An important comment which must be flagged up
Posted by Colleene this afternoon:
I knew Erin in school. I hung out with him often as at the time I was dating one of his friends.
Trust me, it wasn’t my personal preference to be in the room as this guy – and to be honest, all his ‘friends’ felt the same way – but the guy just kept showing up.
He has always been a disgusting, filthy-minded little worm of a human being, with an over-inflated ego. That can basically be confirmed by anyone who’s ever had more than 5 minutes of contact with him.
He thrived completely and constantly on trying to shock people, be it through unnecessary verbal obscenity, or by sharing his mildest disturbing fantasies with us – most of which involved mutilating female reproductive organs. I recall a specific incident where he even submitted a drawing of one such fantasy in lieu of an English poetry essay.
Based on his incessant anti-establishment rants, essays and plays, I’m not surprised at all that he behaved in the irresponsible and inappropriate manner he did, nor by his choice of prey. I’m sorry to refer to his victim that way, but Lisa would have been nothing else but prey to him.
He was very open about how little guilt he felt about taking advantage of people who were obviously vulnerable or needy. He loved it and abused it to the fullest.
Furthermore, she looks strikingly similar to a girlfriend he had at the time (he obviously goes for a ‘type’) and his sexual ‘explorations’ (more like psychological and sexual abuse) with her were beyond shocking – and I’m very liberal in that area. This is a guy who wanted to go watch a donkey-mounting show when he was in Amsterdam.
I’m not sure whether anyone has come forward with any information about Erin as a person – as far as I read, there seemed to predominantly be comments pertaining to the impropriety of the pupil-teacher relationship, and also people who claim to have known Lisa and want to offer some opinion on her relationship to Erin. But they are children like her, 15-year-olds.
My hope is that this brief insight into the person Erin – from somebody his age and who saw a lot of him when we were at school ourselves – highlights the irresponsibility of the school (as there is no way they could have missed it) in hiring him.
I hope that what I have said puts to rest any misguided notions people might have as to the ‘romantic’ element of his relationship to Lisa. Anyone who thinks their relationship was anything other than abusive of his position is just being naive.
The age difference debate is almost a non-issue compared to the fact that Lisa was nothing more than easy prey to a very sick, sick man. People are so busy discussing her mental state at the time – she was just a 15-year-old, passing through the usual turbulent stage that so many of us go through at that stage of growing up – that they miss what should be blindingly obvious: that it is he who has very serious psychological problems.
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I wonder what Lisa’s best friend who commented earlier has to say about this.
She’s busy crowning her ‘Champion’ and supports her stand on the celebration of death not life.
Does the school where this thing worked actually charge fees?
That’s why one is even more shocked that there is no proper screening of the teachers not to mention anyone else working on the premises.
Does it matter?
Yes. Very high fees, actually.
It is unfortunately hard to say something in this respect without tarnishing the reputation of the school in question – despite the fact that I (and most probably many others) know exactly which school Mr. Tanti was (because surely, his career must be referred to in the past tense now) teaching at.
There are two schools involved, not one. Erin Tanti (aka Erin Stuart Palmier) teaches at the drama school Masquerade and also at the private school, St Michael’s.
I’m sorry I don’t see why the school should be protected at all. On the contrary, its recruiting policy should be investigated.
This mentality of omertá (everybody and nobody knows) kills me. It creates a sublayer in our society based on rumour and fear of retribution which ends up supporting bad practices and people with bad faith.
Nicola Abela Garrett worked at a private school after she was seen shouting abusive language on campus, just over a year ago.
They’ll use him. They are cheap so it’s comfortable for the school and it’s comfortable for him as he will never be out of work but close to his prey.
Some private school teachers are employed as ‘part-timers’ and are paid as part-timers.
I expect the authorities to act fast; if private schools are adopting this pattern then they need to be investigated.
If Colleene knew about his “disgusting” behaviour why didn’t she report him to the school authorities?
With all due respect, do you know where the friend of your ex when you were 14/15 now works? I for one have absolutely no idea what any of my ex’s friends are up to.
Please tell me he was educated at another school.
Definitely a more accurate characterisation of the guy. There was always something ‘off’ about him – you could tell just by speaking to him (or watching him speak) for ten minutes. How the school failed to pick up on this is beyond me.
