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Now, on the heels of the Catholic abuse scandal comes another of historic proportions—one that has the potential to be much greater and far-reaching. According to a draft report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, in compliance with the 2002 "No Child Left Behind" act signed into law by President Bush, between 6 percent and 10 percent of public school children across the country have been sexually abused or harassed by school employees and teachers.
Charol Shakeshaft, the Hofstra University scholar who prepared the report, said the number of abuse cases—which range from unwanted sexual comments to rape—could be much higher
Plante said that about 4% of Catholic clergy were sexual abusers in the 1950s through 1980s and that “this is about the same as it was among other clergy … and less than it was in the general population of males,” which was about 8% ....
A 2002 study across the spectrum of Christian churches by Christian Ministry Resources, a publisher of church administration literature, indicated at least 3,500 reported cases of child sexual abuse in Protestant churches yearly, with volunteers rather than staff being the typical suspects.
Complaints peaked in 1994 and have declined since, perhaps, according to The Christian Science Monitor, because of preventive measures instituted in the meantime. Three years earlier, the Presbyterian Church reported that “between 10% and 25% of [its] clergy nationwide have engaged in sexualized behavior or sexual contact with parishioners, clients, employees, etc.”
"[T]hink the Catholic Church has a problem?" she said. "The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests."
So, in order to better protect children, did media outlets start hounding the worse menace of the school systems, with headlines about a "Nationwide Teacher Molestation Cover-up" and by asking "Are Ed Schools Producing Pedophiles?"
No, they didn't. That treatment was reserved for the Catholic Church, while the greater problem in the schools was ignored altogether
Has the public education establishment turned to independent outside groups to solve its rampant sexual abuse problem the way the U.S. Catholic Church has? Less than three years ago, an Associated Press investigation found thousands of cases of educator abuse.
"Most of the abuse never gets reported," the AP noted. "Those cases reported often end with no action ... 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."
Over seven months, the AP found 2,570 educators whose teaching credentials were "revoked, denied, surrendered or sanctioned" from 2001 to 2005 following charges of sexual misconduct.
Here. Note: no stats on the two--just mentioned that both public and private have the problem. Which means that they don't have enough stats to confirm a numerical stance, or did not like the stance, at the time of the writing.
The best estimate is that 15% of students will be sexually abused by a member of the school staff during their school career. Though, when the American Association of University Women Foundation surveyed more than 1,600 students in eighth through 11th grade, 25 percent of the girls and 10 percent of the boys who said they had been harassed or abused said the harasser was a school employee. The number of K-12 public and private school students in 1996 who have been or will be sexually abused by a member of the school staff is nearly 7 million of 51,331,000. Between 1% and 5% of teachers sexually abuse or harass students.[...] Only two cases were cases of false accusations; less than 1 percent of the cases studied. No type of school was immune to abuse: public or private, religious or secular, rich or poor, urban or rural. Responses to Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Students by Staff 38.7% of the teachers resigned, left the district, or retired 17.5% were spoken to informally 15% were terminated or not re-hired 11.3% received a formal verbal or written reprimand 8.1% were suspended and then resumed teaching [...] Of the nearly 54% of abusers who resigned, weren’t rehired, retired, or were terminated, superintendents reported that 16% were teaching in other schools and that they didn’t know what had happened to the other 84%. All but 1% of these teachers retained their teaching license.
Now, in New York, apparently they send teachers to other schools: same as mine, in a much smaller district. Private schools terminate far more frequently, and get political fire and scrutiny.
Sexual abuse of students in the New York City schools is exploding, yet New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey turns a blind eye to it. She recently introduced legislation, as she does annually, that exclusively targets private schools for cases of abuse that occurred a long time ago. The cover story in today’s New York Daily News reads, “Record 14 School Staff Busted Already: Readin’ Writin’ & Rikers.” It details crimes ranging from sexual abuse to assault (Rikers is a jail).
To his credit, New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is cracking down. He reviewed 250 employee records dating to 2000 and is seeking to oust the guilty. But Walcott doesn’t have time to deal with old cases—he’s got an epidemic on his hands right now. For example, after a school aide was arrested February 10 for molesting a boy (boys are frequently the victims these days), we learned that he got a slap on the wrist for offensive sexual behavior in 2006.
Sexual molesters in the schools are not always given a mere oral reprimand—they are simply moved to another school. It happens so often in the public schools that it is called “passing the trash.” Last month, the New York Times did a story on Walcott’s efforts. “In two of the cases,” it reported, “the teacher or teacher’s aide had been found to have acted inappropriately with students at previous schools, but had been able to transfer. Education officials acknowledged on Friday that they had failed to notify the principals of the new schools of the earlier accusations.”
Any law that addresses the issue of the sexual abuse of minors that does not include the public schools is tantamount to a cover-up.
Originally posted by WeRpeons
reply to post by Bilk22
Yes sir! Any organization that can raise money to push an agenda and has a tax exempt status should lose it -PRONTO! Having said that, religious organizations have been given these guidelines before they are given a tax exempt status.edit on 23-5-2012 by WeRpeons because: (no reason given)edit on 23-5-2012 by WeRpeons because: (no reason given)