Responsibility to Students:
Physical Contact
Educators hold a unique position of trust and authority and are responsible for maintaining appropriate professional boundaries with students at all times.
There are certain behaviors that may not be considered acts of professional misconduct on their own, but combined or repeated may lead to allegations of professional misconduct. In some situations the hug a teacher gives a student may be the only one they receive that day; however, this can be seen as crossing professional boundaries. For purposes of license suspension, denial, revocation or formal reprimand, the TN State Board of Education defines inappropriate physical contact as "the unlawful, unnecessary, and/or unjustified physical contact with a student. Examples of such unnecessary and unjustified contact include, but not limited to sexual contact, physical altercations, horseplay, tickling, improper use of corporal punishment, and rough housing."
However, Mr. J. has been advised to stop being so physical with students and staff. Clearly, someone has reported feeling uneasy about it and he disregards their feelings by saying it is "the way he is and he isn't doing anything wrong." This behavior has the addition of insubordination. The Tennessee Board of Education has formally reprimanded, suspended, and revoked educators' licenses for insubordination.