Sexual Offense, Child Abuse and Public Schools

Posted on: June 16, 2008 at 3:02 p.m.

While there are jokes and innuendo regarding high school students and their teachers being involved in sexual relationships, in Southern California, and across the country, there has been a growing trend of sexual offense and child abuse in public schools. For example:

In April of 2007, a high school English teacher in West Covina was sentenced to two years in state prison for using a minor in a prohibited act.

In 2008, evidence has been introduced to both school officials and later on in court that a Santa Monica middle school teacher sexually molested five students. Even more shameful for both the individual and the school is that he was charged on similar counts in 2006.

Sexual molestation and sexual offense are forms of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. The schools are easy prey for such individuals, as there are many young students and individuals who are looking to commit a crime can spot easy prey.

Penalties for these violations can be severe:

1. Jail time for a conviction is almost guaranteed.
2. Teachers can be assured of losing their teaching credentials though out the state.
3. Those convicted will be placed on California

Tagged as: domestic violence pc 273_5, sex crime accusations

Comments:

Tania Bakar on May 30, 2009 at 4:58 p.m. wrote:

This is interesting, in my Senior year of high school, a girl in my class was speculated (by students) to be having an intimate relationship with a 53 year old teacher. He was a Biology Teacher and Basketball Coach. The reasons the class thought they were in a relationship was because of the way he would treat her during school. They often joked with each other about various subjects such as sex in front of the entire classroom. She on the other hand would obviously be flirting with him nonstop. The relationship began when she was still 17 years old, however the school did not find out until after her 18th birthday had passed and she had already graduated. The girl involved with him had accidentally made the relationship public to her parents, and they automatically went to the school. AT first, the school hired a private investigator in order to verify if the relationship was actually going on. The girl was really hostile to her parents and said that she had 'loved him.' There was no direct claim from her that they were having sex or had sex before she turned 18, so there was little that the school or the parents could do. The school then fired the teacher, but did not mention the reasons why he was fired. An article came out in the daily breeze about him (because he was a really good basketball coach at our school) claiming that he was leaving Mary Star in order to take care of his sick mom. All of my classmates (although we were already graduated knew that he was lying and the school covered up why he was fired). In abut 6 months he got a job at the Redondo Unified School District as a teacher in Redondo Union High. It's insane that he was able to get away with preying on a young girl, and even more insane the school did not or could not take any legal action against him. Now he is out scot free and able to prey on other young girls. Cases like these are disgusting, especially when the young girls are susceptible to the older mens real motives. It is upsetting that institutions are so concerned with covering their image that they place other people in harms way to shield their reputation from public humiliation. These cases are interesting, and I wonder what would happen if the girl were to come out now, 4 years later, and say that the teacher in fact did have sexual relations with her before she was 18. Would the punishment be less harsh because its been so many years? Do statute of limitations apply in sexual offense cases?

Samantha Chen on June 17, 2008 at 12:07 a.m. wrote:

The prevalence of these incidents completely disgusts me. Two years ago, my first year at UCLA, there was a huge scandal in my hometown of Arcadia. My sophomore year high school honors English teacher was on trial for either nine or eleven, I can't recall the details anymore, counts of sex with a minor. I couldn't believe it at first, but it was in the Pasadena Star News, and the girl involved spoke freely of it afterward. I was horrified because this was a pretty well liked teacher. His wife also taught at the school and most people liked her as well. Even his mother-in-law worked in the school office. What was more shocking is that I also knew the girl that was involved. She was a senior at the time, but there were many e-mails indicating that the affair started well before she turned 18. Her closer friends even felt that it may have started when she was 15. I knew her through a friend, but she was my friend's best friend. She always seemed so nice and I was completely shocked when I heard this. They did a huge investigation and many students wondered if there had been past affairs that went unnoticed. It is terrible that teachers cannot even be trusted to know where to draw the line. Teachers are supposed to shape the minds of the youth everywhere, and it makes me so uncomfortable that this system is being manipulated even in my own high school.

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