Wildfire
of public
opinion
Last month, the National Guard provided the Maine Department of Education with some “anecdotal material” suggesting that a small number of Maine teachers may have been insensitive or cruel to children of military personnel. No names were provided and school districts were not identified.
In this evidence vacuum, all Maine teachers were painted with the wide brush of suspicion.
Although the Maine Department of Education encouraged parents and school officials to report instances of teacher-student harassment, as of Friday no reports had been filed.
So, almost a month after the allegations surfaced, there is still no evidence for the state to pursue.
That hasn’t stopped state Rep. Michael Vaughan, R-Durham, from appearing on national TV to complain about similarly vague complaints that he said had been made to him.
We’re not suggesting that the National Guard or Vaughn have falsified allegations or that families aren’t concerned. Tensions exist everywhere, even in school. But these instances, whether two or 20, do not represent the state’s teaching profession.
What was the point of announcing a problem if the Guard wasn’t prepared to provide specifics for stopping the alleged harassment? And what was the point of Vaughan and others going public to call for change when we don’t even know exactly what’s going on?
The accusations against Maine teachers, as we tense in preparation for war, were easily and instantly believed. There should have been just a bit more skepticism in the absence of more concrete evidence from the Guard.
The Guard could have reported circumstances and identified districts, without revealing names of students, and told us precisely how many families brought complaints to the military’s Family Assistance Centers. At least we’d be dealing with facts instead of rumors.
For instance, only one school system — a high school in Augusta — was ever reported by the media as being the site of a formal complaint by a student against a teacher.
The Maine Department of Education contacted the superintendent immediately. School meetings were called for seniors who were enlisting in the armed forces — and supposedly the targets of harassment — and the accusation proved to be unfounded. Yet, Maine teachers as a collective group are now tagged as so opposed to the war they are willing to confront students in the classroom.
We join the Department of Education in calling for families and superintendents to report abuses to the state. Without details it is impossible to understand the magnitude of the problem or develop any meaningful solution.
As we appear to move toward war — and toward what is bound to be a wildfire of incomplete and downright false information — we encourage people to exercise a little doubt.
The public, too eager to believe the worst of the teaching profession, showed insensitivity to teachers that is equal to anything that may have happened in the classroom.
jmeyer@sunjournal.com
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