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parent or caregiver, or an ignorance that reporting is mandatory. There’s also a fear that the parent or perpetrator will figure out who made the report.

The responsibility for reporting can’t be delegated. Everyone who suspects the maltreatment is mandated to report, which can be accomplished by everyone signing a single fax. In one case involving an Arkansas school district, a second grade female teacher discovered a handwritten letter by a student saying she had been touched inappropriately by her mother’s father and asking for help. The assistant principal was present in the classroom where the note was found. The principal was informed, and the assistant principal was told to handle it. The student was sent home with her grandmother because she had been suspended from school for fighting earlier that day. The assistant principal asked the grandmother about the letter, and she said the abuse had occurred years earlier, but the student had been removed from the home. Later that day, the principal and assistant principal discussed the issue, and the principal told her to file the letter in the school nurse’s file. A few weeks later, the school nurse found the letter on a counter in the medicine closet. She asked if anyone had called the hotline, and when she realized no one had, she did it herself.

While the nurse complied with the law, the others did not. The school board terminated the principal’s contract. She sued the board and lost, and appealed and lost.

Reporting suspected maltreatment can change the trajectory of a child’s life. Denniston told a story of a deliveryman who heard a child crying behind a padlocked door and called the police. The police found a four-year-old girl with a diaper and bottle. She was covered in feces because she was in there with the dog. She had been locked away and had never learned to speak. She was placed in foster care and began receiving therapy. Despite her late start in language development, she graduated with top honors in high school and now is a college student.

Professional relationship required

In another session, participants were told that teachers are required to maintain a professional relationship with students inside and outside of the classroom.

Attorney Mary Carole Young with Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Boone said the Code of Ethics for Arkansas educators approved by the State Board of Education in 2008 established that minimum standard and removed the gray areas that previously existed. Even if a teacher’s actions aren’t criminal, a violation of that standard can lead to termination.

Young estimated that her law firm has performed 200 investigations for school districts. Out of the 200, all but

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one of her recommendations has been followed.

A teacher doing what might seem best for the child is not necessarily following ethical standards. In one case, a female home economics teacher in a small town befriended a roughly 16-year-old male student in her class. His mom was not in the picture, and his dad was a truck driver who was gone during the week. The teacher, whose husband was often gone for months at a time, said she had “adopted” the student. She openly said in class that he was her favorite student. She would hang out in his house, take him on vacations, and be physically affectionate on the couch. She made it obvious on Facebook that she was paying special attention to him. The student’s father said he was uncomfortable with the relationship and hadn’t approved of the teacher’s actions. After Young investigated, she was terminated.

Young noted that male and female teachers and students must be treated the same way. After all, what if a male teacher was snuggling with a female student on the couch?

The teacher was angry with Young and embarked on what Young described as a “full-out Facebook offensive” in an effort to defend herself. Young warned that board members might hear such information before they learn details of a case, but they cannot interfere with their superintendent as he or she works through the issue. That’s because board members might need to hear a teacher’s appeal under the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act.

“The district is not allowed to speak to you, but you can get the spin from the person who’s being accused,” she said. “So you’ll get the preeminent Facebook spin, and that’s what she was doing, and it almost worked. … It happens oftentimes, and you guys cannot be manipulated by your teachers and employees with the Facebook. You have to in your head think, ‘I’m an indifferent third party, and I’m not going to make any decisions until this is done.’”

Young said there are many ways teachers can show concern for students – through systems and multiple people being involved – without violating ethical standards.

She said schools should discourage one-on-one contact between teachers and students, including phone communications. If the softball coach needs to send a message to players, it needs to be sent to the entire team, not to individual students. Young said many of her investigations stem from teacher-student interactions through social media and phones. She pointed out that in the past, students didn’t even realize teachers had a personal life outside of the classroom. Now, they can see their teacher in a bikini on Facebook.

“Do what you can from the top down to get rid of teachers and students on the phone,” she said.

Young said students should not be at a teacher’s home unless it’s during a group or team meeting or event. Students shouldn’t be hanging around classrooms that are not their assigned locations, which she said is “happening over and over and over and over and over again” and often leads to an inappropriate relationship. Likewise, students should eat lunch in their assigned places.

Young described a case where a wellknown kindergarten teacher was rumored to be having sex with a 16-yearold student. The student’s friends thought it had happened because he had half-bragged about it before changing his story, but he denied it when asked in the presence of his parents. Young told the superintendent she couldn’t prove anything had happened. The superintendent contacted her later saying a student at a different district had been hanging out in her house and had sex with her for five years starting in the sixth grade, and he had left the school to get away from her. That student, now a senior, correctly described the teacher’s tattoos, moles, the kinds of sheets she had and her makeup in the bathroom. She would hide him under the bed if visitors happened to come while he was there. DNA testing proved the student was the father of one of the teacher’s children. She’s now in prison.

Professional relationship required

In another session, participants learned about student searches and the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. The session was led by Cody Kees with Bequette, Billingsley and Kees, P.A., and Allison Bragg with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Kees and Bragg said the Supreme Court ruled in the New Jersey v. T.L.O. case in 1985 that the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures does apply to students in public schools, but it’s balanced with the school’s duty to maintain order and discipline. Students have a decreased expectation of privacy because schools stand in loco parentis – in the place of the parent.

When it comes to searches, schools are governed by a reasonable suspicion standard that is lower than probable cause. Applied to cell phones, courts have ruled that police officers generally can’t search a cell phone without a warrant, but school administrators can do so if they have reasonable suspicion that a school disciplinary code has been violated.

But there are limits for school personnel. Kees described one case where staff confiscated a student’s phone after he was caught texting in class. The teacher claimed a full search was necessary because the student had occasional suicidal thoughts and anger issues, but there was nothing to suggest the student had committed any violation other than using the phone in class. The court ruled the search was unlawful because there was no reasonable suspicion.

Kees said school personnel should contact the school resource officer if they think a crime is being committed because SROs have law enforcement authority and know best practices to be used. He said it is important for school personnel to have a relationship with their local law enforcement officers. The officers will know how to download images from a phone in a way that Bragg can use the information to prosecute a crime, he said.

Kees said metal detectors can be installed at schools but must be minimally intrusive, and they cannot discriminate against certain types of students. For example, a metal detector cannot be stationed at the bus stop entrance but not where the more affluent kids driving cars enter, he said.