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People, people! When are you going to learn that Facebook is not the place to air your grievances about your job, bully your dying next-door neighbor, or post pictures of strippers washing your cop car? It's also the wrong place to make a pass at your pupils! (Not that there's really a right place to do that.) But in the last six months, at least three New York City high school employees have been involved in questionable online relationships with students, according to the New York Post.37-year-old Chadwin Reynolds, a former teacher at Fordham High School for the Arts in the Bronx, was fired after the Department of Education learned that he had friended about a half-dozen female students on Facebook, posting comments like "This is sexy" under some of their online photos. Reynolds allegedly left status updates, which were visible to his students, like "I'm not a gynecologist, but I'll take a look inside," and even pursued one student by proffering flowers, candy and a teddy bear after wrangling her phone number. Even though the Board of Education confirmed that Reynolds had been sacked due to his online dalliances, he told the Post that his case had been thrown out, and that "the Board of Ed found that the claims were not valid."
Laurie Hirsch, 30, who had worked as a paraprofessional at Bryant High School in Queens, lost her job in May, due to a relationship with a student that went beyond Facebook flirtation. Although Hirsch claims that her affair with an 18-year-old male student began after she was indefinitely suspended for using her cell phone too often at work, an investigation was launched when photos of her kissing him surfaced on Facebook. Hirsch told the Post that the relationship began while she was suspended, but the subsequent investigation -- which revealed over 2,700 phone calls between her and the student, and that the two had sex about 10 times -- killed the possibility of getting her job back.
A substitute teacher named Stephen D'Andrilli, who worked at Essex Street Academy in Manhattan, was banned from teaching after he friended multiple female students at the school. He allegedly posted a comment on one girl's Facebook profile, saying that her "boyfriend [did not] deserve a beautiful girl like you." In a separate comment, D'Andrilli told another student that she was pretty and that he had tried to visit her during one of her classes.
The Department of Education doesn't currently have a policy against friending students in place, although it may behoove them to look into one. (Another teacher, who was not disciplined, apparently gave extra credit to students who friended him.) Regardless of whether Reynolds, Hirsch and D'Andrilli made their moves out of school, off the clock, or with students at the age of consent, there should be an obvious ethical line not to cross. Apparently, a written policy needs to be adopted by the Department of Education to spell out to school employees that flirting with students, online or offline, is not appropriate.
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Comments
14
Subscribe to commentsYayaOct 18th 2010 2:13PM
What a moronic thing to do, especially teachers. Acting like teenage girls "like you" is absurd. They're actually laughing at you. Hope these fools like their new found freedom.
ladkraemerOct 18th 2010 2:15PM
who really cares... if they are over 18, which I assume they are, they can ban him or her from their face book. I don't think anyone should intervene in adults lives... I sick of all these brothers keeper laws. now if he threatened them , that's a different story. who are we to judge two adults when it comes to relationships. I hate laws that make make society become a watch dog... like the drinking laws.
hkhodges13Oct 18th 2010 3:25PM
@(Unverified) Sry but I strongly disagree. Anyone who has "supervisory" control over a student -- and for that matter, it really should apply to college profs as well -- has no business coming on to students. Especially in High School. When that student graduates, maybe. But even then, if a teacher has any modicum of professionalism and ethics, you don't mess with those that you teach/coach/mentor/assist. Looking back years from now, should you see that teacher at a hs reunion, what will go through their minds. It shows VERY IMMATURE teachers...who have no business being around students.
bobvantine73Oct 18th 2010 4:01PM
@(Unverified) ateacher should not be that stupid,how can kids learn from such a dummy or even respect them at all,might as well date the cop and the priest too
CKOct 18th 2010 2:30PM
The teacher who gave extra credit for "friending" had a good idea in that the best and most effective teachers make themselves approachable for questions and discussion. But many students are shy, and afraid to approach any teacher. And that hurts their quality of education. This idea can be helpful to overcome that.
nickersonOct 18th 2010 2:43PM
You sound real sweet moron.
DORISOct 18th 2010 3:05PM
JUST A SIGN OF THE TIMES - HELP!
