I don't want to hurt you, wrote another teacher, Edwin H. Elmore of the Plainview - Old Beth Page School District. "So don't force me to do something that will end up making you look bad. When I play hard, I don't lose.
The girl was in eighth grade.
and
As for the victims, records show they range from 8 years old to - more often - high school age. Most cases involve men having sex with girls and sometimes with boys, but women teachers also were accused of having sex with boys and girls. Many of the relationships lasted for months or years, sometimes drawing "rumors throughout the school," but no action until a classmate, parent, teacher or police stepped in.
Read below for more from two articles I linked you to here.
By MICHAEL GORMLEY | Associated Press Writer 11:02 AM EDT, October 20, 2007
ALBANY, N.Y. - It was pretty standard fare for high school lovers: Pet names in e-mails and instant messages like "my little princess" and "Housecat," gifts including a heart-shaped pendant, sneaking a sleepover at a girl's house, sex in a car at a mall parking garage.
"I'm always talking about remembering the inner beast, so it makes logical sense that I'd choose not to hide lustful feelings for you," confided one e-mail. "Can I say it without grabbing you and kissing you?"
"Would you really let me do anything that I wanted to?" prods another.
What was starkly different was the senders were teachers and the recipients students. And the e-mails were part of a rising caseload of sexual and inappropriate relationships between educators and their students, according to hundreds of records obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law.
OK, it's getting difficult not to excerpt the whole article. But I am going to try really hard not to do this. Just click on the link above and read the whole thing. But just in case you don't have time right now -- and later on you may forget about it and never get back to it ... you must read this excerpt:
The number of moral conduct accusations against teachers, administrators and aides in New York has doubled in five years, according to a state Education Department report. In 2005, 134 cases of "moral misconduct" were reported involving teachers and other school employees and some seeking teaching certificates. That compares with 70 cases in 2001. Almost three in four of the "moral conduct" cases involved sex or an inappropriate relationship, according to the first study of the cases. The study was done three months after 2005 stories by the AP pieced together the extent of the sex cases, few of which ever become public.
In all, 485 misconduct cases were reported over five years, most involving sexual misconduct.
By comparison, cases of sexual misconduct reported statewide against Catholic clergy, which caused outrage and calls for action in Albany, totaled 300 over 57 years.
And in schools, it may be far worse than reported.
Hofstra University Professor Charol Shakeshaft said her national survey on teacher-student sex cases shows as many as 9 in 10 cases may go unreported. State officials dispute that hypothesis, but this year are emphasizing schools pursue even anonymous tips.
But not to worry! If you live in New York state you can find out if your teacher has a record. Excerpts from Parents can seek records of teachers in sex cases below.
By MICHAEL GORMLEY | Associated Press Writer 11:17 AM EDT, October 20, 2007
A written request to the state Education Department by mail or e-mail should provide the resolution of a misconduct case for a teacher, aide or administrator. The offenses include sex with students, inappropriate correspondence, pornography, theft and fraud.
Although a public record, few of the hundreds of cases in recent years ever get to the public.
Oh, boy, this part was bothersome (emphasis mine):
To get the public records from the state Education Department, you'll need to know the teacher's name. Unlike test scores, spending, violent incidents and other comparisons on the state's school report cards, you can't search a school or state data base to see if there were any incidents or how they were handled. Most records don't even identify the school or community.
Do you get it? While test scores, spending, violent incidents and such might be deemed important enough to have access to a school or state data base -- sexual misconduct is not? Oh, no - that is not it! It is because they don't want to set up an atmosphere of fear. Or maybe they don't want you to know just how widespread it is, because of job security (theirs). It is not about the children - I'm sorry, I just don't believe it. But that is what they would like you to think:
"If there has been a circumstance and it was addressed, then what effect would it have on the school district?" Duncan-Poitier asked. "The kids involved in the school, is it going set up a climate of fear? You know, `Well, if it happened to so and so, even though the teacher's gone, what other teachers do we have to worry about?' I'm not sure where the value added is."
"These involve complicated issues such as personnel files, privacy issues, children involved," said Bart Zabin, the state's chief investigator of the cases. "I don't think they are the kind of thing necessarily the school would want to have a poster on with check marks against the horrifying incidents that have occurred."
Oh, wow -- are you reading the same words I am reading? It's hard for me to not scream right now. " ... against the horrifying incidents that have occurred."
Oh, my word. Keep them home where they belong. That's the only thing left to say here, really.
Deb Turner - Homeschooling from the Heart
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Featured Graduates and Alumni
TOS Items of Interest
Oct. 29, 2007
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