I wanted to take a couple of minutes to announce a new book that Carol and I have been working on. It is called WHO DONE IT? The idea for this book came while I was teaching a graduate legal course at Oral Roberts University. Attending the class were professional educators working towards their masters or doctoral degree in education. We discussed how to deal with student and staff misconduct during one particular class period to reduce the legal risk for teachers, administrators, and schools.
One of the students, an educator, commented on the difficulty teachers and administrators face in getting to the bottom of misconduct issues, whether the misconduct was by students or teachers. In the discussion that followed, the class identified the unwillingness to be truthful as one of the main challenges educators face in dealing with misconduct.
Searching for truth is an everyday occurrence in schools across America as well as in homes. Regardless of whether you are a parent, teacher, or administrator, there will be times when you have to deal with the question of “Who Done It?
The class also felt that knowing how to discern truth was a skill that every educator needed. Searching for answers to “who did what to whom, when did it happen, where did it take place, and why did it happen” is an ongoing challenge. Once you answer these questions, deciding the consequences once the truth comes to light becomes the next task.
This book does not intend to fulfill the role of an attorney or prosecutor, judge, or jury. Instead, it provides practical suggestions for educators as they attempt to determine “Who done it’. It also includes content that I have shared with hundreds of educators who have been in my graduate-level legal courses over the past 36 years. Not only do educators need to be smart in determining “Who Done It,” but they also need to exercise wisdom in establishing and administering consequences for misconduct.
Here is a list of some of the chapters.
Chapter 1: Searching for Truth
Chapter 2: Foundations for Truth
Chapter 3: Investigating the Truth
Chapter 4: Uncovering the Truth
Chapter 5: Acknowledging Precautions for Truth.
Chapter 6: Ministering Consequences of Truth
Of special interest will be the topic "Dealing with the threats of lawsuits." Being threatened by a lawsuit is no fun. It could cause one to lose sleep, stir up stress, anxiety, and cause one to feel defeated. Often, the devil uses a lawsuit to disrupt what God is doing in the school or bring discouragement to those who have been giving their lives to provide quality education. A lawsuit is like a fiery dart of the devil intends to use to penetrate your life and ultimately destroy your school. (See John 10:10.) In this section, we provide recommendations and suggestions to help reduce legal risk.
We expect the paperback to be available in the first part of January on Amazon. It should be around 220 pages. We also expect to offer a discount for those who have subscribed to Christian School Insights. Please stay tuned for more information as we get closer to publishing the book.