Dominique Williams 1

July 16, 2019

Privacy of educators does not exist

The concept of privacy for public school educators is a tricky subject. Certain lifestyle

behaviors are protected under the Equal protection clause of the 14th amendment but there are a

few stipulations to this protection. Educators are considered to be role models and that

accompanies more constraints for the educators during and after school hours. The concept of

living your best life as an educator really does not exist depending upon the person judging at the

moment. In the case of lifestyle behaviors for educators, termination will usually follow if the

behavior will affect the effectiveness of them performing their teaching or administrative duties.

The educators’ code of ethics ("Chapter 247. Educators Code of Ethics", 2018) states,

“Standard 1.10. The educator shall be of good moral character and be worthy to instruct or

supervise the youth of this state.” This standard could be interpreted in various ways depending

upon on several different factors. That does not seem fair for educators to have to live their life

without a clear list of do and don’ts. Essex (2019), explains “privacy rights for teachers as

balancing the districts need to maintain professional integrity of its employees and the moral

values of the community.” These guidelines are very subjective and perhaps the idea of common

sense should lead the educator when they living their lives outside of school.

How is the effectiveness of performing duties assigned measured and by who? The

school district ultimately decides whether or not the teacher has a history of being a model

teacher, colleague and role model in the community. (Essex 2019) The districts have to power to

be biased in situations as because there is not an exact formula that calculates strong teaching

and moral values of the community. Richard Erb was involved in an adulterous relationship with

a married coworker resulted in him not being terminated due to years of highly rated teaching
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July 16, 2019

and he was well known in the community. (Essex 2019) Highly rated teaching is not explained in

details to explain how they were come to this conclusion.

The pending case of Esparza v. Edinburg C.I.S.D is tricky case because the administrator

sent a private picture to her husband and the picture was leaked to students by hackers. (Walsh,

Maniotis, & Kemerer, 2018) She was terminated due to lost of effectiveness of her duties, even

though she was the victim. There was not an explanation of exactly how she lost her

effectiveness of her duties. In this case, the law did not protect her on either side of this issue.

Students having access to a naked picture of the Mrs.Esparza would definitely be problematic for

her.

There are a few obvious lifestyle behaviors that have legal consequences such as having

an inappropriate relationship with a student, murder, kidnapping, driving under the influence,

and using or selling illegal drugs. The Humphrey v Westwood I.S.D case is very good example

of teacher being terminated for holding his wife hostage with a gun. (Walsh et al.2018) Mr.

Humphrey committed a crime that became highly publicized in the community. The district had

good cause to terminate him for good cause, because this infraction would definitely undemand

his ability to teach and it would be safety concern as well.

The ultimate goal is to educate students in an environment that will not prevent the

students from learning. Privacy of educators is essentially not real privacy because they are role

models for the students they serve daily. Students are easily distracted by anything that seems

interesting especially, high school students because they are into latest gossip and drama

constantly. After witnessing erroneous rumors swirling around campus about myself that had the

potential to end my career as an educator if it happened to offend the right parent, student, or

administrator. I am more cognizant of the decisions that I make in my professional and personal
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July 16, 2019

life because, the protections of the law depends on the interpretation of a district employee or

community member.
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July 16, 2019

References

Chapter 247. Educators code of ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved July 16, 2019, from

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/sbecrules/tac/chapter247/ch247.html

Essex, N. L. (2019). School law and the public schools: A practical guide for educational

leaders(6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Walsh, J., Maniotis, L., & Kemerer, F. (2018). The educators's guide to Texas school

law(9th ed.). Austin: University of Teas Press.

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July 16, 2019