Police arrest Kingstree teacher for indecent exposure
A Kingstree Elementary School teacher was arrested after police said he exposed himself to a high school student, Kingstree Police Chief Robert Ford said.
David Tisdale is charged with indecent exposure in connection with an incident that reportedly happened years ago that police had been investigating, he said.
The victim told police he was visiting the elementary school where the suspect worked as a teacher when the suspect exposed himself.
The victim also said he was shown pornographic material by the suspect.
The victim has since graduated and is now a young adult, the chief said.
Tisdale was released from the Williamsburg County Detention Center after posting a bond.
It is unclear if he is still employed at the elementary school.
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Bingo! It was common knowledge among the student body and we all know a secret can’t be kept in a high school, and yet somehow the teachers and administrators had no idea.
It was the same over at HHS in Hemingway, everyone saw it, everyone knew it but no one said a thing or lifted a finger to stop it. It was like the giant elephant in the middle of the room, everyone has to go around it, it’s in the way and it causes problems, but no one dare talk about it openly.
Teachers and administrators allowed it to happen and either covered it up, turned a blind eye, were themselves intimidated or intimidated those who made any comment about it. I expect to see some articles in the paper from someone with the County Board of Education claiming shock and horror explaining they had no idea or knowledge of such activities. Simple truth is you can’t see what you don’t want to see; that is until you see it in the newspaper then they go into their song and dance and vow to be more aware, set up some program or means for reporting such things. Then declare the problem solved, case closed.
Yeah, right until no one is looking any more then right back to the same old status quo, well until the next time. When they will shine up their dancing shoes and ‘shuffle off to Buffalo’ again and hope and pray no one remembers.
I’m telling you, it ain’t just Kingstree that has or had a problem with sexual misconduct. What the extent it is now I have no idea, but little ever changes in Williamsburg county so if I had to guess, I’d guess it’s still going on.
As a mid-90’s graduate of KSH, who didn’t know what Mr. Tisdale was doing? Come on, he was always driving around with a carload full of boys. Everyone knew what he was up to. And he wasn’t the only one doing it either. There was also a couple of coaches at KSH who were always hitting on students. No one cared. I just can’t believe it took this long for someone to come forward.
“People are afraid to report at the time in situations like this, especially youth. It is very damaging and too many people try to make light of incidences such as this. I don’t care if it happens to male or female, there are ramifications the non touched cannot imagine and only make judgement calls over.”
Yes, many people don’t want to know about such things happening, but the sad truth is they do and attempts to cover it up or pretend that it couldn’t possibly happen here are simply putting your head in the sand. That mentality allows and empowers those that would do this sort of thing to our children.
Personally, I think an investigation into the school system should be conducted because I feel that this wasn’t a secret to those in power within the school system, nor should it be confined to just the Kingstree area. If it was happening in Kingstree then it was happening through out Williamsburg county as Kingstree is the central county school system and let’s be honest if they let it happen there then other systems took their lead in the tolerance.
I must point out the student I mentioned previously was still his student when the news broke and she was only in the seventh grade (possibly 6th). In other words still a mere child. She could have been excused for ignorance (though she should have been taught better) but not the teacher or her parents. Or school officials.
It shouldn’t have happened or been condoned.
This is predation if true. I do believe this does happen and more often than the public would like to admit to. People are afraid to report at the time in situations like this, especially youth. It is very damaging and too many people try to make light of incidences such as this. I don’t care if it happens to male or female, there are ramifications the non touched cannot imagine and only make judgement calls over.
I pray for the young man who had to report this. While we don’t know the details and facts, I will say again, most people don’t lie about these things and if they do, they don’t have much of a conscience and they usually are caught in the lie.
It’s true this guy has not been found guilty of anything as yet, right now it’s an allegation and it’s up to a court and a jury to hear all the evidence and convict him. Also, if he did this sort of thing once then in all likelihood there are others who might well come forward now that someone else has stepped up, at some point the truth comes out. Of course, I have no idea what the truth is at this point all we have is an article in the paper about an arrest. All I can say is back in the day it was happening in plain sight and no one in authority seemed to be terribly concerned unless the media or the police became involved.
However, this is several years after the incident is supposed to have happened and not a case of a vindictive student get even with a teacher who didn’t give then the grade they felt they deserved or whatever. This person is now an adult and making the allegation, but that’s why we have courts, juries and due process of law.
Personally, I know of four incidents that had they happened in this day and age would have been horribly scandalous, instead it was just quietly swept under the rug or as quietly as possible made to go away either through attrition or the “Good old boy” network as it was called forty years ago. My only contention is that I saw it happening back then and so did everyone else and not a finger was raised to stop it, and it’s apparent there is still a problem in this area and hopefully this will help put an end to it.
Angelswalk points out she saw teachers dating students back in his/her day and yes that is extremely improper, even if the student has turned eighteen prior to graduation they’re still a student and a teacher is in a position of authority over them. There is no reputable teacher who can claim they don’t know this is improper regardless of the circumstance and if they chose to cross that line then they’re risking their professional careers. The incident in the article sounds like it’s more a case of actual predation than dating a student and while one seems a lot less harmless than the other both can result in very negative endings and neither should be tolerated by a school system.
“It is their word against yours.“
I see your point but I can’t say I agree. It is rather hard to prove sexual assault or a charge of this nature (even true) without proof or strong evidence. It is harder to prove and get a conviction on than people think.
I do know one teacher who was in the Williamsburg County School District who did marry a student. This young lady was a student of his. This was many years ago but still improper.
Nothing was done officially; they were married for many years.
This was a seventh grade student.
It does happen.
“Good to see that things are not being swept under the rug now or simply covered up as they once were. However, why is it that the system didn’t discover this was happening?“
Maybe it didn’t happen…...It’s best to be careful about such statements. Remember the Duke University lacrosse team.
I’ll have to slightly disagree with keninsc. I too am a product of the Williamsburg County School System. Maybe I’m behind the times, but I never saw tendencies like those referenced in this article. What I did see was political shenanigans galore, but that is certainly not confined to Williamsburg.
I came over here from another S.C. paper where this story was reprinted, because it seemed important to direct a comment to the original source.
Something here doesn’t add up. This is about as sketchy an allegation as I can imagine - hopefully most readers can distinguish an allegation from actual proven guilt. So when did the offense supposedly happen? We aren’t told. Does anyone know? The fact that this man was arrested is the only verifiable fact in this whole story.
I wonder how many people realize that allegations of sexual misconduct, criminal domestic violence, etc., can ruin a man’s life even if they turn out to be totally unfounded. I know of such a case in Greenville.
Media folks, you should think about what you are doing before you rush a story into print with so few verifiable facts.
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