February 2017 Ohio Schools
- IN THIS ISSUE
- Sylvania EA’s story of community collaboration
- Coverage of the OEA 2017 Advocacy and Organizing Institute, and a look at opposition to Betsy DeVos
- OEA President Becky Higgins’ message; Ohio’s national education rankings; Legislative update, Association news, and more.
Moved recently? Contact the OEA Member Hotline to update the address on file at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or email, membership@ohea.org. Representatives are available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | OhioSchools — Past Issues
Oh Yes, We’re Social — Join the Conversation!
Your Career ABCs: Demystifying Acronyms and Abbreviations
Click here for a printable PDF.
Acronyms-
| EMIS | Educational Management Information System |
| eTPES | Electronic Teacher Principal Evaluation System |
| HQT | Highly Qualified Teacher |
| HET | Highly Effective Teacher |
| MRM | Multivariate Response Model |
| OAA | Ohio Achievement Assessments |
| OPES | Ohio Principal Evaluation System |
| OTES | Ohio Teacher Evaluation System |
| PARCC | Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College Careers |
| RTTT | Race to the Top |
| AIR | American Institute of Research |
| SGM | Student Growth Measure |
| TSDL | Teacher Data Student Linkage |
| SLO | Student Learning Objective |
| SOAR | Schools On-Line Achievement Reports Project |
| TIF | Teacher Incentive Fund |
| TOR | Teacher of Record |
| URM | Univariate Response Model |
| VA | Vendor Assessment |
| VAM | Value Added Method |
| IEP | Individualized Education Program |
| EVAAS/SAS | Education Value Added Assessment System-Statistical Analysis System |
| TGRG | Third Grade Reading Guarantee |
Definitions-
| Educational Management Information System | The Education Management Information System is a statewide data collection system for Ohio’s primary and secondary education, including demographic information, attendance, course information, financial data, and test results. |
| Electronic Teacher Principal Evaluation System | The Ohio Teacher and Principal Evaluation Systems (eTPES) is an online educator evaluation system for statewide use by Ohio districts and schools.
Evaluators can* collect and store growth and improvement plans, evidence and documented observations to determine educator performance based upon defined rubrics. The electronic system will follow the framework* for educator evaluation as adopted by the State Board of Education. |
| Highly Qualified Teacher | The actual definition and teacher requirements of highly qualified teacher can be found in §9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), otherwise known as NCLB.
Requires all core academic teachers and instructional paraprofessionals especially those whose positions are paid by Title I targeted assistance funds to meet requirements designated by ODE to meet federal standards. Starting in 2016-2017, intervention specialists of students eligible for the Alternate Assessment for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in Grades 7-12 will need to comply. Shift to HET with ESSA* |
| Multivariate Response Model | Multivariate Response Model (MRM) is used for tests given in consecutive grades, like the OAA math and reading assessments in grades three through eight. |
| Ohio Achievement Assessments | The Ohio Achievement Assessments for grades 3-8 measure students’ achievement levels in Reading, Math, Social Studies, and Science.
