CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Today I’m bringing up an unpleasant memory from the Wausau School District.
In 2004 Wausau West teacher and girls basketball coach Mitchell King was arrested shortly before the start of a game. He was taken away on charges that he was having a sexual relationship with one of his players.
The investigation that followed showed extensive texting between coach and player. She was 15.
Fast forward to today. All school districts are required to have policies about communication between students and staff. This should be easy. There are no circumstances where a student and teacher should be texting each other. There are no circumstances where they should be friends or following each other on social media. There are no circumstances were a teacher gives a student a ride home. There are no circumstances where students and staff may fraternize outside of school.
All of this too easily approaches the line of grooming behavior.
When I was in school in the 1980s, no one had cellphones. It was understood that all communication between students and teachers took place in-school during school hours. Any interaction beyond that was a note home or a meeting between a teacher and the student’s parents after school at the schoolhouse.
There is another disturbing part of the Mitchell King case. The internal investigation that followed showed that other faculty had suspicions about the relationship between King and his student. One even asked him specifically about the relationship. Teachers are mandatory reporters. They are required to report any suspicions they have. This policy ought to be reinforced and given some teeth.
The current Wausau Board of Education should have no problem with these policies.
Chris Conley
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