TT texted me after school today that she had a note saying that her science teacher had resigned "for personal reasons." Of course this made me immediately suspicious. Teachers are under contract--they don't just leave in the middle of the year unless something has happened.
I told DH after I met this guy for the first time that he gave off a pedophile vibe. Not very PC, but there was just something "off" about him. He was new to the school--the only sixth grade teacher that PS hadn't already had. Of course, there's not much you can do about an instinct. Be vigilant. Limit out-of-class contact. Have the inappropriate touching talk--a lot.
So when I got TT's text, the first thing I did was google court records. Nothing popped up, though. And then, within an hour, I had a text from the mom rumor mill saying that he had allegedly been touching girls' hair and the police had questioned him.
Once I got home I tried to not-too-obviously question the twins. TT said "he's creepy," which she had said before. And then she told me that one of her friends had told her that he had rubbed her upper thigh when she went in for help after school. I lectured her and SS on why they hadn't told me or another grown-up about that incident and I grilled them about whether he had ever touched them in a way that made them uncomfortable. They swear he did not, and I believe them. I don't think they have the personalities of typical targets, and they had already told me that they didn't really like him (and they love most of their teachers.)
Maybe I shouldn't give much credence to the rumor mills, but my gut instinct plus TT's story today lead me to believe there's some veracity there. I just hope he was found out before it got any further than what we already know about.
2 comments:
UGH UGH UGH
There is something to be said for gut instinct. Hubby was a new teacher in new teacher orientation, and he said the guy across from him (young, just out of college) gave him a "wrong" vibe. That fellow also "resigned for personal reasons" halfway through the year for having a "relationship" (extent of it was never fully known) with a high school junior.
Yucko! Our friend's 17-year-old was molested by a neighbor, someone his parents trusted him to hang out with, help walk his dogs, etc. It went on for four (4!!!) years before the kid finally confessed to a female friend who called his father (a cop). The father just about lost his mind, mostly over the fact that his kid felt like he couldn't tell him. It's amazing what we think our kids will tell us and then what they don't. I look at the two young girls who killed themselves recently in Canada and here and I wonder how we get through to these kids and help them know there is NOTHING that would make us not love them and that we would throw our own lives down before seeing them hurt in these ways.
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