Teacher forced to resign over inappropriate pics on her phone. Something is just wrong here

[NotUrsula]

Every educational institution I've ever worked for had a morals clause in my employment agreement, and hiring was contingent upon signing it. At one job I had, the clause stated that consuming alcohol in the presence of students was cause for termination. What that meant in reality was that if I was eating in a restaurant anywhere near campus, cocktails and beer were not menu options for me. I signed the thing, and I had to abide by it if I wanted to keep my job, even though as a legal adult, I was not breaking a law in any way by drinking an alcoholic beverage in public. A friend of mine grew up the child of faculty at a private school in the Bible Belt, his father's contract prohibited alcohol consumption altogether. It was common for them to drive 50 miles to the nearest major city to buy wine or beer, so as to avoid being seen purchasing it. (They even saved up the bottles and took them to a dumpster, so that if their trash can got knocked over there was no risk of the bottles being seen.) You suck it up and deal with the limitations if you want to keep that job, and if you get caught breaking the clause, you go quietly.

Your rights end at the signature line of a contract if you sign it of your own free will, with the exception of situations that are held to be consitutionally-protected behaviors. (You cannot, for instance, make it a condition of anyone's employment to vote for a certain party.) *IF* she signed a contract with a morals clause that could reasonably be interpreted to state that she would not be seen by students in a state of undress, then the school is within their rights to terminate her employment. People are discriminated against in terms of employment for all kinds of reasons, and it's perfectly legal in all but a very few situations. Unfortunate? Yep. Unfair? Probably, but anyone who told you that life is always fair was a liar.

Now, do I think that the brat who went digging in her phone and broadcast what he found needs punishment? You bet your bippy I do. He was trespassing.

 

[gwynne]

Totally agree. It's not only that the student went through her phone though. The lack of respect for her as a person and as a teacher is worse. Actually taking a picture of the picture and distributing among other people is such violation. The fact that not only was he not punished and she was but also that people are blaming her is just gross.

Most students would respect her. But there are always a few that have serious impulse control issues, or are anti-social, cruel, you name it. Teens aren't fully formed adults, and they don't always process consequences. FWIW, I think it's worse now than it used to be. Not making excuses, just explaining why most teachers are very careful with valuable things. There are always a few students that are totally not trustworthy and probably worrisome to the staff.

I'm not blaming the teacher. That said, she signed a contract, how her employer interprets what happened vs her contract is between them. That's how it is in real life.
I don't think she had any intent. And I think the situation is sad for her. Very difficult lesson learned about valuable property, pass codes, and how an employer may interpret phone contents. (And it's really not our call if that is "fair". Once again, it's between her and her employer.)
And the kid? Obviously, he's trouble. He threatened the teacher. I'd doubt we'll hear how he was dealt with. My opinion-he should be removed from school for the threat. Let the parents take over his education at home, permanently.

 

[hereyago]

I think this student needs to be caned, but we cant do that in the U.S.

You dont touch people'stuff. No touchy touchy.

 

[Madame]

This was simply malicious. I teach teens. I know their brains are still developing & they can have poor impulse control.

There were multiple steps here, however, that preclude a simple case of poor impulse control & the student could have stepped back from the precipice before each one.

1. Pick up the phone & rifle through it.

2. Take pics of the teacher's pics.

3. Distribute the teacher's pics.

It's # 3 that's the sticking point. That's the point of no return IMO.

I have forgotten my phone on my desk because we use a phone often for online dictionary access or quick fact checks in history.

I have to be outside my door during class change to monitor the hallways & move students along & a couple times my kids took photos of themselves with it - they did it despite the lock screen (didn't even know you could do that). However, they were playful harmless selfies.

I think some here are being too hard on this teacher. She's a human being & imperfect.

Take the teacher out of the equation. Let's say this student had a job & did this to his boss. Is it in any way the boss' fault? Would the boss be held accountable for exposing the 16 year old to the material on his/her phone?

 

[Madame]

Unless you're living in Windsor...

Yes. I actually live South of Detroit.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I am curious----be honest here---if this same scenario were in the news from a school in Saudi Arabia and the photo was of the teacher with no head covering (also taken in private for her spouse) would all of you who think this teacher should be fired/forced to resign, feel equally strongly that the Saudi teacher should?

