Sticky Issues
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In this section, principals tell how they handled a challenging situation, how some policy that was in place actually worked, and the lessons learned from dealing with these Sticky Issues. Send your stories to principal@osu.edu. Please indicate if we may use your name in the “contributor” credits.
A Tenured Teacher Who Hurt Children
When we think of school culture, we do not think of teachers who pinch, hiss at, or otherwise intimidate children. This particular teacher had been at the school for several years. Her husband was prominent and well known in her community. I had been advised upon entering the school that she might be a “problem” but that nothing had been substantiated against her. There were whispers that she was a “mean” teacher. I made frequent visits to her room, but always saw compliant students and well run lessons. I spoke with students privately to ask how they liked being in her classroom and they always gave the “everything’s ok” response.
After the honeymoon period with the new principal, small allegations started surfacing about her. It started with an allegation by a parent that the teacher had pinched a child. I did my investigation, which included talking to the child privately, the teacher privately, then holding a conference with the parent and teacher. The teacher had a plausible explanation of how as she was sliding the child’s desk around the child’s arm had gotten caught between the desk and the chair. She was charming with the parent and the parent was quite satisfied. I had my doubts, but not enough evidence to go further. The next incident was a child who reported a torn coat as a result of the teacher grabbing her. This situation had a similar plausible explanation with a similar outcome with parents. There were other small allegations, which resulted in me carefully documenting the incidents and giving admonitions to the teacher about not touching children in menacing ways.
When the final incident came to me, I felt I had enough of a case to do something about her. I began a formal written process asking her to come to my office. She elected to bring union representation with her. Fortunately, the district union rep was not interested in saving teachers who hurt children, so was not at all adversarial. As I brought forth my documentation of all of the “little” incidents that formed a pattern over time, she broke down and actually cried. She admitted that she was out of control and just could not handle children as she once had been able to. She went on to speak of other problems in her life and how she felt trapped. The union rep was masterful and said they would work with her to get her the help she needed. We called our district personnel office and she was removed from my building that day. After a mental health disability period from the school district, she went on to another career in community work. Oddly enough when I would run into her from time to time, she always thanked me for getting her the help she needed.
I think the lesson I learned is that it takes courage to do what’s right and tackle the hard issues. I also learned the value of positive collaboration with the union keeping as foremost the best interest of children.
