Mom Says Her 6th Grader’s 54-Year-Old Teacher Sends ‘Good Morning’ & ‘Sweet Dreams’ Texts To Her Little Girl
Her daughter isn't the only one either.
Alinute Silzeviciute / Shutterstock.com A teacher who's able to really connect with students is usually a blessing, and can make all the difference in kids' lives. But as one mom on TikTok has learned, it is all too easy for that connection to go too far, and it's got her and other parents alarmed and furious.
She discovered her daughter's teachers sends texts to her little girl every morning and night.
It's one thing to foster a meaningful connection with students. It's quite another to be having inappropriate daily contacts about matters that aren't in any way, shape or form school-related—a development experts and authorities say is an all too common occurrence when teachers and students exchange phone numbers.
And inappropriate is only one word that comes to mind when it comes to what Leah, a mom and TikToker known as @its_shastys on the app, described between her sixth grader and her 54-year-old male teacher after they exchanged numbers without her knowledge.
The teacher sends daily texts to her daughter saying 'good morning,' 'sweet dreams' and complimenting her looks.
"Imagine a 54 year old man giving their cell phone number to your sixth grade child," she said in a video on the matter. "Being a 54-year-old male teacher giving your cell phone number to four sixth graders total." It only got worse from there.
Leah says the teacher provided the number so that they could reach out whenever they wanted. But as she discovered that quickly crossed a line.
"Meanwhile you are sending good morning texts, good night texts, 'how is your day?' texts, sending songs that remind you of them," she said of the obviously inappropriate messages. She also noted that the teacher repeatedly called her daughter "beautiful" in his texts.
"No school teacher, male or female should be giving a student their number period. It's very unprofessional," she said, and she couldn't help but feel it was an attempt at "enticing a minor."
Leah says that the relationship, as it were, between her daughter and the teacher appeared to be totally one-sided—her daughter had never texted anything inappropriate herself, "but has received dozens, and I mean dozens, of inappropriate messages."
The mom reported the teacher to both the school and law enforcement, and says both have taken his side and referred to the students as 'suspects.'
Leah immediately did what any parent would do—reported it to the school. An investigation found three other girls having similar conversations with the 54-year-old teacher, and all four "admit to being treated so much differently than the rest of the students."
That has seemed to carry no weight with school administrators. Leah says "the teacher is being called a victim in this and the four students are… being called suspects."
Worst still, she was told "the teacher cannot be charged with anything because he's done nothing wrong but give his cell phone number out."
Leah, as most right-minded people would, finds that absurd. "Beautiful 'Body Like A Back Road' is not a song you should send to a child," she said, referring to a text in which the teacher said the Sam Hunt song of the same name about a woman's curves reminded him of her daughter.
"I'm just confused how the sheriff's department thinks these children are suspects and this teacher is a victim," Leah said. "What the actual f."
People online were appalled by the situation, and lawyers say that students and teachers exchanging numbers is never acceptable.
Practically everyone who commented on Leah's video saw what seems obvious: a groomer who was abusing his rapport with his students. And it left them understandably furious.
The charitable read on the Sheriffs' reaction is that they likely don't have sufficient evidence in the texts to pursue any charges against the teacher—and it's also likely the teacher knows this and has been carefully wording his texts for this reason.
But calling the girls 'suspects' and the teacher a 'victim' indicates the kind of virulent misogyny and victim-blaming that frequently accompanies allegations of misconduct and which motivates many victims to not speak up about it.
But there is no smoke without fire—having four students' phone numbers and giving them preferential treatment is obvious smoke—and as one mom who viewed Leah's video pointed out, if this is what he's texting to students, imagine what he's got on his laptop.
Many on TikTok recommended Leah "lawyer up" and go above both the school's and local sheriff's heads to get justice, first to the school board and local government, then appealing to the state governor if necessary. Many also recommended going to the media.
Regardless, parents should know that everyone from lawyers to teachers' unions say teachers should never exchange numbers or text students under any circumstances for exactly this reason.
There are multiple apps, as well as email, for teachers to use to communicate with students when necessary. Having access to their phone number is an easy way for things to cross boundaries, even in the most innocent of circumstances.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.