Union: Pierce County teacher back at school after lecture secretly recorded, posted online

A Bethel School District teacher returned to work Thursday after three weeks on paid administrative leave while the district investigated a recording that surfaced online last month of her deeply personal class lecture, according to the district’s union.

Bethel Education Association president Janet Caldwell said that math teacher Rose Triana-Boman, who had shared an emotional story about her late son’s mental health struggles and death by police, was back at Spanaway Lake High School.

“She returned to work today,” Caldwell wrote in an email Thursday in response to a News Tribune inquiry seeking confirmation on a tip from a source.

The longtime teacher’s reported return came on the same day that The News Tribune published an article revealing the district’s probe into Triana-Boman’s conduct and into the actions of the student who secretly recorded the classroom presentation on March 28.

It was unclear what exactly the district concluded about the behavior of either the teacher or student, or if its full investigation had wrapped up. Caldwell did not respond to a follow-up question seeking details about Triana-Boman’s return, and district spokesperson Doug Boyles said that he would not be able to confirm her status or gather any related information until Friday.

Triana-Boman, who has been employed by the district since 2003, was placed on leave on March 29, the same day that a video of her fifth-period class lecture to mostly freshmen algebra students appeared on YouTube.

The video, which had been titled “Teacher Mental Breakdown” on the social media platform, captured Triana-Boman’s nearly hour-long speech to students intended to explain why she went into teaching. The presentation broached sensitive themes, including drug use and gun violence, and whomever posted it online criticized the lecture as being inappropriate, potentially harmful to students and a waste of class time.

Some agreed, while others defended the teacher’s remarks as a valuable cautionary tale, according to the 40-plus comments on the video, which had garnered more than 1,300 views before it was taken down.

Boyles had said Monday that the district had only received “a small number” of offline comments from community members and parents. Their feedback also reflected divisiveness on an issue that has raised questions about expectations of privacy, use of in-class electronic devices and what’s appropriate for school discussions.

In the recording, which was reviewed by The News Tribune, Triana-Boman told her class that she had given the lecture in the past and that she planned to retire at the end of the school year.

In a response to questions from The News Tribune, Caldwell said Thursday that the online posting of the student-recorded video was “clearly a smear” that presents a chilling effect on how educators do their jobs, as she called on the district to stand up for educators when such cases occur.

“This is emerging as a serious issue in our schools, particularly considering the growth of extremist anti-public education sentiment among a few people,” she said in a statement. “We are professionals, and the district is our employer; as such, the district needs protections in place that allow us to do our jobs and support our students, and it needs to have our backs when incidents like this arise.”

Caldwell also said that it did not appear that Triana-Boman had broken any school district rules or policies but that the student did so by recording the presentation.

“Educators already support full transparency; we readily respond to family inquiries,” she said. “With social media, the capacity for misrepresentations, doxxing, smear campaigns, and more presents a threat to educators’ work and safety that reaches far beyond our school community.”

Instances of students recording teachers, largely political in nature, have made several news headlines in recent years. Educators have been taped requesting students turn “Make America Great Again” shirts inside out; professing allegiance to antifa; castigating President Trump; and cursing at students.

The ACLU of Washington warned students in a tech guide published in 2019 that secretly recording their teachers could land them in trouble.

Molly Quinton, a spokesperson for the organization, told The News Tribune in a statement Thursday that Washington is a two-party consent state for recording under ever-evolving law.

“Generally, it is unlawful to record someone where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. This may change depending on the context,” Quinton said. “Schools across the state also have differing policies on this particular issue, which has not been directly addressed by the courts.”

The district’s investigation was expected to review whether any district or school policies were broken.