Previously known as OAPs, OATs, and proficiency tests. Replaced by PARCC in Spring 2014-2015. |
| Ohio Principal Evaluation System | ODE suggests the following model-
Two components, each weighted at 50 percent: 1. Principal performance rating, determined from:
2. Student academic growth rating 3. Reported via eTPES |
| Ohio Teacher Evaluation System | Standard 50/50 Framework–
Two components, each weighted at 50 percent:
New Alternative Framework– optional (effective 9/11/14)
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3319.111v2 and http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3319.112v2 |
| Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College Careers | One of two consortiums which developed online K-12 assessments in English and math. Will also supply assessments for Science grades 5 and 8, Social Studies grades 4 and 6. End-of-course tests to meet Ohio high school graduation requirements. They are ELA 1 and 2, algebra I, geometry (or integrated math 1 and 2), American history and American government and physical science. All will begin administration in Spring 2015. |
| Race to the Top | Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), provides funding to States to
|
| Student Growth Measure | Measures student growth which Ohio requires within teacher evaluation, principal evaluation and district grade card reports. Ohio law allows three types: Value Added, Approved Vendor Assessment and Local Measure (s). |
| Teacher Student Linkage | An online process which ‘links’ teachers to the students to whom they have provided instruction. Also known as Roster Verification (RV) |
| Student Learning Objective | A student learning objective is a measurable, long-term academic growth target that a teacher sets at the beginning of the year for all students or for subgroups of students. |
| Teacher of Record | The teacher to which student learning is attributed. However definitions differ based upon procedure, purpose and politics. |
| Univariate Response Model | Univariate Response Model (URM) is used when a test is given in non-consecutive grades, such as OAA science assessments in grades five and eight or any End-of-Course tests. |
| Vendor Assessment | A commercial product used to assess student growth. Law requires ODE to select and approve vendor assessments. If a local uses the vendor’s product, the data must be used within student growth measures. |
| Value Added Method | Value-added analysis, which originated in economics, is a statistical method which purports to measure the impact schools and teachers have on students’ academic progress rates from year to year. Various models exist. |
| Education Value Added Assessment System (SAS) | EVAAS and SAS builds on methodology developed by Dr. William L. Sanders, and provides software, data analytics and management to a wide variety of industries including education, government and insurance. |
| RANDA | “ RANDA acquires, manages and utilizes data providing a variety of education intelligence: Student Data (student identification, student demographics, assessments, student growth, course completion, and college readiness), Educator Data (educator identification, educator demographics, professional development/continuing education, Teacher/Student Data Link (TSDL), value added assessment alignment, and teacher effectiveness), and third-party data (community demographics, school climate, early warning data).” |
| Local Measures | Provided for student growth measure purposes. Currently SLOs and shared attribution have been provided via ODE and eTPES. |
| Shared Attribution | Teachers ‘share’ student assessment results for purposes of evaluation. |
| AIR | Replaces PARCC for Online State Assessments in 2015 |
| EOC | End of Course Exams |
| ESSA | Every Student Succeeds Act (law) |
| OSA | Online State Assessments |
| OIP | Ohio Improvement Plan |
| CCIP | Cycle of Continuous Improvement Plan |
| CHPT | Consistently High Performing Teacher |
| IPDP | Individual Professional Development Plan |
| CTC | Career Technical Courses (sometimes CTC is used for Career Technical College) |
| LPDC | Licensed Professional Development |
December 2016 Ohio Schools
- IN THIS ISSUE
- stories of Ohio educators working together to improve student health and achievement, celebrate diversity, and build professional connections
- Know Your Charter report finds local taxpayers have subsidized charter schools at a cost of more than $1 billion since 2012
- OEA members provide valuable input on federal Every Student Succeeds Act
- Educators focus on ways to support GLBT youth at OEA GLBT Issues Conference
Moved recently? Contact the OEA Member Hotline to update the address on file at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or email, membership@ohea.org. Representatives are available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | OhioSchools — Past Issues
Oh Yes, We’re Social — Join the Conversation!
Once a Union is Formed
Negotiating a Contract
Once the company recognizes the union (via card check) or the union wins an NLRB election, the company and union must negotiate a contract which spells out terms of employment for those workers eligible for the contract. Usually, the union bargaining team is com-posed of leaders from the organizing commit-tee and union representatives familiar with contracts and bargaining.
Negotiating a contract is referred to as collective bargaining. When relations between unions and management are decent, contracts can usually be agreed to in a relatively short period of time – a few days, a few weeks or at most, a few months. Negotiations that drag on longer than a few months usually do so because a company does not want a contract. Unfortunately, 32 percent of workers in the U.S. who vote for a union for the first time never get a contract.
Enforcing the Contract
A union contract sets forth the terms of employment and a grievance mechanism for dealing with disagreements. A shop steward is the person who assists workers in filing grievances and using the grievance process. The union has a legal obligation to assist workers in the process. A shop steward is usually a worker who has special training in understanding the contract.
