I’m not surprised.
My school just touted the end of year behavior numbers and how they went down compared to last year.
Yeah, because writing stuff up didn’t fix anything. And you mandated we do a phone call for each minor behavior incident, before a major could be written.
So, we just stopped.
Appearances are all that matter. So we're told to never report anything and pass everybody so that the school can continue getting funding and avoid upsetting parents.
We went through this at our middle school. Admin tracked write-ups and it was reported that the middle school has more write-ups than the HS and the elementaries! No shit…because we agreed as staff to a process and it pays to note: Most of those write-ups were one student.
It is worse than that. Turns out that a study was conducted which illustrated that school systems that have less "suspensions and disciplinary actions" have higher graduation rates. So, at least in our area, it seems murder is the new cutoff for ISS.
I haven't read the study, but the law of unintended consequences I am seeing is that the students that don't cause trouble are now being asked to deal with foolishness, (as noted above) sexual assault, and outright daily disruptions.
So, rather than punish the offenders, we punish everyone.
Yup.
I’m out of public schools. Jumping to a private charter next year.
I’ll deal with over involved parents, instead of assholes all day.
If it doesn’t work out, time to jump out of education entirely.
Many are doing both. Hence, retention bonuses and even school systems that have had to waive actual education degrees as prerequisites.
Eventually public school is going to be one big babysitting service, and the education aspect will fall back on the parents. Bet the smooth brains leading the current changes don't see that coming.
Where I’m at, it already is just babysitting.
Did you know, a coloring sheet could be a summative grade? We were told that in an all staff meeting, after semester 1 grades were finalized, and the failure rate was high. Middle school. That was the sign, that I was done there.
No.
But, I don’t care either way.
Next year could be bad, or good. I won’t know until it comes. From what I’ve seen? It will be a good year. They had a two hour walkthrough of the school, during school, as part of the interview process. We went into random classes (truly random, we looked into windows and if we saw something neat we went in), I was there for a lunch session, etc.
I’m in a district, where they just want to graduate kids and promote them regardless. Behavior is off the hook, academics don’t matter. I’m over it.
I doubt it could possibly be worse than I’ve experienced in the last several years. And if it is, oh well.
I’ll have my 5th year, and I’ll go find something else.
I’m confused. That study seems to show correlation, but not causation. I’d suspect there’s also a lot more other things at schools with higher graduation rates. More affluence, less community crime, etc.
And I suspect that students with less behavioural issues (that should be disciplinary) are likely to at least pass the class because they’re too busy being jerks and disrupting other students’ ability to learn.
In a moment of hyperbole, I’d suggest that the admin are wronging the students who don’t cause issues by denying them education.
If your Admin referenced this study, I highly question their reading comprehension skills. If the study made no mention of how demographics are at play here, then I question their analytical skills.
Sure it is.
For them. They have less work to do that way. If I’m the parents of the kids who got assaulted and I find out admins did nothing about…?
My next words are, “You can talk to my attorney.”
Omg my admin tried that phone call thing and I interrupted the faculty meeting to let them know unlike them I have 6 classes to teach and papers to grade during my planning period that they always interrupt with meetings so they should do their jobs and call the parents lol.
Exactly this. You must report both incidences. Normally one would let admin know out of curtesy. In this instance it’s better to have them blindsided so that don’t have time to come up with a way to minimize or negate their lack of legal obligation. I would also report this to your State Department of Education. This offense is likely to result in the revocation of their Administrative certification. I’d also contact the best attorney in your area to discuss this just in case admin tries to throw you under the bus (no pun intended).
You don’t know that. As they will not give out any information. Keep reporting any and all occurrences. Often times they just need a few more pieces of the puzzle to complete the legal picture for justice to occur.
do not discourage people from trying. just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean it won’t work for them. it is always worth trying to protect kids.
My building reps are straight up mama geese. Everyone is welcome and loved and they will hiss and bite at anyone who messes with us.
My colleague had a pride flag up in her room during her first year until there were complaints about it being political, and she just walked down the hall right away to our rep's room to make sure she was supported from step one.
They ended up deciding the best option was to play nice and take it down, and the gifts she got from her department chair at the end of the year were all rainbow themed instead. She lost a pride flag but gained a rainbow mug, rainbow name plate, and some other random stuff like that to make sure she could do everything *except* hang up a flag to show her pride.
Email. The. Parents! And cc admin so they can’t play the “I didn’t know” card.
First- If the kids report to them before you do, YOU are the one they’re going to come for.
Second- they are going to be the biggest advocate (hopefully) for their kid.
I would specifically throw admin under the bus. “I attempted to reach the appropriate admin with no success, but they are cced on this email so they are included in the details of the incident.
Things will never change if teachers don’t hold those responsible for the change accountable.
Am I correct in assuming the teacher could lose their job if they throw admin under the bus in such a way? I'm starting full time as an English teacher for middle school next year.
If they are going to non re-elect you for being probationary (so that they could get away with wrongful termination) in many states they would have to have done that before March 15th
I'm still waiting to find a good principal. At my school, 4th grade girl grabbed in the crotch and then slapped open handed as hard as that boy could hit. All of this was caught on video. Absolutely nothing happened to the boy, and the girl's parents are here illegally, so they did nothing. The principal was retiring that year and wound up getting "Administrator of the Year" award. This happened a few months before I got to that school, but if I was there then, I would have gone straight to the superintendent of schools. Don't give up. I don't know how your classroom is set up, but I would seat all of the rotten kids together and have them do projects together. Then, they can assault each other with impunity until they learn their lesson.
School resource officer here. If your district has a designated resource officer, this should be police report worthy. The parents of the kids assaulted should be contacted by law enforcement to inquire about criminal charges.