 

[morgan98]

This was simply malicious. I teach teens. I know their brains are still developing & they can have poor impulse control.

There were multiple steps here, however, that preclude a simple case of poor impulse control & the student could have stepped back from the precipice before each one.

1. Pick up the phone & rifle through it.

2. Take pics of the teachers' pics.

3. Distribute the teachers' pics.

It's # 3 that's the sticking point. That's the point of no return IMO.

I have forgotten my phone on my desk because we use a phone often for online dictionary access or quick fact checks in history.

I have to be outside my door during class change to monitor the hallways & move students along & a couple times my kids took photos of themselves with it - they did it despite the lock screen (didn't even know you could do that). However, they were playful harmless selfies.

I think some here are being too hard on this teacher. She's a human being & imperfect.

Take the teacher out of the equation. Let's say this student had a job & did this to his boss. Is it in any way the boss' fault? Would the boss be held accountable for exposing the 16 year old to the material on his/her phone?

I agree with this post and I also think the whole "impulse control" is a bunch of BS. This kid is 16, not 6. At 16 in many states you can drive, hold down an after school job and many kids are dating by that age. I would hope the kid would understand and be able to process why he had no right to do what he did.

If 16 year olds really do not have a sense of right or wrong and we make excuses for it, this I think we as a society seriously need to evaluate what we allow them to do.

 

[gwynne]

I am curious----be honest here---if this same scenario were in the news from a school in Saudi Arabia and the photo was of the teacher with no head covering (also taken in private for her spouse) would all of you who think this teacher should be fired/forced to resign, feel equally strongly that the Saudi teacher should?

I'm missing the connection. It is my contention that she resigned because of something she signed in her teacher contract. She certainly had the option to fight, but chose not to. There must be a reason for that.

Like you, I've lived a lot of places. I've had to live within number of restrictions or rules that wouldn't apply to me in America. I'm not delving into a philosophical discussion about Saudi teachers. I worry for Americans there in general, and I think Saudi women have far too many really awful restrictions on their daily lives. I can't imagine what kind of contracts a Saudi woman would be expected to sign, scary.

My thoughts on the American teacher referenced in this thread are teaching contract based. I'm not pro or con the teaching contract contents, I don't know them. I do think they were the reason she resigned, but that is just my 2 cents.

 

[sunshinehighway]

I'm missing the connection. It is my contention that she resigned because of something she signed in her teacher contract. She certainly had the option to fight, but chose not to. There must be a reason for that.

Like you, I've lived a lot of places. I've had to live within number of restrictions or rules that wouldn't apply to me in America. I'm not delving into a philosophical discussion about Saudi teachers. I worry for Americans there in general, and I think Saudi women have far too many really awful restrictions on their daily lives. I can't imagine what kind of contracts a Saudi woman would be expected to sign, scary.

My thoughts on the American teacher referenced in this thread are teaching contract based. I'm not pro or con the teaching contract contents, I don't know them. I do think they were the reason she resigned, but that is just my 2 cents.

She resigned because the Superintendent thought it could be contributing to the deliquency of a minor. That's a pretty broad jump and puts the blame on her shoulders. She probably was given the option to resign on good terms or be fired. It's not going to help her career if she's fired and contributing to the deliquency of a minor gets out as the reason.

Superintendent David Eubanks told WSPA the school was concerned that Arthur could be contributing to the delinquency of a minor

 

[gwynne]

She resigned because the Superintendent thought it could be contributing to the deliquency of a minor. That's a pretty broad jump and puts the blame on her shoulders. She probably was given the option to resign on good terms or be fired. It's not going to help her career if she's fired and contributing to the deliquency of a minor gets out as the reason.

His thoughts....Her options. I don't think it was a good situation at all, but she did have options and she made a choice. I still think there is wording in her contract that possibly would not have been favorable to her, but that is my opinion. At the end of the day, it's about the contract.

 

[sunshinehighway]

His thoughts....Her options. I don't think it was a good situation at all, but she did have options and she made a choice. I still think there is wording in her contract that possibly would not have been favorable to her, but that is my opinion. At the end of the day, it's about the contract.

