This story is the sort that produces mixed emotions for me as a teacher. On the one level, it is good to know that the criminal justice system works, even in these sorts of cases. But on the other hand, it points out the vulnerability that teachers – especially male teachers – have to these sorts of allegations. And it makes me ask the question with which I titled this piece – because I wonder if there is any way that Eric Foster will ever be able to recover his good name and his profession.

A former Conroe High School teacher has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Eric Foster went to trial last month in Montgomery County’s 410th state District Court on three counts of indecency with a child and one count of sexual assault of a child. The jury cleared him of the charges.

The alleged victim was not a student in the Conroe Independent School District.
Foster, who was an algebra teacher, resigned shortly after his February indictment. He had worked for the district since 2000, school officials said.

Some have asked why Foster would quit if he was not guilty. Simple – in this state, we don’t have tenure here in Texas and so the district could have refused to renew his contract, which would have effectively made him unemployable in education (not that this accusation does not have the same effect). This way he can at least honestly state that he was not fired. In addition, as long as he remained employed by the district but suspended, the district would have been able to restrict his movement and activities during work hours in such a way as to make it difficult to work with his attorney to prepare his own defense.

But what happens now? The article about the initial accusation and indictment was longer and more prominently placed than the news of his acquittal. Too bad the media that tore him down doesn’t feel the responsibility to help restore his name. In addition, there are all too many who insist upon presuming his guilt even in the face of the jury verdict to the contrary – would any school be able to hire him and take the heat from the local public?

And what of the girl, whose identity remains protected, who made this all too public accusation. Will there be consequences for her? And doesn’t the outcome here raise the question of the disparate treatment of accuser and accused in these cases? If we are to protect accusers because of the alleged stigma attached to these crimes, do we need to consider the greater stigma attached to an unsubstantiated/unproved accusation and consider withholding the identity of the accused?

Just some questions that cross my mind as I consider how this fellow educator recovers in the wake of an all too public accusation.