Education Matters:

In the 30-plus years in the profession I cannot think of an incident where one teacher sexually harassed another, which is not to say that offensive remarks are never heard among our ranks. But if, let’s just say, a teacher is confronted with an overbearing suitor (fellow teacher), there are two-word phrases that work beautifully in blunting his/her advance: “No thanks;” “Back off;” “Get lost.” And there are longer, more stringent phrases that involve reflexive pronouns to really make the point. I have heard a thousand, no make that 10,000, off-color/crude/downright indecent remarks from my colleagues. Some of them were pretty funny. Some were in bad taste. None of them, however, ever had anything to do with control or exercising power over another human being.

I taught at Wilson Jr. High for six years and remember, back in the day, a particular faculty gathering spot, notorious for the name plate on the door, “Dirty Lounge.” It was a place where we teachers could come together and let our hair down. Sometimes the humor was a little raucous, a little risque and yes, even crude. Anyone who ever stumbled into this room and was made uncomfortable by the atmosphere either rolled their eyes and protested weakly (“Oh, please”) or made the decision to go to another lounge where more professional dialogue prevailed.

Under no circumstance can I envision a lawsuit against the district for a teacher sexually harassing another teacher. Our rule of thumb — if you’re offended, then walk away. If you’re repeatedly subjected to sexually inappropriate language and cannot escape from it, then tell the offender that you are bothered. As a last resort, tell a supervisor.

Do we really need our courts to deal with the emotional distresses of adults in the workplace? Our school district can’t be blamed for being proactive given the history of outrageous settlements awarded by juries to victims of sexual harassment, but why a two-hour test for teachers?

My theory is that the trend in education continues to be heavily skewed toward increased use of tests to calibrate learning and validate teaching, and if we’re going to drown our students with multiple-choice questions throughout the year, why not start the ball rolling with teachers at the beginning of a new term?

But this test, ladies and gentlemen, came to us as a result of one complaint within the district.

While I do not know the facts in the incident, it does strike me as overreaction in the extreme to waste the district’s money and the time of 1,400 teachers who could have found 1,400 other, better ways to spend their time.

 DAN KIMBER is a teacher in the Glendale Unified School District, where he has taught for more than 30 years. He may be reached at DKimb8@ sbcglobal.net.