All's Well That Ends Well...Or Is It?

In my blog of Friday, January 30, I discussed a situation at a local high school in which a student accused a teacher of sexual misconduct during a morning tutoring session. Much of my discussion involved the ways the entire event could've been avoided if the teacher had taken some proactive measures.

Some of my discussion jumped on the fallout from every arena: From the faculty to students to the girl involved.

Well, the teacher yesterday was cleared of all charges by a county grand jury. The charges must not have had much legal weight if a grand jury failed to issue an indictment.

I'm really very glad about that. If there's an innocent teacher who is falsely accused then I'm glad for him, his family, and his students. I feel sure he'll learn to take better preventative measures in the future...and he'll be returning to his classroom later.

For his students, I'm glad that their organized protests showed them that you can have faith in the judicial system. Their "innocent until proven guilty" signs and chants will have life-long lessons about the way things should work...and I'd say the same thing if he'd been found guilty. But, I'm glad for them that an apparently dedicated teaching professional will still be working for them.

For the accuser, that telling the truth is valuable not only to her, but also to those who also want to file a complaint in the future. "Crying Wolf" harms the legitimate complaints. But, even if something happened and she can't prove it legally, then filing a complaint in hopes that others will be wary is valuable in it's own way. Also, there's a lesson to be learned in the consequences of filing such a complaint...no matter the result, no matter the reality, there are all sorts of sticky aftershocks.

Still, as I see it, there really weren't any winners in this deal.