Tonight, we begin with disturbing news coming out of Canaan SDA High School. A male teacher at the school is being accused of sending inappropriate messages to a teenage student. In the messages, which the student took screenshots of, he indicates that he desires a romantic and physical relationship with her but admits that he knows it is not right, and tells her they would need to keep it secret until she has graduated and is, quote, "of age."
In another message, he alludes to another teacher who had been dismissed after being caught kissing another female student, and asks that she not, quote, "set him up" like that.
The student did not engage the teacher. Rather, she took the messages to her parents last Monday, and the next day, they went to the school's administration. It's been a week since then, and the student's father says nothing has been done in that time. He's been trying to give the school a chance to rectify the situation, but he says they haven't been acting with urgency. This morning, he went to the school to give them one last ultimatum: that the teacher be placed on administrative leave before midday.
The parent was able to record a portion of that meeting, which he shared with us. Here is a snippet:
We reached out to the school, but they declined comment.
And that midday deadline was not met, so the father took more drastic measures. He decided that he needed to put the story on the media to alert other parents and students of what is happening at the school, and what could potentially be happening at others. Today, he told us that his own daughter has been in emotional turmoil since she received the messages, and that the school isn't assisting them like they should.
Voice of: Concern Parent
"She was broken hearted and she was distraught. I've never seen my daughter like this. And I know a lot of people are under the impression that there was some sort of initiation or what have you on her part. As the screenshots prove that's not the case and its saddening as a parent to see you child in that manner and see them mentally kind of having a breakdown in front of you. So initially when we found out when our daughter came forward as the messages that we sent in the entirety to you guys and every media outlet. The next day we reach out to the school and show them not just the screenshots but our daughter opened the Instagram application and at that point in time the teacher had not deleted their messages that they sent. The vice principal saw it. We were assured that actions would be taken and it will be dealt with and at that time we being in a distraught nature, maybe even being a little bit naive believed that actions would be taken, that justice would be served that they would follow up, that they would communicate with us - at least what's going on and the next steps and give us a little bit of assurance. That was the following day which was on the 24th. The messages came in on the 23rd. After the 24th when the information was provided to the school, the school did nothing in terms of reaching to the mother or me or anybody for that matter and giving us any information as it relates to what they are going to do the next steps if the person, the teacher is on administrative leave or what have you, nothing."
"I indicated to them yesterday in my email that I will be showing up to the school and I will be following up with them and my demands, if you want to call them that, were that this person needs to be at the very minimum put on administrative leave or dismissed by midday today. We showed up at 9am this morning me and 2 other witnesses, after witnessed the event we recorded the conversation as well that took place between the principal and I and the vice principal and at that point the teacher still is on the premises. They were not put on administrative leave. There was no documentation, supporting documents or follow up or anything they can give to us, any evidence that there was even an investigation being done. They outright admitted that this is not the first time that they've had an incident as of recent with another teacher that was let go. We inquired whether or not with the prior incident involving another teacher and a student that was a physical sexual nature if the Ministry of Education was informed. They didn't even offer counselling to my daughter after it happened and I just can't fathom what is going through their head, their inability to act and just the level of incompetence and I try to reason with them and told them put the guy on administrative leave by noon. This is 9:30am - 10am in the morning and they outright refused to in not so many words."
And the parent believes that it is much deeper than a one or two time incident - he thinks it's a systematic problem within the school.
Reporter
"You feel like they are covering up for him?"
Voice of: Concern Parent
"Definitely, that is my opinion and I want to make it very clear that is my opinion. I do believe that its systemic. I do believe that it's not just the teacher who is a bad apple or bad egg and a one-off situation. I think its common place. I think that there is a paedophile predatory atmosphere and I am a firm believer that bad employees are a result of bad managers. If you have a good manager, then get rid of the bad employees before it gets too bad. Why is there even an investigation if somebody came and open the app and in conversation with my daughter, she has indicated that she is not the person whose been sent these despicable absolutely disgusting messages. It's not a screenshot. It's the app itself. Its undeniable proof. There is no way to make any excuse for it to come up with some weird conspiracy theory to try and navigate around it. There is no reason why they didn't act immediately. That's more than enough proof right there."
Reporter
"In the past week I am sure your daughter had this man's class again. Is she afraid to go into his class? What's her feeling having to see him on campus?"
Voice of: Concern Parent
"She is very fearful which I think is a natural response. She is very fearful of retribution from the school and the teacher specifically. I'm not trying to take bread out of anybody's mouth that isn't complicit in this, that may be innocent to some varying degree, but it has crossed my mind to remove my daughter from this institution, but I believe in follow through. If I remove my daughter which I am fully capable of and can do and I might still do, it doesn't fic the problem at hand if this is a breathing ground for paedophiles."
We stress that we reached out to Canaan SDA today to ask for comment, but all the principal would say is that the management is aware of the situation and they are investigating. When we inquired about the status of the teacher, the principal refused to answer, but the parent told us he saw the teacher when he was on campus this morning. We will keep following this story.
