Former Chesterfield teacher accused of assaulting students is acquitted

I know this man.  He is a caring individual who goes to bat for the underdog, often at a cost to himself.  He tries to help children feel that someone cares.  little is said about how he extends himself to these children both in and out of class.  The numerous children that he has helped know what he did for them.
(science project help,money for lunch, ensuring someone had proper clothes for a dance, snacks in the classroom for hungry children, nomanating a child who has reformed his behavior for student of the month to recognize his change and show the child that he was noticed). It is a rare person that understands that children who are hungry can not learn and that children need encouragement to achieve success. In the different schools he has taught, he has done these things, never for credit, only for the children.
Did he leave other schools? yes for more pay.  Who can fault him there.  wouldn’t we all.  But the implications in these posts are alway negative.
He was in a no win situation.  If he stood back and did nothing,and someone got hurt, he would have been charged with Negligence. Funny how after the children were facing Suspension   that charges were brought. I am a parent and if I thought he did to my child what they said he did, he would have been arrested the day it happened, not 4 days later, after they were in trouble for their behavior.  I wonder were the children ever diciplined for the behavior during the fire drill? or did they get off due to all the fuss about the teacher.  Nice lesson for the kids!

Thank God there are some students and their parents that still have the guts to stand up and tell the truth in cases like Mr. Simmons.    Anyone that knew the details of this story knew this was ridiculous in the first place and hopefully the truth would eventually come out.  Luckily, justice did prevail but at what cost?

At issue -  a respected and caring teacher lost his job.  As a Boy Scouts Leader ( and former Eagle Scout) is was expelled from Scouting due to the charges.  Additionally, he was forced to leave two of his other extra service activities until “proven innocent.“  Basically, under our process of law the accusing party can ruin someones life and has no recourse.  This must change!

The family that started this process should be held accountable for their false accusations and pay for their injuries to Mr. Simmons (both mental and financial).  Additionally, they should be made to make a public apology for almost destroying Mr. Simmons career and life.  Lastly, the County of Chesterfield needs to apologize for selling this poor man down the river and letting him hang.  Both the
Education Department and the Magistrate should be embarrassed by their roles in this witch hunt and some need to resign their posts. 

This was a pitiful display of political cowardice and needs to be exposed.  At least the Judge was smart enough to dismiss this case as overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Thanks to a competent defending attorney and a few of Mr. Simmons’ courageous students that stepped forward to tell the truth -  justice prevailed.  But again at what cost? 

Now that the truth prevailed,  the accusers that wasted taxpayer’s time and money, almost ruined a man’s life, and refused to admit they lied after the trial should be held accountable.  Unfortunately it probably will not happen and another teacher will be lost to a system that you are Guilty until proven Innocent.

This story leaves me with such feelings of great regret.  From the beginning, this site was peppered with postings from locals who knew Mr. Simmons and felt they could freely denegrate his reputation before he even had a hearing.  Now that he has been exonerated, where are the postings with the most important thing he can hear from a number of folks:  I’m sorry.  I appologize. Will we hear this from the students and their families who are responsible for this?  Sadly, no. Despite the thousands of dollars Mr. Simmons has spent earning certifications and advanced diplomas in order to be a highly qualified teacher, his reputation has been trashed by the families who have brought suit against him and the people who have made careless postings about him on this site.  The most ironic feature of this story is that he was trying to protect the students from hurting THEMSELVES, not to mention other students.  For this, Mr. Simmons has had to incur great legal expense and the public humiliation of news releases and job termination.  It is my hope that Mr. Simmons will find employment so that he may continue to follow his chosen profession, despite this most public and unfortunate test.

I am the mother of a former teacher in another local school system.  I say “former” teacher, because after eight years of teaching, she, unfortunately, came to the sad realization that she was going to have to change careers, not just for her sake, but for her family as well.  That was a very hard decision for her, because each new year she totally fell in love with her kids and they absolutely adored her.  During those eight years, she worked in an area where things were really bad economically and in addition to academic struggles, many of the children also had a tough home life.  I remember many times when she would take a child home because nobody showed up to pick the child up.  I remember one year when she took food for her kids for breakfast when school started because the breakfast program was delayed.  I remember her spending her own money so that kids could go on a field trip.  I also remember her spending her own money on supplies for her kids.  She absolutely loved being a teacher, but she sadly came to realize that the politics and red tape that surrounds our school systems overpowers any role a willing, capable teacher could have in a child’s life.  She spoke often of the challenges that she and other teachers faced when they felt it necessary to discipline child. 

When she and her brother were growing up, as their parents, we understood that it was our responsibility to teach them how to conduct themselves.  We also tried to instill in them the importance of being courteous and respectful to others, especially adults.

Sadly, when I hear about situations such as this one, it makes me realize that as a mother, I am glad that my daughter got out.  Are there bad teachers out there, absolutely?  But, there are also good teachers, like my daughter, who love children and want to make a difference.  Teachers certainly don’t go into the profession for the money or the glamour.  What are we as a society going to do when the day comes that no one want be a teacher?  What does that mean for us as a nation?  We have a lot of problems in this country right now.  We had better wake up and see where our priorities should be.  Parents need to wake up also.  It is a different time than it was when a kid’s role model was someone like Beaver Clever or Opie.  The role models and influences that children have today are nothing short of scary.  Parents today face a lot of challenges and I think most parents are stepping up to the plate in facing those challenges.  The ones who aren’t better get it together for the sake of their children. 

I close by saying that although I feel that these kids were wrong in their actions, they are kids and it is up to their parents to do the right thing.  My philosophy is that most kids are product of their environment.

Teaching and morale will improve in our schools when Administrators start standing by their teachers.  I do not want my child (whom I raised to respect authority) in an unruly classroom becasue the teacher is afraid to assert discipline on children whose parent are too lazy to teach their kids respect at home.  Why should unruly students allow to continue their behavior with no consequences and effect my child’s education?  I want a teacher like Mr. Simmons teaching my child!