Some things are just sad

A teacher in our local school district has just been busted for an inappropriate relationship with female students ().

Two of my kids had this guy. My son had him as a JV Soccer Coach and my daughter had him for creative writing. Both kids had positive experiences with this teacher. At Parent-Teacher nights I was impressed with his book knowledge and his presentation. On the soccer pitch, he had respect of the kids as they worked as a unit.

I am not defending what this guy did. If he gets convicted, the book will and should be thrown at him. Sorry, but take advantage of a position of authority where you mess with a kids' life - you need to get nailed.

Already, you can see the online whining about how we pay sooo much money for our public schools and it is a waste of money and blah blah - blahblahblagggg.

But what was happening in this district during the time this teacher was having inappropriate relationships?

• Cost cutting.
• Jamming the teachers unions. (no contract for about 20 months while this was going on)
• Getting good teachers to throw their hands up and say, "I am not taking this crap, I'm outta here."

I am not saying that spending more cash would have solved this, but I am saying that when school districts use short term retirement buyouts and hostile working conditions to purge higher salaried teachers and replace them with lower salaried, less expensive teachers - you lose something.

You lose that old-head in the department that has his or her eye on the bigger picture.

A good teacher can sniff out stupidity; sometimes before it happens. When the old-head gets the scent, the experience kicks in and behind closed doors the conversation takes place with the inexperienced teacher. The conversation that says,

What the *(#$@$ are you doing?
Stop it - These are High School kids.
You are their teacher.
You know what is at stake and what you have to lose.

I am not saying that such a conversation will stop all stupid teacher activity, but it does give the inexperienced teacher a moment to pause and realize there is a visible issue here. He has been professionally warned and can correct his behavior BEFORE something stupid happens.

If there is still an odor in the air, the old-head knows what needs to be done and how to do it.

You can't stop the stench if you retire all the teachers with good noses for the sake of a fistful of dollars.

Too bad my local school board knew the price of everything and the value of ...