Tuesday, November 18, 2008

False Accusations of Sexual Misconduct

I would prefer not to imagine the hell that comes from a teacher's being falsely accused of sexual misconduct with a student. It's not over yet for this teacher, despite the following:

Prosecutors today dropped charges against a Halls High School teacher accused of having sex with a student.


How can it not be over?

DeHart's employment status was not immediately clear. He had been on unpaid leave.


I don't know if there's a way to right this wrong.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

An acquaintance is a lawyer who defended a K-12 teacher who was accused of molesting two female students. The girls recanted on the stand at his trial.

Another friend was falsely accused of inappropriately touching a female student. From what I heard I wouldn't be surprised if the parents suspected/knew the girl was lying, because they took no further action when the girl was transferred out of the class.

When my friend spoke with the union-provided lawyer, the lawyer said he was swamped with similar cases.

I hate to say it, but one solution would be security cameras installed in the classroom. It may come to that at some point.

Dr Pezz said...

It only takes a whisper...

Ellen K said...

I would hate to be a male teacher on any secondary campus. In our area, a well respected AP history teacher was accused by a girl after she failed his test. He was on unpaid leave for nearly a year before his hearing and then the girl, by that time a truant and runaway, wasn't there to testify against him. So while he had his day in court, he didn't get full vindication. I mentor a male teacher and I have warned him never to be alone with a student with the door closed, period. I recall a few years back where I wrote a pass through to one coach's class. He came down five minutes later mad as fire. The young lady in question had unbuttoned her shirt on the way to his class and tried to say he had tried something. Luckily, he was in the teachers' lounge running off tests and hadn't even unlocked his door yet. This is what can happen with some of the students who are provocative and vindictive. Scary indeed.