Cooper City Elementary Teacher Suspended For 'Innappopriate Touching' With Students

The Broward School Board on Tuesday suspended a Cooper City Elementary School teacher accused of soliciting a massage from students.

Schools Superintendent Jim Notter recommended a five-day suspension for Cheryl Grampa, 45, for at least one incident that occurred during the 2009-10 school year, according to an administrative complaint filed by the school district.

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Comments

[blingladen]

07:16 AM on 02/07/2011

That picture - is that the teacher in question getting ready for her back rub, or just some stock photo...? Both options seem a bit iffy in this context.

[demimckingwoodtx]

04:46 PM on 02/05/2011

This is unacceptable for a teacher she should be fired. I notice that at my daughters elementary school the teachers dress code should be improved. Short skirts and tights with short sweaters look like a bunch of teenagers instead of teachers at the school. What happened to the dress code.

[genrel1248]

04:35 PM on 02/04/2011

Did she get a happy ending?

[1jadednewyorker]

08:37 AM on 02/04/2011

boy she wasnt really thinking.

[poeticjustice4all]

06:01 PM on 02/03/2011

We're not getting the full story on this "massage," but clearly this teacher should not be trusted to be alone with children. She should have been fired on the spot. However . . . her temporary suspension is to serve as a "last chance," allowing the district to fire her for "any future violation."

So she gets one more chance to abuse children (under the color of authority) before being removed from the classroom. Of course, by then -- the kid (or kids) will already have been abused.

Hopefully local parents will pull their children from this teacher's class -- or she will do the right thing and quit.

I'm just glad this isn't yet another story of a woman falling in love with one of her students and physically abusing him for her own pleasure. There have been so many of those horror stories, I've lost count.

[Acert]

06:06 PM on 02/03/2011

A male teacher would never have gotten this much leeway. There is a double standard, in which people view abuse (or suspected abuse) by women as being less serious than the same abuse by men.

[Hanforder]

04:49 PM on 02/03/2011

Considering the bleak economic outlook and the dismal quality of education, she may prove to have been teaching most valuable job skills.

[billy goat]

04:02 PM on 02/03/2011

Wow! That's pretty suicidal if you value your career choice. I taught for several years in the late 70's to mid 80's. It has long been quite clear that the touching boundary was pretty much a no brainer. Still every year, there would surface allegations of something inappropriate between a teacher and a student. Every year I would hear a rumor or have a teacher confide something to me that I'd rather not hear. I happen to be gay and certainly not out professionally. As a teacher I was always hypervigilant of anything that could be miscontrued. I found it very difficult to maintain my privacy and have a personal life that wasn't the subject of whispers. Still compared to some of my colleagues, I was a model citizen. Finally, I moved on.

[novabird]

06:50 AM on 02/04/2011

I would not advise any bright young person to become a teacher these days.

[Tara Hunkoff]

12:11 AM on 02/05/2011

Thanks, but you needn't worry about the bright ones.

[tselby]

03:48 PM on 02/03/2011

With the picture and sensational headline it is apparent once again that HP is trying to become even more like Fox News.

[Arizona Annie]

03:41 PM on 02/03/2011

When I was teaching, many moons ago, my kids would come up behind my desk on occasion and rub my shoulders. Guess the difference was I didn't ask for them too.

[planetjeffy]

03:53 PM on 02/03/2011

In the 70's, students were always giving the teachers neck and back massages. It was no big deal - but like you said, they didn't ask for it.

[lolyla]

02:58 PM on 02/03/2011

Gives new meaning to the term "lecherous grampa."

[Bike Commuter]

04:08 PM on 02/03/2011

Imagine a kid asking, "Mommy, why was Grampa asking for backrubs from little kids?"

[Linda Robertson 6566]

02:58 PM on 02/03/2011

I certainly didn't become a teacher for any fringe perk like a massage from a 5 year old, however, the increasing scrutiny over small things like this has sent me to Google to research other career options. The scape-goating and "hit pieces" is all becoming too much. Unless you've taught, you have no idea how difficult, stressful, and tiring it is to teach. It's a low-paying job that requires a lot of patience. Teaching is not for everyone. Unfortunately Duncan, Gates, etc... think they can quantify the factors that make a student successful, and really, the only number that can just about guarantee student success is the income level of a child's parents. If we continue to scrutinize the tiniest of "infractions" and blow them out of proportion, NO ONE will want to be a teacher.

[poeticjustice4all]

06:14 PM on 02/03/2011

It's a low-paying job? By what standards?

Teacher -- $45,000 with benefits and summers off.

Nurse -- $45,000

Mechanic -- 34,000

Designer -- 29,000

Senior Admin Assistant -- 40,000

[Linda Robertson 6566]

07:03 PM on 02/03/2011

I can tell you've never been a teacher. Not all teachers make 45K and it is low pay for the level of responsibility and work load.

[Ghoulish]

08:03 PM on 02/03/2011

For me teaching was considered a low-paying job by government standards as, while I was teaching, my children qualified for Medicare, CHIPS, and the free lunch program. Maybe those were just some of the great benefits you are talking about though...

[Ariel Bonzai]

07:51 PM on 02/04/2011

http://www.perdaily.com/2011/02/false-evaluations-money-and-power.html#more

This sight will enlighten you all--45yr old teacher? Cost-effective to dump her and hire younger cheaper model she'll be used up in five years--disposable teachers are great for business and it's bottom line but schools and communities are devastated by "teacher cleansing"

[John Stopple]

02:58 PM on 02/03/2011

Calgon, take her away. (Please)

May I say this is the creepiest thing I've seen in a while.

[arizonahd]

02:34 PM on 02/03/2011

I can see how a teacher can get comfortable around their students (like family) but I think massages might be crossing the line. Like some have mentioned on this post, I do remember teachers who were given shoulder massages in elementary/high school by the brown nosers.

I have a family member who is an elementary school principle and he told me about how every time a student comes up to him for a hug, he says "How about a high five instead!". I think that is a VERY smart thing to do, because we all know the stigma that might be associated from some of the most simplest acts of affection. Why this teacher thought massages of all things was kosher is beyond me.

[myj]

04:33 PM on 02/04/2011

It could have been homework related or getting student to write... my grandniece send me messages and I notice it increase her ability to write and spell correctly. It may have been innocent, but we don't know. She should have encourage message parent approval and present.

[myj]

04:48 PM on 02/04/2011

Sorry... miss read the article.... lol.... I am not fully awake, had a long day

[1776 or 1984]

02:28 PM on 02/03/2011

Steady stream of hit pieces before the all out radical push to for-profit manatory education for Wall Street and their elite investors. It takes the velvet glove of the Dem Party to bring the hammer--never forget they betrayed us with NAFTA and bringing China into the World Trade Organization on behalf of the same P I G S.

Stop being played like a dam f00l

[FlamingLibrul]

02:07 PM on 02/03/2011

What the heck is the photo about??