Is it right for a lawyer to attend a parent/teacher meeting with a background check file on the teacher? Or would this be an abuse of power and privilege?
I'm holding off on this until I get more intel on the situation... Once I have more, it'll be in a new post.
Is the lawyer a parent or has the lawyer been retained by a parent? What information does the lawyer have and how was it gathered?
I think that if the lawyer was retained by the parent, and went through normal, legal, channels to obtain background information then that is ethically ok, if kind of (a lot) creepy. If they are the parent, then they have a fool for a client, and would be wise to seek professional advice from a disinterested colleague.
If the records obtained were obtained for any other case or purpose and the lawyer had access to them as the result of another case then, I would say, no it's probably not ethical, ask your local bar association.
However, I have to tell you, I question the ethics of showing the teacher, or worse hinting, about the information gathered. Either the information is actionable, and should simply be handed over to the teachers employers, or it isn't, in which case waving it around is a threat.
Actually... the lawyer is the parent's father or father-in-law... And it wasn't for any sort of legal action or anything like that, it was just a parent/teacher meeting.
Fortunately, it didn't happen to Colleen, but she's now got a head's up for next year...
Well, I think it's kind of paranoid to do the background check. What's creepier, at least to me, is that the background check was then revealed to the subject of it. Unless action was being immediately taken on the background check, what's the point?
"Hi, I know all about you! But that's ok!"
Post it as an ethical question on one of the legal BBoards that lawyers haunt.
A. How did the lawyer/parent obtain the background check? + B. Does the school use a comparable system to vet their teachers? + C. Should the parent/lawyer trust the school to be doing so and to their mutual satisfaction? + D. Given the Nature vs. Nurture debate, is the parent/lawyer willing to give the teacher their own background check file? = I don't have a "yes or no" answer.
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From:
There's too much information missing to say
What information does the lawyer have and how was it gathered?
I think that if the lawyer was retained by the parent, and went through normal, legal, channels to obtain background information then that is ethically ok, if kind of (a lot) creepy. If they are the parent, then they have a fool for a client, and would be wise to seek professional advice from a disinterested colleague.
If the records obtained were obtained for any other case or purpose and the lawyer had access to them as the result of another case then, I would say, no it's probably not ethical, ask your local bar association.
However, I have to tell you, I question the ethics of showing the teacher, or worse hinting, about the information gathered. Either the information is actionable, and should simply be handed over to the teachers employers, or it isn't, in which case waving it around is a threat.
Need more data!
From:
Re: There's too much information missing to say
And it wasn't for any sort of legal action or anything like that, it was just a parent/teacher meeting.
Fortunately, it didn't happen to Colleen, but she's now got a head's up for next year...
From:
Re: There's too much information missing to say
"Hi, I know all about you! But that's ok!"
Post it as an ethical question on one of the legal BBoards that lawyers haunt.
From:
no subject
A. How did the lawyer/parent obtain the background check?
+
B. Does the school use a comparable system to vet their teachers?
+
C. Should the parent/lawyer trust the school to be doing so and to their mutual satisfaction?
+
D. Given the Nature vs. Nurture debate, is the parent/lawyer willing to give the teacher their own background check file?
=
I don't have a "yes or no" answer.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject