Interesting Report on Educator Sexual Misconduct

I came across an interesting report by the Department of Education on sexual abuse by teachers. It examines the incidence and prevalence of abuse, patterns of misconduct, and prevention strategies. Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature reported some disturbing statistics.

According to a draft report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, in compliance with the 2002 "No Child Left Behind" act signed into law by President Bush, between 6 percent and 10 percent of public school children across the country have been sexually abused or harassed by school employees and teachers.

Here are some excerpts from the study:

** In the state of New York alone, more than $18.7 million was paid between 1996 and 2001 to students who were sexually abused by educators. Fees for attorneys and investigators are in addition to the settlement amounts.


From a study of 225 cases of admitted educator sexual abuse in New York State:

** None of the abusers was reported to authorities

** Only 1 percent lost their license to teach

** Only 35 percent of abusers received a negative consequence for their actions: 15 percent were terminated or, if not tenured, they were not rehired; and 20 percent received a formal reprimand or suspension.

** Another 25 percent received no consequence or were reprimanded informally and off-the-record. Nearly 39 percent chose to leave the district, most with positive recommendations or even retirement packages intact.


There are some wonderful, dedicated administrators and teachers out there. Involved parents make a difference. I don't think they can turn the system around because bureaucracy rewards incompetence. I believe that is why so many administrators and teachers cover up abuse of children.

Here's the sad part. This study made policy recommendations to prevent future abuse. A follow up study showed that NONE of the recommendations had been implemented. Why pay for the study if they are going to ignore the problem and do nothing to fix it?

Most parents with children in school respond to this kind of story with "Things like this don't happen at my school." My response is "How would you know?" Unless you are in the inner circle or know someone who is, you wouldn't know. School Districts have paid out more to sex abuse victims than the Catholic Church.

Some parents feel comfortable that their child will not be a victim of sexual misconduct by an educator. An estimated 90 to 94% of children are not abused by educators. However, educator misconduct only accounts for 21 percent of sexual misconduct in schools. The remaining 79 percent of victims were targets of other students.

So, what's a parent to do? Many families, like ours, choose to more carefully monitor our children's education by directly providing or supervising the instruction. We use a mix of home instruction, distance learning, private school, co-op classes, and private lessons. We take an active roll in supervising our children when they interact with other children and adults. This does not mean that our children are isolated. We interact with a wide variety of children and adults through extended family, neighbors, homeschool groups, church groups, sports teams, parks and recreation classes, and summer camps.

In all these settings, we monitor who has access to our children. Just because someone is a family member, long term neighbor, or friend from church, we make no assumptions of trustworthiness. Neither, are we overly distrustful. Simple precautions such as utilizing the buddy system and frequent unannounced monitoring cover most situations.

Another important element is trusting your instincts. If a situation doesn't feel "right," do something. Once at a social gathering I got a "bad vibe" when visiting with someone I hadn't met before. I pulled my husband aside and we discussed it. We decided that our child was not to be alone with this person during the event. We didn't make a big deal out of it. We just made sure one of us was in the room with our child at all times. We made no accusations and said nothing to anyone. I don't know what it was, or if it was anything. However, we did our job as parents.

That's one of the weaknesses of public education. Parents turn their children over to strangers for long periods of time unsupervised. A teacher credential doesn't mean that person is trustworthy or uses good judgment. The above mentioned study reported that often educator abusers are "professionally accomplished and even celebrated." The report stated that "many educators who abuse work at being recognized as good professionals in order to be able to sexually abuse children. For them, being a good educator is the path to children, especially those who abuse elementary and younger middle school students."

So, beware of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Parents must protect their children because the school system will not.



Note:
Here's how the study defined sexual misconduct:

During your whole school life, how often, if at all, has anyone (this includes students, teachers, other school employees, or anyone else) done the following things to you when you did not want them to?

() Made sexual comments, jokes, gestures, or looks.
() Showed, gave or left you sexual pictures, photographs, illustrations,
messages, or notes.
() Wrote sexual messages/graffiti about you on bathroom walls, in locker
rooms, etc.
() Spread sexual rumors about you.
() Said you were gay or a lesbian.
() Spied on you as you dressed or showered at school.
() Flashed or "mooned" you.
() Touched, grabbed, or pinched you in a sexual way.
() Intentionally brushed up against you in a sexual way.
() Pulled at your clothing in a sexual way.
() Pulled off or down your clothing.
() Blocked your way or cornered you in a sexual way.
() Forced you to kiss him/her.
() Forced you to do something sexual, other than kissing.


----------
Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, public schools, school reform, sexual abuse of children, educator sexual misconduct