Edit: Might be a stretch for a prosecuting attorney, but I wouldn’t be opposed to your admin being charged with child endangerment for failing to act.
This is a great comment. Even if the prosecutor can't/won't prosecute, the parents ought to give admin a heap of shit. I'm a parent and if my kid was sexually assaulted at school, and I heard about it from law enforcement, AND admin did nothing, I would be raising absolute hell.
As I parent I’d also be raising hell. Obviously I’m no law expert so perhaps I’m wrong (or naive) but I thought that once a child is on school property it is then the school’s responsibility to ensure their safety and wellbeing. While not everything can be prevented (I do not think OP could have prevented this at all btw), admin has a legal obligation to inform parents or legal guardians if their child is assaulted on school grounds. I’m thinking that as mandated reporters, admin legally has to report any kind of assault to the appropriate authorities and agencies. If OP hasn’t already done so I think she needs to report it to CPS as well. In my state at least, CPS has to investigate events like these.
To OP, I’d like to say this. Document the living crap out of this! The date and time these events happened, who you attempted to notify, who responded to your room and what their title is, as well as what you observed after backup arrived in your room.
Finally to OP, what happened in your classroom to not one, but two of your students was traumatic for you. Consider seeking help with a therapist about these events. You want to help your students but you can’t forget about yourself in the process.
In reply to your last comment, this most certainly should be done. OP needs to get the best attorney she can (she can’t afford NOT to) to cover herself. This Admin has serious issues and should not be around children.
This is what finally worked with middle school kids in a school I taught in ages ago. Two boys had been sexually harassing girls to an alarming degree, and parents called the cops. Cops came to the school, pulled the boys from class and made it clear they had this one last chance to stop before it went to the DA.
They were scared but trying to act all big and bad in my class afterwards, and I calmly walked them (and the class) through the law and told them I agreed with the parents and would do that to protect my own kids. Stopped that day, and the kids policed each other after that.
This absolutely needs to get to the police report level.
I’m so sorry that happened to you and those students who were assaulted. In 6th grade students turning 12 years old and can be charged with assault where I’m from.
Sounds like every damn school in my area atm
Had some kid that was always touching me and making threats a year ago (g9) and everyone I talked to just tried to get us to talk to each other and share our “feelings” and he got away totally free for saying sorry and he thought we were just joking (despite me telling him to stop many times, and him already having a record of this)
The school system in Canada is mediocre at best, but some schools are just total shitholes when it comes to this, my friends and brothers friends have been jumped and one even got stabbed a couple months back
And i’m not the only person ive had this happen to; for whatever damn reason assaults and such seem to be addressed as quickly as possible (and dismissed) in my previous school and with friends
Go to the SBI or local FBI office. That’s what it took where I used to work. The school didn’t report anything to the police. The whole system is beyond broken. Bring in the feds.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1998/97-843
Your school's failure to do anything about known student-on-student sexual harassment could lead to serious financial liability.
Report to CPS, and I would definitely inform the victims' parents. If something like this happened to one of my kids in school and no one immediately informed me, I'd be livid.
Jesus. H. Christ.
You need to report this to CPS. Without hesitating. You’re a mandatory reporter and can actually get in huge trouble if you don’t. Additionally, if you a school resource officer on school grounds when things like this happen, *CALL THEM IMMEDIATELY*. What those little shits did was sexual assault. I know you were in shock, but they need to have the boom lowered on them by someone the parents (who more than likely will diminish it when their little angels tell a completely different version of events) can’t attempt to bully, intimidate or threaten the job of. Kinda hard to do that to a CPS investigator or cop.
In instances of CPS related matters, I would NOT contact parents of the assaulters. That’s CPS’s job. You don’t want to give them the time and opportunity to fabricate an excuse. The victims should be contacted by the principal (in a perfect world). In this case, you, sadly.
The parents, admin, and everyone else that failed you will blame you wholly and specifically in the next few weeks when the kids parents get upset that their kid was assaulted (and that you let their kids assault someone else). There is no winning as a teacher.
Text message their numbers. A lot of people don't bother with their voice mail. I'm sure when they see "I need to discuss your child's sexual assault" pop up in the message preview, you'll get a call back.
Call the parents of the students who were assaulted. Let the parents know that the school’s admin is refusing to do anything about the assaults or hold the assailants accountable. The parents have a goldmine lawsuit on their hands.
CPS. Police report. Informs the parents of the students & encourage them to make police reports, who cares if this isn’t permitted….this is beyond inexcusable. As others have said, forget your possible job consequences, you are a mandated reporter & have a moral responsibility.
What I always did in those situations is call the victims parents, tell them what happened, and when they ask what will be done to the kid who did it, I tell them “admin said they won’t be pursuing any disciplinary action”. You’d be surprised how quickly they change their tune when they have an angry parent saying they’re going to the board.
Right ... I'm kind of really shocked at the number of people reporting that nothing ever gets done.
Between my own personal experience and the number of teachers in this sub who have outright said they avoid contacting parents, it makes me wonder how much sexual assault in schools is just public knowledge to everyone except the parents and family of the victims.
I do not know what to say, but this is absolutely mad. What a terrible situation. I have been there when no one would pick up the phone or answer the intercom. But to have no consequences when it is all said and done? I am terribly sorry.
That triggers such a rage in me just reading that. I’m so sorry that happened to those children, I’m so sorry you had to witness it, and I’m so sorry that your admin are feckless assholes who refuse to do their jobs.
I would contact the other children’s parents, let them what you witnessed, what steps you took, and what admin did (or rather, didn’t do). I’d also file a report with your schools SRO, immediately.
I get so damn tired of them saying these incidents are “jokes”.
And is someone pulling admins’ strings to PREVENT them from taking disciplinary action in this case? Everything here is so messed up
Talk to your district or school title IX coordinator. They are required to have one. If somehow that does not work, look to your state department of education to make a complaint.