Renewing the Contract
Because contracts are for specific periods of time, such as one year or three years, the contract will “come up for renewal.” For most union-management relations, this is a fairly straightforward process. In other situations, it can become contentious.
The traditional way for workers to exercise pressure on a company is to go on strike. This is almost always a last resort for because it is so hard on their families.
Your Right to Organize
The right to have a union, support a union, and engage in union activity is protected by State and Federal law. It is illegal for management to harass, intimidate, punish, or fire anyone for exercising your legally protected right to organize.
From Ohio Revised Code, Section 4117.03 – Rights of public employees:
- Public employees have the right to:
- Form, join, assist, or participate in, or refrain from forming, joining, assisting, or participating in, except as otherwise provided in Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code, any employee organization of their own choosing;
- Engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection;
From Ohio Revised Code, Section 4117.11 – Unfair Labor Practice:
- It is an unfair labor practice for a public employer, its agents, or representatives to:
- Interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code or an employee organization in the selection of its representative for the purposes of collective bargaining or the adjustment of grievances;
- Initiate, create, dominate, or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it; except that a public employer may permit employees to confer with it during working hours without loss of time or pay, permit the exclusive representative to use the facilities of the public employer for membership or other meetings, or permit the exclusive representative to use the internal mail system or other internal communications system;
- Discriminate in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment on the basis of the exercise of rights guaranteed by Chapter 4117. of the Revised Code. Nothing precludes any employer from making and enforcing an agreement pursuant to division (C) of section 4117.09 of the Revised Code.
- Discharge or otherwise discriminate against an employee because he has filed charges or given testimony under Chapter 4117 of the Revised Code
Forming a union
Step 1: Initial Contacts
Organizers and employees meet to assess the level of interest among coworkers and determine who might want to take a leadership role in the organizing drive.
Step 2: Building An Organizing Committee
Employees who strongly support OEA representation begin meeting to form an Organizing Committee, a core group of employees who will lead the campaign and be responsible for decision-making and communication leading up to recognition of the union. The committee should be at least 10% of the total workforce and be representative of the overall group.
Step 3: Building Support
When ready, the committee will reach out to coworkers through one-on-one conversations to assess interest. If it is determined that enough support exists, the committee will begin collecting authorization and membership cards. This is how the committee proves that there is enough “interest” to hold an election. Though state law requires only that 30% of the total unit signs cards, we will need at least 65% on cards to file for and win an election.
Step 4: Filing For An Election
Once the committee has collected cards from at least 65% of the unit, they will be submitted to the appropriate agency, either the State Employment Relations Board (SERB), or the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The agency will work with the union and management to determine and define the appropriate bargaining unit. They will also verify that there are enough signatures to hold an election.
Step 5: The Election
Once SERB or the NLRB has scheduled an election, employees will receive a ballot in the mail. The ballot will have 2 choices: The Association or No Representative. When the votes are received and counted, a simple majority will win.
Step 6: Bargaining
After OEA wins the election, employees will elect a bargaining team of coworkers to negotiate a first union contract. Along with an experienced negotiator from OEA, the bargaining team is responsible for bringing your priorities to the bargaining table. Once an agreement with management has been reached, all employees will vote on ratification of the contract.
ESP Issues
Privatization
Privatization threatens quality public education by severing the school-community link. Learn more about why it’s a bad idea and learn what we can do to combat it.
ESEA and Paraprofessionals
The most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), officially called “The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001,” is far more specific than past versions of the law. The law’s provisions about testing, accountability and teacher and paraprofessional quality will have a great impact on NEA members. Learn more about how the law affects ESPs.
ESPS Deserve a Living Wage
Attracting and retaining qualified school staff — K-12 teachers, higher education faculty, and education support professionals (ESPs) — requires salaries that are competitive with those in comparable professions. NEA supports a minimum salary of at least $40,000 for all teachers in our nation’s public schools and at least a living wage for every education support professional. NEA also supports higher compensation for higher education faculty and staff. Learn more about living wage campaigns.
