Many kudos to Michael Manson, a 2023 graduate of St. Clair High School and a secondary education student at CMU, for calling out the East China School Board for ignoring “the Tim Higle situation.” Higle, a former teacher, has been arrested and charged in federal court with crimes of enticement of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
View a few minutes of the East China School District Board Meeting dated February 24, 2025, beginning at about 43:30. Mr. Manson’s statement is at 44:44.
That any of the people speaking had to get up there, after having gone to principals and board members (some on more than one occasion) to tell them of criminal sexual conduct by a teacher; long-term bullying by students, coaches and teachers in that district; unwelcome touching and advances by some goddamn hall monitor/teacher; and failure to safeguard an autistic student in order to make a public record after being ignored, is outrageous. But good for you. You stood up for the students these board members are allegedly working to benefit.
Institutional enabling fuels further bad acts and even criminal acts. These board members know they have governmental immunity in Michigan. It looks like the legislature recently considered exceptions in cases of knowledge of sexual misconduct that is allowed to continue, but it might not have become law. It’s Michigan, so I doubt it passed.
Governmental immunity for school boards and employees protects and I would argue, fuels, looking the other way and fuck ups that damage lives. It should be abandoned and if you want to be on a school board, get a personal umbrella policy at the cost of a couple hundred dollars a year or have the district cover the costs. People on boards of nonprofits do this; you can, too.
I do take issue with the young man who was clearly there to prop up a problem employee in the district. Until you are asked to shake your bra to release “contraband” in some bogus search or series of searches, pipe down. It sounds like this has been going on for years and he has clearly been “presumed innocent” by higher ups at the school. Your defense of him rang hollow.
I know it’s apparently cool/ok again to be a groper, a lecher, a crotch-grabber, a purveyor of rohypnol, even a rapist; but when school districts allow any of this shit and/or learn of it and look the other way, the result is not only that hundreds of students (female in this case) are violated and made to feel unsafe at school, but also that the taxpayers will help fund this hall monitor/teacher fuck’s pension.
Clearly, the bigger issue of an impressively heartbreaking list of issues, is the “Tim Higle situation.”
https://www.fox2detroit.com/video/1598617
The East China School District responded to the media that they had “no idea” why the FBI wanted Higle’s personnel records. See last paragraphs of https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2025/02/14/oakland-county-man-accused-of-soliciting-explicit-content-from-minors/#commentDiv. Bullshit.
An “unwavering commitment to student safety” requires that you listen to and believe victims, that you investigate and document all claims, that your staff is trained to understand mandatory reporting requirements, that your staff is trained to deal with predators in their hallways and classrooms.
Shame on all of you. Indeed, resign in disgrace.