We see it in the news every
day, teachers/administrators in hot water because of allegations of misconduct.
As a mom, I hate to tell my child to not trust his teachers, but I find myself
closer to doing so every day.
The latest allegation comes
from overseas in a poorest of all areas south of Johannesburg, South Africa. The
school is none other than the school built by Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey invested
$45 million to fund a school for impoverished girls. She helped to choose the
first entrants from about 5,000 applicants, has built a house on the school
grounds and pledged to spend as much time as possible alongside her charges. To
qualify, the girls had to show academic and leadership potential and come from
families with household incomes of less than about $711 a month.
Now
she finds herself flying in for the weekends to hold crisis meetings. Fox News
is reporting that Rapport, the Afrikaans-language newspaper, reported that the
matron in the school is alleged to have grabbed a girl by the throat and thrown
her against a wall. The newspaper said that other alleged charges include the
“dorm parent" swearing and screaming at the girls, assaulting them and sexually
fondling at least one of them.
The alleged incidents came
to light when one of the pupils ran away from the school because the abuse had
become intolerable. Her parents informed the school immediately.
Winfrey, also a survivor
of child abuse and showing extreme concern in the matter, is turning over
documents to the South African
police from a self-funded American private investigator that was hired to look
into the allegations.
What is happening that so
many kids are coming under attack by adults who are trusted with their care?
The Associated Press recently requested state records from all 50 states
concerning misconduct by teachers. The results were astonishing. An Associated
Press investigation found more than 2,500 cases over five years in which
educators were punished for actions from bizarre to sadistic. What is more disturbing from the study
was that many of these teachers were repeat offenders in other states.
Apparently, many of these
cases go unreported. Sometimes when they are reported, teachers are just asked
to resign instead of losing their license to teach. There is no national
tracking system of allegations so a lot of times teachers just move on to
another state.
The AP found stories such as
this: “A young teacher in Iowa sheepishly admits that he fondled a
fifth-grader's breast. But he doesn't lose his teaching license until one
persistent victim and her family go public - 40 years after the first
accusation."
Most
of the abuse never gets reported. Those cases reported often end with no
action. Cases investigated sometimes can't be proven, and many abusers have
several victims.
And no one - not the
schools, not the courts, not the state or federal governments - has found a
surefire way to keep molesting teachers out of classrooms.
Probably
the most disturbing finding: “The AP discovered efforts to stop individual
offenders but, overall, a deeply entrenched resistance toward recognizing and
fighting abuse. It starts in school hallways, where fellow teachers look away
or feel powerless to help. School administrators make behind-the-scenes deals
to avoid lawsuits and other trouble. And in state capitals and Congress,
lawmakers shy from tough state punishments or any cohesive national policy for
fear of disparaging a vital profession. That only enables rogue teachers, and
puts kids who aren't likely to be believed in a tough spot."
After
reading the AP articles, I felt scared as a mom. I trust my son to the care of
the teachers. One girl was in third grade when she was targeted by a popular
high school football coach. She said that she went from playing with dolls to
being an adult. He had brainwashed her into believing he loved her as more than
a normal relationship would have ever been like.
These
type of sick people scare me. I don’t want my son to not feel safe at his
school each day, but I also don’t want him to be used or hurt. Analysts predict
that no matter how small a school is-it most likely has at least one
perpetrator in each school. One teacher who crosses the line with our kids
exist in every school.
I
think it is time for the federal government to step in. I think as parents we
also have to educate our kids on rights and wrongs, as bad as that is at such
young ages. Teachers need to have guidelines so that they are held accountable.
There should never be a time when a student is alone with a teacher and
background checks need to be more thorough! It is sad that our society has
gotten this bad.
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