Custodial Issues
Budget pressures, aging buildings, school violence, privatization, safety and health concerns – there are a lot of forces having an impact on school custodians. Learn more about what custodians face on the job, and find resources to help do the job better.
Seat Belts, School Buses and Safety
At first blush, the question of whether seat belts should be required on school buses seems obvious. Seat belts save lives in cars, so it seems logical that they would make school buses safer. But it turns out that the question isn’t so simple. Read more about this hot issue.
Results-Oriented Job Descriptions
Currently, job descriptions for too many Educational Support Personnel are inaccurate, dictated without employee involvement, or nonexistent. A new approach, results-oriented job descriptions (ROJDs), can help ESPs achieve recognition of the vital roles they pay, respect for their professionalism, job security, and equitable pay. Learn more about ROJDs in these two NEA publications:
- Results-Oriented Job Descriptions describes this new approach to ESP job descriptions.
- Results-Oriented Job Descriptions: How Paraeducators Help Students Achieve outlines the process by which new ROJDs can be written to accurately portray paraeducators’ jobs.
Sick Buildings
School buildings have unique features which make them especially prone to indoor air quality (IAQ) problems and “sick building syndrome”:
- Age of buildings: In the U.S., nearly 90% of schools were built before 1980, and 50% prior to 1960. Although indoor air quality problems can occur in any old or new building, increased risks in older buildings may be due to outdated ventilation systems and older roofs that may leak.
- Lack of money for renovation and maintenance: Many school districts cannot afford to complete regular maintenance procedures and renovations on older equipment. Failure to do so may provide a catalyst for increased problems with ventilation systems, roofs, and other areas of school buildings.
- Overcrowding: Almost one-fifth of Americans spend their days in schools. A typical school has four times as many occupants per square foot as an office building. With increased student populations, many schools are overcrowded, with ventilation systems that were not designed to accommodate the high numbers of people occupying the building.
ESPs are the principal people responsible for maintaining buildings to avoid these problems, and for dealing with them when they arise. NEA’s Health Information Network has assembled an extensive set of resources for understanding and addressing IAQ problems in HIN’s Indoor Air Quality pages.
Tips for Education Support Professionals
Fitting In
Regardless of what job you do in your school district, it’s important to build relationships with your fellow workers–and that’s not only the support staff. Getting to know the other staff members and the administration can only help to make your time at work be more pleasant. Knowing what staff members do can help you better understand their specific needs.
The Supervisor
Assess your supervisor’s style as soon as possible. Talk to your colleagues to get some idea of what he/she is like. At the same time, don’t take everything you are told as the absolute truth. Don’t make hasty judgments. Probably the best advice is to try to deal with as many things as possible on your own or with the help of the association. Reserve going to the supervisor for major issues.
The Principal
The principal may or may not be a factor in your daily work life but he/she is still someone to know. Follow the same advice for the principal as you would for your supervisor.
The Teachers
“Make friends before you need them,” is good advice with the teachers in a school building. Getting to know who teaches what and what their classroom rules are can make doing your job easier. It may sometimes feel as if teachers are just another level of supervisors above you. Remember-you all share the same concern-kids. Doing what’s best for the teacher can also be what’s best for the students.
The School Secretary
Many people consider the secretary to be one of the most important staff members. Secretaries can hold things together and keep the school running smoothly, even when no administrator is present. They can answer school-related questions, handle your paperwork for the district, and help you with emergencies. It’s a good idea to get to know the secretaries. You can help them do their job by doing everything they request in a timely fashion.
The Custodian
Like many other support staff employees, good custodians don’t get paid nearly what they’re worth. With their help, the building runs smoothly and efficiently. Find out what their specific job duties are. Can you change a light bulb or is that in their job description? If you have a concern about the cleanliness of a room, talk to them first before going to their supervisor.
