No charges for second-grade teacher arrested after allegedly teaching drunk

[AndersonsBiographer]

https://www.latimes.com/california/...fter-allegedly-teaching-drunk-wont-be-charged

If you people had any idea how common this kind of behavior is in public schools, you would all home-school your kids.

It's worse in the more disadvantaged/underfunded schools on the margins of the imperial core, maybe, but it's bad everywhere. And while it's seems like mostly elementary school teachers who make the news, I'll bet that a lot of the high-profile bad behavior from higher grades has drug or alcohol abuse at its root.

 

[RoryN]

If I had kids, I would absolutely home-school them right now. They need to be protected from the predatory and discriminatory practices of Conservatives, who are currently hell bent on getting their hands on and hurting them in almost every state to suit their radical Christian, anti-LGBTQ agendas.

 

[ll74]

Many employees of the world have substance abuse issues, because substance abuse is a problem in the world.

Is this a thread about bad teachers or substance abuse in general? The first certainly will bring around our wonderful teacher supporters from the right.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

If I had kids, I would absolutely home-school them right now. They need to be protected from the predatory and discriminatory practices of Conservatives, who are currently hell bent on getting their hands on and hurting them in almost every state to suit their radical Christian, anti-LGBTQ agendas.

Teachers, like all union workers, tend to lean left even in deep-red areas. I'll bet the only reason this lady isn't in jail is because she has a union.

(As well she shouldn't be. Alcoholics should be helped, not punished.)

 

[Bn2f]

Teachers are underpaid.
Teachers are under appreciated.
Teaching is stressful.
You yourself admit to substance abuse issues - could being underpaid, under appreciated, and job stress contributed to this? IDK and I’m not excusing this behavior but teachers being underpaid is a far bigger issue than one coming to work intoxicated.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

Is this a thread about bad teachers or substance abuse in general?

Bit of both, I guess.

Teachers are underpaid.
Teachers are under appreciated.
Teaching is stressful.
You yourself admit to substance abuse issues - could being underpaid, under appreciated, and job stress contributed to this? IDK and I’m not excusing this behavior but teachers being underpaid is a far bigger issue than one coming to work intoxicated.

For me, perhaps the worst part is seeing my students going off into the world and knowing how thoroughly fucked they'll be if they make even half of the mistakes that I made at their age. I mostly recovered, because I came from a privileged background and a good family in a nice part of the country while we still had the last vestige of a functional economy. I don't know what they're going to do, even if they don't make mistakes.

 

[RoryN]

Teachers, like all union workers, tend to lean left

Where did I say anything about teachers in my post?

You're attempting to deflect from the truth because you don't like it. This pleases me.

 

[ll74]

Bit of both, I guess.

I think I'd need to see data which supports that the teacher career is somehow dis proportionate or exceeding substance abuse issues on average in order to conflate the two.

But, regardless, substance abuse stigmas hinder the abilities to address problems. I would be curious how each state handles government employee substance abuse treatments.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

Where did I say anything about teachers in my post?

You're attempting to deflect from the truth because you don't like it. This pleases me.

You implied that teachers are more likely than average to have something to do with "predatory and discriminatory practices of Conservatives."

 

[Bn2f]

Bit of both, I guess.

For me, perhaps the worst part is seeing my students going off into the world and knowing how thoroughly fucked they'll be if they make even half of the mistakes that I made at their age. I mostly recovered, because I came from a privileged background and a good family in a nice part of the country while we still had the last vestige of a functional economy. I don't know what they're going to do, even if they don't make mistakes.

You’re a teacher yourself, right, or have taught in the past? I get this sentiment. I don’t agree with many of your views but I think caring as you’ve just described is a quality I would like from someone teaching. I don’t want any of our graduates to get lost within the cracks of our system but I know that they also must sometimes be given the opportunity for failure and then growth. I hope you’re a teacher who a student can point to and come back to and thank.

Also, I’m pro union and will always be until free market capitalists and right to work states can tell me of an entity that will stand up for a worker who’s been fired or wronged. It can’t be me defending myself with my own personal finances against big money interests - that’s exactly how the likes of trump prey on the working class.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

I think I'd need to see data which supports that the teacher career is somehow dis proportionate or exceeding substance abuse issues on average in order to conflate the two.

