IN MY SHOES: Caught Up In A Witch Hunt
In this Washington Post op-ed, Ting-Yi Oei, a VA teacher and school administrator for more than 30 years, describes a disturbing chain of events has all the hallmarks of the child sex-abuse witch-hunts inthe 1980s that ruined the life, reputation and career of Gerald Amirault and several other day care center operators.
The Channel 4 Newsbreak was meant to shock: "High school assistant principal in Loudoun County arrested for child pornography," announced WRC's Jim Vance. "Details following the Olympics."
That was last Aug. 20. The assistant principal was me. And the story on the late evening news that night was how many people who knew me - and countless others in the Washington area who didn't - learned that I was the subject of a prosecution that over the past year has turned my life upside down and ruined my reputation and my career. Although all the charges against me were recently thrown out of court, my experience is a warning for all educators who find themselves trying to negotiate the slippery terrain where rapidly advancing technology intersects with risky adolescent behavior.
My ordeal began in March of last year, when a teacher at my school, Loudoun County's Freedom High, told me about a rumor that students were sending nude pictures of themselves to one another on their cellphones. We've all heard a lot about "sexting" lately, but a year ago the phenomenon was new to me and, I'd venture to say, to most school officials. Because administrators' first concern is our students' safety and well-being, it was my responsibility to look into the matter.
The story turns Kafkaesque from this point on, and a month later Oei was charged with "failure to report suspected child abuse."
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