Dad punches "teacher": Right or Wrong?

[TransformX]

That, of course. But quietly - people remember much better that "TX is a rapist" than that "after some investigating it has been found that TX was falsely accused of being a rapist". And I would expect to not be lynched by an angry mob without proper investigation and trial.

Well, the school administration still deserved a punch in the face. The teacher in question should have been suspended, put on a paid vacation or whatever till this matter is sorted out.

[DogWomble]

While I personally abhor the abuse of children, and certainly if this guy is guilty as charged then he should be dealt with under the full extent of the appropriate laws and should be removed from contact with children, I also would like to remind people of one very basic legal fundamental that you get at least in Australia.

Innocent until proven guilty.

Sure, taking him temporarily out of contact with children until proven one way or another may have been appropriate. But thumping a guy like this because of a rumour is wildly inappropriate, irrespective of what you think of the matter. And branding him 'guilty' or 'not guilty' until the court hands down a verdict is also highly inappropriate.

[TransformX]

A verbal exchange became heated, and "I lost control," he said. He spent about 10 hours in jail and got out later Tuesday after posting bond.

Once again, I blame the administration more than anyone and anything else here.
1. He was still teaching
2. He got into a heated argument with the father of one of the children who accused him WITHIN the school area - a big No-No. He should have avoided the argument, most of all around the other children.

[Umfriend]

I am not at all convinced the schools' adminstration had not investigated the accusations and, possibly, found them without merit. Moreover, it is hard to avoid a heated argument when the accuser goes out to find you, not the other way around.

When he saw that the man was not in the meeting, he asked his daughter to take him to the classroom.

And at this time, the school administration should have prevented contact between the father and the employee.

[Gurm]

Ok, here's the situation.

For MORE THAN 15 YEARS, the rules in THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES has been as follows:

- If a student ... just ONE student ... complains that a teacher has done anything sexually inappropriate... then that teacher is IMMEDIATELY taken out of contact with the students. With pay, pending investigation. Also the police are called. And that has been the rule since AT LEAST when I was in high school.

- Sadly, many schools utterly ignore this rule. Again, in my middle school, there was a gym teacher who we all KNEW was being inappropriate with female students (male teacher). Of course nobody spoke up for a few years. Finally, around my sophomore year in high school, one girl came forward and said he raped her. He was NOT suspended, and the police were NOT called. It took 4 more girls coming forward, and SERIOUS complaints on the part of the parents, and a community shitstorm... before ANYONE did ANYTHING. The principal protected the teacher, the superintendent protected the principal and the teacher. It was RIDICULOUS. The guy was eventually convicted of a dozen counts of rape and child molestation.

- Are there false accusations? Sure. But you know what? An investigation uncovers them nine times out of ten. And it doesn't HURT anything to temporarily keep the teacher away from the students.

- Do kids lie? Sure. Do girls use their supposed "feminine weakness" as a ruse to get what they want? Yep. Does this even go as far as to cry "rape" when none happened? On occasion. But c'mon. You'd have to be one callous individual to KNOW that your dad will go absolutely APESHIT on someone and still tell him that you were molested. I mean, it's not like this girl didn't know that her dad was likely to beat the snot out of the teacher, right?

- If one of MY kids told me that someone had hurt them in ANY WAY, that person would be lucky to come away with all their limbs intact. And I sure as hell wouldn't have accepted a runaround from the school. Escalation is the name of the game. If I walked into that classroom for the meeting and the teacher wasn't there and the school was giving me crap, I'd immediately be dialing the local paper, the school superintendant, and whatever governmental figures I could find. A few choice phone calls and all those slimy bureaucratic types cave. But in the end if violence was necessary...

[az]

Ok, here's the situation.

For MORE THAN 15 YEARS, the rules in THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES has been as follows:

- If a student ... just ONE student ... complains that a teacher has done anything sexually inappropriate... then that teacher is IMMEDIATELY taken out of contact with the students. With pay, pending investigation. Also the police are called. And that has been the rule since AT LEAST when I was in high school.

Good!

- Sadly, many schools utterly ignore this rule. Again, in my middle school, there was a gym teacher who we all KNEW was being inappropriate with female students (male teacher). Of course nobody spoke up for a few years. Finally, around my sophomore year in high school, one girl came forward and said he raped her. He was NOT suspended, and the police were NOT called. It took 4 more girls coming forward, and SERIOUS complaints on the part of the parents, and a community shitstorm... before ANYONE did ANYTHING. The principal protected the teacher, the superintendent protected the principal and the teacher. It was RIDICULOUS. The guy was eventually convicted of a dozen counts of rape and child molestation.

