I guess I do requests. A reader said she wanted my "take" on the Alabama teacher who's in Federal Prison after being convicted of soliciting a teen aged boy for sex. She's still receiving a paycheck from the Washington County school where she used to work. The Press-Register story explains why...the tenure law was changed in 2004...and I'm sure her story will result in legislation in the 2010 Legislative Session to make addition changes! Up till the jury's decision, a suspect is just that...a suspect, and is presumed innocent. That means you do not treat them as guilty by firing them and cutting off their pay. (If you want to read another story online today about why that's the way it is, and why that's the way it should be, click here and imagine it was you who spent 21 years in jail for a crime you didn't commit!).
As for the Alabama teacher, after conviction, the pay should stop. If an appeal is successful, and the person is exonerated, should the employer should pay the employee back pay with interest? Probably not, though she should probably seek compensation from someone! The school systems and the courts and everyone else have to follow whatever the state law mandates. And in the teacher's situation, she's eligible for the money she's getting. Time for a change in the law.
There is the "right to a speedy trial."
ReplyDeleteA judge should use that principle to order a trial pronto and get it over with.