A Frightening trend of teacher-student relationships
Parents and Students of the Random Lake School District were shocked this past Friday to learn that teacher, Aaron J. Greisen, 29, had been charged in Dane County with eight criminal offenses – three counts of felony substantial battery, two counts of misdemeanor battery, two counts misdemeanor disorderly conduct, and one count of misdemeanor telephone harassment. “I was in complete shock,” said Rachel Markiewicz, a junior at Random Lake High School. “I just honestly can’t picture him being the way he was described. I’ve never heard of him harming any other students or even lashing out in anger; and if he had a temper like that, wouldn’t it have been noticed earlier?”
RL Letter to Parents Regarding Mr. Greisen’s Arrest
Greisen, who is currently placed on paid administrative leave following his arrest, has worked for the Random Lake School District for the past four years. During his tenure, Greisen, the agricultural instructor has also worked as the assistant coach of the boy’s basketball team and has assumed various teaching responsibilities within the middle school. According to Markiewicz, “Mr. Greisen has always been involved with students at random. He was kind of known as the 'favorite teacher' by majority of the students.”
Reportedly, Greisen had initially met the victim, a 2010 Random Lake graduate, while he was a teacher in the high school; however district officials deny that they had any reason to believe an inappropriate sexual relationship had taken placed while she was a student. According to the criminal complaint, cited by Litke of the Sheboygan Press (2011), the eight criminal charges stem from three separate incidents occurring in February 2011:
The first of these incidents occurred on Feb. 10, 2011, when the woman alleges she was repeatedly shoved to the ground by Greisen. The woman said Greisen was drunk and became enraged after they were unable to find his car in Madison.
Then on Feb. 25, 2011, “a 21-year-old Madison man said he was at a party with the woman, and shortly after she left he got a call from Greisen. Greisen repeatedly used racial slurs while threatening to come after the man and identified himself as the woman’s ex-boyfriend” (Litke, 2011).
Also occurring on Feb. 25, 2011, the woman and Griesen meet up while he was in Madison to watch the state high school wrestling tournament. Allegedly the two got into an argument, which prompted the woman to leave the event.
However, later that night, the two met up again at a city tavern. She tells police that around midnight, Greisen suddenly became irate and demanded to see her phone. When she refused, Greisen grabbed her by the hair and began dragging her around the parking lot. Madison police did respond to the scene but the woman refused to file charges against Greisen because she said “she didn’t want to get him in trouble.”
For her safety, the officers escorted the woman back to her dorm, however Greisen showed up at her door again 2a.m. She claims that as soon as she opened the door, Greisen grabbed her hair in both of his hands and began slamming her head into the wall; she believes she lost consciousness.
When she awoke and saw Greisen with her cellular phone, she asked for it back. He refused and instead grabbed her by the hair and continually slammed her head into the ground until he had once again knocked her unconscious.
When she came to again, the woman attempted to flee her abuser, and began to run up a set of stairs away from him. The woman recalls that Greisen came after her, grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her down the stairs. Laying at the bottom of the stairs, she believes she fell unconscious for a third time.
“The woman eventually escaped and collapsed outside a friend’s dorm room. The friend took her in and helped bandage her bruises, noting that she was missing a large chunk of hair. The friend told police he spotted Greisen outside the woman’s dorm room later during the morning,” (Litke, 2011).
The woman attempted to stay at school in Madison, but on March 3rd, her concerned parents brought her home; the next day, March 4, 2011 the woman’s father called campus police to report Greisen’s assault.
The news of Greisen’s arrest and the circumstances surrounding his brutal attack has left many parents and students in a state of disbelief.
“I cannot believe that there were no warning signs to indicate he had anger issues,” said one parent.
“The fact that it escalated into such violence is another disturbing factor to me. He brutally attacked this young woman, forever changing her life as well as her perspective on men and relationships. I cannot understand how this man can be placed on administrative leave with pay,” informed Nicole Lauman, a Random Lake parent. “This man should never be allowed to teach in any school ever again. Having to sit down and try to explain what this monster did to this woman, to my children, was not something I enjoyed. Mr. Greisen abused his power as a teacher and should be ashamed of himself. I only hope that this young woman gets the justice she deserves.”