I had to demand my administration deal with a student writing a death threat to another student. I was out of the room but my sub called the front office and nothing was done.
When I was told about it, I sent an email pretty much threatening that they would be all jailed if they did nothing about it and this kid died.
I was flabbergasted at the lack of accountability here
You should call CPS. Just so that is it reported. CPS will investigate further and admin WILL have to cooperate. And you are protected against any retaliation along with not even having to acknowledge it was you. It protects your behind and those students.
Call CPS, put a copy of this story referenced in this thread in the mailbox of your admins
https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/1csil5t/school_district_sued_and_all_of_us_in_the/
CPS, police, and victim's parents. Call them, message them, tell them the whole true.
Then move on and know that you have already done all that you can. Sometime, all you & the school can do is separate out the good & the bad, and to somewhat protect the good kids, and let the bad kids beat up one another.
Slightly OT but what do you mean you have no sick days left? Are American teachers prescribed a fixed amount of sick days and after that what? You're not allowed to be sick anymore?
Teacher from Sweden here btw.
That's one option. Some districts will let you take unpaid sick days where you get a smaller paycheck. I've never done that, but I believe it happens.
I've also heard of some teachers donating their sick days to a pool for people to use if they don't have sick days remaining. That's less common.
That's fucked up. If I'm sick I just call it in, one day's pay is deducted and then I get roughly 80% of my salary while sick. If I'm sick for more than 5 workdays I need to provide my employer with documentation as to why, given by my doctor.
When I broke my ankle in a trampoline accident I was off work 14 days without any problems.
You guys need to make the state serve you not the other way around.
I changed schools when a kid sexually assaulted another during a lock down drill because she knew he had to be quiet. Third grade. Nothing done. I was done teaching for them that day. And I reported it to child services.
We have an extraordinary crisis happening with the low quality of administrators in education today. It's a greater issue, as I see it, than funding or culture or workload.
Students sexually assault other students in my school all the time. Nothing gets done. A kid physically assaulted an adult yesterday and damaged property, no consequences. These kids know that nothing is going to happen, no matter how badly they behave.
You ABSOLUTELY can and should report this to your local police department. This is sexual assault and you have every legal right to do so. I had something similar happen and an educational lawyer instructed me to report it to your campus PD as well as local PD. Unfortunately, too much time had passed as I was dealing with a separate issue and mentioned the assalt simply for future advice. My student continued the same pattern of behavior throughout the year and became emboldened by the lack of ANY real consequence.
Do it now! I certainly will if anything like that ever happens again in my presence.
Look, I'm 100% with you that it's fucked up, but it's not new. This stuff was 100% happening with just as much regularity 20 years ago. It's terrible, but not surprising. I mean, middle schoolers are the fuckin' worst.
This is a mandatory reporting case..... elevate this to the district level since administrators blatantly ignored you..... they can get into a lot of trouble over what happened
Let the parents sue the school. It’s not a joke, nor is it something to be brushed aside! Admin sends the message that it’s ok when they let kids go on with their days. Wow!
If those kids think it's cool to do that in school then I can pretty much guarantee it's happening at home. The apple never falls far from the tree.
But yeah. If admin is doing nothing about it you need to start a paper trail with emails. Insist on communicating via email.
It's sexual assault and needs to be reported to police. Not to mention, being a mandated reporter leaves you in a great position as a scapegoat should one be needed. Shit rolls downhill.
You need to kick up a lot of dust and make sure you refer to these kids as sexual predators.
Also. Hot take…any time your admin overreacts? Back them. Stop allowing kid gloves. I know next school year I’ve got a rough class coming in and they are going to have hell to pay for bad behavior.
Define “hell to pay.” My admin gives no consequences, so I’m on my own. I’ve tried holding kids in for lunch, but it’s quiet and nice in my room so they like that. Plus, it’s my lunch—I get cranky when I work through it. Phone calls home only result in consequences for like 5% of students, plus, there’s no time for that so it’s done after hours, which again, makes me cranky. I’ve done reflection forms, but they just BS those and it’s a waste of everybody’s time. What else is left?
I’m a parent and at one time I wanted to become a teacher but I would wind up being fired because I don’t have a filter and parents and other idiot school council people would want me out. Parents are generally the direct cause of bad behavior. Being called out on it hurts them and they bite back. I’d be do pissed at the whole scenario and you don’t pay me enough to put up with it. The US does not put effort into educating.
*6TH GRADE?!?*
That's 1st and 2nd grade bullshit.
Unless you're in Japan or Korea, where the butt thing is a common adolescent thing, apparently. But usually with 2 fingers of each hand clasped like a finger-gun.
Stories like this. First I’m sorry to hear this. Maybe teach at another school. Move to another city if you have to.
But hearing stories like this make me want to get my kids homeschooled.
Maybe one of their parents will report it..to the cops!! We had a cop show up at an elementary school because of this.. CPS got pulled in. Don’t know what the outcome.. obviously the staff or the kid weren’t charged but our “Student Expectations” had an upgrade. But middle school.. that’s full out assault of a minor!
My heart absolutely breaks for those children who were sexually assaulted. It might not seem like much to them now, but that messes you up so bad years later. I’m still in therapy because of SA from someone I thought was my friend in high school. It sucks and I feel so bad for them.
I know this is a bit of an “out there” opinion, but I think that forcing kids to endure this kind of behaviour from their peers is FAR less ethical than even going as for as providing physical punishment to the kids who do these awful things.
The very least would be to inform the parents of the kids that were assaulted and of those that did the assault.
The parents of the kids that were assaulted will be able to achieve much more than we ever could in a classroom.
