School Seeks Balance in Talking to Kids About Sex Abuse Allegations Against Teacher

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As Urbandale schools head back to school next week, school officials will work to strike a delicate balance of talking to students about what to do if a teacher or other adult initiates inappropriate behavior without “making it worse” for the student-victim in sexual abuse charges against a Urbandale Middle School teacher earlier this month.

The former teacher, Benjamin Joseph Hoffman, 23, of West Des Moines has been formally charged with 11 counts of third-degree sexual abuse after he allegedly had sex with two minor children, including a student at the middle school, where he was a language arts teacher. He has been placed on administrative leave and a replacement – Stephanie Hart – has been hired.

“We certainly know it’s an issue that’s going to be talked about at the middle school,” Urbandale school Superintendent Doug Stilwell said. “We are probably not going to bring it directly to the attention of students. We don’t want to make it any worse for the student involved.”

School officials will “address safety in general” with students and “make kids aware of who they can visit with if they have concerns and issues," the superintendent said.

“We want to respond appropriately,” Stilwell said. “We don’t want to over-react, or under-react. We want to protect kids and ensure nothing like this happens in the future.”

Hoffman went through eight deep background checks before he was hired to teach language arts at the middle school last year, Stilwell said.

Police said Hoffman schemed his way into the  Urbandale student’s life and gained her trust through a series of text messages. Although there’s no school policy prohibiting it, Urbandale teachers and administrators are being advised to avoid texting students and, instead, use email if they need to contact a student electronically. In those instances, they’re asked to include their building principals in the message.

Stilwell said that If a text message is unavoidable, it should pass the following litmus test:

• What would child’s parents think if they read the text message?
• What would that child’s friends think if they read the text?
• If the text message became public via the media, how would the public respond?

School officials were surprised when Hoffman was arrested. The district conducted as many as  eight deep background checks were conducted and three references were checked before Hoffman was hired last year, and no red flags showed up. 

“We ran every check we could,” Stilwell said

Hoffman didn’t have a criminal background at the time he was hired, but if he’s convicted of the charges against him, his teaching career is likely over.

The other victim in the case was a Norwalk 14-year-old Hoffman reportedly taught as a substitute teacher.

Read more:

• More Details Released in Alleged Sex Abuse Complaint Against Urbandale Middle School Teacher
• How Police Connected Urbandale Middle School Teacher to Reported Sex Abuse Against Teen Girls
• Victim Says Sex with Teacher was Consensual