How much do you want to bet that he’ll write a play about his ‘misfortune’ and ‘tragedy’ when and if he’s locked up?
I don’t know the man, but from what I have read so far, coincidentally, my conclusion was that he probably felt he was starring in some dark script of his own.
My heart goes out to the family who lost a daughter, sister, niece, cousin – all because of the sick perversion of an individual who was her teacher.
One wonders whether this was some erotic sex game to him and which went wrong.
When people derive sexual pleasure from acts involving the physical restraint of a partner anything can go wrong and it is not unknown for a partner to have been suffocated accidentally as sometimes heard on the Italian news. Unfortunately it is usually the woman who comes out the worst.
Pushing her to the edge of the cliff face may have been enough to stimulate him particularly if it is domination he was seeking. The car was locked so this was no spontaneous event.
It is quite possible that he went too far and she may have lost her balance possibly grabbing him for safety. At that point he too lost his balance and they both crashed down for I really doubt that he had any intention of injuring himself.
I am really saddened by this whole story and offer my condolences to her father Tony who must be going through an immensely tough time at the present moment.
An immensely tough period for the moment? How can he ever get over losing his child, and in such a sudden, unexpected, horrible way? My heart really goes out to him, although I don’t know him.
I did not say ‘for the moment’, I said ‘at the present moment’ which is very different.
It isn’t time that heals all wounds but rather it’s what one does with that time that does.
Like any other aspect of life, mourning is an active working process, not a passive one.
Think about it.
If what Coleene says here is true, then the school truly has a lot to answer for, for putting such a person in a position of trust and authority over vulnerable minors.
What sort of controls are in place to filter out unsuitable people before they become teachers?
I’ve seen one too many comments focussing on the school that employed this young man. But why and how did he ever get as far as entering the pool of candidates for a teaching job?
Unsuitable people should be weeded out of the system before they reach that stage.
We have opened up a box of rights with no responsibilities.
The result is the right to do anything you want, and if somebody tries to stop you, claim human rights, freedom of speech, and so on and so forth.
Well said. Employees scare the crap out of employers nowadays.
That seems to be the trend these past few years in Malta. Everyone talking about rights, hardly anyone discusses responsibilities.
Heaven knows why it has to be spelled out, but it was – two years ago.
http://www.independent.com.mt/mobile/2012-12-03/news/teachers-get-new-code-of-ethics-477822977/
Key Principle Two
Maintain professional relationships with students
Teachers should maintain professional boundaries while in school and out of school, avoid improper physical contact, avoid inappropriate communication via any form of media, including online media, and avoid inappropriate relationships with students.
Members of the teaching profession are duty bound and are ultimately responsible to maintain a professional distance; refrain from taking advantage of professional relationships with students for their own personal benefit, including by giving private lessons to students from the classes they teach or who are under their administrative responsibility, against payment, whether monetary or in kind; conduct pastoral interventions with students professionally, and behave in keeping with their unique position of trust and status as role models.
Teachers must also follow behaviour management and safe schools policies and guidelines as directed by the relevant school, college and education authorities; act appropriately towards students exercising care in their language, gestures and attitudes, ensuring that they do not act in such a manner that is embarrassing or disparaging and ensuring that they do not use abusive language or offensive names or make inappropriate remarks; and act with a professional attitude and behaviour at all times.”
I am surprised to read that ‘key principle two’ talks about avoiding inappropriate communications and relationships.
‘Avoid’ sounds like a very mild term to use. I would have hoped that they would ask teachers to do more than just avoid inappropriate relationships.
I would have thought that teachers should avoid communicating with pupils outside of their teacher-pupil relationship. They should under no circumstances communicate inappropriate,y or engage in an inappropriate relationships with pupils.
My thoughts exactly. The words ‘should not’ or ‘are not’ are more appropriate than ‘avoid’.
Even our current cabinet is incapable of following a Code of Ethics and further still a year later has failed to deliver a new Code of Ethics.
One would have thought that a Code of Ethics was there for those who have difficulty understanding the position they occupy in a society. In other words we should never need a code of ethics if we had a sense of ethical behaviour.