You don't know that. It's just as easily about her reputation. She could have made the decision based on fear for her future. Being victimized and humiliated like that is horrible. She could have easily thought it'd be easiest to just resign quietly since they weren't going to have her back and were just going to fire her.
We as a society need to stand up for people who are victimized, start doing the right thing, and stop shaming people and blaming them.

 

[Stitch69]

What is the moral clause in her contract?

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I don't do nudes (of myself or my DH), because I'm not comfortable with me, so no inappropriate things on my phone. But regardless, my 12 year old knows to not go through my phone unless he is given permission. He doesn't go through his dad's phone without permission. He doesn't get on our Kindles, nor on our profiles on the computer, without permission.

I don't understand how my 12 year old knows that is inappropriate to get into an adult's phone, look through it and use his phone to take pictures of her pictures, but that a 16 year old....and many adults on here....don't. Locked or unlocked, in a pocket or in plain sight....doesn't matter. It doesn't belong to you, you keep your hands off.

The kid is 100% in the wrong. The parents should really be ashamed of their kid for this behavior, and should be punishing him accordingly.

 

[Magpie]

Agree to disagree. But by your view point, anyone who leaves their phone on a coffee table with guests over, on their desk at the office, on the table at a restaurant while visiting the restroom, on the counter at a party, etc etc is in the wrong and should take the blame if someone takes it upon themselves to go through it. I don't know of anyone who is in constant possession of their phone (except for someone cheating on their spouse maybe), and the ones that are would really be in the minority.

Haven't read all the posts after this one, but I DO put my phone and wallet away when guests are over (if they aren't on my person), and I would NEVER abandon my phone on a table in a restaurant while I went to the bathroom. Or leave it on a counter at a party. If I ever did, I'd be relieved to find it still there when I returned, and I'd blame myself for my carelessness if it got stolen. Of course I'd blame the thief, too, but I'd recognize that I'd screwed up and paid the price for that.

And no, I'm not cheating on my husband. My mum raised me that if you don't look after your things, then you have to accept your share of the blame when they get broken, lost, stolen, etc. I learned that lesson the first time I was too lazy to lock up my bike before running off to play.

 

[hereyago]

8,0000 so far have signed the petition for her to have her job back.
I also read that the student hasnt been expelled or suspended , but I also believe they couldn't say if he did. But, didnt HE sign a Student Code of Conduct for the school?

 

[spacemountainmom]

Having working in Middle/High schools for the last 7 years, there is not much a kid can do that shocks me any longer. I feel the teacher should not have left her phone out in the open and should not have left it unlocked. Teachers' desks are not the sacred spaces they were in my youth. I have busted tons of kids for going into my desk and they are never punished. This year I am in a room without a door that is used by various clubs after school. When I complained to the principal about stuff going missing from my desk, I was told to store my stuff in another room that locks. I don't have a key for that room and I resent having to lug my stuff around every day. I am trying to find a locking file cabinet, but am ticked off that I have to spend my own funds on that.

Personally I don't want to blame the teacher, but feel "she should know better". The student should absolutely be punished. As others have stated it wasn't a simple mistake, he make a series of very bad choices when he picked up her phone. I am guessing that student privacy laws will keep confidential what (if any) his punishment will be.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I'm missing the connection. It is my contention that she resigned because of something she signed in her teacher contract. She certainly had the option to fight, but chose not to. There must be a reason for that.

Like you, I've lived a lot of places. I've had to live within number of restrictions or rules that wouldn't apply to me in America. I'm not delving into a philosophical discussion about Saudi teachers. I worry for Americans there in general, and I think Saudi women have far too many really awful restrictions on their daily lives. I can't imagine what kind of contracts a Saudi woman would be expected to sign, scary.

My thoughts on the American teacher referenced in this thread are teaching contract based. I'm not pro or con the teaching contract contents, I don't know them. I do think they were the reason she resigned, but that is just my 2 cents.

Well, I am seeing a lot of posts indicating that the teacher should resign because students will no longer respect her, having seen a photo of her as she is in private, not n public, that was never meant to be seen by them and that she did not distribute.

That whole "a woman will not be respected after being seen partially unclothed" argument is exactly what extremist Muslim societies (and to a lesser extent some extremist Christian sects even in the US) use to control and force all that covering, etc--and generally speaking most of us in the west tend to balk at it when it involves a burka, so I am wondering how this is all that different.

