(picture copyrighted to Scott Menchin)
Due to the recent uproar in the blogosphere about the Kolko case and others of its genre, I was surprised, and to some extent relieved (though of course I do not want this type of hurt to befall anyone), to read this article in the Reader's Digest.
It appears from this article that it is not only the Orthodox Jewish world that suffers from attempts to sweep teacher's misdemeanors or offenses under the rugs.
A couple interesting quotes include:
1. Explanation of the Rationale- "you don't want to pass problems on to other schools, but at the same time, you weigh that against what you can say that might cause litigation for your school too"
2. Some numbers- "In 2004, a U.S. Department of Education study found that nearly 10 percent of public school students have endured unwanted sexual attention from school employees, and close to 7 percent had experienced actual sexual contact -- anything from pinching to kissing to outright molestation."
3. A Trend- "Appalling settlements like this aren't unusual. In many cases, the first priority of school districts is to avoid expensive battles with unions and the bad headlines that can come with legal action. So they'll let an accused teacher resign quietly, sometimes with a financial settlement. Since 2000, West Virginia schools, for example, have reportedly paid nearly $7 million in settlements to suspected sexual predators."
2 comments:
Your missing the part about the teachers being passed from district to district and how the principles when asked as a reference refrain from giving them a bad rap or mentioning anything about the incident.
and the mind boggles that they would loudly assert that they would have had nothing to do with him if they had known, and yet they still refrain from telling the next guy!
I read that article too. Heavy stuff.
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