Moreover, I am finding all this commentary a little disturbing. We know very little about what went on at Dingli Cliffs and many in here are speculating and passing judgement even if it is in an indirect manner.
Is it so difficult to let the police do their job? Or is there another agenda here?
[Daphne – Let’s leave out the bit where they ended up at the foot of the cliff, and concentrate on what we DO know for certain. A 23-year-old teacher picked up one of his pupils, aged 15, on Tuesday afternoon. He kept her out with him. I use the verb ‘kept’ advisedly, because apparently lots of people have forgotten that in any adult-child situation, the adult is held responsible at law even if the child is exercising free will. He kept her out all night, while her family reported her to the police as a missing person. At 4am he took her to Dingli Cliffs. These are facts, not speculation. Take it from there.]
I remember when Erin Stewart Tanti was posting on his FB wall and sharing the video clip showing the then chairman of PBS under the influence of substances. He was very comfortable with being judge and jury then.
Do you think that a thief does not know that it is wrong to steal or a killer to kill?
It is the whole of society which must safeguard others who are vulnerable themselves or in a vulnerable position from the person without morals or ethics.
A very worrying trend in organisations is to ask a person to resign if he/she has been abusive in any way.
This saves the company from litigation BUT leaves the perpetrator free to strike again.
It is a win-win for the organisation and the perpetrator but disastrous for future victims. This plus the fact that most CVs contain outright lies AND are not verified leaves us in the mess we are in.
Amazing, I was out with friends and of course this topic came up and I was amazed how some of my friends defended his character and still believe he is not in the wrong because nothing is certain about what happened. Shocking!
My 4-year-old goes to the school in question and I used to go there too. I was in the first class to graduate. I loved that school and the teachers, and I’m so saddened it’s getting a bad reputation – however I would expect some sort of statement from them.
The one certainty about all this is sufficient proof that the teacher was in the wrong. He was at Dingli Cliffs, in the early hours of the morning, with a minor who was his pupil. The rest is detail.
The rest is detail? So I guess the police should not even investigate?
Just let some nobody on the Internet who was not there and does not know what happened be the judge and jury? I dont know Erin, but from what I have heard he is a great, warm person who would do anything to help someone in need- and while I can accept that should not have been with a student outside of school hours, that doesn’t make him culpable in her death. Come on people, lets preserve judgement until we know the facts. Is that really so hard?
[Daphne – “He is a great warm person who would do anything to help someone in need”: yes, like drive them to the cliffs at 4am and jump off with them to keep them company. Unbelievable.]
@Roberto
Are you serious? Nobody can argue with facts.
As her teacher he should NOT have been alone with her after school hours, let alone in his car at Dingli cliffs at 4am!
He is an adult. She was a child. He is indeed FULLY responsible for what happened.
“I dont know Erin, but from what I have heard he is a great, warm person who would do anything to help someone in need”
Make up your mind.
Do you know him or don’t you? You sound like you do, and if you don’t, then you are taking things at face value on tragic circumstances that are extremely sensitive given that the life of a fifteen year old girl has ended tragically.
You are making mistakes as things should not be taken at face value when people die in suspicious circumstances. If people did take things at face value in these circumstances, then doctors, court experts and magistrates, plus the department of police, should take a short-cut and rely on how nice a person was, how great and warm and helpful.
Do you, or don’t you, know the person in question – and if you do, who are you to talk about him being warm when your so-called ‘warm’ acquaintance took a girl up to Dingli Cliffs in the very early hours of the morning when her family and the police were looking for her?
Your friends are having problems with cognitive dissonance. They firmly believe that teachers are good therefore when they try to think that a teacher was inappropriate with a pupil they find it uncomfortable and so choose to stick to their long-held belief that teachers are good.
Mr Tanti was a teacher, therfore Mr Tanti could have done nothing wrong.
‘Jimmy Savile was a philantropist, philantropists are good therefore Mr Savile was good’, was a point of view held for decades. The ugly truth only emerged after his death.
In Savile’s case even the police ignored the signs of abuse. He boasted that many people in high office were his friends and indeed they shielded him from the law. His victims were laughed at and Thatcher fought to knight him.
If Erin was a great warm person who would do anything to help someone in need, he should have driven the girl straight home.