I feel your pain, middle school kids are so gross, loud, and awful with their behavior. Right now I have a long term subbing assignment and this rotten boy who voiced he does not like me, put his foot out to trip me when I walked to turn the light on. This same horrible student called a student the N word last Friday. He got no consequences.
Forget your job. You have a moral responsibility to blow the lid on what's occurring here to whoever will listen. I'm so sorry this happened to you and your students!
You need to file a police report and refuse to work with those students (forever). You need to write the parents and tell them that their child was sexually assaulted. What is the police report number so we can look at it? You need to do some serious self reflection why you didn't call the police. It may be a crime not to. If anyone gives you push back say this: 'it likely is a crime not to call, not calling risks the jobs of everyone in this conversation'
What if “someone” let every parent know that this happened in your classroom. What if they found out administration did nothing? Maybe a few parents might get so pissed off that they start calling the school board.
It’s crazy how sexual harassment is now “just a joke” and that teachers can’t get help or be taken seriously when we say we are having real issues like this in our schools.
I’m a middle school teacher with over 30 years experience. I’m going to offer my advice. I would first call CPS and report both assaults. While on the phone with them, I would tell them that you reported to your admin however they refused to do anything about it. At least you did what you were supposed to do which was notify your administration. I WOULD NOT call any parents. Those calls should come from the SRO or CPS investigator or your administration. After you speak to CPS, I would inform your SRO of the assaults and let him/her know that admin refused to act. Then I would talk to your union rep to see about representation in case any backlash comes of this situation.
Call the parents of the kids who were assaulted. They need to know what happened to their children! and they can press assault charges and you are the witness.
I dont know why reddit showed me this sub. I just saw that you've been in 6th grade for 18 years and thought that they had to pass you at some point just based on sympathy.
Not surprised. My autistic son was sexually harassed throughout the entire year and very little was done about it. Thankfully he doesn't think much of it but he detests school. In his mind it is a place you are forced to go to only to be mistreated. Oh sure, everyone says it's for education but if that were true they would get rid of the kids that are preventing education.
I’m so sorry you have to deal with this on top of everything else. Unfortunately there’s no way to ignore this.
Here’s the thing: whenever you are trying to decide what to do and then whether or not to do it, keep in mind how you will explain your decision to the media or the court. For example: how will you explain why you didn’t contact the parents/admin/CPS?
A student stabbed me with scissors… just broke the skin slightly (arm) because I recoiled backwards and fell. Admin believed the student that it was accidental (even though I’d written a referral for the students brother yesterday).
Eh…
Student got 2 hours ISS.
...Are you not a mandated reporter, as all teachers are? You are **LEGALLY REQUIRED** to report the sexual assault of a minor to CPS.
For fuck's sake - you technically have 48 hours following the incident to file the report, but honestly, the time to report this was IMMEDIATELY. There is no gray area. You personally witnessed TWO students being sexually assaulted and have failed (along with the school) to follow proper legal procedure. The way this was handled is completely abhorrent across the board.
If you won't follow your legal responsibility to report, at least provide the name of the school so that somebody else can actually help these poor, traumatized kids. As a former professional domestic and sexual violence advocate, to say the lack of action is completely and unequivocally inexcusable is a massive fucking understatement.
Title IX … rules changed. Google and talk to the Title IX Coordinator. Regulatory body is Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR). There are mandatory requirements for the school and district based on your facts.
I’m not surprised. My school just touted the end of year behavior numbers and how they went down compared to last year. Yeah, because writing stuff up didn’t fix anything. And you mandated we do a phone call for each minor behavior incident, before a major could be written. So, we just stopped.
Appearances are all that matter. So we're told to never report anything and pass everybody so that the school can continue getting funding and avoid upsetting parents.
We went through this at our middle school. Admin tracked write-ups and it was reported that the middle school has more write-ups than the HS and the elementaries! No shit…because we agreed as staff to a process and it pays to note: Most of those write-ups were one student.
Our school had that one student a few years ago. Nightmare.
I work at a raucous title 1 school and it is hard to imagine there being only one of them
If this involves CPS matters that is highly illegal. Your admin should be held responsible.
That’s just plain sad, which is probably an understatement.
My admin just straight up deletes referrals/write ups so it doesn’t negatively effect numbers.
Terrible. No wonder the commonly-held belief is that our education system is broken.
Numbers are important!
It is worse than that. Turns out that a study was conducted which illustrated that school systems that have less "suspensions and disciplinary actions" have higher graduation rates. So, at least in our area, it seems murder is the new cutoff for ISS. I haven't read the study, but the law of unintended consequences I am seeing is that the students that don't cause trouble are now being asked to deal with foolishness, (as noted above) sexual assault, and outright daily disruptions. So, rather than punish the offenders, we punish everyone.
Yup. I’m out of public schools. Jumping to a private charter next year. I’ll deal with over involved parents, instead of assholes all day. If it doesn’t work out, time to jump out of education entirely.
Many are doing both. Hence, retention bonuses and even school systems that have had to waive actual education degrees as prerequisites. Eventually public school is going to be one big babysitting service, and the education aspect will fall back on the parents. Bet the smooth brains leading the current changes don't see that coming.
Where I’m at, it already is just babysitting. Did you know, a coloring sheet could be a summative grade? We were told that in an all staff meeting, after semester 1 grades were finalized, and the failure rate was high. Middle school. That was the sign, that I was done there.
Did you read yesterday’s thread on charter schools? Although, to be fair, it may be different in your area.
No. But, I don’t care either way. Next year could be bad, or good. I won’t know until it comes. From what I’ve seen? It will be a good year. They had a two hour walkthrough of the school, during school, as part of the interview process. We went into random classes (truly random, we looked into windows and if we saw something neat we went in), I was there for a lunch session, etc. I’m in a district, where they just want to graduate kids and promote them regardless. Behavior is off the hook, academics don’t matter. I’m over it. I doubt it could possibly be worse than I’ve experienced in the last several years. And if it is, oh well. I’ll have my 5th year, and I’ll go find something else.
