Tennessee district holds in-service training for principals after sexual harassment incident
After an incident in Rutherford County, Tennessee, the school district recently held in-service training for its 40 principals on how to handle sexual harassment and bullying complaints. Schools Director Harry Gill Jr. told the principals that once they hear a complaint of sexual harassment by a teacher of a student, they should contact the central office about what should be done next, whether it requires a central office investigation, and if law enforcement should be notified.
"If we think it's criminal, we'll immediately notify the sheriff's department," he said. However, a parent whose daughter complained of sexual harassment by a teacher last year has concerns about the procedure. She claims that Mr. Gill is more interested in protecting teachers than students. She continues to question: (1) why it took five days to suspend the teacher after the she first notified principal Ken Nolan; (2) why her daughter had to retell her story in the presence of the teacher; (3) why a school resource officer was not asked early on to be involved; and (4) why Mr. Gill questioned her daughter without notifying her, even though school district policy states parents have a right to be present when their children tell their stories in a non-intimidating environment.
Mr. Gill denies having questioned the student in an intimidating matter and adds that he believed he had permission to speak to her because the parent had already given two female staff members permission to discuss the incident with her. While conceding that he would have handled the complaint differently than Mr. Nolan, Mr. Gill reiterated to the principals that Mr. Nolan did nothing wrong. If the parents were not comfortable with their daughter retelling her story in the presence of the teacher, they could have requested it be stopped, he says. But the mother maintains she "didn't have a problem with it because I didn't know it wasn't supposed to be happening. I'm finding out from law enforcement that this particular meeting was not supposed to take place. I was just doing what I was told. I thought this was standard procedure. I've never been in a situation such as this."
Mr. Gill and most other school policy makers insist the school board’s policies are effective, provided teachers abide by them and principals handle complaints in the appropriate way. According to Randall Bennett, legal counsel and associate executive director of the Tennessee School Boards Association, school board policies and administrative procedures need to complement each other. "The board is responsible for what and why, and then the superintendent is responsible for the who, where, when and how," he says. Although it's regrettable for students to retell their complaint, they do need to do it in the presence of administrators or counselors and possibly law enforcement officers many times, he adds. He recommends that the school district review every year the best way to implement procedures for sexual harassment and that, even if a criminal investigation is going on, the district continue its own investigation. Even if a teacher is cleared of criminal charges, he notes, a school director could still conclude that the accused educator is guilty of conduct unbecoming of a member of the teaching profession.
Murfreesboro Daily News Journal
By Scott Broden
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