In the wise words of Anthony Deutsch, a prior Random Lake student: “It's sad that Mr. Greisen's self-anger manifested into this violence. From my experience with him at Random Lake High School, I had the impression that he was a kind and compassionate individual. It is unsettling that someone in Greisen's position would carry out such an act; however, I hope an understanding of this violence can be acknowledged, so it doesn't happen again in the future. These issues must be treated delicately, and the community should be reluctant with any hatred or anger towards Mr. Greisen, as it really doesn't help anyone in the long run. The irrational mind is a dangerous thing, as demonstrated here, but we can all learn from others mistakes."
In a time when inappropriate and sexual teacher-student relations seem to be on the rise, many are left wondering how they can protect their children from the sexual abuse of the few (not all too common) unscrupulous teachers who might violate them. As in this case, the Random Lake parents and students were seemingly unaware of the underlying “darkside” of Greisen; therefore they reportedly trusted him completely, seeing him as a exceptional teacher, a coach, and a mentor.
For this week’s discussion, please share your thoughts:
- How one can teach and prepare their child to distinguish between those behavior’s that are indicative of the “genuinely caring and nurturing teacher” and those behavior’s which are expressed out of “ill-intending deceptive conditioning to allow for abuse?
- While we are aware that schools have policies regarding teacher-student relations, not all schools are created equal. Do you know what your school considers inappropriate? Also, as an extra measure of safety, Do you believe schools should be allowed to educate students regarding what is and what is not considered appropriate behavior of a teacher? Do you believe this tyoe of curriculum would be overall beneficial?
_______________________________
A congressional report released in 2007, reported an estimated 5 million U.S. students has been sexually assaulted by a teacher. Terri Miller, founder of the Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation organization, claims these assaults have become “epidemic.” Sadly, Wisconsin, like many other states, has seen a rise in arrests of teachers who engage in inappropriate relations with underage students.
In fact, within the first month of 2011, Wisconsin saw three heavily publicized cases of teacher/student relations.
January 2011, Bryan F. Wendt, age 27, was sentenced to eight years in prison, to be followed by seven years of extended supervision, on charges of second-degree sexual assault of a child. According to court documents, Wendt met the eighth-grade student, aged 14, while employed as a physical education at Waukesha’s Center Middle School. The student stated that their friendship had turned sexual in the summer of 2009, a claim Wendt collaborated, admitting that he had sex with the girl numerous times between August 2009 and May 2010. Apparently, the investigation into Wendt began after two students had reported their suspicions to the school social worker, who then informed officials.
Aaron Heroux, age 27, was sentenced January 2011 on two felony charges of sexually assaulting a student while employed as a West Bend High School teacher. According to Heroux’s statements to police, he admitted having sexual contact and intercourse with the 16-year-old girl at his former West Bend residence. Heroux was sentenced to six years in prison, the maximum allowed under state law, followed by six years of extended supervision. In addition, Heroux faced separate felony charges in Ozaukee County Circuit Court for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor female relative.
On January 19, 2011 Milwaukee police arrested the New Holstein’s superintendent, Joseph Nelson, aged 58, for using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. According to police documents, Nelson had been communicating with a Milwaukee police officer posing as a 15-year-old boy since June 2010, whom he met on craigslist.com. Allegedly, Nelson had arranged to meet the boy in Milwaukee to engage in the sexual acts he had previously described in online communications. Nelson was arrested at the supposed meeting location, a Milwaukee hotel, where police officers found condoms, massage oils and lubricants laid out in the room. The Sheboygan Press reported that Nelson was arrested in Milwaukee while on a district-funded trip to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards' annual convention at the Frontier Airlines Center in Milwaukee. In an even more disturbing turn of events, it has been reported that in 2005, Nelson had left his job as athletics coordinator for the Madison schools after being caught viewing pornography on his work computer. He landed two other administrative education jobs in Wisconsin between leaving Madison and being hired in New Holstein; although neither school’s officials were aware of the circumstances under which he resigned from the Madison job.
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