Teachers Worse than Kidnappers!!!

My school district is in an interesting and ongoing pickle with the local media. I will tell you that I don't live in a sparsely populated area (the metropolitan area has a population of over 4 million). I tell you the population because my school district seems to be making the local news quite frequently for being such a small fish in a big pond. My school district is also the top performing public school district in the area. In spite of our stellar academic record, we've been recieving negative press due to the very public firing of three criminal administrators last year. All I could do was blush when people associate my school district with all that because it is a terrible record to hire that many CRIMINAL administrators.

This weekend, however, my school specifically was in the news due to a near kidnapping incident that occured with a student on his way to school. The ironic thing is that the way this story was reported (on video and written up); it should have been titled the following: Nine Year Old Almost Kidnapped on the Way to School, but the Real Villain Is the Child's Teacher. The story alleges that this boy told his fourth grade teacher that a man tried to grab him on his way to school, and the teacher failed to report it to the police. I don't know the details of the story, and if I did I couldn't give them here. What I do know is that the school was not called for their side of the story before this story was reported. The reporters failed to give any information about the alleged kidnapper. I also know that the online newspaper is full of nasty nasty (and some inappropriate comments) about the teacher and teachers in general. I understand that it is hugely irresponsible to fail to report something like this (if that is indeed what happened, but I suspect that it is not). I don't understand why the mass hysteria and outrage is all directed at the teacher! Did she try to kidnap a little boy??

This time the media has gone too far. This teacher is being subjected to public humiliation without any chance to answer the accusations or explaining what is going on. The incident has been sensationalized just to sell paper, and the reporting is irresponsible.