Sexual Harassment

[artbuc]

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

Is this the is right forum?

I have P.O.A. for my nephew. Last night his 9th grade daughter confided in him that her math teacher was making her very uncomfortable. On several occasions, teacher has told daughter how nice she looks in her jeans. A couple times he has run his hand through her hair and yesterday he put his arm around her waist. Also, daughter is not a good math student. Last marking period she was expecting a D or a C at best. She got a B. Daughter told her older sister and together they went to Admin office (without talking to Dad) and asked to have daughter moved to another math class. They were told it is too late in the year. I do not know if the sisters told Admin why they were asking for a class change. Nephew called Principal this morning and we have a meeting with him this afternoon at 4pm.

I would appreciate any advice as to how we should approach this. Thanks.

 

[eerelations]

What's your role in this?

It's proper and appropriate that Nephew take the lead in this issue. He has scheduled a meeting with the Principal, and presumably he will tell the Principal everything he knows about this issue during the meeting. If he does that, then what he does next really depends on the Principal's response.

 

[artbuc]

What's your role in this?

It's proper and appropriate that Nephew take the lead in this issue. He has scheduled a meeting with the Principal, and presumably he will tell the Principal everything he knows about this issue during the meeting. If he does that, then what he does next really depends on the Principal's response.

Thanks. Delaware has a law called "The School Crime Reporting Law" - Title 14, 4112 which requires the principal to report all sexual offensives (school employee against student) to the police, if a reasonable person would believe a sexual offense has occurred based on reliable information. Sexual offense is defined in Title 11, 761 which in turn refers to Title 11, 763-780, 1108-1112A, 1352(2) and 1353(2). The only possible sexual offense reportable to police I see would be Sexual Harassment as defined by Title 11, 763(2):

The person suggests, solicits, requests, commands, importunes or otherwise attempts to induce another person to have sexual contact....

I don't know if the teacher's acts would be considered Sexual Harassment under this law. Also, I don't know if my nephew's daughter's testimony would be considered "reliable information". However, since she has no record whatsoever of making these kinds of allegations and doesn't have any apparent motive to lie about what the teacher has been doing, I assume her word will be considered reliable.

I hate to see her school year disrupted, but she is visably shaken. Maybe this teacher is just flirting but, for God sakes, this is 2010. I am sure this teacher has been well trained to know what he his doing is ABSOLUTELY wrong. This makes me wonder about what else he is capable of doing. There are so many nut cases abducting and murdering young girls, I don't think you can just gloss over this.

As I have explained before on other issues, my nephew is somewhat limited and he depends on me to help him with issues like this. I do his taxes, help him deal with any issues which may come up in Family Court, etc. That is why he gave me Durable Power of Attorney. He asked me to go with him to see the Prinicpal to help him remember what was said and help him articulate his expectations. He is at work right now digging ditches in the rain. I am retired which allows me to research the law and seek expert advice on this forum. He absolutely can not afford an attorney so he relies on me and I do the best I can to help him.

 

[justalayman]

if you believe a crime was committed, call the police. Be cautious about this as it can ruin a teachers career.

while not suggesting blackmail, the principal might be made to understand that you believe there was possibly a crime committed and have no alternative to calling the police as the admin does not feel it is proper to remove the girl from the class.

So, what I would do is: suggest the girl be moved to another class and suggest the admin investigate the matter to determine if there was any inappropriate acts by the teacher. That way they would not be exposed to the impending and immediate investigation if you report it to the police and the girl would be removed from a possibly harmful situation. The admin would still be required to report the situation if they do come to the conclusion there is a reasonable belief there was a crime committed.

 

[artbuc]

if you believe a crime was committed, call the police. Be cautious about this as it can ruin a teachers career.

while not suggesting blackmail, the principal might be made to understand that you believe there was possibly a crime committed and have no alternative to calling the police as the admin does not feel it is proper to remove the girl from the class.

So, what I would do is: suggest the girl be moved to another class and suggest the admin investigate the matter to determine if there was any inappropriate acts by the teacher. That way they would not be exposed to the impending and immediate investigation if you report it to the police and the girl would be removed from a possibly harmful situation. The admin would still be required to report the situation if they do come to the conclusion there is a reasonable belief there was a crime committed.

That is exactly what I told my nephew. First priority is to protect daughter. Second prioroty is to protect other potential victims of this creep. Use report to police and local paper as leverage to protect daughter.

 

[justalayman]

I would suggest leaving the paper out of this. They are in the business of selling the news. Reporting for the sake of reporting is long gone so sensationalism has taken over and the facts are secondary. This is something that needs to be addressed through the legal channels so they have the opportunity to investigate the situation without causing harm to the teacher if none is warranted.

 

[eerelations]

I still think your nephew needs to hear what the Principal has to say about this before he does anything else.

And going to the papers is not going to help your nephew's daughter - if they run with the story, it'll just humiliate and embarass her. Is that what your nephew wants?

 

[artbuc]

I still think your nephew needs to hear what the Principal has to say about this before he does anything else.

And going to the papers is not going to help your nephew's daughter - if they run with the story, it'll just humiliate and embarass her. Is that what your nephew wants?

No intention of going to the newspaper. I was responding to the suggestion to use the threat of going to police as leverage to have daughter removed from hostile environment. I just added the threat of going to the newspaper. I can see how my post could be misconstrued.

We just finished our meeting with the Principal. He had mostly completed an investigation. The accused teacher vehemently and angrily denied all allegations. One student did corroborate daughter's story but I think the Prinicpal discounted that because the student is a good friend of daughter.
Principal said daughter exhibits good behavior and has never given any reason to doubt her integrity. However, Prinicpal also says teacher has never shown propensity to sexually harass and also has excellent integrity. It was interesting watching the teachers/admin staff close ranks and protect each other.

Principal will remove daughter from teacher's math class and allow her to take final exam based on course work completed to date. She will miss the last 2 1/2 weeks of course material. This is a good outcome. Nephew will have to decide if he wants to go to the police. I don't think he should but it is up to him and his daughter.