WHEN I TAUGHT H.S. SOME BOYS (PUPILS) TRIED TO COME
ON TO ME...THEY WERE GENTLY DISCOURAGED. BUT I WAS
RAISED WITH MORALS AND PRINCIPLES.
IN MY H.S. ONE MALE TEACHER DID DIVORCE HIS WIFE
(WITH CHILDREN) AND MARRIED HIS PUPIL...I DON'T KNOW
HOW HE GOT AWAY WITH IT...NOW SHE IS A TEACHER ALSO -
IN A GOOD SCHOOL...'IT'S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHO"!
chrisOct 18th 2010 5:08PM
when i was 18 in 12th grade i had a student-teacher come on to me. she was attractive but i secretly told her that a relationship with a student could hurt her chances of ever becoming a teacher. i still talk to her every once in a while on the computer but only as friends
hkhodges13Oct 18th 2010 3:29PM
ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND! Hopefully you're not a parent. Any teacher that wants to meet one of my kids (if I had any in school) over the internet or on the "side," would be harassed legally (lawsuits or via complaints to the school board...if not personally confronted by me!) This shows a very IMmature person who needs to have younger ppl around them because they cannot relate to adults their age. This is the type of proving ground that potential pedophiles love! Yes, I FB with one of my teachers. BUT...40 years AFTER I graduated!
There are plenty of places/times/events for teachers to meet students. On school property after class...at BB or FB games, etc. Or they can have parent-teacher conferences WITH the student. Anything...but don't hide behind the computer to do it.
EldonOct 18th 2010 3:56PM
Facebook flirting should be looked at the same as any other inappropriate flirting. The last position I had, the manager was known for this with many female employees. He made numerous attempts to flirt with employees which he supervised at work. This was very inappropriate and he was suspended, but eventually given another chance to further his creepyness!
hdyyyOct 18th 2010 4:14PM
Why do students friend their teachers? I'm a teacher and I would never want my students on my profile page- it's none of their business and I don't care about their lives outside of school either.
LainieOct 18th 2010 4:56PM
There's nothing inherently wrong with "friending" a student. As far back as the third grade, I liked to engage in private discussion with teachers about things we were learning in class, or that I had recently read - once in a blue moon it might be about me, or another student, being bullied. If we'd had the internet back then, I probably would have used it as well.
There is also nothing inherently wrong with meeting with students "on the side." For example, I have a close relative who is a university professor. Every so often there are students who are similar to me (above,) who are more serious about their major, and/or who want his input on their own side projects. The "kids" are of age and meet with my relative - usually in groups- either at school, or at home with his wife present, for a stated purpose.
The problem is with the context, or content, of the extracurricular communication. If the communication is drug or alcohol-related, or sexual or romantic in nature, it's UNACCEPTABLE. I do see a problem, however, with "flirting." The problem isn't whether it's inappropriate - of course it is. The problem is defining it. Take the above example of a teacher saying the student is beautiful and her boyfriend doesn't deserve her. Well, ok, that comment could be creepy, or humorous, or even meant to bolster someone's low self-esteem... you need context to decide which.
As an aside, I went to a small, private, Catholic, high school. The teenage girls were relentless in the pursuit of young, attractive, male teachers. As you can imagine, you don't find a lot of alpha males teaching private school english and religion; most of these guys were mortified and had no idea how to handle the attention.
raptorspikeOct 18th 2010 9:17PM
OK, there are times when students will have crushes on teachers. It's happened to a lot of us. But these teachers never learned to just let it blow away. They all deserved what they got.
talonOct 25th 2010 8:35AM
When I was in highschool a 16 year old girl I was getting rides to school from (I was 15) was having a secret relationship with a physics teacher who was older than her grandpa. She used to always tell me she thought he was hot but I totally thought she was just trying to be funny. But then she started giving him rides after school. It was real awkward for me because he was also the assistant football coach and I played football, and here he was riding shotgun with my 16 year old friend.
Anyways the day she turned 18 they took off to Kentucky and got married. He got a new teaching job down there.
They got divorced, and she is a lesbian now.
I am not making any of this up. Easily the most bizarre high school memory i have