From Al’s Morning Meeting. The Associated Press finds:
investigation found 2,570 educators whose teaching credentials were
revoked, denied, voluntarily surrendered or limited from 2001 through
2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Young people were the victims in at least 1,801 of the cases,
and more than 80 percent of those were students. More than half the
educators who were punished by their states also were convicted of
crimes related to the misconduct.
Beyond the horror of individual crimes, the larger shame is the institutions that govern education have only
sporadically addressed a problem that’s been apparent for years.
“From my own experience – this could get me in trouble – I
think every single school district in the nation has at least one
perpetrator. At least one,” says Mary Jo McGrath, a California lawyer
who has spent 30 years investigating misconduct in schools. “It doesn’t
matter if it’s urban or rural or suburban.”
One victim wonders why there isn’t more outrage.
“You’re supposed to be able to send your kids to school knowing
that they’re going to be safe,” says Jennah Bramow, a 20-year-old
single mom and waitress in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
- Educators made physical contact in at least 1,297, or 72
percent, of the cases in which the victims were youths. The remainder
were cases that did not involve physical contact, including verbal
sexual harassment and other offenses. - There were criminal convictions in at least 1,390, or 53 percent, of the cases.
- Nearly nine out of 10 of the educators punished for sexual misconduct were male.
- At least 446 of the cases that the AP found involved educators who had multiple victims.
