Is Idaho Tough Enough on Teacher Sex Crimes?

Yes to all above.

I remember as a high school student how odd it seemed in a small Idaho town near here that a Social Studies married a student within days of her graduation. In hindsight its pretty obvious what happened and that teacher should have rotted in prison. But being a small town I guess no one wanted to rock the boat.

Every possible method should be used to stop teacher molestations.

For certain teachers should be paid during the investigation in case the claims are false. And if the claims are deemed to false then the students making such claims should be punished to the maximum extent of the law and they should be expelled.

There was a case just in the last few months here in the US. A couple of students were mad at a male teacher so those students created a fake myspace page using the teachers yearbook photo. They made him look like a pedophile and put all kind of nasty things up. The teachers reputation was destroyed because even though the truth did come out you can’t put those kind of claims back in the bottle. The students were suspended but now the school district is being sued by the parents for excessive punishments. Personally I think permanent expulsion would be too kind for those students and I’m not sure what if any criminal charges would apply but they should be definitely considered.

I can think back to High School and note some teachers that were nice looking. I can recall how at that age young boys (myself included) would have thought it “cool” to hook up with a teacher. Looking back it though, I think I might have been scarred in some unknown psychological way. Thanks goodness I never had to find out.

It is important to note that this is not an appropriate use of authority or position to cultivate relationships in school. Would we want school bus drivers or school resource officers to hook up with students aged 17 to 18? IMO, absolutely not.

What we also neglect to look at is the fact that these types of relationships usually fail and can be a BIG distraction to both parties. Can you imagine hooking up with a teacher in your Junior year….having the relationship go south and all the gossip swirling around? The teacher would not be able to effectively teach in the school. The student might very well be so embarrassed that they would have to possibly drop out or transfer.

What kind of example do we want teachers to set? Do we want them to exhibit impulsive behavior(s)? Do we want them to exhibit fornication outside of marriage? (I know that is a stretch for some…..but after all, it is a public institution….they want to keep God out of the public schools…..why not keep teachers out of the pants of students!!!)

I can’t believe how far things have evolved. When I was in junior high school, a teacher could not be seen in a bar in the town where I grew up. If they wanted to drink, they had to literally leave town. I don’t know what the policy was on dating students, because back then, it just didn’t happen; so I would imagine if it did, then a tar and feather mentality would take over. By the time I graduated from high school, these restrictions were relaxed and to quote my mother “morals were shot to hell” (referring to drinking).

I’m quite sure that Anonymous (the first post) might be talking about the same school I am — or there were two similar cases in two similar towns. That was the only case I heard of for several years, things came close after that (according to rumor), but as far as I know, nothing official was ever done.

The point I am trying to make, is if we are against a teacher/student relationship, then we need to come down hard now. If not, restrictions seem to get more lax as time goes on.