According to the report from WXII the investigation of Mr. Snow by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department is continuing, but by state law the school system had to make a decision about his employment status by last night so they gave him a non-teaching role within the school system. On the boob tube this morning the Fox morning show had a scroll at the bottom of the screen about Mr. Snow and I thought it said that he had been cleared by the sheriff’s office, but the story on their website is the same as WXII’s. The stories also say that Lewisville Elementary’s parents were notified of the decision yesterday, but since our kids are all now in middle or high school we didn’t get the message.
The Winston-Salem Journal offers more depth in their coverage. Here’s what they have about the school system’s move:
School officials
are allowed to suspend teachers with pay for 90 days. Yesterday was the
last day that Snow could be suspended, so school officials had to
either reach an agreement with him to extend the suspension or allow
him to return to work.
“We have decided not to ask for an extension of his suspension,” Davis said.
“We were at the
90th day,” he said. “We simply felt, based upon the information we had,
that we had to move forward, so we certainly were in a situation where
we had to balance our interest in protecting students with Mr. Snow’s
right to be employed in some manner.”
Snow’s new position is a lateral transfer, meaning that there is no change in his pay.
As an instructional technologist, Snow will help teachers develop ways to integrate technology into the curriculum.
“Our assistant
superintendent for technology was familiar with him. He’s not a techie
person, but he knows how to use technology in the classroom,”
Superintendent Don Martin said.
Snow will work with teachers after school and occasionally will work in schools during the instructional day.
He will not work
directly with students, but he might demonstrate model lessons in
classrooms with the teachers present, said Betty Weycker, the assistant
superintendent for technology.
No matter what the sheriff’s office findings turn out to be the school system’s decision here is going to make for some interesting discussion. The fact that they are acknowledging that Mr. Snow will have interaction with students at some point is not going to please the parents at those schools since they don’t know anything about the man other than he’s been accused of something and since no one knows what that something is they’re going to do what 99% of humanity does and assume the worst. They aren’t going to be happy that their children will be exposed to someone of whom they assume the worst.
Here’s another quote from the Journal article given by the school system’s attorney:
“Based upon the information that has been provided to us, this is an appropriate resolution at this time,” Davis said.
It seems to me that the sheriff’s department (and maybe Tom Keith’s office) have put the school system in a tough spot by not getting this investigation done in a more timely fashion. By state law they had to either reinstate him or get him to agree to an extension of his suspension. Unfortunately for everyone involved they are not allowed to describe the charges against Mr. Snow, only saying that he’s been suspended due to accusations of impropriety. Everyone assumes it’s against a student, but it could have been a fellow teacher or employee at the school. Why does it make a difference? Because parents would be a lot less nervous about their kid being around an adult accused of cussing out a co-worker than one accused of inappropriate conduct with a student.
And what if the charges against Mr. Snow are false and were made by a co-worker who doesn’t like him? Then the extended investigation prevents him from clearing his name and keeps him from a job he loves and away from kids who thrived under his tutelage.
I don’t know Mr. Snow personally, having only met him in passing at school functions, but my wife worked with him when she was a chaperone for the 5th grade trip to Camp Hanes and several friends have known him and his family for years. Two of my children were students of his. From what I know I can tell you that I would not hesitate to allow my kids in his classroom. And although a lot of my feeling is based on what I’ve heard from friends and family, part of it is based on my belief that if there was something to be found, if the accusations were true then the school system wouldn’t dare put him in a position with any interaction with students. If there’s one thing they fear more than breaking state law it’s opening themselves up to possible lawsuits from parents if they ended up putting students in harms way.
Let me end by saying that if the sheriff and Mr. Keith want to serve their community in this case then they need to light a fire under the butts of whoever’s running this investigation and get it done.
Befuddled 