child in trouble for speaking out

[vickimom]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

My son is in 5th grade & goes to an afterschool program located inside his school. The afterschool program has nothing to do with the school & is with the park district.

He wanted to go straight home last Tues and his teacher stopped him. During that private conversation he told his teacher he heard his afterschool instructor talking about drugs.

The teacher immediately starting asking other teachers about this comment & the afterschool instructor heard that my son had made these claims.

The afterschool program immediately called me and told me that my son lied & asked how we are going to punish him. It took days for me to get all of the facts but it appears that the teacher should not have used my sons name when trying to investigate the situation.

Because of this the afterschool program is giving my son 2 write ups (the 3rd gets you expelled from the program). 1 write up for trying to go home that day (however, he didn't go home) and the 2nd write up is for lying to his teacher.

I think my childs identity should have remained private. Had that been the case - the afterschool program would have never known anything & he wouldn't be written up at all.

Also, how can the afterschool program write up child for a private conversation they had with their teacher.

The school is willing do whatever they can to help fix this situation but the afterschool program is set on punishing my son. They didn't investigate anything other than ask the instructor and one other instructor if anything was said. Considering 'drug' could also be used to discuss medical situations, I can't believe they can say with certainty that the word drug was absolutely never said.

Can they punish my son for a private comment he made to his teacher? Shouldn't his privacy be protected? And what if he is telling the truth!!

 

[Humusluvr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

My son is in 5th grade & goes to an afterschool program located inside his school. The afterschool program has nothing to do with the school & is with the park district.

He wanted to go straight home last Tues and his teacher stopped him. During that private conversation he told his teacher he heard his afterschool instructor talking about drugs.

The teacher immediately starting asking other teachers about this comment & the afterschool instructor heard that my son had made these claims.

The afterschool program immediately called me and told me that my son lied & asked how we are going to punish him. It took days for me to get all of the facts but it appears that the teacher should not have used my sons name when trying to investigate the situation.

Because of this the afterschool program is giving my son 2 write ups (the 3rd gets you expelled from the program). 1 write up for trying to go home that day (however, he didn't go home) and the 2nd write up is for lying to his teacher.

I think my childs identity should have remained private. Had that been the case - the afterschool program would have never known anything & he wouldn't be written up at all.

Also, how can the afterschool program write up child for a private conversation they had with their teacher.

The school is willing do whatever they can to help fix this situation but the afterschool program is set on punishing my son. They didn't investigate anything other than ask the instructor and one other instructor if anything was said. Considering 'drug' could also be used to discuss medical situations, I can't believe they can say with certainty that the word drug was absolutely never said.

Can they punish my son for a private comment he made to his teacher? Shouldn't his privacy be protected? And what if he is telling the truth!!

Have you met with the director of the program?

What kind of program is this? Do you pay for it privately, or is it a subsidized program?

How did the conversation go from ,"I want to go home" to "Another instructor is using drugs?" That's not a logical progression. It may be that your son DID NOT tell you the truth, and in fact did make up a story. Have you considered that your son MIGHT have lied?

 

[vickimom]

The program is through the park district & is not affiliated with the school at all - other than its physically located within the school building. I pay for this program separately.

I agree that the conversation going from 'i want to go home' to 'the instructor talked about drugs' isn't logical. However, my son thought he was having a private conversation with his teacher. In addition, earlier that day my son was publicly praised for standing up and speaking up for a child being bullied. So, he knows standing up and saying something is the right thing to do. He said he was absolutely telling the truth.

If a child speaks out - shouldn't their identity be kept private? I think the entire situation should have been kept private to protect all involved. The teacher ran around talking to other people & it got back to the afterschool instructor.

I talked to the afterschool program & told them I wouldn't pursue anything, however they are set on punishing my son (even though it has not been determined that he lied). If it hasn't been fully determined whether it's true or not - how can one side be punished?

 

[Humusluvr]

The program is through the park district & is not affiliated with the school at all - other than its physically located within the school building. I pay for this program separately.

I agree that the conversation going from 'i want to go home' to 'the instructor talked about drugs' isn't logical. However, my son thought he was having a private conversation with his teacher. In addition, earlier that day my son was publicly praised for standing up and speaking up for a child being bullied. So, he knows standing up and saying something is the right thing to do. He said he was absolutely telling the truth.

If a child speaks out - shouldn't their identity be kept private? I think the entire situation should have been kept private to protect all involved. The teacher ran around talking to other people & it got back to the afterschool instructor.

I talked to the afterschool program & told them I wouldn't pursue anything, however they are set on punishing my son (even though it has not been determined that he lied). If it hasn't been fully determined whether it's true or not - how can one side be punished?

Maybe their reaction to this situation tells you something about how the program is run. You might consider alternative programs if this program is failing to meet your standards.

As far as the privacy issue - it's hard to tell why or how exactly the two teachers discussed the drug thing. If this would have been your son confessing to a guidance counselor that would be different than two teachers trying to figure out who said what.

Since son didn't leave school, I would fight that one. Forget the "he said, she said" part - accept the one write up, but not the one where he didn't end up leaving. Pick your battles, you know? You can PROVE he didn't leave, You can't PROVE he didn't lie (even if he claims he didn't.)

 

[cbg]

I don't know about in education, but in employment it is next to impossible to conduct an effective investigation when someone is accused of, say, drug use or sexual harassment, and still keep the name of the accuser out of it. You can say as often as you like that a name should be kept private, but if you're going to do a proper investigation of the accusation, even if you TRY to keep the name confidential it's going to come out eventually.