billfromca
07-17-2009, 12:57 PM
I’ve just recently came across this site and am looking for some guidance or help, if you will, in my yucky situation. I am obviously a male teacher(and i beg of you to not view me as some womanizing pig just because i'm a man, you honestly have no idea how hard it is being a man in this field) at the elementary level. I haven’t been in teaching very long but last year got into some “trouble” with my district. Btw, i love teaching and couldn’t imagine having to leave it. I’ll try to explain this as briefly as possible.
During last year’s school year i transferred to a new school in my district. I am a divorced, pretty decent looking guy (not trying to be arrogant but for the story thought it needed to be said). Well back to what happened….there was a fellow female teacher on the staff who from the very beginning liked to tell me about things that had previously happened at the school(including a few sexual stories). I kinda thought she may be into me but just tried to ignore it because not only am i in a happy relationship, but even if i were single, wouldn’t be interested in her in the first place. As the year went on, she kind of befriended me(which me being at a new school seemed okay to me since the rest of the staff were older and not as open to talking to me)and would tell me things that not only didn’t relate to school but were a little out of line. I didn’t think anything about it and didn’t really think it was worth reporting or anything like that. Needless to say, later in the year something happened(i still don't know what it was) to get her upset with me, and she ended up getting a few of her friends(she had been there a while) to complain about me(a few of them complained that i had told them “they looked nice”, which i innocently did, not meaning anything of course) and she said that i had said sexual things to her(which i hadn’t). Immediately, and even though my principal had told me i was doing a great job, she reported it to the head office without even talking to me about it. The next monday i was told to report to h.r., where i was told i would be placed outside of the school, while the investigation was going on.
Eventually the investigation concluded, after interviews with me, fellow staff members, etc. I was told by a staff member that i would simply be getting placed in another school. Well after the weekend i was informed of a minor problem(2 hours short) on my pd, which i wasn’t aware of because i was no longer on the school’s email list, and yes i know it’s my responsibility to keep up with. This person correctly and thankfully informed me that they were going to fire me unless i resigned(which i think was mainly done due to budget and teacher cuts they were having to make). My union rep, who wasn’t very helpful during this whole process, told me that it was pretty much my only option at this point and i didn’t have the finances to hire an attorney. I unfortunately ended up resigning. I will also say that it’s the hardest thing i’ve ever had to do. Even though they said my record would be “sponged” or cleared(and the principal said she’d give me a good reference as well), i’ve had trouble getting interviews(had 1 through connections, where i was barely beat out by someone with “more experience”).
I’m going through hell right now and have been all summer. Even though they gave me a good amount of my escrow, i will be broke around september-october, unless i get another job(which i can’t during the summer because in order to lower child support and see my daughter more, i keep her half of the time). I also have to pay a big child support every month because i’ve had to save money for the summer and still, can’t afford an attorney. If i don’t have a teaching job by mid August am going to have to look into getting some sort of job to get me through. I was also told that i couldn’t receive unemployment since i had resigned(even though i basically had no choice). I’m sorry this was so long but is there someone out there that could give me some advice, or at least peace of mind, about this absolutely heartwrenching, terrible situation i’m in right now? I’m honestly going through hell right now. :( Thanks in advance!
During last year’s school year i transferred to a new school in my district. I am a divorced, pretty decent looking guy (not trying to be arrogant but for the story thought it needed to be said). Well back to what happened….there was a fellow female teacher on the staff who from the very beginning liked to tell me about things that had previously happened at the school(including a few sexual stories). I kinda thought she may be into me but just tried to ignore it because not only am i in a happy relationship, but even if i were single, wouldn’t be interested in her in the first place. As the year went on, she kind of befriended me(which me being at a new school seemed okay to me since the rest of the staff were older and not as open to talking to me)and would tell me things that not only didn’t relate to school but were a little out of line. I didn’t think anything about it and didn’t really think it was worth reporting or anything like that. Needless to say, later in the year something happened(i still don't know what it was) to get her upset with me, and she ended up getting a few of her friends(she had been there a while) to complain about me(a few of them complained that i had told them “they looked nice”, which i innocently did, not meaning anything of course) and she said that i had said sexual things to her(which i hadn’t). Immediately, and even though my principal had told me i was doing a great job, she reported it to the head office without even talking to me about it. The next monday i was told to report to h.r., where i was told i would be placed outside of the school, while the investigation was going on.
Eventually the investigation concluded, after interviews with me, fellow staff members, etc. I was told by a staff member that i would simply be getting placed in another school. Well after the weekend i was informed of a minor problem(2 hours short) on my pd, which i wasn’t aware of because i was no longer on the school’s email list, and yes i know it’s my responsibility to keep up with. This person correctly and thankfully informed me that they were going to fire me unless i resigned(which i think was mainly done due to budget and teacher cuts they were having to make). My union rep, who wasn’t very helpful during this whole process, told me that it was pretty much my only option at this point and i didn’t have the finances to hire an attorney. I unfortunately ended up resigning. I will also say that it’s the hardest thing i’ve ever had to do. Even though they said my record would be “sponged” or cleared(and the principal said she’d give me a good reference as well), i’ve had trouble getting interviews(had 1 through connections, where i was barely beat out by someone with “more experience”).
I’m going through hell right now and have been all summer. Even though they gave me a good amount of my escrow, i will be broke around september-october, unless i get another job(which i can’t during the summer because in order to lower child support and see my daughter more, i keep her half of the time). I also have to pay a big child support every month because i’ve had to save money for the summer and still, can’t afford an attorney. If i don’t have a teaching job by mid August am going to have to look into getting some sort of job to get me through. I was also told that i couldn’t receive unemployment since i had resigned(even though i basically had no choice). I’m sorry this was so long but is there someone out there that could give me some advice, or at least peace of mind, about this absolutely heartwrenching, terrible situation i’m in right now? I’m honestly going through hell right now. :( Thanks in advance!