By Jasmin Ramierez,  Alisal High School, Salinas, CA

As a journalist, my readers trust that what I am writing is true, that I did my research, interviewed the right people, and got the facts straight. I am trusted to write the story with the truth. Reporting is about the truth-telling people what is going on even if it isn’t such a nice thing to do. With your parents, trust is what can get you a longer curfew or have them tracking your every move. Trust with the people around you is what can cement bonds; it allows you to have a deeper sense of understanding with one another. Parents trust that when they send their child to school the teachers and school staff will make sure to keep them safe. Parents have trusted our teachers since we first started going to school, I mean you wouldn’t trust the ‘light of your life’ in the care of strange people.

With that said, there are lines in life, lines you should never cross. Like the line, you have with your parents, how far you can push them before you’re in major trouble. There’s a line between teachers and students, with teachers on one side and students clearly on the other. Many things about teacher/student relationships are in a grey area on that line but some things are clear. Like a ‘romantic’ relationship between a teacher and student that is a clear line that you never cross, ever. Unfortunately, this line seems to be getting crossed every week.

Now some of the lines many have been blurred by Social Media like Facebook. People’s statuses, photos and comments appearing on others walls can become a problem when a student is friends with a teacher. Now being friends with teachers can be helpful, if you have a difficult class, or if you’re on a sports team and your coach needs to be able to reach you outside practice hours. Texting is another problem, everyone does it, because you don’t have to have your ear pressed against something the entire time and now you can send pictures. Sometimes it’s not a good idea to have a teacher’s number, or have them as a friend on Facebook. Sometimes people cannot differentiate between that, it may say friend but as everyone knows it doesn’t always mean friend, it may mean acquaintances or something.

Like when a student is just randomly texting or messaging a teacher, or when the teacher is always commenting on photos or statuses. Some people can tell the difference, stay on their own side of the line so to speak, while others can’t. However, why would you want to talk to someone about things that they wouldn’t know about? I mean if you are friends with your teacher I’m pretty sure they are older than you are.

What could motivate a 40-something year old date a person younger than them? Maybe a mid-life crisis, they want arm candy, they may be getting the hole in their life filled. Honestly, I don’t know what could cause an adult male or female to want to date a person significantly younger than them. Now for the teenagers, maybe they need a ‘daddy’ or ‘mommy’ figure, they need some ‘structure’ in their life or they might want a sugar daddy/momma. I, as a seventeen year old girl, don’t want to date a guy who’s old enough to be my dad. Like the ‘couple’ from Modesto, the 41-year-old teacher who ran away with his 18-year-old student. Who knows what was happening, maybe they ‘filled the void in each other’s dreary lives.’ I can’t begin to try and wrap my mind as to all the reasons why they were attracted to each other.

School staff and student relationships are a big NO, NO. No one cares if the ‘couple’ is in ‘love’. All excuses are feeble. These relationships break the trust a community has for the members of the school staff, and it taints not only the individuals, but the schools. The bottom line? The adults, who must bear the burden of the trust that has been placed in them, when it comes to working with children, must show proper restraint and maintain the appropriate detachment, or find a new line of work.