Police say teacher spoke with students' parents before suicide

Police on Monday said an elementary school teacher who recently took her own life at a school in southern Seoul talked over the phone several times with students' parents suspected of harassing her.

A person on Friday visits a memorial altar for a 23-year-old teacher who took her own life, located at Seoul Gangnam Seocho District Office of Education in southern Seoul. The teacher was found dead in a classroom at Seoul Seo 2 Elementary School in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on July 18. [NEWS1]

Police on Monday said an elementary school teacher who recently took her own life at a school in southern Seoul talked over the phone several times with students' parents suspected of harassing her.

“There were phone calls made between the parents and the teacher several times from July 12, when the so-called pencil incident occurred, to July 18, when the teacher took her own life,” a Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency spokesperson said at a press conference Monday.

In the "pencil incident" of July 12, a student from the late teacher’s homeroom scratched another student’s forehead with a pencil.

Teachers' groups allege that harassment by the parents of the students involved in the incident drove the teacher to suicide.

The Seoul Teachers’ Union said earlier that the parents called the teacher numerous times, adding that witnesses say the teacher planned to change her phone number over the summer vacation because of the calls.

The police did not disclose the exact number of times the teacher and the parents contacted each other.

Family members of the deceased teacher criticized the police for clouding the issue by initially blaming the suicide on “personal matters.”

Some local media reported that the teacher's suicide was due to personal problems, including depression and a breakup, after allegedly obtaining the teacher's journal entries from the police.

The 23-year-old teacher requested counseling sessions three times this month, two of which were related to the pencil incident, according to Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education material shared by People Power Party lawmaker Chung Kyung-hee’s office.

The teacher first discussed the incident during a counseling session on July 13, a day after the incident took place.

She then asked for another session, where she said that the parents called her personally regarding the matter multiple times. The teacher said she was surprised and terrified to receive the calls.

From May last year to July, she attended 10 counseling sessions at the school, eight of which took place this year.

This year marked her second year as an elementary school teacher.

Her suicide spotlighted difficulties faced by teachers, particularly their inability to discipline misbehaving students due to fear of complaints from parents.

Police are continuing their investigation, going through CCTV footage at school, the teacher’s school computer and personal electronic devices.

The Education Ministry began a joint investigation with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the Seoul Gangnam Seocho District Office of Education last Tuesday.

The ministry will extend the joint investigation period to Friday to hear from teachers and reflect their complaints in measures to protect educators’ classroom authorities.

This Saturday, teachers are expected to hold another mass rally to demand a safer educational environment and the protection of their classroom authority.

Some 5,000 teachers participated in the first rally two weeks ago, while 30,000 teachers joined the latest rally in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Saturday, according to rally organizers.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]