None of Your Business

Continued from here.

Stupid comments from school officials when an educator is arrested that translate to "It's none of your business."

[Insert state name or named category] laws #138
# A Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) has charged a School Superintendent Chris Nichols with several counts of official misconduct. The exact charges are known only to TSPC, the school superintendent and her lawyer. It's not a criminal action and it will be two to four months before a hearing. "Oregon law requires that TSCP keep the charges against Nichols confidential until after a final decision is reached. " Link

# A Lewiston (NY) teacher caught masturbating in a Wal-Mart parking lot in July was reassigned after parents were outraged that he might be in the classroom when classes started in the fall. Eventually, the district reassigned him, but "state education laws don't allow the district to comment on what exactly the "special assignment" is about." Nevertheless, they paid him until Dec 21. Link

[It is very important that you do not get specific about the source of the "law" in case someone wants to verify the existence. The more vague, the less likely anyone will bother. And the more friendly the media, the more likely they won't ask anything that might prove embarrassing. Know your media.]

It's the employment laws # 63 [Variation on a theme but creative.]
# A seventh grade teacher in North Carolina was arrested for felony solicitation of a child by computer to commit an unlawful sex act. He was hired at the school a year ago. The superintendent "could not say whether or not Allen had previously been a teacher elsewhere due to employment laws." Link

Can't discuss personnel matters #451 - H (Health-related issues)
# A Lockport (NY) teacher was arrested for drunk driving . Her license had been revoked last year for another drunk driving arrest. A parent of a pupil in the teacher's classroom said her daughter came home from school on Tuesday and said the teacher appeared intoxicated earlier in the day and swore at a pupil before being escorted out of the school. The school superintendent would not address what happened on Tuesday, saying that she was unable to discuss personnel matters or health-related issues involving a particular teacher. Link

[#451 - H is also useful for drug arrests as drug addiction, like alcoholism, is also a health issue for which the teacher can be viewed as "disabled" and after being treated can return to the classroom as soon as possible.]

It's a personal issue #33 [Guarantees non-disclosure to anyone else.]
# Our personal favorite is an investigator with the Colorado Department of Education who said his agency is notified of between 2,000 and 3,000 arrests of licensed educators every year for everything from DUI to murder. But he said arrest information is not passed along to school districts because CDE considers such information to be "personal" and confidential, even though arrests are a matter of public information.

CDE only notifies school districts after licensed educators have been convicted, which can take months or even years after the initial arrest. Link
[This could be attribued to The Thin Air Defense where lack of oxygen contributes to poor thinking processes. We see this in Colorado. A lot.]

You can't see the personnel file, even if you are the police #5
# A lawsuit in North Carolina alleges that school district investigated after two assistant principals found a teacher and a student engaging in a sex act in a darkened classroom. The district told police it would be handled internally. Nothing inappropriate had occurred and the principal was told to withhold witness statements and the personnel file of the teacher. The threat of an arrest for interfering with a criminal investigation prompted him to hand over the records. Link

Blabbing when it suits them
# Maine superintendent dishes out the facts on a suicidal school bus driver. Link

# A Columbus (OH) teacher was no sooner arrested than news outlets had access to his personnel records. Link

# In Jacksonville (FL) the school district allowed a newspaper to look at the personnel records of a middle school teacher accused of encouraging a father to take a belt to his child. They wanted to fire him. The charges were later dropped, and we have no idea if they fired him. Link

# Washington teacher who was arrested after kidnapping a 10-year-old boy had her employment records online in weeks. Link