If Erin Stewart Tanti had any sense of responsibility, he wouldn’t have allowed his pupil into his car, let alone driven her anywhere.
My God, Roberto! Why are there so many of you who cannot understand that Stewart Tanti should not have been in the company of a fifteen year old till four in the morning, at Dingli Cliffs of all places?
Or are you thinking perhaps that he drove all the way there simply to enjoy the view of Filfla, in the pitch dark?
There is a big difference between progressive and liberal and being disturbed, and unfortunately a lot of ‘theatre’ people in Malta confuse the two.
We shout out about freedom of expression and being able to stage whatever we want to even if it includes sex, defaecation, masturbation etc and people like this Erin have been pushing the same agenda for years.
The problem is that because people are scared to be seen as conservative or backward we have let these people carry on as though it is OK, which is why alarm bells were rung as he was considered progressive rather than disturbed.
[Daphne – I agree with you, Grace. That’s because of their background, which most of them have in common. My observation is that the more repressive, conservative, ordinary, religious, straitlaced, humdrum and ‘rahli’ a theatre person’s home, school, childhood and teenage background was, the more outrageous and falsely hip they try to be, especially if they were also nerdy wallflowers while growing up. It’s as though certain people bury themselves in the self-involved narrow capsule of Maltese theatre life as a ‘Second Life’ scenario in which they can reinvent themselves as outre individuals, but to me they just come across instead as a bunch of nerds talking about perverted sex. They are the hyper-opposite of cool. Their persona is so obviously false, a self-invention, that it misses the mark completely.]
Which is why alarm bells were not rung as he was considered progressive rather than disturbed.
Grace, mark my words, this creep will walk free.
With such an impeccable CV, he will probably be promoted to head of the sex education department at the school donkeys and all.
BUT WE LOCKED UP THE MOSTA SERIAL ANIMAL CRUCIFIER!
But he will still have to live with himself and the knowledge that he was party to a child’s life unnecessarily ending, and so abruptly, too. His remaining alive after landing on the rocks beneath the cliffs is perhaps, in itself, poetic justice.
How long until this guy is invited to Xarabank ready to give the viewers a sob story?
That’s right. In Malta everything is upside down. The perpetrator somehow becomes the miskin, while the departed/voiceless victim becomes quickly and conveniently forgotten.
I think it is also the reporting structure that needs to be more effectively supportive.
Where there is white collar crime or crime of a psychological nature the sensitivities are not there: the perpetrator would need to repeat the harassment; the nature of the action would need to be recognised, assimilated and understood; the victim or the person responsible for the victim would need to provide witness proof: the police will tell you that they need this. No witness may be willing to come forward against such a person.
When such crime occurs, and is in the process of occurring, when the operator is smooth, it is very difficult to pin this person down.
Some trip up early but others glide through the system unaffected by their actions towards others. Some manage it for the whole of the 5 or 6 decades that they are generally active.
There needs to be a department that deals with white collar crime and finely-tuned psychological profiles that is sensitised to the particularities that the scenarios have a bent to contain and freeze up over rather than expunge. The load needs to be taken off the victim. If the victim is further weighed down by a system that is neither supportive nor sensitive to the finer particularities, the system would have failed that person.
This department must be two pronged and interacting with specialised teams of psychologists so as to provide reinforced guarantee that the issue does not slip through the net because the perpetrator is too slick.
This service needs refinement.
One thing’s for sure – if he gets away with this, I will definitely boycott any theatre production he happens to be involved in. I will not support his work.
I apologise to his fellow actors and directors who had nothing to do with his actions, but really, most of them should know better than to defend him in this situation.
I know the common adage is to separate the art from artist, but in this case the so-called art isn’t even worth it.
Mental illness is really no different from any other illness, except that it is often highly stigmatised and hidden away. We don’t point fingers at people who get cancer or diabetes and say that they deserved what they got, even if their behaviour indeed caused or contributed to their disease. But if someone is not right in the head, all that changes and the gloves come off.
From an emotional standpoint, a hostile knee-jerk reaction is somewhat understandable because a mentally ill person is more of a threat, and the case here is a prime example of that.
However, it is the sane and balanced who have the most power to recognise and deal with that threat, which is why they are the ones who carry the greater responsibility.
