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October 11, 2005
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School boards are often called upon to make tough calls. A teacher in Prince William County, Virginia, was acquitted of sexually abusing a student with Down's syndrome, but the board acted against him anyway. The board fired the teacher and asked the state to revoke his teaching license not only because of the allegation of sexual abuse but also because of the discovery of pornography on his school computer. The Washington Post article compares the criminal justice system to administrative hearings, amid other details common in such an emotionally charged set of circumstances. The reporter seems to lean toward the teacher as victim, and the school board as the victimizer, though the complications are plenty, including: The teacher apparently failed a lie detector test.
One irony: The article quotes a National Education Association counsel saying the main problem here is that the school board is biased toward the superintendent, who is bringing the charges. We wonder: What would happen if we asked a random sample of school superintendents if they felt their school boards were overly biased toward them, their views, and their ideas? Somehow we can guess how that may turn out. Difficult calls are what school boards are called upon to make regularly, not just during salacious personnel dramas. The process should be challenged and evaluated constantly, to be sure. But there are no easy solutions in cases such as these. At least: Views from the school board should have been reported more thoroughly in the Post article.
Posted October 11, 2005 4:27 PM
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