FORT WORTH — A Stripling Middle School teacher is back on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into an allegation that she used “unnecessary force with a child.”
Fort Worth school district officials say a student alleged that science teacher Mary Lynette Eaker grabbed her wrist, leaving a red mark, after the student refused to put away some makeup.
The allegation came only three days after Eaker returned to teaching from a 14-month absence due to another complaint that she shoved a pregnant student at North Side High School in 2004.
Eaker did not return two phone messages left at her home Wednesday. Tanya Dawson, Eaker’s attorney through the United Educators Association, declined to comment Wednesday because the investigation is pending.
The complaint from the Stripling student is the fifth time since 2002 that Eaker, 49, has been investigated by the district’s Office of Special Investigations, district records show. Four complaints involve allegations of grabbing a student inappropriately, and one involves a comment that some students interpreted as racially insensitive.
Bobby Whiteside of the Office of Special Investigations said he could not comment on the most recent incident because the investigation is pending.
Whiteside would say only that Eaker was on paid leave “pending an investigation of unnecessary force with a child” and that, for the district, “student safety is always our priority.”
Larry Shaw, executive director of the United Educators Association, said teachers commonly face complaints about offensive touching.
“We see so much of this stuff that we have two attorneys on staff” to help defend teachers against unfair complaints, Shaw said.
But it is unusual for one teacher to have four such complaints in just over three years, Shaw said.
“I don’t know if it’s bad luck or what,” he said. “This happens so many times, but it doesn’t usually happen so many times to one person.
“That is unusual, but it is not that unusual. Once you get a reputation, you become fairer game than other teachers. We’ve seen it happen,” Shaw said. “Kids talk.”
Shaw said he believes that Fort Worth teachers are more likely than their colleagues in neighboring districts to be targeted by students.
“In Fort Worth, students have learned they can make a complaint and it will be investigated,” Shaw said. “It is more prevalent around the end of semester and grading time, and nothing happens to students who make [false] complaints.”
Chuck Boyd, a director of secondary-school leadership for the district, said that students who make false allegations against teachers can and will be disciplined.
“When students make allegations about the conduct of teachers, those allegations are investigated,” Boyd said. “If those allegations are found to be baseless, at that point we would look into disciplining a student.
“We would want to investigate fully, and if the allegations were found to be malicious and groundless, there would be disciplinary measures taken.”
Boyd said the measures would depend on the circumstances. “We do not just want to be running our teachers through the mill,” Boyd said.
Shaw said that in a complaint, a teacher may have indeed touched a student’s hand or arm, which is not necessarily inappropriate. A student says it was “offensive touching” while the teacher says he or she was just trying to handle the situation appropriately, Shaw said.
“There is justification if it is in the act of discipline, but that doesn’t stop the investigation or stop a policeman from writing a ticket,” Shaw said.
“And the district has to put the teacher on administrative leave to investigate it,” Shaw said.
“The moment you touch a child in Fort Worth, you get investigated,” Shaw said.
“We have kindergarten teachers cry all the time because we tell them, ‘That hug you give that child may be the only hug they get that day, but it could be the hug that gets you a ride downtown.’”
While no district policy directly addresses when a teacher can touch a student, Lisa Silvia, an investigator with the Office of Special Investigations, said, “Teachers are allowed to use force, but not excessive force, in order to maintain discipline in the educational environment.” (more)
SOURCE: Fort Worth school district