Most central office administrators do not understand that the people who have a citation filed against them cannot get the problem solved quickly unless they plead guilty or accept a deferred adjudication.  Many people know that a Class C misdemeanor also includes speeding tickets and parking violations so it is assumed that one can go to a ticket mill, pay a small fee, and it will get taken care of quickly. However, the Assault by Contact is the same citation issued in domestic quarrels when a spouse has been slapped or bruised and the police have been called out to the residence to investigate.

An assault by contact charge in school brings out the police who investigate an already upset teacher. Alliance For Children may get involved if the child is below the eighth grade. In this instance, not only will the police question the teacher but so will a child protective service worker. If you have never been through a service worker’s questioning before, you will find it more ruthless and one sided than your typical prosecutor’s questions in an actual courtroom setting.

When the teacher is eventually cleared to go back to work and it is decided that no citation will be issued it will take at least a week and even a month to get the


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service worker’s paperwork into the hands of your school district contact such as the personnel office or a special investigations person. The time spent waiting usually depends on whether the paperwork is kept locally.  Throughout this entire ordeal your teachers need your support. Your support or lack of it will determine how quickly the teacher will leave your campus, leave the school district, or leave the profession.

Another worry for educators is the State Board of Education Certification (S.B.E.C.) who is looking for cases involving sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or physical abuse of children. Your Class C misdemeanors qualify depending on how your district chooses to report the incident. The educator needs to win his/her case every time. The school district is supposed to report criminal convictions to this administrative agency designed to punish educators with warnings on their teaching or administrative certificates, certificate suspensions, or the permanent loss of a certificate. However, S.B.E.C. has a huge caseload to work with which means if you lose your lawsuit and appeal you can look forward to an investigator from Austin, Texas sending you a “We Need to Talk” letter some 6 months later.