Teacher Fired for Misconduct...

in her private life, personal time.

My kids told me tonight that a female, 7th grade teacher got fired for stripping. I first I thought they meant that this person moonlighted as a stripper - we all know teacher's don't make much money. But apparently that was not the case. My 8th grader's details were pretty sketchy. Apparently this teacher stripped somewhere and a student's parent witnessed it (again, sounds like a strip joint to me) and called the school.

My 7th grader said he heard it happened at a bar in one of the small towns in our school district. Said teacher was out with friends and apparently the group decided to have a contest amongst themselves as to who of them had the best body. Said teacher started with lifting her shirt to show her bare midsection and then went on to strip off more. I don't how much she took off, if it was just her top or if she was down to her Victoria Secrets or what. But apparently the Associate Principal happened to be frequenting the same establishment that night and witness the incident.

The teacher has now been fired. What I am wondering is why does what she does outside of school, not in the presence of any of her students matter to her job security? I understand that with all the serious teacher misduct involving sex with students in the news in recent years, there is probably a lean toward nipping any inpropriority in the bud. But, like I said, this didn't happen at school and she didn't strip in front of her students. I assume she was probably well respected. In addition to her regular teaching duties, she was a after-school program coach, and was also dating a well liked and respected faculty member. Now because of something (albeit ill-advised) she did in her personal life, she has lost her job and reportedly the other faculty member has dumped her too.

Is this fair? Who hasn't done things, especially when drinking, that they aren't embarrassed by? Mortified even? Heck, one read through my "embarrassing moments" post shows I've had my fair share. But would we have lost our jobs over those actions? Should this teacher have been fired for this? Perhaps teacher's contracts have a morality clause but was this immoral? She had a little too much to drink and lost both her inhibitions and her good judgement. Does this make her a bad person? Does that mean she can't teach 7th grade math? Would it have been different if she were a stipper at a strip joint? Should what teachers do in their private lives remain private and not affect their jobs so long as no students are involved?

When I was in high school I worked at a fast food joint that happened to be acrossed the street from the dirty book store. One day when I was washing windows, I saw our school counselor enter that facility. Did the fact that he liked to look at porn (or get a little slap and ticket) make him unable to help a student decide if they should go to college or become a pest control specialist? Did it mean he couldn't sit two fighting girls down and get them to see that they were best friends two minutes ago and will be again in two minutes. Did it mean he couldn't spot a troubled teen and get them help? If you think it does mean all those things? Why? Because he took his fetish out into the daylight? What if he watched hard core porn at home and no one ever knew? Does that make him any more qualified to perform his job duties?

I feel for this woman. I have long known that I can never run for politic office for fear that my past misdeeds would resurfice. And I have endoured embarrassment too but imagine how she must feel knowing the entire school district is judging her.

What do you think?