Teachers: Is Your Personal Life Really Yours?

Sarah Jones, teacher and cheerleader.

Yesterday's abysmal court ruling that gave the BenGal dancer/teacher Sarah Jones only 5 years probation after she had sex with a student made me think about what teachers are allowed to do outside of school. I thought about it and came to a couple conclusions:
1. I would have felt incredibly uncomfortable if I had a teacher in high school who was a cheerleader/dancer on the nights and weekends. I would have felt like she was a role model for me; someone put there by the school board to show me a good example of an adult. There definitely would have been a huge influence on my dressing and actions if I had known she was a dancer, because I would see showing 90% of my body and shaking my boobs and butt to thousands of people both at home and on national television as an acceptable thing to do. "If my teacher can do it, why can't I?" would have been a pretty logical leap for a teenage mind.
2. If I had a child who had a cheerleader/dancer as a teacher, I would be very upset. If I ever have a child, male or female, who has a teacher who moonlights as a slutty dancer in clothing the size of a postage stamp, I would question the school board's decision of hiring her.

In Kentucky, according to KRS 161.164, teachers are not allowed to be part of political campaigns because they don't want the teachers using their authoritative positions to influence students. I spent two hours this morning looking for where the KRS laws mention stripping or dancing while being a teacher and they don't exist, as far as I've found. So, the state doesn't want teachers influencing their students (most of whom cannot vote) politically, but it's fine to influence the students' (most of whom in middle and high school are starting to experiment with sex) sexual behavior . I really disagree with this.

I looked at three Kentucky county teacher contracts this morning: Jefferson, Boone, and Kenton. In all of them, there was some version of this sentence: "The private life of a teacher is not the concern of the School Board unless it affect's the teachers responsibility as set forth in KRS 161.120." In Section 1, Part c of this statute, it says, "Committing any act that constitutes...immoral conduct." Who decides "immoral"? I think dancing/cheering in extraordinarily revealing clothing on weekends is immoral. But obviously, the Board doesn't agree with that, because Sarah Jones was a teacher while she was a cheerleader.

Teachers have long been regarded as pillars of the community. I am a third generation teacher in my family and in my immediate family alone, there are 5 teachers. I see education and teaching as the noblest of professions because there would be no leaders, no engineers, no doctors, no lawyers, nothing, without teachers. It is my opinion that we need to restore the integrity to the teaching profession. Just like a politician's life is not their own (see Bill Clinton or anyone else who has done something in their personal life and gotten destroyed for it), neither is a teacher's life. When you enter the teaching profession, you become a role model for thousands of students. You are teaching the next generation about values, about academia, about social relations, and everything else. Overall, teachers see students more than parents do during the school year. I absolutely do not feel comfortable entrusting my children to people who sell their bodies on weekends (yes, nothing physical is happening, but you're baring your body to the world for entertainment). I don't care if it's "dancing" and some people consider it "athletic" and "not sexual" as I know some of you will respond. It is highly inappropriate for our students to be exposed to that mentality in a public school.

For the record, for those of you who know me and remember that I was a ballroom dancer for a few years and wore incredibly revealing costumes, I would not continue that sport as a teacher. I think that, too, is excessively revealing and too sexual to participate in publicly in competitions on my weekends as a teacher. I know that this is an amazingly conservative view, but the reason I have this opinion is that our children are exposed to so much sexual media all the time outside of school that I feel like school should be one place that is safe from that. Girls especially are so influenced by sex, "being sexy," and working to "look good." School should be a place for academia and not sex or having sex-related distractions, such as an entire class knowing their teacher bares (almost) all every weekend in front of a 50,000 person stadium.

Kids are impressionable. Let's work on giving them good impressions.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Societal Value: Is Having Sex with a Teacher Okay If She's Hot?

Sarah Jones as a BenGal

Sarah Jones, of Northern Kentucky, is a former Ben-Gal cheerleader-turned-teacher facing two criminal charges: having sex with a 17-year-old student and wrongful use of electronic means to coerce a minor into engaging in sexual activity. Each one of these charges could come with up to five years in prison. This is the Huffington Post's story on the case in early August. Jones has maintained since her resignation in November that she is not guilty, and was actually blaming some of the high school girls for what happened. Two weeks ago, however, the court deemed it appropriate to include text messages and emails in the evidence used in the case. The extremely public trial was set to begin later this week, but this morning we woke up to the news that Sarah Jones is going to accept a plea bargain later today. On GMA this morning, one of their legal analysts said that the bargain will almost certainly reduce her punishment to maybe a month in jail, or even just parole!

It is absolutely incredible to me that a teacher who had sex with her student might only get a month in jail. Granted, her teaching career is over, so that's a rather large punishment, but only a month in jail?! That is nothing, compared to what that student is going to go through. We don't know his story because he is a minor, but it's not too hard to figure out: He has a crush on her, ends up flirting with her a little bit, she sees it as a thrill to be able to manipulate the student, while he thinks he's in charge of the situation; and then it goes too far.

This student has no idea what his life is going to be like now: How is he going to trust anyone again? She was married, but still had sex with him. Why should he ever trust that a woman who tells him that she loves him isn't cheating on him behind his back? Or why should he trust that the school he sends his kids to someday will keep them safe? It's the school's responsibility to keep the students safe, and his school's administration did not keep him safe. At least he can trust the fact that she will not be teaching ever again and will never do this to another student.

One that I find extraordinary is the reaction of the public to this case. Comments on some of the stories I was looking at this morning included, "I want to give that guy a high-five for that. She's hot. Who really wants to make a big deal over some teen getting some from an NFL cheerleader. Someone is jealous" and "All she will get will be a slap on the wrist...I'd gladly slap her, but not on the wrist." WHAT?! Is it just me, or is our society incredibly skewed when it comes to this kind of stuff? If it were a man having sex with a female student, he would be absolutely abhorred by the general public. Because this teacher is apparently "hot," though, this student is actually having people giving him props for having sex with her, and no one seems to care a whole lot that she was an authority figure who took advantage of her position. This is a problem that really needs to be addressed! Teachers are people who parents entrust their children's well-being to, and if parents can't be sure that teachers are not taking advantage of their children, the public education system is definitely going to lose credibility. The fact that I wrote an article similar to this one a month ago means that there is an absolutely huge problem in our schools. How can this be happening so much? And how many teachers are committing heinous acts like this and haven't been caught yet? And when they do get caught, are they getting prosecuted?

Students, please report anything you're seeing or hearing in regards to this topic. Teachers who commit crimes need to be taken down. They are supposedly pillars of our society, and if they are running around being inappropriate with students, they need to be taken out of that position. Let's stop this, please. All of us need to work together to make this something that is not okay. If you, personally, do not want to get involved, then use the anonymous tip lines. They are anonymous. Get these teachers out of our schools. Keep our kids safe.

UPDATE: Sarah Jones was charged with a misdemeanor around 9:45am EDT. A misdemeanor. That's it. Wow.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi