Erin McLean Saga: More Than What Meets the Eye

When one takes a mere passing interest in the saga of Erin McLean, the Knoxville mother of two whose husband shot to death a teenage high school student due to an affair between Erin and the boy, it is far too easy to dismiss the story as another example of a 'sex-crazed' young woman on the prowl.

There is much more here than what meets the eye.

Granted, there should be strict standards regulating teacher/student relationships, insuring that only the highest standards of professional conduct are followed. Parents have a right to know that when they send their children/teenagers to the nation's public schools they can reasonably expect that their young are protected from sexual predators.

In such cases the easiest thing to do is to throw the book at such persons, lock them up, and throw away the key. And if crimes are committed, that is, the victim is below the legal age of consent, then there is a debt that is owed to society, and such perpetrators should serve time.

Sean Powell, however, was 19 years of age, over the legal age of consent. Erin McLean broke no law. The thing that was broken was the professional standard of conduct between teachers and students.

Yet, it is obvious that the young woman is deeply troubled. Living with the knowledge that a young man is dead and that your husband has been charged with his murder, all because of your own behavior, is a heavy load to bear.

Shortly after Erin's move to Nashville she attempted suicide and spent some time in a medical facility. Her attempts to gain employment have been met with resistance in one form or another because of the baggage she carries from the tragic events surrounding her in Knoxville. She was fired from a job at a private school in Nashville because a few parents complained that she was 'attempting to seduce students.'

Was such a claim based upon actual evidence or upon nothing more than the hysteria produced by a previous incident that the parents read in the newspapers?

So far, we don't know.

Shortly after being fired from her teaching position in Nashville, Erin spent more time in a hospital suffering from emotional instability.

And then, suddenly and without warning, she disappears with her two sons. Sources close to the incident state that Erin climbed out of the back window of her parent's home in Nashville so that she could flee with her children undetected. Some say that she may be headed to California to meet up with a man she met on the Internet.

All of these behaviors are indications of a very deeply troubled young woman who needs long-term counseling and psycho-therapeutic medications.

A key question for modern American society is whether or not we feel such a person can be salvaged. Is she worth salvaging? Is it worth the time and effort to look beyond the symptomatic behaviors to the inner person and seek to know why this individual acts in this manner? Is a human life worth our time and effort to help?

Certainly Erin McLean holds the key to many of the answers. Others can help only to the degree that they are allowed. And Erin must decide if she wants help.

Erin McLean Skips Town with Two Sons

Erin McLean, the Knoxville, Tennessee teacher intern from the University of Tennessee whose alleged affair with a teenage high school student ended with the student's murder, has fled Nashville where she was living with her parents.

McLean's sister filed an official missing persons report with the Nashville Police Department.

According to Attorney Bruce Poston, who represents Erin's estranged husband Eric, the McLean woman fled Nashville with her two sons allegedly to meet a man in California with whom she had been chatting on the Internet.

Erin McLean has been in the news frequently this year after allegations of an affair with one of her students at West High School in Knoxville went public. Eric McLean allegedly shot teenager Sean Powell to death outside the McLean home after the student had spent several nights in his car outside the home in an attempt to talk to Erin.

Following Eric's arrest, Erin took the couple's two boys with her to live with her parents in Nashville. Shortly thereafter, Erin was rushed to a local Nashville medical center after an apparent suicide attempt using a drug overdose.

Following her suicide attempt, Erin was reportedly fired from a position as a teacher at a private school in Nashville after parents complained that she had tried to seduce students at the school.

According to Attorney Poston, Erin's family fears for her safety and that of her two boys.

Meanwhile Eric McLean is out on bail awaiting his trial and his request for custody of the couple's two children.