End of year DVDs are a popular classroom memento. After all, who doesn’t love a nice reminder of the highlights of the past school year? The classmates. The holiday parties. The science fair. The couch sex.

Yes, the couch sex. An Elk Grove, California teacher sent home a DVD that included a homemade sex scene. It’s unclear what precisely was on the DVD, since the parents only watched a few seconds before removing the DVDs from their players and immediately destroying the discs (*cough* yeah, right *cough*). Although the school district tried to keep the teacher’s identity under wraps, news agencies soon ferreted out her name and splashed it across the paper. The woman in question teaches the fifth grade, and the video was sent home to her 24 students. When the teacher realized what had happened, she phoned each family (in hysterics, of course) to apologize and asked that they destroy the video immediately.

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It’s no secret that Catholic School teachers aren’t always nuns these days, but who knew they were saints? Well, they’re apparently supposed to be, anyway. I caught an article today about an unmarried, male Catholic school teacher who was fired after staying at his girlfriend’s house overnight. The man had too much to drink and didn’t want to drive home. As somebody who sends her kids to Catholic school, I say, “The children! Won’t somebody think of the children?! Fire that monster!”

Okay, I’m kidding. I think the decision to fire this teacher is ridiculous. Is the Church within their rights to fire him? I don’t believe so. He signed a contract stating he would behave morally and in accordance with church teachings, and there is no evidence he did otherwise. He simply went on a date with his girlfriend and slept over. And isn’t it better to stay the night than to leave while drunk and cause an accident? What if he had killed somebody? Isn’t drunk driving a sin in the eyes of the Church? It makes me wonder, too, how they found out about his overnight stay. Nosy old biddy peeking through her curtains? Tracking device slipped into his bible cozy? How?

Suppose the man isn’t telling the truth, and he did have sex with his girlfriend that night. I hate to be the one to break the news, but it is possible to have sex during daylight hours. Heck, the man could have “gone to his girlfriend’s house,” so to speak, every day at 4 pm with nobody the wiser and his job secure. It’s this sort of emphasis on the appearance of propriety rather than common sense that drives me batty. 

Interesting side note: I couldn’t locate the article when it was time to write my blog, so I googled “Catholic school” and “fired” and got distracted by articles on two other CS teachers (both female) who were fired over the past few years for 1) having in vitro fertilization and 2) marrying a divorced man. Are these valid reasons for termination, given that the women signed contracts agreeing to follow the teachings of the church? What do you think?

As a teacher I am confident in my professional abilities, but I never pass up an opportunity to gain knowledge and insight from those more experienced.

With a new school year fast approaching I am curious to hear what parents really value in a teacher. What makes for a great first day of school? How can a teacher make you comfortable and confident in the fact that they’ll be spending 6 hours a day with your child?