In a labor case involving a ClassAdviser of Grade 5-Esmeralda of School of the Holy Spirit of Quezon City,

theSupreme Court, in upholding the Class Adviser’s dismissal for gross negligenceresulting to loss of
trust and confidence, tackled her responsibility under thefollowing circumstances[5] -

“On March 10, 2000, the class president, wrote a letter to the grade school principal requesting
permission to hold a year-end celebration at the school grounds. The principal authorized the activity
and allowed the pupils to use the swimming pool. In this connection, [Class Adviser Corazon P. Taguiam]
distributed the parent’s/guardian’s permit forms to the pupils.

[Taguiam] admitted that Chiara Mae Federico’s permit form was unsigned. Nevertheless, she concluded
that Chiara Mae was allowed by her mother to join the activity since her mother personally brought her
to the school with her packed lunch and swimsuit.

Before the activity started, respondent warned the pupils who did not know how to swim to avoid the
deeper area. However, while the pupils were swimming, two of them sneaked out. [Taguiam] went after
them to verify where they were going.

Unfortunately, while [Taguiam] was away, Chiara Mae drowned. When [Taguiam] returned, the
maintenance man was already administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Chiara Mae. She was still
alive when [Taguiam] rushed her to the General Malvar Hospital where she was pronounced dead on
arrival.

xxx

As a teacher who stands in loco parentis to her pupils, [Taguiam] should have made sure that the
children were protected from all harm while in her company. [Taguiam] should have known that leaving
the pupils in the swimming pool area all by themselves may result in an accident. A simple reminder
“not to go to the deepest part of the pool” was insufficient to cast away all the serious dangers that the
situation presented to the children, especially when [Taguiam] knew that Chiara Mae cannot swim.
Dismally, [Taguiam] created an unsafe situation which exposed the lives of all the pupils concerned to
real danger. This is a clear violation not only of the trust and confidence reposed on her by the parents
of the pupils but of the school itself.

Teachers who sexually abuse students still find classroom jobs

Steve Reilly

USA TODAY

Troubled teachers move to other school systems

School officials in East Texas didn’t want Kip McFarlin around their students. For years, he had crossed
the line in conversations with teenage girls, using sexually suggestive language and even telling one
student he’d date her if he were younger. By 2005, administrators at Orangefield Independent School
District, about a two-hour drive from Houston, had investigated complaints by six different students.
When it came time to deal with the Orangefield High School football coach, administrators didn’t fire
McFarlin or report him to police. They didn’t even notify Texas education officials who had the power to
take away his teaching license. Instead, they let him become someone else’s problem.They hid his
behavior from state regulators, parents and coaches.All McFarlin had to do was go teach somewhere
else. “This incident does not have to end McFarlan’s (sic) career,” school district attorney Karen Johnson
wrote in a letter in 2005 to then-superintendent Mike Gentry. In the letter, Johnson recommended the
district negotiate “a graceful exit” for the teacher.Less than two years later, McFarlin, then 38, landed a
job at a nearby school district, where no one had any idea about his past problems.In 2011, he had sex
with one of his students, a 16-year-old girl.