Notes

Case 19: Ellen Norton

1. The key issues in the case study are Becky’s possible abuse in the home, Abby’s codependency on Ellen Norton, and Ellen’s slight concern for her tenure. The key problem of the case study was Ellen’s ideas on how much she feels she should be involved with her students personally.

2. The aspects of the case study that makes it a dilemma is the fact that it’s hard for Ellen to not get involved in either one of her students lives when she feels like there are major issues of concern on the behavior each of the girls are exhibiting. There is no obvious solution here which makes this situation a moral dilemma.

3. If it were me I would go ahead and contact the school social worker. Once presented with an issue that is that severe in nature a educator is contractually obligated to carry through with the proper legal steps in order to assess the situation. As for her Abby situation I would probably try to get her interested in a Big Brother/Sister organization so she can find someone else to invest her time into and hopefully this will help her get back on track in the classroom.

4. According to Standard 2 in the code of ethics: conduct with students, Ellen is legally bound to intervene in any wrongful doing that she can see evidence of on her students. Ellen was wrong for not reporting the first signs of abuse she viewed on Becky. If it had came out the Ellen had seen the evidence of abuse but did not report it she could have suffered some consequences from it. This would be found under number 4 in the Standard 2 because by not saying anything she is permitting the harassment to continue. Ellen also violated Standard 9 number 3: Required Reports, she clearly failed to report the signs of abuse and therefore is consequently in odds with the codes of ethics.