Posted on 07/01/2004 12:10:45 PM PDT by GailA
Report says 1 in 10 students faces sex misconduct by school workers
Tribune Staff and Wire Services
WASHINGTON -- More than 4.5 million students endure sexual misconduct by employees at their schools, from inappropriate jokes all the way to forced sex, according to a report to Congress.
The best estimate available shows nearly one in 10 kids faces misbehavior ranging from unprofessional to criminal sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade, says the report by Charol Shakeshaft, a Hofstra University professor.
"Most people just don't think this can really happen," said Shakeshaft, hired by the Education Department to study the prevalence of sexual abuse in schools. "We imagine that all teachers are like most teachers, in that they've gone into teaching to help children. Most do, but not all."
Utah educators insisted that the number of students exposed to sexual misconduct in the state's schools is much less than one in 10. "Our evidence would not support that figure," said Kim Burningham, chairman of the state Board of Education.
"The numbers in Utah are lower than that," said Carol Lear, an attorney who works with the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission.
Lear said the commission -- which recommends the approval and removal of teachers' licenses -- sees 100 to 120 complaints a year, many of which are not directly related to student welfare. Burningham said many recent complaints relate to Internet abuse, "which may or may not affect the kids."
During the past school year, 486,938 students attended public school in Utah. That makes the ratio of students to complaints against teachers 0.025 percent, which is lower by a factor of 400 than the figure cited in the report to Congress.
Still, Burningham and Lear acknowledged that minor transgressions not affecting a teacher's license would not come to their attention because they are handled at the school level. Nor would they be aware of misconduct by coaches, teachers' aides or janitors, who are not required to have teaching licenses.
The report, required by the No Child Left Behind law and delivered to Congress on Wednesday, is the first to analyze research about sexual misconduct at schools.
Some educators took issue with the report.
"Lumping harassment together with serious sexual misconduct does more harm than good by creating unjustified alarm and undermining confidence in public schools," said Michael Pons, spokesman for the National Education Association, a union of 2.7 million school employees.
But the American Association of University Women, whose surveys of students were at the core of the report, stood by its research.
And Robert Shoop, a Kansas State University professor of education law and an expert on sexual exploitation in schools, said the estimate that one in 10 children endures abuse is not high. The actual number may be larger, he said, because of underreporting of the problem.
There have been no nationally financed surveys of how common sexual misconduct is in school, one of many areas Shakeshaft suggests must be addressed. She examined existing research, finding almost 900 documents that have dealt with the topic in some way.
Among those, the best estimate of misconduct came from surveys in 2000 of students in grades eight to 11, Shakeshaft said. That research, commissioned by the AAUW Educational Foundation, found nearly 9.6 percent of students had been sexually harassed or abused by school workers. Shakeshaft reanalyzed the data and said it could be applied to the broad school population, meaning more than 4.5 million students could be affected.
"Our hope would be that schools and parents sit up and take notice," said Linda Hodge, president of the National PTA and mother of three children.
The report describes schools as places where abusers can target vulnerable and marginal students who are afraid to complain or unlikely to be believed if they did. In a particularly troubling finding, the report says that in elementary schools, the abuser is often one of the people liked most by students and trusted most by parents.
Sexual misconduct is defined in the report as physical, verbal or visual behavior. Shakeshaft did not limit her findings to sexual abuse because, she says, that would exclude other unacceptable adult behaviors that can drive kids from school and harm them for years.
"Out of the millions of teachers and millions of employees out there, you're talking about a very small number who are doing these inappropriate things," said Paul Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. "As long as we keep it in context, recognizing any kind of problem like this is always a good move."
The American Federation of Teachers took issue with the report's definition of misconduct, and the Education Department expressed reservations. Deputy Education Secretary Eugene Hickok said the findings could be considered "insufficiently focused." But those officials did nothing to downplay the importance of the problem.
The report found teachers are the most common offenders, followed by coaches, substitute teachers, bus drivers and teacher aides. Among those offenders, 57 percent are male and 43 percent are female. Among the victims, 56 percent are girls and 44 percent are boys.
