A new school year is starting and new school stories are guaranteed. Amusing and sad, hilarious and ridiculous - that's why school years are a time to remember for a long time. School teachers give us knowledge about the world around us, but are these people so perfect themselves?
Probably the user u/Low_Baker_1898, who told us this story, will definitely say that teachers can be completely unreasonable and behave in the stupidest ways of all. In any case, this tale is definitely worth reading, so please feel free now to scroll down.
The author of the post is a single dad with three sons born by surrogate mothers
Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)
Some of the guy's kids attend school and the teacher definitely knows they were born by surrogacy
Image credits: Low_Baker_1898
Recently, a magazine reporter called the dad offering to interview him for an article about men resorting to surrogacy
Image credits: Edmond Dantès (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Low_Baker_1898
It turned out that the reporter was the school teacher's friend and it was she who disclosed all the information about the family
Image credits: Antoni Shkraba
Image credits: Low_Baker_1898
The dad didn't report the teacher to the school board but just cussed her out, demanding she behave like an adult
So, the Original Poster (OP) admits that he belongs to that small but growing cohort of men who want to experience all the joys of parenthood while avoiding marriage. In his own words, the man resorted to the help of a surrogate three times, and is now the proud father of three boys, aged 5 to 10 years.
It's school time for the kids, and the author of the post spoke about the specifics of his family to some parents of other children. According to him, the initial reaction was curiosity, but then people realized that they were just an ordinary family, and everything moved on, as always. With one, not the most pleasant, exception.
One of the OP's sons' 2nd grade teacher also knew that all of his kids were born by surrogate mothers, and one day the dad got a call from a magazine reporter asking for an interview for an article about men resorting to surrogacy. Yes, that's right - the reporter somehow knew all the personal data, the OP's phone number, his name and the names of all his kids, and even the dad's job.
To a completely logical question - where did they get all this information from, the reporter admitted that they were friends with the teacher, and she told them everything. After refusing to be interviewed and hanging up, the OP asked the teacher the next day who even gave her the right to disclose personal information about him and his children to the press. To this, the woman answered in surprise that she was sure he would be interested in becoming the hero of such an article. The fact that such behavior is completely unacceptable is something the teacher obviously did not think about.
The original poster did not formally complain about the teacher's behavior to the school board, but instead simply told her off, recommending growing up as soon as possible. Imagine his surprise when, a few days later, the vice principal reached out and asked him to be lenient with the teacher, "because she's young and lives online." Apparently, the teacher expected the OP to report her to higher-ups and actually initiated a new round of this story, although the author, according to him, "isn't even mad at her anymore."
Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual photo)
"In any case, what happened can be interpreted as the disclosure of personal information obtained through an official position to third parties, and this is at the very least completely unprofessional," says Volodymyr Nemertsalov, a teacher and school principal from Odessa, Ukraine, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment on this case. "Such an act should be considered by the board and in some cases the case may end in dismissal. Or at least a severe reprimand."
"As for the father's decision not to report this situation to the school board, it seems to me erroneous. In any case, this is a serious issue regarding the safety of the students, and in order to avoid the recurrence of such cases, the board must take measures. I cannot agree with the statement the vice principal made here, where they actually sided with the teacher. The safety of children is the highest priority, and such precedents should not be repeated. Even if at the cost of losing one of the school's employees," Volodymyr states.
Many people in the comments agree with the expert’s opinion, reasonably arguing that if the original poster and the teacher were, for example, in the UK or EU, then such cases would be classified as a violation of the law there, and the hapless teacher would quite possibly end up getting sacked. "Giving that much information out on your students is a HUGE breach of privacy," one commenter wrote.
According to The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), "schools may disclose, without consent, 'directory' information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them." Thus, what the teacher did is most likely a violation of the law, with all the ensuing consequences. And the original poster has every right to claim privacy protection for his children.
If you want some more interesting school stories, we can suggest, for example, this post of ours about a new school superintendent who once ordered a countryside school principal to hold a parents' meeting at a time that seemed more appropriate to them - and what funny result came of it. And besides, we're looking forward to your own comments on this situation, so please express your opinion below this post.
Apparently, disclosure of such personal information is a violation of the law, so commenters state that the dad should have reported the teacher to the board anyway