I'd be interested to see that data too. But collecting something like that over more than fifty jurisdictions, and expecting any level of accuracy or honesty at all, would be difficult to say the least.

But, regardless, substance abuse stigmas hinder the abilities to address problems. I would be curious how each state handles government employee substance abuse treatments.

Our union offers pretty good healthcare and treatment options. The state and school administration takes a deplorably "sink or swim" approach to the whole thing. Some are better, some are worse.

 

[ll74]

I'd be interested to see that data too. But collecting something like that over more than fifty jurisdictions, and expecting any level of accuracy at all, would be difficult to say the least.

The reason I'd like to see it is to determine if somehow teachers are more succeptable, as you seem to suggest. I'd say it's a stretch to make that claim without that data.

Our union offers pretty good healthcare and treatment options. The state takes a deplorably "sink or swim" approach to the whole thing. Some are better, some are worse.

It's a difficult issue, as it relies on the abuser to take certain steps of responsibility which may be outside their abilities. The other side of the coin is having someone else report the teacher and any privacy issues involved there. Certainly dealing with kids does heighten priority of identifying and handling substance abuse.

 

[RoryN]

You implied that teachers are more likely than average to have something to do with "predatory and discriminatory practices of Conservatives."

Cite? That's not correct; quote my post and point out where.

These Conservative activist action groups are generally not teachers; they're usually composed of shitty MAGAt politicians and even shittier parents.

 

[Wat_Tyler]

I had a teacher who used to be bombed a lot of days. It seemed to make her grouchier than usual.


My issue is how they get to school or home and what shape they do that in. Most likely, they're driving, and in that case they're driving drunk at least one way. I have zero tolerance for drunk driving. That said, I think that if they admit they have a problem, that help should be available to them.

 

[Bn2f]

I had a teacher who used to be bombed a lot of days. It seemed to make her grouchier than usual.


My issue is how they get to school or home and what shape they do that in. Most likely, they're driving, and in that case they're driving drunk at least one way. I have zero tolerance for drunk driving. That said, I think that if they admit they have a problem, that help should be available to them.

Great! We are all on the same page for providing help and assistance to our teachers! Now, how is the best way we can do that? I say - stop voting for Republicans and any other politicians who have systemically undermined and taken funds from America’s Public educational system.

 

[ll74]

Great! We are all on the same page for providing help and assistance to our teachers! Now, how is the best way we can do that? I say - stop voting for Republicans and any other politicians who have systemically undermined and taken funds from America’s Public educational system.

It would be cool to have tech that could sense alcohol without a breathalyzer..... though I'm sure there'd be privacy concerns there as well.

 

[YDB95]

I suspect, in retrospect, my third grade teacher was probably on some kind of drugs more often than not. I wouldn't hazard a guess as to just what she was on, being only eight years old at the time, but man, she was weird.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

I suspect, in retrospect, my third grade teacher was probably on some kind of drugs more often than not. I wouldn't hazard a guess as to just what she was on, being only eight years old at the time, but man, she was weird.

I dated a middle school music teacher who was weird. Talking to ghosts, her guardian angels, inanimate objects, and the like. Only after her suicide did I learn that she had been hitting the crack pipe.

 

[RoryN]

You implied that teachers are more likely than average to have something to do with "predatory and discriminatory practices of Conservatives."

Cite?

*crickets*

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

You are ignoring content from this member.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

You’re a teacher yourself, right, or have taught in the past? I get this sentiment. I don’t agree with many of your views but I think caring as you’ve just described is a quality I would like from someone teaching. I don’t want any of our graduates to get lost within the cracks of our system but I know that they also must sometimes be given the opportunity for failure and then growth. I hope you’re a teacher who a student can point to and come back to and thank.

That has happened before, sometimes. I think my students typically like me, but I don't think a lot of them remember me, which is fine. In real life, I have the kind of personality that very easily fades into the background. JRR Tolkien was said to be the same way when he taught at Oxford.