Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Poor and Innocent I made one of the biggest mistakes in my professional life as a teacher about a week ago. I teach middle school English. We collected money for a breast cancer awareness event, and I put the cash and the checks in separate envelopes. After lunch time, I could not locate the envelope with the cash. I looked everywhere, but I could not find it. I asked my students if anyone took the envelope by mistake but nobody came forward. So, the cash was lost. Apparently, someone stole it, I thought. I have a good mix of students in my classroom; different religions, races, cultures, and rich and poor. Steve is the poorest student. Sometimes students make fun of Steve for wearing the same pair of shoes or the same pants all the time. The day after the money had been lost Steve came to school wearing a new jacket. Automatically, everyone, including me, started thinking he stole the cash. I took Steve to the principal's office to have a conference with him about the lost cash and his new jacket. We told him why we were having the meeting and asked him to be truthful. He said he had nothing to do with the lost cash. When we asked him about the new jacket, he said he had worked in his uncle's mechanic shop past weekend and made some money. Then, his father gave him some money to make up the difference for him to buy the jacket. We called his father and he confirmed everything Steve had told us. At that moment I thought I had never been so embarrassed in my life. But the more embarrassing moment came when Steve asked me if I had questioned Greg, a student from a middle class background, because he happened to come to school wearing a new jacket that day also. How can I fix the broken trust between me and Steve? How would you react to this situation—lost money and a poor student wearing a new jacket the next day? What would be the most appropriate way to respond to this situation? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) The embarrassment you are feeling is not unwarranted, however, your actions were not unreasonable. Let us put this situation in perspective. According to your statement, you simply formed a suspicion about the incident you did not formally or informally accuse anyone. Secondly, you took the appropriate action of questioning the student in a private setting, properly investigated your suspicions, and notified the parents. All of these actions are appropriate, reasonable, and necessary. When one abnormal event follows another abnormal event and there is a logical connection of sorts between them, one can only place two and two together. With that being said, hindsight is 20/20 so let's take a look could have been different to avoid problems in the future. First of all, the money was clearly unsecured which is unacceptable. If the temptation to take the money had been removed in the first place, this incident would have been completely avoided. As for your suspicions, again, reasonable, however you must think outside of the box. Who had the ability to take the money, was there opportunity for those who had ability, and out of those people did other evidence present itself? Take those steps and consider all those who qualify. Certainly Steve qualified but that doesn't eliminate others. As for your relationship with the student, the best solution is to be honest. Explain your suspicions and thank him for his cooperation. Congratulate him on a job well done for earning the money for his coat and tell him that you admire that. Also, have some humility and apologize for jumping the gun and making assumptions. I believe he will find that Steve will understand.