Still Not Your Parent’s Middle School Experience

If the case of the middle school students’ slandering their teachers wasn’t enough, a separate case that turned up on the following day told the story of a teacher who was forced to resign after one of her students found out about her past as a porn star and the parents and administrators of the school collectively had a cow. You can find that story off of the local television station’s site if you like, but what happened was that a teacher in St. Louis appeared in a pornographic film about 20 years ago, and one of her students found the pictures online. The linked story does not explain whether the student in question was actively looking for dirt on the teacher and hit the mother lode, or why a minor was able to access pornographic materials in the first place, or even why the child’s parents aren’t answering some very pointed questions from Child Protective Services in reference to that last question. It does, however, record that the teacher’s contract will not be renewed for next year…

What makes this case so upsetting is that no one is claiming that the teacher has done anything improper, let alone illegal, during the course of her duties. The school district ran a full background check on her before hiring her and found nothing of interest, since there are no laws against appearing in pornographic films or against getting your credentials as a teacher and applying for a teaching job two decades later. Given the desperate shortage of teachers in this country it seems tragic that our society has become puritanical enough to let one youthful indiscretion from decades ago override years of dedicated service in the classroom. Even worse, this is the second time this same individual has been driven out of a teaching job by that one bad decision…

Now consider the implications for your business. Can you be absolutely certain that no member of your company has EVER said or done anything that could potentially offend any possible customer you will ever have? Especially when you consider that things as mild as a divorce, a mistaken arrest for a crime for which they were never charged, or a single risqué picture might meet that standard if your customers or constituents are sufficiently prudish? In theory, you could require all job applicants to disclose everything they have ever done for money, but even that is bordering on invasion of privacy, and requesting some personal details (such as age, religion, gender orientation or marital status) will almost certainly get you sued. In fact, if the teacher in our story was not a contract employee, she could almost certainly sue the school for wrongful termination, whereas the standing of the parents to sue the school for employing somebody who used to do some “icky” for a living is a matter for the courts to decide. Neither outcome is likely to be good for business, however…

Eventually common practice should prevail, and there will be new legal standards that establish who you can sue and for how much in the event that someone associated with an organization once did something of which you don’t approve. There will probably be new legal standards for how long you can hold something against somebody, too. In the meanwhile, however, everyone in a management role needs to be aware that the number of employees of any profession or experience level who really are as pure as the driven snow is limited, and that if you hire anything else you can face legal and financial consequences of your actions, no matter what you decide. Under the circumstances, all we can do is try to make the choice that will do the most good for the most people with the least possible fallout, and hope for the best…

Of course, this WILL require that managers use intelligence, as guided by experience, and pay attention to what is going on in the world and in their organization itself. But that’s a post for another day…