The Bus Driver
Each day they perform the miraculous job of getting students safely to school and home again while driving a massive piece of machinery. Since their job demands that they stick to a schedule, their needs are usually urgent. Safety is their primary concern and they will do everything necessary to make sure that their bus is in the best working condition possible. Realize that the school bus is their classroom.
The School Board
They are your ultimate employers. They decide the rules and policies that run the school district. Find out who your board members are. Did you vote for one of them in the last election? Find out how he/she is doing by going to a board meeting.
The Cafeteria Staff
It seems that food service employees come with their own built-in reputation of being mean and never smiling. Yet every day they try to please everyone with a nutritious meal that many times relies on limited resources. If your work takes you into the food service area, know the rules and help these employees keep a safe and happy and work environment.
The Paraprofessionals
In comparison to other support staff employees, this group probably has the more direct daily contact with students. The parapro may be your direct contact into a teacher’s classroom when there is a question or concern about a student or a classroom need. Find out who they are and what they do.
Library or Media Specialist
They are in charge of one of the most used areas in a school building. In addition to being a storehouse for all books and magazines, the media center may also be a place for meetings, to house technology and to serve as a classroom. The media specialist may also be the only person doing that job in the whole district.
The School Nurse
If your district or school is lucky enough to have a nurse on staff, you can help keep them informed of health-related situations you encounter. Many times support staff employees are more aware of bruises, upset stomachs and bloody noses than classroom teachers are.
Start the Job Off Right
You were hired because you are the best candidate for the job. Keep that positive image going by practicing some of these tips.
- Learn School Policies: You need to know what the administration expects from students and staff in regard to areas of school life.
- Learn Work Rules: These rules effect and direct your job and employment, e.g. applying for vacation time or taking a sick day.
- Discuss Expectations: Within the first few days, talk to your fellow employees. Ask them what their expectations on the job are. Tell them what your job expectations are. This helps you as a member of a positive employee team.
- Plan Your Work: You will want to be organized and have “all bases covered.” What you do during the first week or two will help establish expectations of your value as a team employee.
- Learn Names: As quickly as possible, learn the names of your unit coworkers. Once this is done learn the names of other work site personnel.
- Be Consistent: Begin the year with confidence in yourself and in your ability to do your job and become better at it. Be firm in your belief of yourself and your abilities.
- Deal with Disruptive Student Behavior: Know your school policies. Ask for clarification of the policies before events occur. Remember that 89% of violent acts that occur in schools occur outside the classroom. These are the areas where ESP employees are found. By knowing and enforcing school safety policies, you are contributing to the overall quality of the school.
- In a tense situation, the use of humor might be the best course of action. When a possible challenge is perceived, humor can be used to negate the challenge.
- Don’t be ashamed or hesitant to ask for help. Association representatives and other school employees are there to help-use them.
- Schedule When Necessary: Many employees are successful when they regularly plan meeting their work responsibilities. Your first few weeks are crucial to your career. Using administrative guidance, plan, plan, and plan again for this time period. Then follow through. It will demonstrate your interest and value. As you gain experience in your job, the planning will become easier. It will lead to recognition of your abilities.
Keep These in a Safe Place!
Maintain an easily accessible personal file(s) at home or at school to contain important documents such as:
- Licenses and/or certificates
- Diplomas
- Transcripts of credits and degrees
- Record of job-related seminars, workshops and conferences
- Letters of appointment or hire
- Employee contracts, including any supplemental contracts
- Record of hire from the employer’s official minutes (Board meeting minutes)
- Record of accumulated sick leave and other leave days (personal, vacation)
- Copy of assignment schedule
- Log of tax-deductible job-related expenses
- Copies of insurance policies
- Information from the retirement system
- Yearly salary notice provided by the employer
- Documentation of commendations, awards and honors
- Employee salary or wage schedule; pay stubs
- All evaluation records
- Letters to and from parents and students
- Letters to and from administrators/supervisors and department heads
- District policies on student discipline, suspension, expulsion, corporal punishment
- Record of disciplinary methods used in handling student problems, including date and witnesses involved
- Record of assaults, violence, or workplace thefts
- Written personal reconstruction of events surrounding student injuries
- School calendar
- Fringe benefit information; claim records
Social Media Guidelines for Educators
Dos And Don’ts For Educators
Whether you’re just considering becoming involved with social media or you’ve already established an identity on one or multiple sites, you need to use these channels wisely. OEA has developed the following guidelines on using social media to help protect yourself both personally and professionally.
