CAUTION: Things are not always as they appear

...so, I go pick Markell up from school on Wednesday. And I see all these middle school kids with a piece of paper in their hands. Markell gets in the van and says, "Hey mom! Look at this! We just got this letter from Ms. Perkins (the principal) to give to our parents."

Now the last time we got one of those letters, some 6th grade girl had been caught with a gun at school. But the school "handled" it without incident.

THIS time, the letter was a bit different. It reads something like this....

Dear (name of middle school) parents,
In an effort to continuously communicate with you, I am writing to notify you that a (name of middle school) teacher was arrested this afternoon after an investigation of illegal activity. The teacher was not arrested at school but HR was notified of the teacher's pending arrest by (blank) County Police Dept. You maysee news accounts of this event during the next few days.
......The administration of (name of middle school) was not aware of any problems with the teacher nor had we received any information that related to inappropriate conduct or behavior conducted by the teacher while at school or on school grounds.
This is a very unfortunate event, and you have our assurances that we make every effort to provide a safe and wholesome environment for our students. We take seriously our responsiblity of educating the whole child.

Sincerely,

The principal

Now, needless to say, I was a little...shall we say, disturbed by what I read. So, later in the evening, I happen to see a little bit of the aforementioned story on the news. They showed a quick photo of the teacher, and he looked vaguely familiar. I go to the school quite often...ok, everyday, to pick Markell up as well once a week or so for other reasons. So I do see alot of the same teachers and administrators.

At around 2 the next morning, my eyes popped open because it hit me as to who this teacher might be. I honestly hoped that I was wrong because this teacher, I've actually spoken with on several occasions.

Then yesterday, I went to read the newspaper online. And sure enough, it was the guy I was thinking it was. This is a guy, who coaches lacrosse and football at a local high school, a guy who wears Christian oriented t-shirts, a guy who tells me to have a blessed day/weekend, and a person who, from what I could tell from our brief conversations was a really nice guy. He never knew my name and I never knew his. But we were often times engaged in conversation and were friendly with eachother.

When I read the paper early yesterday, it didn't go into detail as to what he actually did. But when I looked into it again, at the prompting of another parent/friend, I was SHOCKED!!! I won't go into detail here as to what allegedly happened. But I will say that he resigned from the school yesterday.

Today, I can say that I am still shocked. I'd still be a little upset and/or concerned about this if it wasn't someone that I feel I "know". But I DO! Simply because he's from the school my child goes to is cause enough for concern. Fortunately, he taught an older grade than what Markell is in. But UNfortunately, he teaches special ed. This just sickens me!!!

Now, I said all this to say...everyone and/or everything are NOT always as they appear. This is such a sad story to me RIGHT NOW...especially since it closely follows a story with a totally opposite outcome (the one about the pilot and Jayla). I'm glad to say that, other than seeing this teacher in the car pool line every afternoon, Markell doesn't know him.

Am I overreacting to this situation? Should I feel a sense of betrayal even though I didn't REALLY know this guy? How would you feel?

I guess that statement in the side view mirrors is somewhat true, huh?