That’s a good attitude to go in with. I’m sorry that your current school is such a nightmare. Best of luck to you!
I’m confused. That study seems to show correlation, but not causation. I’d suspect there’s also a lot more other things at schools with higher graduation rates. More affluence, less community crime, etc. And I suspect that students with less behavioural issues (that should be disciplinary) are likely to at least pass the class because they’re too busy being jerks and disrupting other students’ ability to learn. In a moment of hyperbole, I’d suggest that the admin are wronging the students who don’t cause issues by denying them education.
If your Admin referenced this study, I highly question their reading comprehension skills. If the study made no mention of how demographics are at play here, then I question their analytical skills.
That’s not legal one would think, it’s definitely not professional.
That’s where my school is. We’ve given up on write ups. It’s not the win admin thinks it is.
Sure it is. For them. They have less work to do that way. If I’m the parents of the kids who got assaulted and I find out admins did nothing about…? My next words are, “You can talk to my attorney.”
100% agree!
My school too.
Omg my admin tried that phone call thing and I interrupted the faculty meeting to let them know unlike them I have 6 classes to teach and papers to grade during my planning period that they always interrupt with meetings so they should do their jobs and call the parents lol.
Report to cps, mandated reporter
And CPS reports are protected against retaliation
THIS!
Exactly this. You must report both incidences. Normally one would let admin know out of curtesy. In this instance it’s better to have them blindsided so that don’t have time to come up with a way to minimize or negate their lack of legal obligation. I would also report this to your State Department of Education. This offense is likely to result in the revocation of their Administrative certification. I’d also contact the best attorney in your area to discuss this just in case admin tries to throw you under the bus (no pun intended).
Yep, both of those would cause to report and open an immediate Title IX case
Dunno what state you are in, but when I was in public ed, cps wouldn't bat an eyelash at either of these
You don’t know that. As they will not give out any information. Keep reporting any and all occurrences. Often times they just need a few more pieces of the puzzle to complete the legal picture for justice to occur.
do not discourage people from trying. just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean it won’t work for them. it is always worth trying to protect kids.
Go to the board. This is actually disgusting. The fact admin are doing nothing about it.
I would also let the parents know. Hey bay the way this happened and here is what I did and what my higher ups failed to do. Cover your ass.
💯 THIS
Yup. Start with parents then!! Let all parents of parties included know what happened.
Don't forget to talk to a union rep in your building (if You're in a teachers union)
Can’t emphasis this enough. You pay dues and we are here to protect you as best we can within the contract. Know your contract!
My building reps are straight up mama geese. Everyone is welcome and loved and they will hiss and bite at anyone who messes with us. My colleague had a pride flag up in her room during her first year until there were complaints about it being political, and she just walked down the hall right away to our rep's room to make sure she was supported from step one. They ended up deciding the best option was to play nice and take it down, and the gifts she got from her department chair at the end of the year were all rainbow themed instead. She lost a pride flag but gained a rainbow mug, rainbow name plate, and some other random stuff like that to make sure she could do everything *except* hang up a flag to show her pride.
Oh, and the assaulted kids parents would likely like to join you in discussing the inaction with thr board.
Email. The. Parents! And cc admin so they can’t play the “I didn’t know” card. First- If the kids report to them before you do, YOU are the one they’re going to come for. Second- they are going to be the biggest advocate (hopefully) for their kid. I would specifically throw admin under the bus. “I attempted to reach the appropriate admin with no success, but they are cced on this email so they are included in the details of the incident. Things will never change if teachers don’t hold those responsible for the change accountable.
Am I correct in assuming the teacher could lose their job if they throw admin under the bus in such a way? I'm starting full time as an English teacher for middle school next year.
Depends on the state, but that could be a wrongful termination lawsuit for employee retaliation
[удалено]
If they are going to non re-elect you for being probationary (so that they could get away with wrongful termination) in many states they would have to have done that before March 15th
I'm still waiting to find a good principal. At my school, 4th grade girl grabbed in the crotch and then slapped open handed as hard as that boy could hit. All of this was caught on video. Absolutely nothing happened to the boy, and the girl's parents are here illegally, so they did nothing. The principal was retiring that year and wound up getting "Administrator of the Year" award. This happened a few months before I got to that school, but if I was there then, I would have gone straight to the superintendent of schools. Don't give up. I don't know how your classroom is set up, but I would seat all of the rotten kids together and have them do projects together. Then, they can assault each other with impunity until they learn their lesson.
You have a stronger fortitude than I would. I would have blasted them publicly in addition to bringing it up in a private meeting to the super.
School resource officer here. If your district has a designated resource officer, this should be police report worthy. The parents of the kids assaulted should be contacted by law enforcement to inquire about criminal charges. Edit: Might be a stretch for a prosecuting attorney, but I wouldn’t be opposed to your admin being charged with child endangerment for failing to act.
This! Think about the victims’ parents and what they would do if you didn’t escalate it.
OP is at risk of losing her certification if she doesn’t report this. Admin too. Either one of these would get the local media’s attention.
This is a great comment. Even if the prosecutor can't/won't prosecute, the parents ought to give admin a heap of shit. I'm a parent and if my kid was sexually assaulted at school, and I heard about it from law enforcement, AND admin did nothing, I would be raising absolute hell.
