What is the rule on physical contact of teachers with students?
The official answer will vary from district to district and state to state. A pat on the back/head/arm/etc. is 99.9% of the time TOTALLY innocent–it’s just a way to say “Good job” or “I’m proud of you”. A little physical contact can be very reassuring to a kid–let’s them know that their teacher genuinely cares about them. It also depends a lot on the relationship that a student and teacher have with one another. You wouldn’t pat a student on the back that you didn’t know, just as you wouldn’t do it to a stranger on the street. Students/teachers with good relationships would know that any type of brief “nice work” or “good game” contact isn’t anything more than an adult caring for and nurturing a child–they wouldn’t read into it the wrong way.