To explain to all and sundry how he suffered “wara l-attakk fahxi fuq bniedem innocenti htija ta Daphne”.
If he is still 23, he might even get Marie Louise Coleiro Preca’s allowance of euro 400 per annum.
That is just what crossed through my mind, Ciccio.
It starts from top down. Even the message sent out from the “very top” in Government is unbalanced.
Societal alignment to a recognised value system is a liberating structure not a constricting one – contrary to what those with no meta-cognitive awareness will tell you.
Having a word or a tool for a concept doesn’t “bind you to tradition,” it permits easy recognition by all for the purpose of simplified and efficient reference.
It permits development of the main categories into sub-categories which eventually grow into new subjects with their own terminology.
Clarification of the fundamentals permits a view of the actual picture.
Daphne is absolutely brilliant at “societal forensics” precisely because the meta-cognitive antennae pick up the signals, recognise them and refer to them for what they are. Being sensitised and benefiting from years of honed insight to which historical details are continuously added, spot-on perception happens ahead of the trend.
When correct logic is then added and applied to broad perception the results are superior every time.
No messing about for the sake of convenience of the moment.
Just as it should be. Every time.
Do you want me to write the script for that? Because I already know how the ludicrous exchange on that most perverted of programmes will go.
“Peppi” Azzopardi — Orrajt, orrajt, din il-camera? Mela, illejla ghandna lil Erin. [Azzopardi moves behind Erin, clipboard in hand, lays hand on shoulder]. Erin, x’ghadda minn mohhok dak il-hin?
Erin — L-ewwelnett nixtieq nghid li [fill in the blanks]
Azzopardi — Imma kif hassejtek dak il-hin?
Erin — Kien mument difficli u [fill in the blanks]
Azzopardi — Ahna sibna clip ta’ com-committee scotch – kif tippronunzjaha din?
Erin – Comedy sketch
Azzopardi – Ehe, commode scuds, li int hadt sehem fiha s-sena l-ohra. Ha naraw ftit. Ehm, ehm, cemplu tofornajntohandrit biex tkunu maghna fis-sala. Infakkrukhom li tistghu tirbhu pizza ghal tnejn minghand La Tratte O’riyya. Cemplu biex tkunu maghna. Il-gimgha d-diehla se niddiskutu l-fatati. Ghandek xi storja tal-fatati? Rajt xi fatat? Imma dawn jezistu. Se jkonna maghna fis-sala lil Natius, Emmy Bezzina, Grace Borg, Mary Spiteri u hafna mistednin ohra. Cemplu….
—-
And so on for the next three hours.
Daqt jaghmlu programm biex jaghmlulu gabra.
If Mary Spiteri got her programme, I’m sure this man will, besides the leader of the band believes in ‘forgiveness’ and that people always deserve a second chance.
And most of his ‘schoolchildren friends’ think we are judging him – and they’re not stopping to think that Lisa Maria’s fate was judged last week when she found herself on Dingli Cliffs with Erin Stewart Tanti.
His employers, the “private school in San Gwann”, appear to have a structural quality control problem.
They also employed this pervert some years ago:
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2008/04/it-was-the-weatherman-mark-vella-gera/
Wrong. The weatherman taught at St. Michael’s in St. Venera – Tal- Muzew school.
[Daphne – He taught at both.]
David, I know exactly where the weathermen taught. My children used to attend St Michael School.
I withdrew both due to the school’s failing standards of discipline and responsiveness to parents’ concerns over the last two years.
The Wembley Store Boys
19 March
Everyone, thank you for the kind offers and support. I’m sure Erin will be just fine. He must.
—–
Lisa, on the other hand, won’t be ‘just fine’. The fact that the person didn’t deign to MENTION the victim is offensive to my own sensibilities. Disgraceful.
If all goes well with Erin, he will be just as fine as the rotten pervert he was before all this came to light.
No more no less.
Once a rotten pervert always a rotten pervert.
that was posted before there was any news of a death.
Typical ego-centric mentality that does not care what happens to others but is lost in narcissistic admiration.
The ‘Wembley Store Boys’ insisting that ‘He must’ be ‘just fine’ while omitting Lisa and her family goes beyond any residual feeling of camaraderie they share with Erin and just crosses an entirely different line entirely.
