A few years ago, I was teaching in a middle school in a county north of Atlanta. At the school, an attractive first year female teacher was approached before school by five of her 8th grade boys who started ask rather crude and sexually explicit questions of the teacher, questions that I cannot repeat here, but they were as explicit as one could possibly imagine.
She ran out of the room practically in tears and promptly reported the boys to the principal.
The principal questioned the boys who admitted what they had said. In their defense, the boys stated that they thought the teacher "was their friend."
Other than being removed from her class, the boys were never punished. They didn't even receive a day of detention. Apparently, the boys' parents had threatened the school system via their lawyers, and the school system was worried a story with a young female teacher and teenaged boys would be a public relations nightmare.
When the teacher protested, she was put into a room without representation with the principal and the county personnel director. They threatened her, telling her that she had to resign or it would be "bad for her if the case got public." In their minds, coercing her to quit, even though she hadn't done anything, was EASIER than fighting the parents.
When I started to ask questions about the situation, I was reassigned to another school. (Actually, my "mistake" was helping this teacher to file a complaint to the Human Resources Department.) Apparently, I had suddenly become a negative influence in the school even though I was recognized as one of the top teachers at the school...by the principal no less.
(Side note: I will never forget the personnel director telling me that "boys will be boys." When I asked him how that excused their behavior, he said it didn't, BUT "look at her.")
(Side note 2: After I was escorted off the campus by security (HA!), the administration threatened the entire school NOT to talk about the situation or about me. I had suddenly become taboo, and my fellow teachers, fearful of losing their jobs, would barely talk to me.)
In the end, the female teacher got her job back (after she got a lawyer herself), but she quit the following year, still shaken by her experience the year before. I moved on to a different county. The students, from what I hear, have had a checkered experience in high school.
The cowardly principal still works in the county.
Of course, the principal was put in a difficult situation. The county wanted the story to end, even if it ended with the teacher's career. Still he could have done the right thing.
He didn't.
The cost of his cowardice: a young teacher's career, a second teacher's tenure in the county comes to an end, and five boys learn that their inappropriate behavior will be tolerated by cowards.
In regards to the Amway/TEAM conflict, I have never been prouder to be a part of the TEAM. Although I don't know Orrin and Chris personally, I respect them immensely for their character.
It would have been so much more convenient for them to follow the path that Quixtar/Amway had charted for them. Instead, they examined their values and they examined Amway's plan, and they decided to DO THE RIGHT THING!
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2 comments:
"always do the right thing"="launch a baseless lawsuit falsely accusing Quixtar and all of it's IBOs of being an illegal enterprise"
We have different definitions.
I would have thought, "resign, honor your contract, and go on to do other things" would have been a much more "right thing" to do. Heck even challenging the contract based on the belief it has bee substantially changed might have been the right thing to do.
But bogus accusations? Not the right thing to do.
Yes, they certainly did the RIGHT thing!
First of all, for years they have asked Quixtar to lower prices so that IBO's could in fact retail. Quixtar did NOT lower prices despite assurances that they would.
Secondly, TEAM leaders protested the name change back to Amway, as did other board members. Fair or not, America's perception of the Amway name is incredibly poor. Still, Q/A continued with their unpopular name change.
Lastly, TEAM leaders were advised by their lawyers that THEY could be held liable should the government label Amway an illegal pyramid business. With only 3.4% outside retail, TEAM leaders couldn't continue down that path, especially since Quixtar/Amway seemed so reluctant to offer more affordable products.
All TEAM wanted was to walk away (in an amicable settlement).
Quixtar thought instead that it could fire the leaders and keep all the rest of the IBO's, but as you can see, they were obviously wrong.
As for ibo fightback and other Amway IBO's (soon to be ABO's), the TEAM wishes you luck. I realize that TEAM's fight with Quixtar doesn't help you (unless Q/A lowers prices), but really, the separation was inevitable.
I suggest you read the other blogs with more substantive information, including QReilly and QSSR. Read over the lawsuits and the letters.
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