If my DS17 were in that class, yeah he might have snickered a bit for a day, but I would have no issues telling him that those photos were never meant to be seen, he was not to look again, and he was not to use them as any sort of excuse to be disrespectful to his teacher.
I am not seeing many posts to that effect here--I am seeing a lot of "kids won'T respect her" -- basically excusing that type of behaviour from the kids and not expecting more/better of them. To me it is a less obvious version of the same type of mentality that says a man cannot be expected to control himself and not rape a woman if she is dressed a certain way. It is repulsive to me and both unfair to the victim and unfair to the students who are being taught that they are not capable of being decent human beings in control of their actions.

I go back to, yep, leaving the phone out and unlocked was a stupid mistake--but not nearly a big enough deal to lose a job over. Not even close.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Well, I am seeing a lot of posts indicating that the teacher should resign because students will no longer respect her, having seen a photo of her as she is in private, not n public, that was never meant to be seen by them and that she did not distribute.

That whole "a woman will not be respected after being seen partially unclothed" argument is exactly what extremist Muslim societies (and to a lesser extent some extremist Christian sects even in the US) use to control and force all that covering, etc--and generally speaking most of us in the west tend to balk at it when it involves a burka, so I am wondering how this is all that different.

If my DS17 were in that class, yeah he might have snickered a bit for a day, but I would have no issues telling him that those photos were never meant to be seen, he was not to look again, and he was not to use them as any sort of excuse to be disrespectful to his teacher.
I am not seeing many posts to that effect here--I am seeing a lot of "kids won'T respect her" -- basically excusing that type of behaviour from the kids and not expecting more/better of them. To me it is a less obvious version of the same type of mentality that says a man cannot be expected to control himself and not rape a woman if she is dressed a certain way. It is repulsive to me and both unfair to the victim and unfair to the students who are being taught that they are not capable of being decent human beings in control of their actions.

I go back to, yep, leaving the phone out and unlocked was a stupid mistake--but not nearly a big enough deal to lose a job over. Not even close.

I think there is a big difference between excusing behavior and acknowledging thoughts. My kid would be in just as much trouble if he misbehaved in the class of a teacher he had seen a racy picture of as he would if he misbehaved in the class of a teacher he hadn't. I definitely don't agree at all with saying men/boys cannot be expected to control their behavior, whatever religion is saying it, and whatever women/girls are wearing.

But, if students hear that teacher busting a student over the school dress code after this, or reminding a student that grades are far more important than looks, I do think they're going to be less likely to believe she really means it.

 

[sam_gordon]

But, if students hear that teacher busting a student over the school dress code after this, or reminding a student that grades are far more important than looks, I do think they're going to be less likely to believe she really means it.

Those arguments don't make sense to me. Regarding the dress code, unless she's telling the kids how to dress outside of school, what she wore outside of school doesn't matter. As far as grades being more important than looks, taking racy pictures for your spouse doesn't make that statement untrue.

Have we heard what the pictures exactly were other than "racy"? Is it accurate she was scantily dressed (as opposed to naked)? If so, and her students saw her at the local pool in a bathing suit, would the same "they won't respect her" argument apply?

I still think she was wrong to not have the phone locked if she's going to leave it somewhere others will have access to it. If she's going to let kids use her phone, she was wrong to leave the pictures on there (take the picture, send to spouse, delete the picture). However, I don't think either mistake is worth losing her job over. At most, a 2-3 day suspension.

 

[nugov2]

But, if students hear that teacher busting a student over the school dress code after this, or reminding a student that grades are far more important than looks, I do think they're going to be less likely to believe she really means it.

What if the kid broke into her house and stole the photo and distributed it? The class would still see her semi nude, so should she resign because the respect of students would be gone? I find that argument ridiculous. If a student said that about the dress code I would say that they could dress how they like outside of school just like I can, but in school we follow the dress code....end of story. I don't think a semi nude photo means looks matter, it is just that her husband finds her body beautiful and wanted to have a picture of it. You can like your body regardless of size and when in an adult relationship it is ok to share that with your spouse. That doesn't mean she values looks over brains. I actually think that argument is inappropriate for a teacher to make regardless. Why even remind a student of that? Why not just encourage them to do well academically without talking about their looks?