Within the past three weeks two teachers from Lake Howell High School were arrested, as usual this was picked up in the news cycle. What stands out to me is how the news reports these arrests, it is reported as just a matter of fact simply to state that it happened.
Every October almost every news station has a segment on Halloween and how parents must check the SOR to make sure their kids are safe during trick or treating. Lets put this in perspective for a moment, every year the news creates a hysteria that children are not safe if you don’t know where every SO lives in your neighborhood before you go trick or treating. This is a one night event that lasts a few hours, that most parents are with their children while trick or treating, that the statistical data shows that there is no increased danger of a sex offense on that day, not to mention that sex offenses are the crimes least likely to involve strangers.
I read every article that I see in the news cycle about teachers being arrested. I have yet to see one article raise the question of how to better protect children in school from these situations, and I challenge you to find one that does. Back to the perspective, parents send their children to school 5 days a week for 7+ hours a day 10 months a year and the parents are not there to protect them. When a student graduates they have spent an average of 2,160 days or an average 14,040 hours in school. So given the shear amount of time that kids are in school, why is it when a teacher gets arrested for having sex with a student there is no outcry for better safety standards to prevent these things?
Here are three links from the same news station, two of the articles are about the recent arrests, and one is a clip from a segment about the new school visitor license checks. Interesting how safety only applies to one of these articles.
http://www.wesh.com/article/seminole-county-rotc-teacher-had-sex-with-student-deputies-say/19863675
Perhaps they should put ankle bracelets on all students so that the police can know if they are dropping by teacher’s pad for a bit of sport…………
News media hype is responsible for the situation were in to admit they were wrong might make them look bad. There not about to do that. People are so paranoid they have there eyes fixed on the sea when there enemy is right behind them. I have a neighbor about a block away that I’ve never talked to or even made eye contact with but when he found out I was on the registry took out a restraining order on me.
Here is a novel idea. How about putting something in place to protect teachers from students. Why do you see teachers as any different from yourself? Why is it OK to point a finger at them without knowing the facts? Yes, there are people out there who take advantage of there positions, but it happens the other way around as well. We need to teach people, adults and children alike about boundaries. Please don’t put teachers in their own category. That is EXACTLY what we are fighting for the public to NOT do to us.
J – I respect your position. The point is not to call out teachers, but to illustrate that children are more likely to get sexually assaulted by a teacher, coach or administrator than a sex offender coming on campus.