Prosecutor: Zeeland teacher's actions 'concerning,' not criminal

One would hope the school district will be wise enough to put the best interest of the students first here. At best this behavior is inappropriate.

here is a bad situation waiting to happen, dirty mind, care to guess what his hobby is??

Tim Oonk was quite possibly the best teacher I had at Zeeland High School. As a member of the Madrigals, Concert Choir, and Women's Choir plus taking his music history class, and being his teacher aide my senior year I had the opportunity to work closey with Mr. Oonk and I can asure you that nothing inappropriate ever happened. Everyone did "love" Oonk, he was one of the few teachers that actually cared about his students. He should get his job back - with a substantial raise - after having to deal with this bureaucratic bullshit.

Do they not run a spell check on these before posting them?'THIS" is spelled 'THSI'!

Sounds inappropriate to me.

can we say child molester

Hi, I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC. Why don't you take a seat right over there?

No matter how good, innocent or honorable a person's intentions may be, this man showed a lapse in judgement at best. Physical contact with any student these days, no matter how innocent, will usually result in charges of inappropriate behavior somewhere down the road.
Sad to say, but schools need to adopt a 'no physical contact' policy. Period.

As a future teacher, these actions, while they may not be criminal are far from sensible. Caring about your students is one thing, contacting them through text-messages, kisses on foreheads, and the rest of the crap done, is just asking for trouble.

DAngit CHris Hansen you always show up at the wrong time.

mmm wrote:

can we say child molester

Excuse me, you have NO business saying that about Mr. Oonk if you don't know him. I was his student and knew him personally. He is not a child molester or an inappropriate teacher. He is a fantastic choir director and personal voice teacher.

This is ZEELAND though, hypocrite capitol of the world. Rumors, gossip and judgemental people there are the WORST! Nobody must pay attention in church even though they all go and there is one on every corner.

The fact he is texting these students is disturbing enough. What would/should his wife think about him saying "I love you" to a student? Even if it's the father/daughter way, it's wrong for a teacher/student relationship. Period. There are a bunch of things about this situation that don't sit right for me. Nice man or not, it's disturbing to read about this kind of behavior.

not a golfer wrote:

This is ZEELAND though, hypocrite capitol of the world. Rumors, gossip and judgemental people there are the WORST! Nobody must pay attention in church even though they all go and there is one on every corner.

So just because we have a lot of small churches in town makes us hypocrites? People are people, they'll mess up no matter how many churches there are. There are rumors, gossip and judgemental people no matter where you go. It's no worse in Zeeland than any other place I've been.

Sounds earily familar and sick to me. Teachers preying on students... Teachers having a "club" of students and they only will let some in. These type of teachers have problems that were never addressed when they were children. They want to exclude others and be popular. Who knows what else they want from these innocent kids too.

I would be very concerned if I were a parent of a child that was under any influence of Mr. OINK! He is a pig for sure. He is there to teach children, not to be that close to them and "love" on them...

Sounds like a similar situation from Freedom Baptist Academy in Hudsonville in the 80's...

not a golfer... you hit it right! just like Freedom Baptist Academy. Its all a darn CLICK! CRC or Baptist click...

Kzoo Mom wrote:

The fact he is texting these students is disturbing enough. What would/should his wife think about him saying "I love you" to a student? Even if it's the father/daughter way, it's wrong for a teacher/student relationship. Period. There are a bunch of things about this situation that don't sit right for me. Nice man or not, it's disturbing to read about this kind of behavior.

I completely agree with your statement!!!

What did the alcohol mention have to do with anything? Several years back Byron center rumour and gossip ended in a music teach committing suicide. Same kind of goody goody judgemental BS. They would have charged him if there was anything to charge. Apparently that is not necessary for you people already label him. What if you are WRONG?

HAndy Andy wrote:

DAngit CHris Hansen you always show up at the wrong time.

you got that right!