Responsibilities of instructors/teachers

[Feisty Mouse]

I wanted to move my question from another thread to its own space, to avoid the dreaded thread gank.

I was asking Steve, in the thread about the hebephile (I believe) who was arrested - what do you all do, both as MA instructors, and some of you, as classroom teachers, in terms of evaluating the well-being of your students? When would or do you step in when you think a student is in a bad situation?

 

[Dr. Kenpo]

I try to help in both situations.(They both apply to me)

But the way it is in schools, you have to be careful. often it's misconstrued as getting personal, and then the crap hits the fan.

The next thing you know, you're defending yourself against possible litigation.

 

[Feisty Mouse]

Dr. Kenpo - I was wondering about that. Where does it become a teacher being perceived as intrusive, and when is it considered a responsibility of teachers to intervene?

 

[loki09789]

As a classroom teacher there is fairly extensive training in "mandatory reporters" guidelines. There are legal and procedural specifics that NYS outlines and there are anonymous and stand up reporting steps that maintain the reporters confidentiallity. Generally, I don't remember the exact steps, but I know that I can voice suspicions to mentor teachers and principals who are more familiar with the guidelines.

In a commercial school as a martial arts instructors, I would say talk to the local 'experts' at child services or another office that specializes in child advocacy for what to look for and HOW MUCH to look for to make sure that you are basing your accusations on supportin evidence and not emotion. They can also refer you to 1-800 reporting numbers that will ensure that you are being responsible without risking retaliation or separation from said student because of threats by the abuser OR fear of humiliation because the whole situation goes public.

 

[hardheadjarhead]

Feisty,

Indiana law is pretty clear about abuse situations, and gives a long list of people who are required to report any incident they see. At the end of the list they give a nice little blanket "and any other person" line that essentially means that anybody in the state that sees a child being abused MUST report it. I believe that failure to report is a felony, while filing a false report is only a misdemeanor. Abuse here covers any crime against a minor.

I've never seen anything of that nature* in my school. I've had sexual predators in my school (I always found out later) but none of them to my knowledge ever victimized one of our children/teenagers. It would be difficult to do so without being seen, given the floor plan. They can't get access to a victim, and its a very high traffic area.

If it was a situation outside of the school I would likely intervene, as well. If I saw one of our fourteen year old girls out with a twenty five year old, and I saw a public display of affection that was overtly sexual...I'd call the cops. She'd hate me...probably forever...but integrity and the law demands it.

Note here that my impulse would be to choke the guy. There is nothing wrong with an impulse as long as you don't act on negative ones. I would fantasize about choking him, and that would have to suffice. It accomplishes nothing in such a situation if a perfectly good witness suddenly becomes just another defendant.


*Specifically I've never seen sexual abuse in my school. I've seen physical abuse and reported it to Child Protective Services. A woman picked her misbehaving four year old off the floor by her hair and carried her that way to the car. The girl's feet never touched the ground for a distance of about twenty or thirty feet. It is one of the few times in my life I have ever been left speechless. I lost a lot of sleep over that.


Regards,


Steve

 

[Feisty Mouse]

Steve -

That would leave me speechless, too. I can scarcely believe that a) she did that, b) in front of other people.

 

[hardheadjarhead]

I was the only one to witness the physical abuse, but my wife Linda had seen her verbally abuse her older daughter just prior to the class the girl had attended. When I told Linda "You won't believe what I just saw," she responded, "Was it an abuse situation?" She understood right away what had happened.

We reported it to CPS, and they couldn't prove anything. The case was filed, and that was it. The mother was so incensed that she asked for a refund because we had made the school a "hostile environment" for her.

Odd. I never once picked the mother up by her hair. Where did she get that idea?

She took us to small claims and lost. The judge visibly winced when she heard the story, and found in our behalf. We had not violated any business contract with her.

What is whacked is that the mother admitted the action of the hair lift in court and had put it in writing in a letter to us...and didn't seem to find anything wrong with it. I assume she denied to CPS that she had done this to the girl. We should have sent them the letter. I don't know why we didn't think of that.

I worry for that four year old. She was a sweet little girl.

Regards,


Steve

 

[Dr. Kenpo]

Dr. Kenpo - I was wondering about that. Where does it become a teacher being perceived as intrusive, and when is it considered a responsibility of teachers to intervene?

When you try to help, and ask questions, the parents get involved at times. By Texas law, we're required to report if we see some form of abuse taking place;then we're protected. But even then, I watch my step anyway. These school districts are such scardy cats. No backbone.