What's with The Teacher-Student Relationship?

Four teachers in the last six weeks have been arrested in the Tucson area, accused of having inappropriate love affairs with students. We wanted to dig a little deeper into why these relationships, in general, start in the first place.

That's four that got caught, you know, are there more? How often does it happen," Edward DiCochea said.

Pushing his daughter on the swings at Reid Park, DiCochea has a lot of questions about teacher-student relationships and hopes his daughter is never confronted with one of these situations.

He said, "The best I can do is teach her right and wrong and hope she's able to make those decisions and definitely look for help if she needs help in anyway."

To learn more about why these relationships happen, we sit down with Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Adena Bank Lees LCSW LISAC BCETS, who specializes in cases surrounding sexual abuse.

"As adults we need to know we do have a certain authority and power over kids," Adena Bank Lees said.

In a teacher / student relationship case, she says that power is being violated and that's why it's abuse.

"Usually those students are more vulnerable, their self-esteem is not as high and they don't have these kinds of peer relationships," Bank Lees said.

She says in some cases teachers will target those students and give them more attention.

"It starts off very innocent and the adolescent or the child is now, I'm special, somebody cares about me. I don't get cared about like that at home or with my friends and it feels good," Bank Lees said.

In some of the recent local cases, police say teachers have been busted by using cell phones or even their computers in the relationships. Bank Lees says, as the teacher-student relationships develops, the teacher's thinking can become distorted.

"What happens with the thinking distortion for the adult, from the teacher is that I don't care about the consequences, they don't think through this could be setting me up for someone to find me out."

She feels more teachers are getting caught, but these relationships have been around for decades.

"We will tend to blame the younger person, he or she asked for it, dressed a certain way, seduced them, etc. No, the adult is always responsible."

Adena Bank Lees says if a teacher or student are feeling those feelings, they need to seek help immediately.