Local Teacher Arrested for Criminal Sexual Conduct

[jimhines]

Content warning for discussion of a teacher arrested for sexual touching of students.

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Earlier this month, as I was sitting in the airport getting ready to go to ICON, an email popped up from our school district superintendent. He was writing to let parents know that a fifth grade teacher had been arrested on five counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of assault with intent to commit second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

This was my son’s teacher a few years ago.

My wife spoke with my son while I was gone. He says Mr. Daley never did anything like that to him, which was a relief. He also talked about how disappointed he was in his teacher.

You and me both, kiddo.

My son is in eighth grade this year. If you’d asked me who his best teacher was in the decade he’s been going to school? I would have said Mr. Daley. He was patient, supportive, encouraging, and seemed to genuinely care about his students.

And now, every good thing he did is tainted by the question, Did he really care about his students? Or was it all some sort of grooming behavior, laying the groundwork to see what he could get away with, and with whom?

I trust and believe my son when he says nothing happened. I know fifth grade was a good year for him in many ways, and a relief after a rough time in fourth grade. Mr. Daley was a big part of that. But I also know at least four boys have come forward with these accusations — accusations the news reports claim are corroborated — accusations that were enough to justify an arrest and formal charges.

I’ve worked with rape and abuse survivors. I’ve observed groups with convicted abusers. My wife is a licensed therapist, and has way more experience than I do working with both survivors and abusers. Mr. Daley was one of our favorite teachers for either of our children. Neither one of us had the slightest inkling.

And I start thinking about other, more publicized accusations of harassment and assault, and the denials that follow. People coming out to proclaim the accuser must be lying because the accused is a “very fine man,” and they’ve never seen anything to suggest he (or she) would do such a thing.

Well, yeah. Predators don’t have neon forehead tattoos labeling them rapists and harassers and abusers. The soundtrack doesn’t shift to a minor key when they enter a room.

I understand feeling shocked. I understand not wanting to believe. I was so much happier thinking of this guy as just a great teacher instead of an alleged sexual predator.

I understand wanting to bury your head in denial. But every time someone proclaims, “The victim must be lying, because the accused is such a good man and he’d never do that,” not only are you hurting the victim — not only are you calling them a liar and adding to the burden and pain of speaking up — you’re also providing cover for predators. You’re saying all they have to do is act like a good person around you, and you’ll actively support them and help them to discredit their victims.

Sometimes it’s people you never would have expected. Sometimes it’s people on your “side.” Sometimes it’s people you really liked.

The next hearing in this case is scheduled for late November. Daley will have his time in court, and is legally innocent until proven guilty. It’s possible he is innocent. But given that false accusations are statistically unlikely, given that there are multiple, corroborated accusations, given that enough evidence exists for multiple charges to have been filed, I find that very unlikely.

No matter how much I might want to believe otherwise.

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

Comments

[azurelunatic]

A middle school science teacher of mine was accused shortly after I had his class. He was super popular and kind. The girls loved to braid his long hair. In retrospect, the grooming makes me shudder.

[jreynoldsward]

Given, too, the degree to which teachers are explicitly taught to avoid the appearance of impropriety (inservice every year, mandatory)....

That said, as a former union leader, I heard of comparable accusations and dismissals of teachers. Quite often it was a sudden onset behavior, in several cases tied to illness. One accusation I heard came from a student developing early-onset schizophrenia and it justifiably freaked out the teacher it was made toward. That student went into a behavior classroom as other issues were developing.

But as a teacher I also heard false accusations made by difficult kids toward teachers they disliked in order to avoid working--this was in a middle school. One teacher was quite demanding and strict and a couple of kids (from the same, tragic, blended family) threatened to get her fired when she reprimanded them for distracting behavior/not doing their work. Those accusations are rarely sexual in nature, though. I got one of those myself when a kid who didn't want to work, wanted to be the center of attention, came from a difficult home with an enabling parent, etc, etc, wrote "Miz RW is hell" on a paper and then told my principal that his mother was going to sue me and get me fired.

My sin? He was vying with another sixth-grade boy over the attentions of a girl in our class--and his reading and math skills were sufficiently impaired that he could not function in a mainstream class. But he didn't like being in a special education class and he blamed me for it. He didn't want to do the academic work.

One possible case of teacher grooming I encountered had evidence emerge the year after the guy left the state. I don't think it went very far as he fortunately left (and he was having marital issues) but he encouraged behaviors that caused problems for the rest of us in the following year.

In any case, if the accusations have credibility and proceed to arrest, that's the only time you are going to hear about them in the media. More often you will hear about a midyear transfer to administrative work away from students, or a midyear retirement. Unions usually work closely with administration on these issues because they don't want to keep the predators around the kids, either--and they will find a means to ease someone out.

[zdashamber]

"Ease someone out" seems creepy and wrong. What about all the grandkids of friends?

[jreynoldsward]

That's not the union's job--their job is to protect the kids in classrooms. If someone is getting eased out, generally there's insufficient evidence to convict.