- DO: Know the privacy settings of every channel you use and keep abreast of any changes to them (see Additional Resources). You have to decide for yourself what level of privacy is right for you, however OEA recommends sharing only with people you know personally. For instance, on Twitter we recommend blocking your tweets so only individuals you approve can see them. Taking just a few minutes to establish strict online settings will go a long way toward keeping what you post restricted. Additionally, try to be “anonymous” whenever possible. Don’t include information that could put your identity at risk.
- DO: Understand that there’s no such thing as a truly “private” post. Once you publish something through social media, you lose a degree of control over your message. Even if you set your privacy settings appropriately, to be shared only with people you know, your posts can still be captured via screenshot, printed, or copied and pasted into an email and shared beyond your intended audience.
- DO: Understand the limits of your First Amendment rights. Free speech rights are fairly limited for educators: their speech is protected only if they speak out as citizens on “matters of public concern” and their speech doesn’t disrupt the school. So matters of personal concern, e.g. social activities, partying, personal gripes, etc., are not protected. Tenured teachers have far greater job security than probationary teachers — they can’t be fired except for “just cause” — but it’s not the First Amendment that protects them.
- DO: Learn The Licensure Code of Professional Conduct for Ohio Educators.
- DO: Find out if your school or district has an Acceptable Use Policy for the Internet and/or social media. Make sure everything you do online is in keeping with these and other pertinent policies, as well as state and federal laws and regulations. You will be held responsible for what you post both by your school and legal entities. If your school doesn’t have an official policy, take this opportunity to help develop one.
- DO: Keep work and play separate. Regardless of your school or district’s policy, never use school property for personal communications. Do not log onto your email on the school’s computer. Do not bring your laptop to school and access the school’s network. Never access your personal email or send texts on your mobile device using the school’s Wi-Fi. Also keep a clear distinction between your personal and professional identities online. Don’t friend students, parents, and people you only know professionally, or otherwise connect with them through your personal account. If you want to use social media professionally, create a separate account for this and maintain appropriate boundaries and language at all times. Alternatively, you could use a social network specifically designed for connecting professionally.
- DO: Monitor your own internet presence, so you’re aware of content posted by others about you or content posted by an imposter posing as you. Create a Google alert to notify you when anything about you has been posted. Monitor comments that are posted to your page and your friends’ photographs. Delete inappropriate language or content. If someone “tags” you in an inappropriate photograph, remove the tag and ask the friend to take the photo down.
- DO: Contact OEA if you have any questions. If you’re about to publish something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, feel free to discuss it with your Labor Relations Consultant.
- DON’T post profanity, obscenity or anything that depicts you in an unfavorable light, including, but certainly not limited to, any images with you drinking, using drugs, in questionable settings, with disreputable companions, in inappropriate attire, or engaging in illegal activities.
- DON’T vent online. Under no circumstances should you ever tell stories about work that include personally identifiable details, such as full names, job titles, addresses, phone numbers, pay, or other information protected by state and federal privacy laws. Even eliminating any specific information about your situation and/or presenting it as a hypothetical puts you at risk.
- DON’T post anything related to a student, no matter how harmless you think it is. Never counsel a student online.
- DON’T accept an online relationship with anyone who you do not know offline. This is true for everyone, not just educators. Don’t assume Facebook friends of your friends are safe.
- DON’T join groups that may be considered unprofessional or inappropriate, and leave any such group of which you are already a member.