Oh my

- Are there false accusations? Sure. But you know what? An investigation uncovers them nine times out of ten. And it doesn't HURT anything to temporarily keep the teacher away from the students.

Exactly. But quietly, to protect the few innocent accuseds (is that plural correct?). You can always disclose the identity of convicted rapists later, but you can't undo branding an innocent as a rapist.

- Do kids lie? Sure. Do girls use their supposed "feminine weakness" as a ruse to get what they want? Yep. Does this even go as far as to cry "rape" when none happened? On occasion. But c'mon. You'd have to be one callous individual to KNOW that your dad will go absolutely APESHIT on someone and still tell him that you were molested. I mean, it's not like this girl didn't know that her dad was likely to beat the snot out of the teacher, right?

If someone doesn't care that they are ruining the entire life of somebody, do you think they'd care if their victim gets a black eye, too?

- If one of MY kids told me that someone had hurt them in ANY WAY, that person would be lucky to come away with all their limbs intact. And I sure as hell wouldn't have accepted a runaround from the school. Escalation is the name of the game. If I walked into that classroom for the meeting and the teacher wasn't there and the school was giving me crap, I'd immediately be dialing the local paper, the school superintendant, and whatever governmental figures I could find. A few choice phone calls and all those slimy bureaucratic types cave. But in the end if violence was necessary...

Escalation when the school administration does nothing, yes. That doesn't have to involve lynching.

[Jammrock]

My problem with the story is, "my daughter doesn't lie to me." That says that daddy is wrapped around her little finger. But of course I only know what is put in the papers.

The other question about "others coming forward" is, who are the others? Are they all friends, or are they random students? That would make a huge difference as to the believeability of the story.

I don't know. Things like this are always difficult to judge from a distance. The father flying off the handle definately did not help the situation, and I don't think he should have done it. If this turns out to be just his daughter lying to cover something up or a cry for daddy's attention, then the father is in deep $#!*.

I serious don't know what I would do if I found out some guy had been touching my girl inapropriately, or worse, but I would hope I stayed civil enough about it that I would wait for the evidence to prove that the guy did it before I came unglued.

Jammrock

[Gurm]

Exactly. But quietly, to protect the few innocent accuseds (is that plural correct?). You can always disclose the identity of convicted rapists later, but you can't undo branding an innocent as a rapist.

Not TOO quietly. The parents of the kids involved need to know, and it needs to be noted that it's happened. There's quietly and there's "coverup".

[Admiral]

Personally I would try to convince mysel if it was true... place a cam in the classrom, maybe hire a private detective... pull my girl out of that school, build enough evidence, sue the school and that bastard, take apropriate action against the police if they ignored it, create enough press histerya so that something like that won't repeat...

[TransformX]

Personally I would try to convince mysel if it was true... place a cam in the classrom, maybe hire a private detective...

I think you've been reading too many fantasy/espionage novels or seen too many movies lately.

[Admiral]

riight... surely there must be a way to see for yourself, and hiring a private detective for a guy who part owns an air-conditioning company money shouldn't be a problem... hiring one to follow a spouse who cheats seems to be common enough....

I'm sure now you'll acuse me of watching too many reality shows

[TransformX]

I don't know about the U.S, but here if you try to do that:
1. No air conditioning in classes, so you'll need someone with a VERY good excuse to get inside and install anything, unless you expect him to break in.
2. Once you do that and provide evidence you did it, students and teachers will sue you.

[GT98]

And he certainly isn't "father of the year". Ridiculous sensationalism that only serves to encourage self-administered justice (isn't there a word for that in english?).

Vigilante is the word your looking for

[Admiral]

I don't know about the U.S, but here if you try to do that:
1. No air conditioning in classes, so you'll need someone with a VERY good excuse to get inside and install anything, unless you expect him to break in.
2. Once you do that and provide evidence you did it, students and teachers will sue you.

k, chill, my bad

How can you build up a case against him if the police ignores the allegations and won't investigate ?
(beating the crap out of him doesn't seem too rational police wise, as much as I'd like to do it)

[TransformX]

Call a lawyer and ask him to send the police/school administration a letter, that usually makes them move. Call the press, even better. Sometimes even threatening to do either of these will get things moving.