I’ve never been interested in going to any production of theirs, but now I’ll not only boycott them but actively do some naming and shaming whenever they come up. They seem to deserve it.
Hi Daphne,
I don’t really care if this question is posted or not.
But as much as the girl’s family is going through, don’t you think Erin’s family is going through hell themselves? They have nothing to do with this case, and quite frankly, we don’t know the whole story.
Wouldn’t it simply be better to wait for more info rather than put his family through more grief?
Damage has been done but you’re simply driving a knife in the bullet wound.
I don’t speak with aggression, simply concern.
[Daphne – Yes, you speak with concern for the perpetrator’s family. The perpetrator’s family have no more right to public sympathy than the family of any other perpetrator of a very serious crime. And in no other serious crime is it expected that there be silence on the matter in the media, and no comment, out of respect for the perpetrator’s family. Also, the family members of perpetrators of serious crimes generally tend to know this, and also know that they have to accept it even if they do not like it. The perpetrator’s family would be absolutely ill-advised to attempt to place their predicament as being somehow akin and at par to that of the victim’s family. Not only is their son and brother the perpetrator, but he is still alive, whereas his victim is dead.]
Glenn, we certainly do not know the whole story.
But the little bit we know is sufficiently heinous, nefarious, contemptible and abominable.
Nobody in his right mind can help but react viciously to what we know so far.
Nobody in his right mind, I repeat.
I first got to know the name Erin Stewart Tanti when I read the story in Times of Malta about two missing persons – him, aged 23, and Lisa Marie, aged 15. I looked Stewart Tanti up on Google, and one of the first results I got was a YouTube ‘trailer’ of a play he wrote, called ‘Cock&Clit’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aHEKBm6Kfc).
Immediately alarm bells rang in my mind – what sort of pervert would give the vile name ‘Cock and Clit’ to any sort of production?
It was enough to start giving me a good idea of what sort of man he is. I then got to know Lisa Marie had been found dead, and I started reading what Daphne was helping to bring to light about him, and quickly came to realise what a dangerously disturbed creep this man is.
I know you should never judge a book by his cover, but, honestly, even by looking at this guy’s face, you can tell he is a sick creep. Incidentally, I could tell Jimmy Savile was a child abuser also just by looking at the old rotten man (like Daphne, I am not in any way equating Savile’s crimes with Stewart Tanti’s behaviour).
I think a lot of the ‘miskin’ comments about the teacher may have been by people who like myself had never known him before seeing his picture in the papers.
For some obscure reason which I cannot begin to understand the picture showed what looked like an innocent young boy.
Even having read that he was 23 in the article I didn’t even notice that because the picture probably left more impression than the actual age written in black on white, perhaps subconsciously assuming that it was a typo.
When I first saw an actual picture I was completely taken by surprise as he looked nothing like the published picture of the ‘missing person’. I am guessing it is a picture of him when he himself was 15, but why would they publish that?
Surely it wasn’t because a more recent picture was unavailable – the internet is full of his pictures.
The published picture in the original missing person article was worse than useless. I would not have recognised him if I bumped into him in broad daylight.
I am currently going through the unenviable phase of selecting a suitable independent school for my children – I’ve visited most of them, and I can’t say that I’m particularly impressed.
Having been a teacher myself in the past (I have since moved on to other pastures), the quality of the teaching professionals is what I look for as topmost in my list of priorities when it comes to judging schools.
Unfortunately my impression is that in Malta there are no strict standards regarding who is employed by independent schools, and I’ve been terribly shocked to find out that there are ‘teachers’ with totally irrelevant B.A.s and other degrees which have nothing to do with the teaching profession, but who are allowed to ‘teach’ at independent schools.
This is in stark contrast to what happens in other types of school – namely state schools, which only employ people with a degree in education as ‘teachers’. At this stage I am at a loss where to start.
I am particularly unhappy with the quality of the teaching staff at my son’s independent kindergarten, and with the fact that, despite the hefty fees, they employ people who seem incapable of stringing a complete sentence in English, or who can speak English with the correct ‘accent’. Most of my son’s school mates are only capable of speaking Manglish as a result.
This is a tragedy and needs to be dealt with as such, both within the comments on this blog as well as by the press.