Additional Resources
Facebook Privacy Settings and Tools: https://www.facebook.com/about/basics
Twitter Support: https://support.twitter.com
YouTube Help Center: https://support.google.com/youtube
Pinterest Help Center: https://help.pinterest.com
Help for Flickr: https://help.flickr.com
How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School: http://bit.ly/Lx3bJV
Online Database of Social Media Policies: http://bit.ly/KPYOJA
Download these guidelines.
Commonsense Pointers for Avoiding False Allegations
Whenever possible, never be alone with a student. That’s because a student’s allegations made when there are no other witnesses hinge on credibility, and authorities often tend to favor the alleged victim in these circumstances. So don’t be alone with a student in a house or a car, and never give a student a ride home. To the extent possible, avoid being alone with a student in a classroom.
Risky situations include: one-on-one tutoring, counseling, after-school or recess detention, and make-up tests. If you can’t avoid being alone with a student at school, keep the door open and stay in plain sight.
Always maintain a professional demeanor and distance. That means: no flirting, teasing, or joking about sex. Don’t socialize with students or treat them as “pals” or “friends.” Never give gifts, unless you give one to every student, and don’t single out any one student for constant special attention or flattery.
Never send e-mails, text messages, or cards to students unrelated to schoolwork. Don’t ask students about their social lives or comment on their personal appearance and avoid discussing intimate details of your own private life. Don’t hire students to babysit or allow them to visit your home. Be the adult and maintain boundaries.
Avoid physical contact with students. This is a particularly difficult area. Younger children often seek and need physical comfort from their teachers who, sadly, may be the only source of compassion and love that some students have. In the early elementary grades, an occasional hug is probably OK. But as a general rule, it’s best to avoid most forms of physical contact, especially kissing, hair stroking, tickling, and frontal hugging. And use common sense: a “high five” to acknowledge a job well done is fine; a slap on the bottom is not.
Male teachers have to be especially careful when it comes to physical contact of any sort. While a female teacher’s touch may be perceived as comforting, a male teacher’s may be viewed as sexually suggestive. And male employees are far more likely to be accused of inappropriate contact with students than female employees. According to one expert, accusations involving female teachers and male students make up less than 5 percent of the cases.
Avoid using physical force to enforce discipline. When students are misbehaving or out of control, avoid touching or grabbing them to get their attention. Instead, use verbal commands and other disciplinary methods.
There may be a rare occasion when you will have to use physical force in self-defense or to prevent injury to others. If that happens, use the minimum force necessary to prevent harm and immediately call for help. Also, if this is a persistent problem, you may want to ask your district for special training.
Never allow a student to obsess over you. While a crush can be flattering, it also can be fatal, so always nip it in the bud. An unfulfilled fantasy can result in a student acting out to gain attention or retaliating for being ignored. If a student expresses a love interest, respond with an unambiguous “no.” Don’t equivocate and certainly don’t encourage the student by acting pleased by the attention. It’s also advisable to share this information with another adult and your Association representative. In some circumstances, it may be appropriate to tell your supervisor and ask that the student be transferred.
Be particularly wary of “troubled” students. This is a tough one. Some students come to school with a host of emotional needs and chronic problems, and they may confide in their classroom teacher and ask for support and guidance. Particularly for a student with emotional problems, a teacher’s efforts to help unfortunately can be misconstrued as something more and may lead to an infatuation or dependence. Plus you don’t have the skills or training needed to assist.
While you can and should express concern and compassion, don’t take on the role of confidant or counselor. Instead, refer the student to the school counselor, a trained professional who has both the expertise to assess what services the student may need and the experience to know how to arrange for the delivery of those services to the student.
Be especially vigilant if you hold certain teaching positions. Anecdotal evidence suggests that employees who perform certain jobs are at increased risk of false allegations. These include athletic coaches and performing arts teachers —drama, band, chorus, and debate, as well as publications advisers. This trend may be the product of the intense nature of such activities, which may weaken teacher/student boundaries, coupled with a substantial amount of after-school, weekend, and off-campus contact.