Teachers as Sex Offenders: New Face, New Database
Grand Rapids, Mich., a teacher at South Haven's Baseline Middle School pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female whom was "married" to the teacher in a pagan ritual.
Ferguson, Mo., a special-education teacher is charged with statutory sodomy involving at least three students at Ferguson Middle School.
Tampa, Fla., an area teacher was convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old student in the classroom and at the teacher's home.
According to a new collection of teacher sexual offenders provided by WorldNetDaily.com
These three cases, among many others, involve female sexual predators, mostly in their 20s and 30s. These convicts, with wholesome faces and demeanor, range from former beauty queens and athletes to having romantic involvement with school administrators. The victims of these sexual predators include children of both sexes, with ages of the child victims averaging in their young teens, with a range between nine to eighteen years old.
Appalling is the fact that many convicted female teachers receive little to no jail time, unlike their male predator counterparts. Many female teachers, convicted of sex crimes, get probation, a year or less in prison, and some receive temporary house arrest. Judges are quoted, in some of these cases, as telling the felons that their sentences would be much more severe if these female sexual predators were male. In truth, if these sexual predators were male, there would be public uproar.
According to WorldNetDaily.com, one case included a gym teacher and former basketball star at the College of Staten Island, who was arrested in March 2005 for, "allegedly molesting a 12-year-old girl whose family she had befriended." The teacher admitted to "touching the girl's breasts and genital area on several dates and received no jail time, only probation and registration as a sex offender." The family is suing both the teacher and the Archdiocese of New York. Their daughter became "suicidal and still suffers from severe emotional shock, trauma, embarrassment, anxiety and other psychological injuries."
How many of these children victims will have severe psychological problems, somewhat comparable, if one can, to as if incest had been committed? Next to parents, students look to teachers as authority figures and role models and often develop close bonds that impact them for a lifetime.
Who is going to help these victims of sexual predators and their families get needed help? Not only are these teachers getting away with their crimes, the schools are often very hush-hush about it. While no amount of monetary compensation can begin to repair the damage done, perhaps severe damage to the pocketbooks of the negligent schools and convicted teachers will do some good.
Loss of revenue and negative exposure was the primary motive for the Catholic Church to respond to its attempted cover-ups of sexually deviant priests. True, we can not bankrupt our schools, but they have a responsibility to make sure the attending children are safe. If the schools are lax in whom they hire, do not support the victims, or stronger penalties for the convicted teachers, they bare some of the blame.
In the end, however, protecting our children from sexual predators such as teachers is a shared responsibility between parents, society, legislators and government. If, as a society, we continue to accept light sentences for female sexual predators, we also bare some blame. We can start by demanding and supporting bills with mandatory sentences for sexual predators, with stiffer penalties to those who abuse their power of authority, with victims of any age.
In addition, if places such as MySpace can take the initiative to create their own sexual predator database and make efforts to remove these individuals from their Site, can we at least expect a comparable margin of safety in our public and private schools? That is to increase public knowledge and promote online safety. I applaud WorldNetDaily for making an effort, schools and teachers have an obligation to do the same.
Published by Donna Porter
Writer / Journalist -- A Yahoo News! Contributor Donna began her writing and internet career in 1995 in the health industry and became an early dot-com entrepreneur soon after. Masters certified in Internet... View profile
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24 Comments
Post a CommentHere's another offender who was released too early: "Elizabeth Duggan recently completed a two and a half year sentence. He had a prior conviction in 1996 after being accused of fondling four of his neighbors -- three girls and a boy -- whose ages ranged from 6 to 8."
WHEN U R READING THIS DONT STOP OR SOMETHING BAD WILL HAPPEN MY NAME IS SUMMER I AM 15 YEARS OLD i have BLONDE HAIR , SCARS no NOSE OR EARS I AM DEAD IF U DONT COPY THIS JUS LIKE FROM THE RING COPY N POST THIS ON 5 MORE SITES OR I WILL APPEAR ONE CREEPY NIGHT WEN UR NOT ExPECTING IT BY YOUR BED WITH A NIFE AND KILL U THIS IS NO JOKE SUMMET ING GOOD WILL HAPPEN TO U IF YOU POST THIS ON 5 MORE FLASH BOXES.
Not all parents can afford to put their children in private schools nor should they be blamed. When I was in high school my social studies teacher wanted to have sex with me and I went to the police, I had to endure weeks of tapped phone calls pretending that I was interested in having sex with him just so that they could charge him with a felony....Well they did arrest him, he only got 35 days in jail. I was infuriated, he had 3 daughters, one of which was only a few years younger than me and I still wonder if they were or are being molested by their own father. Something needs to be done to keep these people in prison, more vigorous attempts to keep them from harming more innocent children.
The woman who posted, and blamed the parents for the abuse that happens on the teachers part, is completely irrational. Public schooling, while it may not be the best in the world, is not at fault for a loose teachers' actions.
First off, the "victims" were predominantly female in the article. Secondly, the perps were female as well. Sexual abuse is horrible no matter the source: Mom, Dad, Teacher, Spouse, Priest, or Kid. These people are predators. Where are the parents? Why didn't they look out for their children? What an indictment against these folks who place their minor age children in public schools! Sadly, I hold the parents responsible for this travesty.
im a mother and im affraid about all of this sex offender thing going on i have a daughter and im very over protected maybe because of all of this going on she knows why i do this and she has no problem but no matter if i protect her she may be in risk of getting in hand of a sex offender asnd i feel that if i do this over protecting it would help her to kno was it out there>>>>
Great article -- but I have to take exception to one item. You compare the trauma to incest. No. In incest, you cannot get away from the abuser, and you have a higher likelihood of not being believed because those you would normally look to for protection are the abuser and possibly an enabler. With teacher abuse, your parents will almost certainly believe you, and you can change schools. While teacher sexual abuse is horrendous, there is really no comparison to the horror of incest.
Very good and informative article. You really added some great information to a growing problem.
Wow, That's some suprising stuff you dug up there, neighbor! Great article! (Makes me glad I don't have any kids yet!)
It is disgusting as a teacher that these people give our profession such a bad name. Thanks for posting something of such importance. This is a 5 star article !