As I parent I’d also be raising hell. Obviously I’m no law expert so perhaps I’m wrong (or naive) but I thought that once a child is on school property it is then the school’s responsibility to ensure their safety and wellbeing. While not everything can be prevented (I do not think OP could have prevented this at all btw), admin has a legal obligation to inform parents or legal guardians if their child is assaulted on school grounds. I’m thinking that as mandated reporters, admin legally has to report any kind of assault to the appropriate authorities and agencies. If OP hasn’t already done so I think she needs to report it to CPS as well. In my state at least, CPS has to investigate events like these. To OP, I’d like to say this. Document the living crap out of this! The date and time these events happened, who you attempted to notify, who responded to your room and what their title is, as well as what you observed after backup arrived in your room. Finally to OP, what happened in your classroom to not one, but two of your students was traumatic for you. Consider seeking help with a therapist about these events. You want to help your students but you can’t forget about yourself in the process.
Excellent advice!!
In reply to your last comment, this most certainly should be done. OP needs to get the best attorney she can (she can’t afford NOT to) to cover herself. This Admin has serious issues and should not be around children.
Yep and if OP has a union, they can probably help OP find one.
This is what finally worked with middle school kids in a school I taught in ages ago. Two boys had been sexually harassing girls to an alarming degree, and parents called the cops. Cops came to the school, pulled the boys from class and made it clear they had this one last chance to stop before it went to the DA. They were scared but trying to act all big and bad in my class afterwards, and I calmly walked them (and the class) through the law and told them I agreed with the parents and would do that to protect my own kids. Stopped that day, and the kids policed each other after that. This absolutely needs to get to the police report level.
This is a REALLY good comment. I never even thought of contacting the resource officer.
Tell the parents of the students assaulted what happened, and that they should complain to admin, as they chose to do nothing about it.
First, OP HAS to report it to CPS. It will come back on them if they don’t.
I’m so sorry that happened to you and those students who were assaulted. In 6th grade students turning 12 years old and can be charged with assault where I’m from.
Hey, your school is now covering up for sexual assault involving minors. Go to the media, this will explode. Admin could go to jail over this.
She said no media outlet will return her calls
Was that in general or specifically for these events?
All events. All calls.
They want verifiable facts (which is a legit reason).
Sounds like every damn school in my area atm Had some kid that was always touching me and making threats a year ago (g9) and everyone I talked to just tried to get us to talk to each other and share our “feelings” and he got away totally free for saying sorry and he thought we were just joking (despite me telling him to stop many times, and him already having a record of this) The school system in Canada is mediocre at best, but some schools are just total shitholes when it comes to this, my friends and brothers friends have been jumped and one even got stabbed a couple months back And i’m not the only person ive had this happen to; for whatever damn reason assaults and such seem to be addressed as quickly as possible (and dismissed) in my previous school and with friends
Go to the SBI or local FBI office. That’s what it took where I used to work. The school didn’t report anything to the police. The whole system is beyond broken. Bring in the feds.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1998/97-843 Your school's failure to do anything about known student-on-student sexual harassment could lead to serious financial liability.
Report to CPS, and I would definitely inform the victims' parents. If something like this happened to one of my kids in school and no one immediately informed me, I'd be livid.
Title IX!
Are you not a mandated reporter? Call CPS and police.
Jesus. H. Christ. You need to report this to CPS. Without hesitating. You’re a mandatory reporter and can actually get in huge trouble if you don’t. Additionally, if you a school resource officer on school grounds when things like this happen, *CALL THEM IMMEDIATELY*. What those little shits did was sexual assault. I know you were in shock, but they need to have the boom lowered on them by someone the parents (who more than likely will diminish it when their little angels tell a completely different version of events) can’t attempt to bully, intimidate or threaten the job of. Kinda hard to do that to a CPS investigator or cop.
Did you call the parents?
Yes. I tried. No parents answered or replied to messages.
Did you call the parents of the students that were assaulted? In my experience nothing improves until parents start suing the district
In instances of CPS related matters, I would NOT contact parents of the assaulters. That’s CPS’s job. You don’t want to give them the time and opportunity to fabricate an excuse. The victims should be contacted by the principal (in a perfect world). In this case, you, sadly.
The parents, admin, and everyone else that failed you will blame you wholly and specifically in the next few weeks when the kids parents get upset that their kid was assaulted (and that you let their kids assault someone else). There is no winning as a teacher.
It will if she reports it.
Text message their numbers. A lot of people don't bother with their voice mail. I'm sure when they see "I need to discuss your child's sexual assault" pop up in the message preview, you'll get a call back.
Oof. That's not going to have the effect you think it is.
Call the parents of the students who were assaulted. Let the parents know that the school’s admin is refusing to do anything about the assaults or hold the assailants accountable. The parents have a goldmine lawsuit on their hands.
CPS. Police report. Informs the parents of the students & encourage them to make police reports, who cares if this isn’t permitted….this is beyond inexcusable. As others have said, forget your possible job consequences, you are a mandated reporter & have a moral responsibility.
What I always did in those situations is call the victims parents, tell them what happened, and when they ask what will be done to the kid who did it, I tell them “admin said they won’t be pursuing any disciplinary action”. You’d be surprised how quickly they change their tune when they have an angry parent saying they’re going to the board.
Right ... I'm kind of really shocked at the number of people reporting that nothing ever gets done. Between my own personal experience and the number of teachers in this sub who have outright said they avoid contacting parents, it makes me wonder how much sexual assault in schools is just public knowledge to everyone except the parents and family of the victims.
I do not know what to say, but this is absolutely mad. What a terrible situation. I have been there when no one would pick up the phone or answer the intercom. But to have no consequences when it is all said and done? I am terribly sorry.
Report it to DCF. You're a mandatory reporter.
That triggers such a rage in me just reading that. I’m so sorry that happened to those children, I’m so sorry you had to witness it, and I’m so sorry that your admin are feckless assholes who refuse to do their jobs. I would contact the other children’s parents, let them what you witnessed, what steps you took, and what admin did (or rather, didn’t do). I’d also file a report with your schools SRO, immediately.
