Student Manipulation

BECAUSE students have discovered that accusing a teacher of verbal assault, physical assault, or sexual harassment/assault will get a teacher removed from the classroom, and

BECAUSE students have discovered that accusing a teacher of intimidation, insensitivity, or “meanness” is sufficient to see a change in classroom environment and/or an improvement in their grade, and

BECAUSE students will threaten a teacher with false accusations if a concession is not afforded the student, and

BECAUSE student accusations that are proven false often have no consequences for the student because some administrators say that, “Children this age sometimes lie about their teachers. It isn’t a criminal offense,” and

BECAUSE lying with impunity destroys trust levels between teachers and students, the integrity of the educational system, and the classroom environment, and

BECAUSE students lying with impunity results in grade inflation, manipulation of classroom environments, and limited implementation of educational and behavioral standards, and

BECAUSE too many teachers are trapped in “rubber rooms” because the law prevents a teacher accused of these things from being in the classroom, but also prevents firing the teacher when the accusations are not provable, and

BECAUSE unproven accusations destroy a teacher’s reputation and create a drain on the school finances, and

BECAUSE it is the responsibility of the school district to establish strict standards regarding lying by students and/or teachers, and

BECAUSE it is the responsibility of the school district to offer and enforce reasonable consequences for lying,

THEREFORE school districts write and publish once every marking period a policy which identifies lying about a teacher as threatening behavior which, if proven through an investigation by an impartial, third party, will result in the expulsion of the student, and

THEREFORE teachers may bring defamation suits against the parents of children who successfully defamed them and the person loosing the suit will be responsible for the legal fees.