While a fifteen year old may not be a child, there is no denying that the person who was with her must be pretty disturbed and will surely need to face his legal liability and, more importantly, psychiatric care as do all persons who attempt suicide.
Having said this, I do not understand why his former friends should now come forward to say that he has always been an awful person a pervert and a weirdo. I also do not understand why people point fingers at the girl’s father because he was not monitoring who she was hanging out with.
Suddenly everybody thinks that this Erin Stewart Tanti should have been isolated. Hindsight is twenty-twenty and in my opinion all this “we knew it all along” does not help.
He is probably just one of those many people we meet throughout life who seem “weird” or “borderline” but who somehow pass off as people with odd personalities and nothing more.
Just because a person is “strange” it does not necessarily mean he or she will cause a tragedy or play a role in one. How many seemingly “normal” people have committed even more heinous deeds?
This entire tragic event should serve to reflect on whether there should be more effective supervision in schools and in homes to monitor teacher/pupil relations. It would probably suffice to check out our children’s Facebook pages.
I am often shocked at the familiarity with which young pupils address some of my Facebook friends who are teachers. Social networks and the ease with which we communicate with all and sundry have dropped those barriers which are essential.
Back in my days at school we had no clue of what was going on in our teachers’ personal lives nor did our teachers have any clue of our deepest feelings which are now so easily flaunted on social networks.
By eliminating these barriers we have automatically also killed the roles which authoritative figures need to play in young people’s lives. Pupils now comment on their teacher’s breakfast, her pet cat, her bikini, her boyfriend, her nightlife, her own comments on her friends and so on.
I am no psychologist, but I am sure that this merger of roles and consequent annihilation of “role models” is extremely dangerous, especially for teenagers. It just serves to create confusion not only in the pupil’s head but also in that of his or her teachers, who now seem to think of themselves as their pupils’ friends.
People of my age (I am a contemporary of Daphne’s) have no doubt in their mind that this man fell short of his responsibilities as a teacher, but that is probably because we have a totally different concept of “teacher”. It may not sound so out of place to a sixteen year old.
Teachers and pupils getting into complex relationships is no novelty. Only now it has become much easier because the first most difficult hurdle of passing from pupil to friend no longer exists.
Unfortunately, both the pupil and the teacher can be affected. The result, as in this case, could be tragic.
The moon was 95% full that night. The cliff edge would have been perfectly visible.
If this is the school in question, where’s the information on who runs the school on the website? The board of principals?
http://stmeduc.org/?page_id=104
A friend who is a school teacher told me that they are encouraged to add their current pupils as their Facebook friends. This shocked me. I think this should not be allowed, let alone actively encouraged.
And these teachers put their notes on Facebook, too. Surely there should be some other website which can be used?
And another teacher friend actually told me the opposite, that they do not accept to add pupils as ‘friends’, until perhaps after they have left the school, if they so wish. Clearly a common standard needs to be set.
We do not even have to take Colleene’s word for it.
“People who know me well enough know I rent airspace for my own (ego)”
http://insiteronline.com/author/erinstuartpalmier/
What a load of crap that is.
It saddens me to think that the school where my children are being educated is being looked at in such a way.
St Michael’s is a professionally run school that has many wonderful teachers. It is a known fact that Lisa and Erin knew each other outside school. They travelled together to the UK last summer on a trip organised by Masquerade drama school.
Do not blame the school. Mr Erin was a sick and crazy individual but also a great actor who may have found it easy to fool his employers and his young pupils. Our thoughts are with the Zahra family and with all her school friends.
It is so wrong that anyone should question the behaviour of Miss Zahra’s father.
There is no parent who knows where their 15-year-old daughter is all the time. At that age, girls go out as they should, and have some freedom, as they must.
It’s not like she had his blessing to stay out all night, to hang around with her teacher, or that he wanted this man to be hanging around his daughter. In fact, he reported the matter to the police.
Had the girl been neglected, she wouldn’t have been reported immediately. You are blind to the contradiction inherent in your statement.
Sadly, parents of children who are truly neglected, don’t even realise when their children don’t return home.
Wrong. I never insinuated that the girl was neglected – far from it! I am criticizing those who are saying just that.
