Emails Leading To Dating

Middle school english teacher (Woman) starts dating a parent of a student of hers.

I am a teacher at the local middle school. I certainly keep my personal life private, but my guess is that if someone wanted to know my marital status, it wouldn’t be too hard to find out. It started when one of my student’s father started an email exchange with me a couple of months ago. The student was having a difficult time in class with reading comprehension and I have been sending home notes in the planner. At first, the emails were strictly about his son’s academic progress but then they veered into personal territory. Quite honestly, they were not inappropriate at all so it seemed natural when we started texting. His son was starting to improve a great deal in his reading scores. The texts and emails continued. We had a date last night … he promised that he wouldn’t tell his son. In fact, he promised that we would only communicate during the weeks when he didn’t have custody. I really like this guy … it seems so comfortable. Since this is my personal life, I don’t need to ask my principal’s permission, or do I?”

Weighing possible outcomes

  • What if the student finds out?
  • Is there anything wrong with dating the parent of a student?
  • What could possibly go wrong?