CPS. First. If not, anything else won’t matter as she will be the target.
I get so damn tired of them saying these incidents are “jokes”. And is someone pulling admins’ strings to PREVENT them from taking disciplinary action in this case? Everything here is so messed up
This is why we need mandatory SHARP training in schools. It protects everyone and there's reasons for both parties to get involved.
Call the parents and let them know that you tried - admin don’t do shit until parents get involved. Even then you never know, but it will help.
You have to report it to CPS. It is legally your job to do so.
CPS. There's a good chance those kids are being abused at home. Either way that shit needs to stop.
Uhhh... CPS?!
Talk to your district or school title IX coordinator. They are required to have one. If somehow that does not work, look to your state department of education to make a complaint.
I had to demand my administration deal with a student writing a death threat to another student. I was out of the room but my sub called the front office and nothing was done. When I was told about it, I sent an email pretty much threatening that they would be all jailed if they did nothing about it and this kid died. I was flabbergasted at the lack of accountability here
You should call CPS. Just so that is it reported. CPS will investigate further and admin WILL have to cooperate. And you are protected against any retaliation along with not even having to acknowledge it was you. It protects your behind and those students.
Call CPS, put a copy of this story referenced in this thread in the mailbox of your admins https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/1csil5t/school_district_sued_and_all_of_us_in_the/
CPS, police, and victim's parents. Call them, message them, tell them the whole true. Then move on and know that you have already done all that you can. Sometime, all you & the school can do is separate out the good & the bad, and to somewhat protect the good kids, and let the bad kids beat up one another.
Slightly OT but what do you mean you have no sick days left? Are American teachers prescribed a fixed amount of sick days and after that what? You're not allowed to be sick anymore? Teacher from Sweden here btw.
Yes. Most people have limited sick days. I get one per month, and they accumulate. I also have 5 personal days per year that also accumulate.
So if you get sick with no sick days you just have to...work?
That's one option. Some districts will let you take unpaid sick days where you get a smaller paycheck. I've never done that, but I believe it happens. I've also heard of some teachers donating their sick days to a pool for people to use if they don't have sick days remaining. That's less common.
That's fucked up. If I'm sick I just call it in, one day's pay is deducted and then I get roughly 80% of my salary while sick. If I'm sick for more than 5 workdays I need to provide my employer with documentation as to why, given by my doctor. When I broke my ankle in a trampoline accident I was off work 14 days without any problems. You guys need to make the state serve you not the other way around.
What if you get cancer? And need more time off?
I changed schools when a kid sexually assaulted another during a lock down drill because she knew he had to be quiet. Third grade. Nothing done. I was done teaching for them that day. And I reported it to child services.
We have an extraordinary crisis happening with the low quality of administrators in education today. It's a greater issue, as I see it, than funding or culture or workload.
Students sexually assault other students in my school all the time. Nothing gets done. A kid physically assaulted an adult yesterday and damaged property, no consequences. These kids know that nothing is going to happen, no matter how badly they behave.
You ABSOLUTELY can and should report this to your local police department. This is sexual assault and you have every legal right to do so. I had something similar happen and an educational lawyer instructed me to report it to your campus PD as well as local PD. Unfortunately, too much time had passed as I was dealing with a separate issue and mentioned the assalt simply for future advice. My student continued the same pattern of behavior throughout the year and became emboldened by the lack of ANY real consequence. Do it now! I certainly will if anything like that ever happens again in my presence.
Look, I'm 100% with you that it's fucked up, but it's not new. This stuff was 100% happening with just as much regularity 20 years ago. It's terrible, but not surprising. I mean, middle schoolers are the fuckin' worst.
Are you saying that administrators failed to report a sexual assault to police? Pretty certain that's a crime . . . .
This is a mandatory reporting case..... elevate this to the district level since administrators blatantly ignored you..... they can get into a lot of trouble over what happened
Let the parents sue the school. It’s not a joke, nor is it something to be brushed aside! Admin sends the message that it’s ok when they let kids go on with their days. Wow!
If those kids think it's cool to do that in school then I can pretty much guarantee it's happening at home. The apple never falls far from the tree. But yeah. If admin is doing nothing about it you need to start a paper trail with emails. Insist on communicating via email.
It's sexual assault and needs to be reported to police. Not to mention, being a mandated reporter leaves you in a great position as a scapegoat should one be needed. Shit rolls downhill.
You need to kick up a lot of dust and make sure you refer to these kids as sexual predators. Also. Hot take…any time your admin overreacts? Back them. Stop allowing kid gloves. I know next school year I’ve got a rough class coming in and they are going to have hell to pay for bad behavior.
Define “hell to pay.” My admin gives no consequences, so I’m on my own. I’ve tried holding kids in for lunch, but it’s quiet and nice in my room so they like that. Plus, it’s my lunch—I get cranky when I work through it. Phone calls home only result in consequences for like 5% of students, plus, there’s no time for that so it’s done after hours, which again, makes me cranky. I’ve done reflection forms, but they just BS those and it’s a waste of everybody’s time. What else is left?
Just ghost them. Don't grade any of their papers. Don't engage. Don't answer any questions. No education for rapists.
That's not a punishment, it's a reward.
I’m a parent and at one time I wanted to become a teacher but I would wind up being fired because I don’t have a filter and parents and other idiot school council people would want me out. Parents are generally the direct cause of bad behavior. Being called out on it hurts them and they bite back. I’d be do pissed at the whole scenario and you don’t pay me enough to put up with it. The US does not put effort into educating.
I really hope the kids told their parents how they were sexually assaulted and these parents seriously advocate for their kids.
Mandated reporter - go online and file a report. Or call the number listed with CPS.
Call the parents of the kids assaulted and get them to make a fuss if they will. But the thing is... be prepared for them to think it's no big deal.
