False accusations of child abuse are on the rise in schools in the USA, Canada and the UK. According to the online reports, teachers who are accused and cleared still lose their jobs or are unable to get work in other child related fields. Having even a question mark on a teacher’s official police record is enough to dent the teacher’s future career. The teacher has little recourse. The Union does nothing until the teacher gets a letter to not come to work. A simple background check will not turn up most false reports but if the teacher should get a speeding ticket, the police officer would see the quasi-accusation. It’s permanent even when completely innocent.
The Palm Beach County Union says that in Palm Beach County, teachers are not aware of their rights. The rights a teacher has if ushered into the presence of a school police officer is to say nothing. The police do not read any rights since there is no arrest. However, neither do they inform the frightened, intimidated educator that a teacher has the right to stay silent until a Union Rep is present. Therefore, a teacher is corralled and branded in ignorance and innocence.
Both Florida and Canadian weblinks report that principals or headmasters are supposed to be the ones to investigate accusations of child abuse if no marks or corroborating witnesses show. However, in both south and north regions and likely those in between, it is reported that principals are willing to toss the teacher ‘under the bus’.
The Florida statutes define child abuse as:
“A willful or threatened act resulting in physical, mental or sexual injury or harm, causing or likely to cause impairment of physical, mental or emotional health.”
All claims of child abuse need follow up. But there are degrees to the investigation. If a child has no marks and there are no corroborating witnesses to the abuse, the parent might call in to the headmaster or principal to fact find. If the parent truly believes their child was abused and there were marks on the child, the parent ought to call their local Abused Child Hotline immediately. Why some parents don’t is because they would be as investigated as thoroughly as the accused teacher.
It is up to the parent to prove malicious intent of the teacher. In a non-hostile work environment, this needs to be accomplished prior to the teacher being dragged in to see the school police officer. A good principal knows how to diffuse the accusation into a misunderstanding. A mean principal or lazy one will shuck and dive to outsource it. It is irresponsible to both teacher and student. It creates a hostile learning environment for all.
” Relationships between teachers and young people have been rendered toxic, as (given the harm caused by any allegation) each party is now apparently dangerous to the other. In response, these relationships have been sterilised and shorn of valuable elements of human development, like touch and normal friendliness.” (http://theconversation.com/false-child-abuse-allegations-take-a-heavy-toll-on-teachers-22101) This quote came from a British website.
“”Something is terribly wrong here,” said Susan Dowell, who has taught school for 15 years. “Children who do make false allegations – parents who make false allegations – what happens to them in the end?” Children are getting a lot more savvy these days. It used to be, ‘make the occasional [substitute] teacher cry.’ Now they know they can have you suspended. “I thought I’d be treated as a professional colleague and I’d be given the benefit of the doubt.” says a teacher from Ontario, Canada. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/falsely-accused-teacher-calls-for-accountability-1.1173684)
Coincidentally, the several reports I read all involved 5th grade boys. Hormones! Boy hormones are bursting through and hypersensitivity can cloud a child’s report.
Teaching was always considered a noble profession. It is where nurturing induces learning. False accusations of one of the gentlest professions shows how denigrated teachers are. Paid badly and worked to exhaustion, the teaching professional is no longer a noble ground. Unfortunately, as many bloggers have written, parents and administrators who allow children to intimidate teachers are providing ground for them growing into abusers. Talking a child through their fear and imagination is helping the child grow up safely. And it also safeguards the teacher to give of themselves as selflessly as they often do.
This is growing topic of concern. Some research I’ve done:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/false-abuse-accusations-against-teachers-on-the-rise-1.1173682
http://www.nea.org/home/16921.htm
http://www.nea.org/home/16921.htm
For those teachers unjustly accused, this is a nightmare.