More important than teaching well is keeping our jobs. In this report, a teacher in our group shares with us a topic that is almost never discussed, and yet is one that is in my view the single most important thing in teaching – keeping things from getting too real and personal in a classroom full of teenagers.
Here is her report:
With the genuine interest of being of some service to our community here on Ben’s PLC, I would like to share a situation that happened to me earlier this school year that got me terminated by my principal.
My principal reported to the district office that I had failed to report an incident where a student in my class announced that he had been abused and that I admitted having failed to report when asked about it. I was subsequently terminated.
The student, an upperclassman, I’ll call him Chris, asked to speak to his peers in my class to say goodbye since that day was his last day in that particular honors cohort. His first few weeks of school were stressful. (In retrospect, his fellow teachers and I saw that some of his strange behavior was similar to one diagnosed with manic depression or being bipolar.) He was changing over to a regular cohort the next day. I allowed him to stand up at the front of the class and speak. He talked about stress and trust issues, then soon broke down, talking about having a tough childhood and that he had been abused sexually. I tried consoling him. Let him finish. Had him sit down. Then tried calming the waters in the class, offering words of advise; something like, “We have to remember to be kind to others because we never know what they are going through on the inside.” Sensitively, I proceeded with class, gently getting students to interact in a reading exercise.
A couple of hours later that afternoon the instructional admin came to my room to ask what happened. A student had told another teacher who then told the admin. I told her everything. I provided assistance in writing a DCFS report. I told the deans everything. A week later, I got a letter from the district saying that I had to report for a hearing about failing to report abuse. A couple of weeks later, I got the termination letter.
I made a mistake in not stopping this student as soon as I noticed him breaking down. Then, I made the mistake in not reporting the incident immediately during or after class.
I was in good standing at the school. My students were happy. I was getting good reviews. But my principal had a history of being a bully. She is known around town for her bullish actions towards teachers. The school goes through a 40-50% staff turnover every year.
I hope others may learn from my situation. In our classes where camaraderie, playfulness, and joy prevail, students may feel very comfortable sharing some dark issues. Be careful to address them and report it to your care team at your school. If you have a bullish admin, they just might use such incidents against you.