What is going on in our community’s schools
Last week there were three cases of alleged improper relationships between school employees and students that came to light.
Mark West, a Spring High School assistant principal was accused of having sex with a student during a prom event. Maria Calvillo is a nurse’s aide at Taylor High and is accused of having sex with a 12th grader. Timothy Glenn is a teacher at Livingston High arrested last Tuesday after witnesses notified police of a man intimately holding a teenage girl.
It seems to have become an epidemic. What can parents do to keep their children safe?
Experts say the only real solution is for parents and children to have an open line of communication. Carol Bennetts, a former teacher and high school counselor who is now a practicing therapist, says the teaching profession comes with very high ethical standards, and there will always be those singular individuals who will fail to honor the standards. Gayle Fallon, also a former teacher, now President of the Houston Teachers Union, says school districts perform background checks on all applicants, but without a conviction on their record there is nothing that would prevent hiring them. Both say parents need to talk to their children about the risks in society, and let them know not even schools are safe.
