Are Our Students Being Heard?

What's a community to do, when the children know what's going on in their schools (and which teachers are dangerous)...but no one is listening?

Saturday, April 22nd

Dear Vashon Loop Readers and Substack Subscribers,

This Substack is going out to everyone, and we hope you’ll seriously consider sharing it forward. Why? Once again - relevancy.

On April 15th, the Toronto Sun published a story about six female teachers accused of having sexual relationships with their students. One enjoyed threesomes. Another first provided alcohol to her fifteen (15) year old student. Some students were terrified to come forward, believing they’d committed a crime. One was a Catholic School teacher. One began grooming her student with nude/sexualized SnapChat photos. One is suspected of grooming and abusing multiple students, many of whom haven’t yet come forward.

Aside from these tantalizing details, the article doesn’t go much further. It certainly didn’t speak to systemic problems potentially at the root of the issue. It barely touched upon the feelings and reactions of these six different communities. It began the story and it stopped.

But we will pick it up. Why?

The Vashon School District is currently embroiled in its own “teacher/student” sex scandal! Join us, as accusations fly, previous students lawyer up, parents allege, the King County Sheriff Department investigates, the Vashon School District investigates, the School Board grapples, teachers tender their resignations, and the newest, popular game on the playground is “Dodge Responsibility Ball.”

Despite its brevity, the Toronto Sun did everyone a service. Compiling these stories into one article sent a much stronger message, waved a bigger red flag, and shot up a brighter flare of warning.

Every challenge shares one thing in common. It is an invitation to learn. An opportunity to gain skills. A door to experience and a window to wisdom. And, the worse the challenge? The greater the need to learn all of the lessons!

Which is why, we want you to learn alongside us.

Human nature is inescapable. If it’s happening here, on our island, it’s assuredly happening where you live, as well. So, let’s wade through the muck and the mire together. Let’s become better at protecting children. Together.

We’re going deep. We’re giving space to community voices, and we can do this because we are live here! We are neighbors, friends, fellow parents, and seriously concerned community members. This is not “a story.” We don’t leave it behind, when we clock out. What’s happening at the Vashon School District is what’s happening in our lives, and the lives of our community’s children. Our own children.

We’ve already learned so much about where power lies, loop-holes, discrepancies, professional ethics (or lack thereof), and systemic flaws that protect the institution far more than the safety and life-long mental health of our children. That has to change, and if we succeed?

Maybe you can import our ideas, draft similar legislation, motivate real change and put your communal thumb on the proverbial scale, forcing your local school board members and your local school district administration to shift their priorities? Maybe you’ve already succeeded, and you’ll send us an email - editor@vashonloop.com - with great advice and encouragement? Maybe your actions (and ours) will protect future students from being groomed, preyed upon and sexually abused?

Together, we can.

Are Our Students Being Heard?

by the Editorial Team

Our society champions the "freedom to love who you wish" with great consistency. The movie "Loving" portrays the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with a historic Supreme Court decision in 1967.

The documentary film, "The Case Against 8," highlights the battle against a 2008 proposition that would have banned same-sex-marriage in California. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the arrival of high-powered, right-wing attorney Theodore Olson, who helped defeat Proposition 8, stating, "Marriage is a conservative value ... We should want people to come together in marriage." Again and again, Americans display a strong belief that no one should stand in the way of love!

Except where a power differential exists between two potential lovers. Doctor and patient. Therapist and patient. Prison guard and prisoner. Employer and employee. University professor and adult college student. Director and actor (especially during an audition). When two adults are in a relationship that automatically creates a power differential, our society creates strict rules, policies, and even laws ... that prevent love.

Why do these relationships happen? A lot of reasons. Some are conscious. "If I sleep with the director, maybe I'll get the job?" "If I don't go out with my boss, she might fire me." Some are subconscious. Prisoners often live in fear, and having a guard as your boyfriend may create a sensation of security. A patient suffering from depression and seeking self-worth will be especially vulnerable to grooming techniques from a therapist. Medical patients open up to their doctors about marital problems, and they open their legs for gynecologic exams. This may create a sense of intimacy and trust that can be taken advantage of by the doctor.

Now, imagine the impact of "power differentials" when the patient, employee, or student ... isn't yet an adult?

Today, Vashon Island is awash in hushed secrets being spoken more and more loudly. And with real anger. Young people who attended and graduated Vashon High School are opening up about rumors shared routinely between students and warnings offered to incoming freshman. The idea that these concerns were commonplace amongst the VHS student body is alarming. Especially the fact that many parents are only just now hearing of them. Why?

It seems to us, at The Vashon Loop, that VHS students are on the losing end of three power differentials. First, they are students. The staff (from teachers, to coaches, to counselors) are automatically in a stronger power position. Second, they are still children, no matter how mature, while those who have power over them are much older adults. Thirdly, they are members of the "client" class, while staff are members of "the institution." And an institution's primary objective is to maintain and protect the institution.

Parents, on the other hand, have a duty to protect their children. This includes a safe environment for learning. This makes the title of this article, and the following questions, especially important: "Did any VHS students speak up over the past two decades about inappropriate behavior on the part of teachers, coaches, and staff? If so, were they listened to? If not, why not? And, is VHS listening now?"