Ok, so you get one comment that shows the character that you people, who do not know him, have in your head and then you get more than 100 comments about his character, from people who do know him, about the person that he really was. That is to say, funny (in a clean way when with students), kind and a damn good teacher.
Who is to say that you yourself didn’t write this comment? It’s something you’d do. <- probably going to edit that out yes I know.
[Daphne – Why would I bother writing it myself? This may be difficult for you to understand, but in the vast majority, people aged 49 do not reason like people aged 15. You must really have borne your late friend an enormous grudge – envy, perhaps, even if you won’t admit it to yourself? – to be championing with such dedication the man who killed her. I may not think like a 15-year-old anymore, but that doesn’t mean I don’t remember what 15-year-old girls can be like. And one trait is ambivalence towards their friends, even their best friends.]
However he was at school he has matured. God knows what our ministers did at school…Nobodys a Saint.
Let me just ask you one thing (keep in mind that I was best of friends with Lisa and had a good relationship with her father), posting these, likely false, comments and digging up, likely false, dirt on Erin is putting his family through as much hell as Lisa's family is going through. He is not classified as a perpetrator. I ask you one thing Daphne, as all these comments are making the matter worse, as everyone in our form today agreed (most between sobs), stop posting all this horrible things about Erin for now, let the investigation be concluded and the police come out with a final statement, then once we know the truth, post all you want.
Please do this for all Lisa's friends who can't focus on their O levels because they are thinking about what you are writing and to be honest, it's making a lot of 16 and 15 year olds burst into tears in class, you might think it's because of lisa's death….half of it is… but you are making it a lot worse for us all :(
[Daphne – Sadness has made you lose all sense of perspective. You are not crying because of what is being written here. You are crying because Lisa died and the teacher you admired killed her, directly or indirectly. You cannot admit that to yourselves so you choose to blame the messenger instead. This is normal. If you were to express your grief at home with the adults who look after you, instead of with other people your age who cannot, at the moment, see straight, they will tell you that it is what Erin Stewart Tanti did that was grossly wrong, independently of what you think about the manner in which that behaviour is being discussed here and elsewhere.]
You are a bitch of the highest caliber.
[Daphne – That’s what all people your age tell their parents (or the equivalent) who are doing their job; it’s the standard retort. To which the only proper parental response is: I’m not here to be your friend, or to say what you want to hear, or to be nice to you so that you like me; I’m here to make sure you grow up properly socialised. You are not my responsibility, and I am not your mother, but you are most certainly somebody’s responsibility, and I hope that your mother or father is telling you exactly this, for your sake. With every comment you make, you remind everyone how very vulnerable 15-year-olds are and how easy it is for a bad person to use somebody that age to his (or her, for that matter) own ends. The bad person needn’t even be older – he or she can be the same age. But in this case, he was much older and in a position of authority, making the mind-bending easier for him.]
If you have some respect for the families let the authorities do their work!!! What is being said is doing more harm than anything else!!!
[Daphne – Not at all. This is a public discussion about a matter of public interest. Don’t see this tragedy in isolation. There are wide ramifications to it.]
Lulu, presumably you’re referring to the police investigation, but have you considered what “the authorities” should have done to prevent this happening in the first place?
Stewart Tanti held a supply teacher’s warrant. Whatever filtering controls and processes were in place – assuming there were any – allowed an unsuitable person to take on a position of trust involving direct contact with, and influence over, minor school children.
Whatever weaknesses there are in the system are not necessarily exceptional to Stewart Tanti’s case. Are there other tragedies waiting to happen because unsuitable people have escaped detection and are now teachers?
The ultimate safeguard is a person’s ability to understand his or her own shortcomings and to prevent any possible damage. Unsuitable people might be unaware of their own unsuitability for their teaching roles, which is why prospective teachers should be closely scrutinised AS PEOPLE, not just as holders of paper qualifications and field experience.
Doesn’t it concern you that there are children out there who may be at risk?
Letting “the authorities do their work” isn’t enough. “The authorities” DID do their work, and see what that’s led to. Whatever’s wrong with the system needs to be fixed. That can’t be done unless it’s openly discussed. And that means discussing everything, including Stewart Tanti’s case.
“Letting the authorities do their work” in their language means: ‘what’s wrong is not wrong, so stay out of it’.