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!) I am so sorry for both you and Steve. I think at this point you must learn from this mistake and move on. At my school, we have a policy that teachers cannot take money from students. When we have a fundraiser the students must give the money directly to the office. I would make sure to either follow that as a guideline or lock it up in a safe place. I had a similiar situation this year, however not as severe as yours. I left two scarves on my chair and one day they truned up missing. I am a pretty organized person, however this time I wasn't certian if I brought them home with me or if someone took them. I searched my house, car, the classroom everything until I was sure someone must have gotten them. Well, I allowed two young ladies to put thier gym bags behind my desk until the end of the day, I thought maybe one of the students took it by accident. However, one day one of the girls came in with an identical scarf. I was sure it was mine, but could be 100% because it was just a plain beige scarf. I didn't say anything in hopes that she would wear the other scarf that had gone missing that would be more identifiable, but she did not. After a few weeks, I was cleaning my closest and there it was. I felt ashamed for thinking the worst of her and was very thankful that I didn't accuse her. Still the guilt was heavy and I didn't even say anything to her, so I can imagine how you must feel. Bottom line, you were doing the right thing by trying to locate the money, however, without any proof it was a little unfair to target an innocent child. Maybe an interview with each student could have been more appropriate. I don't think profiling a student was a good idea. You will have to work on repairing your relationship with this student.