As a mother, I’ve watched with disgust as the number of local teachers accused of child molestation has risen over the last year. Everyone deserves to be innocent until proven guilty, even if we’re reporting on them, though, which is why it’s even more disguising how badly one of those accused teachers is being treated, even after being acquitted in only 45 minutes.
When I read an update on the Sean Lanigan case in the Washington Post this week and I felt terrible for the man. Having accusations of sexual abuse thrown at you is no small matter, and for a teacher it’s even more intense. Fired, reinstated, put on leave, Lanigan has suffered professionally. Google his name and your top hit is a “bad teacher” website. His personal reputation is ruined. Financially he spent $125,000 defending himself in a case that never should have come to trial. The idea that he was found innocent in 45 minutes and one of the jurors cried in sympathy while delivering the verdict clinches it for me.
We need to take these accusations seriously, but shouldn’t school officials have been able to figure out somewhere along the line (very early on) that there was something fishy going on?
Which leads us back to that $125,000 Lanigan spent defending himself. Fairfax County Schools, in the event of a not-guilty verdict, is supposed to reimburse reasonable legal fees, but is offering Lanigan $40,000 less than they should be and requiring him to sign a waiver so that he cannot sue board members. Sounds like they might know they messed up on this one, especially given the incomplete investigation of the allegations.
In our digital age, not even a verdict of innocence will save Lanigan from future student’s parents using search engines to read about his accusations and subsequently judging him. The least Fairfax County schools can do is follow their own protocol and stand by a teacher who did nothing wrong.
