My father, during his career as a teacher in a small town, had a couple of students who did show physical signs of abuse. Teachers in our community were legally required to report suspected abuse in the same way medical facility employees are.
Dad was careful to report only what he genuinely suspected, as CPS can wreck families' lives whether there is abuse or not, once they become involved, and he did not want to ever be the cause of such an ordeal for any family.
One case was all too obvious. The child came in with facial, arm, hand, and leg bruises when her grades were low. When asked how she got so badly bruised, the student reluctantly admitted that the bruises were from a beating administered by her mother because of her grades. Dad followed procedure, filed a report, and prayed that he was doing the right thing.
That week, he was called into his principal's office, threatened by the mother with a personal lawsuit, and ordered by the superintendent to get administrative approval for any further reports. According to the school administrators, the mother had been given time to clean up and coach/intimidate the child prior to the CPS visit, and the case worker had not seen through the act. The law that required teachers to report suspected abuse did not protect them or the school from lawsuits, so the school system was taking the CYA approach.
Dad's solution was simple. The girl's homework showed that she was understanding the material, but she had a terrible time with tests. He figured that her test scores were caused by anxiety over the beatings. After that incident, no matter how she did on her tests, she never got anything lower than an A in his class. When another teacher found this out and criticized him for it as being unfair to the students who did do well on the tests, he asked her, what do you think is our duty as educators, to teach the material, or to punish the children for having a difficult time? Would you send a child home to a beating knowing that the mistakes on her test were due to anxiety and not to lack of understanding? Explain how sentencing a child to abuse at home when you know you could prevent it translates into fairness for anyone.
My father, during his career as a teacher in a small town, had a couple of students who did show physical signs of abuse. Teachers in our community were legally required to report suspected abuse in the same way medical facility employees are.
ReplyDeleteDad was careful to report only what he genuinely suspected, as CPS can wreck families' lives whether there is abuse or not, once they become involved, and he did not want to ever be the cause of such an ordeal for any family.
One case was all too obvious. The child came in with facial, arm, hand, and leg bruises when her grades were low. When asked how she got so badly bruised, the student reluctantly admitted that the bruises were from a beating administered by her mother because of her grades. Dad followed procedure, filed a report, and prayed that he was doing the right thing.
That week, he was called into his principal's office, threatened by the mother with a personal lawsuit, and ordered by the superintendent to get administrative approval for any further reports. According to the school administrators, the mother had been given time to clean up and coach/intimidate the child prior to the CPS visit, and the case worker had not seen through the act. The law that required teachers to report suspected abuse did not protect them or the school from lawsuits, so the school system was taking the CYA approach.
Dad's solution was simple. The girl's homework showed that she was understanding the material, but she had a terrible time with tests. He figured that her test scores were caused by anxiety over the beatings. After that incident, no matter how she did on her tests, she never got anything lower than an A in his class. When another teacher found this out and criticized him for it as being unfair to the students who did do well on the tests, he asked her, what do you think is our duty as educators, to teach the material, or to punish the children for having a difficult time? Would you send a child home to a beating knowing that the mistakes on her test were due to anxiety and not to lack of understanding? Explain how sentencing a child to abuse at home when you know you could prevent it translates into fairness for anyone.
He never got an answer on that.