, “Gee, maybe I can sexually abuse one of my students!” No, most of us do not go looking to hurt someone or to break the law. Some of us cannot pass up the chocolate brownies sitting in the teacher’s lounge, even though we know it will go straight to the hips. Others can come into the lounge, get their mail without even giving the brownies a second glance. The people who choose to abuse are somehow lacking the character trait that draws the appropriate boundary line between student and teacher. It would be interesting to look back into these people’s lives to see if there were any telltale signs of inappropriate boundary issues. No amount of laws can stop the behavior: they only can help with the prosecution of the crime.
So what are we to do to protect our children, and how does the union fit into this equation? Traditionally, teachers have been held at a high level of professional standards. My handout of a teacher’s rules for a school in Iowa in the mid–to- late 1800”s is evidence of the high professional and personal standards teachers faced years ago. School boards had ultimate authority over their teachers. Unions are in place today to give a voice to the educator and to guarantee fair treatment of teachers. As I mentioned in my presentation, the teacher union began as a professional association and is still a professional association. On the issue of professionalism the 2006 NEA Representative Assembly adopted this statement:
“Professionalism. We believe that the expertise and judgment of education professionals are critical to student success. We maintain the highest professional standards, and we expect the status, compensation, and respect due all professionals.”
Unions hold our profession to a high standard. The union does not want teacher misconduct in our schools. They want our “judgment” to be sound. At the beginning of the school year, our union representative stated strongly that we were not to give cell phone numbers to students, text students, and a list of behaviors that could be considered inappropriate. Union leadership has come out in favor of peer reviews and mentoring. Their goal is to help teachers be the best professional they can be, and to protect our students from those who would harm them.
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I agree with you that laws are not going to deviate behaviors. However,by having background checks it will help to ensure that the right teachers are being hired. House Bill 190 may prevent teachers from being hired who would be more likely to sexually abuse a student. It will also keep offenders from being hired to teach in another school district. I do hope that House Bill 190 and other laws will prevent other teachers from being sexual offenders.
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