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Special Ed teacher goes unreported for inappropriate sexual conduct/contact -question

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LLE2010

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA


My 21 year old son, who has tourette disorder and other issues attended a self contained high school special education program from grades 6 - 12 in Massachusetts, approximately 50 students in the entire school.

The English teacher lived in New Hampshire and he and his wife owned a bed and breakfast inn in the mountains. Twice a year this teacher would organize a group of selected kids that would go up and spend a week at the inn. This teacher had worked with the principal as part of a special ed teaching team in another city for many years and came as a group to start this special needs school.

My son had been there about 4 years, I think it was grade 9 or 10 and one night at a parent meeting, the principal announced that this English teacher was no longer going to be teaching there. He went on to say that there had been some allegations made of inappropriate contact with some of the students. Two parents of teenage girls were present at this meeting and said that this teacher had been calling their kids on their cell phones and that there had been some "inappropriate contact." The principal told us that after hearing about these allegations he searched the teacher's classroom desk and found pornographic magazines.

At the meeting, the principal advised the mothers of two girls not to prosecute and said that since they were both already victims of rape/sex abuse prior to coming to this school it would do further damage to put them through "more trauma."

Months went by and every time I would ask either the principal or the other parents about it, no one wanted to talk about it. Finally, i confronted the principal asking him what was going to be done about it. He said that he was handling it and couldn't tell me anything but that he was going to see to it that this teacher would never be permitted to teach in any state ever again. I was very uneasy but trusted this principal.

I just found out today that this guy is teaching at another high school in NH. I also found out that just a year ago he was with another special needs school and now is with yet another regular public high school in NH.

This guy is probably raping or abusing students and these people haven't a clue. I had watched the newspapers for a long time in our city and no mention of this teacher was ever made. In hindsight I believe that there were some educators; therapists or administrators on that team who may not have had the proper credentials to be in their positions and they let this teacher get away with it so that he wouldn't blow the whistle on them.


To this day my son is extremely upset about the deception and breach of trust by this teacher that he adored. He still suffers emotionally from this and even though he said he was not "touched" by this teacher I am not convinced.

I am new to this forum so please forgive the long post. I just wondered if there is any legal avenue that can be taken to get this teacher out of the reach of more potential victims.
 


Humusluvr

Senior Member
Absolutely. Teaching credentials are a matter of public knowledge, so you can search for this teacher's certificates yourself. I'm not sure if you know where his credentials are from, NH or MA, or other, but I'll see if I can find the sites to search for them. You would have to know his first and last name.

From there, you should contact the teaching certification board for that state - write a very specific letter, even more so than you outlined here, using names and dates. Be as "unemotional" as possible, stick to the facts. You might also send the letter to his current district.

If the other parents did not press charges, you can't do anything about that. But if the principal did not properly investigate, that could be HIS CREDENTIALS too. Sexual predators, especially in schools, are detested.

Let's say you couldn't get this rectified through the state - there's always an email to the media....
 

LLE2010

Junior Member
Thank you

Thanks so much for the reply and contact info. I am sure that the offending teacher was properly credentialed but the certifications and degree levels of some of the other staff at the time was likely not up to par. I believe the principal did not report this incident because he didn't want to risk either his own position and/or that of his faculty.
 

Humusluvr

Senior Member
Thanks so much for the reply and contact info. I am sure that the offending teacher was properly credentialed but the certifications and degree levels of some of the other staff at the time was likely not up to par. I believe the principal did not report this incident because he didn't want to risk either his own position and/or that of his faculty.
I, personally, can't understand the motivation to let a predator continue to prey on children. I would report the principal too. That's despicable, unethical, and deplorable (I'm sure I could think of twenty more words to describe how much I dislike sexual predators)
 

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