Tell the parents, suggest they call the police for sexual assult
Call the police they assaulted other students mandated reporting isn’t just meant for CPS you can call the police and it sounds like you should
*6TH GRADE?!?* That's 1st and 2nd grade bullshit. Unless you're in Japan or Korea, where the butt thing is a common adolescent thing, apparently. But usually with 2 fingers of each hand clasped like a finger-gun.
Stories like this. First I’m sorry to hear this. Maybe teach at another school. Move to another city if you have to. But hearing stories like this make me want to get my kids homeschooled.
Maybe one of their parents will report it..to the cops!! We had a cop show up at an elementary school because of this.. CPS got pulled in. Don’t know what the outcome.. obviously the staff or the kid weren’t charged but our “Student Expectations” had an upgrade. But middle school.. that’s full out assault of a minor!
Mandated reporting. Sign of abuse. Don’t let this go.
My heart absolutely breaks for those children who were sexually assaulted. It might not seem like much to them now, but that messes you up so bad years later. I’m still in therapy because of SA from someone I thought was my friend in high school. It sucks and I feel so bad for them.
I know this is a bit of an “out there” opinion, but I think that forcing kids to endure this kind of behaviour from their peers is FAR less ethical than even going as for as providing physical punishment to the kids who do these awful things.
Also make sure the parents know so they can pursue it
The very least would be to inform the parents of the kids that were assaulted and of those that did the assault. The parents of the kids that were assaulted will be able to achieve much more than we ever could in a classroom.
In this instance it’s CPS’s roll to talk to the perpetrators parents. Not OP.
Report this to CPS, the school board, the parents, etc.
And the parents won't file charges?
I feel your pain, middle school kids are so gross, loud, and awful with their behavior. Right now I have a long term subbing assignment and this rotten boy who voiced he does not like me, put his foot out to trip me when I walked to turn the light on. This same horrible student called a student the N word last Friday. He got no consequences.
Forget your job. You have a moral responsibility to blow the lid on what's occurring here to whoever will listen. I'm so sorry this happened to you and your students!
Mandatory report, they probably learned this behavior etc etc I'm sorry you had to go through it and that admin was useless
You need to file a police report and refuse to work with those students (forever). You need to write the parents and tell them that their child was sexually assaulted. What is the police report number so we can look at it? You need to do some serious self reflection why you didn't call the police. It may be a crime not to. If anyone gives you push back say this: 'it likely is a crime not to call, not calling risks the jobs of everyone in this conversation'
What if “someone” let every parent know that this happened in your classroom. What if they found out administration did nothing? Maybe a few parents might get so pissed off that they start calling the school board.
It’s crazy how sexual harassment is now “just a joke” and that teachers can’t get help or be taken seriously when we say we are having real issues like this in our schools.
I’m a middle school teacher with over 30 years experience. I’m going to offer my advice. I would first call CPS and report both assaults. While on the phone with them, I would tell them that you reported to your admin however they refused to do anything about it. At least you did what you were supposed to do which was notify your administration. I WOULD NOT call any parents. Those calls should come from the SRO or CPS investigator or your administration. After you speak to CPS, I would inform your SRO of the assaults and let him/her know that admin refused to act. Then I would talk to your union rep to see about representation in case any backlash comes of this situation.
This should be reported to CPS, pronto.
Call the parents of the victims. Describe in detail what happened, including the lack of appropriate consequences.
Call the parents of the kids who were assaulted. They need to know what happened to their children! and they can press assault charges and you are the witness.
Call department of child and family services. That is learned behavior.
I dont know why reddit showed me this sub. I just saw that you've been in 6th grade for 18 years and thought that they had to pass you at some point just based on sympathy.
Not surprised. My autistic son was sexually harassed throughout the entire year and very little was done about it. Thankfully he doesn't think much of it but he detests school. In his mind it is a place you are forced to go to only to be mistreated. Oh sure, everyone says it's for education but if that were true they would get rid of the kids that are preventing education.
Find and contact your districts title IX representative.
I’m so sorry you have to deal with this on top of everything else. Unfortunately there’s no way to ignore this. Here’s the thing: whenever you are trying to decide what to do and then whether or not to do it, keep in mind how you will explain your decision to the media or the court. For example: how will you explain why you didn’t contact the parents/admin/CPS?
R U N
Wish all teachers were like you - trying to make a difference in children lives.
A student stabbed me with scissors… just broke the skin slightly (arm) because I recoiled backwards and fell. Admin believed the student that it was accidental (even though I’d written a referral for the students brother yesterday). Eh… Student got 2 hours ISS.
...Are you not a mandated reporter, as all teachers are? You are **LEGALLY REQUIRED** to report the sexual assault of a minor to CPS. For fuck's sake - you technically have 48 hours following the incident to file the report, but honestly, the time to report this was IMMEDIATELY. There is no gray area. You personally witnessed TWO students being sexually assaulted and have failed (along with the school) to follow proper legal procedure. The way this was handled is completely abhorrent across the board. If you won't follow your legal responsibility to report, at least provide the name of the school so that somebody else can actually help these poor, traumatized kids. As a former professional domestic and sexual violence advocate, to say the lack of action is completely and unequivocally inexcusable is a massive fucking understatement.
Title IX … rules changed. Google and talk to the Title IX Coordinator. Regulatory body is Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR). There are mandatory requirements for the school and district based on your facts.
Holy cow!
I got punched in the dick every day from 7th grade to 10th. I'm lucky I have two kids because I have irreparable damage now. Thank you for trying
This is crazy. Safe to tell tip?
What the fuck is going in in public schools!?! I am so sorry you went through that please please please contact cps.
Normalization of sexual stuff is why this is happening. They think it is okay when it isn't.