There is no mechanism to determine how many false accusations against educators occur, the report says. Houston, the leader of the administrators group, said teachers increasingly fear making even the most innocent gestures, like hugging a child having a bad day.
On the Net: Educator Sexual Misconduct report
Only 10% tell inappropriate jokes? I'd guess it's more like 95%.
"Shakeshaft"
Don't try it at school.
Joe Scarboro did a segment on this the other day. From what I can tell sexual abuse at the hands of teachers far exceeds abuse at the hands of priests. The media jihad against christianity is likely to simply overlook the abuse at the hands of teachers.
Oh sure, harassment of students by educators always causes unjustified alarm
So, it's not just the jocks-in-the-gym coaches type, nor just male letches in the classroom, who are hitting up and/or abusing kids.
How do we reconcile this last sentence w/the issue-taking AFT & the reservation-minded Ed Dept? Isn't this like the Catholic church, which could also have been said to have officials who "did nothing to downplay the importance of the problem?" [oh sure, all Catholic bishops would say that child abuse is wrong and is an important problem to address]
Isn't downplaying the extent of the problem, trying to redefine abuse and harassment, and trying to refocus the issue of educator-student abuse and harassment similar things to what Catholic bishops did?
Yeah..but they got rid of most if not all Christians....and the most moral of the lot...for if they try to impart Judeo-Christian morality to the little dears....they are fired for it...
so then whose on first?
I wonder how accurate these "statistics" are. I hope folks remember the stats issued a few years ago by some wymyn's group,which suggested most women had been raped,etc.,etc.
The stats are generally derived as follows: The Elite Street School had 25 incidents involving school staff in the last 10 years.2500 students attend this school,so,let's see: that's one in 100; BUT, we KNOW (don't ask how)that only 10% of such incidents are reported.Hmmmm..... One child in 10 !! (Call a press conference !)
I know some of you are home-schoolers,and may be trying to resist the bureaucratic pressure to enroll your children in public schools,but please remember something you already know: When walking through a cow pasture,you may catch a whiff of "something organic". You may see various-sized piles of "something organic". It is NOT necessary to step on one of these piles to detect Bull**** .
No wonder the NEA hates this bill so much!
Good going President Bush, this has been needed for a long time.
If this report is true, this sexual abuse scandal in the public schools just dwarfs the Catholic church sexual abuse scandal.
We've had at least 3 here in Memphis this past year.
In other words, this report uses the same criteria as that feminist study that defined 'sexual assault' as including inappropriate staring.
Folks, I've seen students and parents (and even administrators) use bogus claims to try and get back at teachers they don't like. In fact, this is one case in the school system where you are definately guilty until proven innocent. Then the principal comes in and says, "Just sign this letter saying you made a mistake, and it'll all go away..." Then you get one more case added to this statistic, and a principal who now has a file to wield as a weapon against that teacher in any petty office politics. This is standard operating procedure in schools now. I've seen several people destroyed in simple he-said-she-saids (when everyone knows, and in some cases can document, that the student is lying), just because the principal doesn't want the risk and publicity of fighting on the teacher's behalf (or has something against the teacher himself).
There is more to this whole situation than meets the eye...
AAUW is a discredited hoaxer organization. These are the same guys who about six years ago were fabricating data "proving" that millions of women get brutalized by the boyfriends and husbands during Super Bowl weekend. They're ruthless, feminist liars, if you'll pardon the redundancy.
I don't disagree w/you about the AAUW's potential for mayhem or fraud or exaggeration or fueling its agenda; any rabidly pro-abortion entity like the AAUW certainly has to be regarded as suspect. But you & I don't approach AAUW reports as does the major media of the world. They tend not to raise their eyebrows about such feminist underpinnings like we would; they only report and quote them at will on a broad array of subjects. So why the silence in citing the AAUW when it comes to this subject? That, my friend, is an anomaly.
>>if they try to impart Judeo-Christian morality to the little dears....they are fired for it...<<
Funny, Cdl. Mahoney did the same thing in LA.
I would like to see the jokes from the real abuse separated.
Still, I bet it is a serious problem that does not get the attention that it deserves.
I will have to send that quote to my education professor at college.
Yes, there are good education professors out there. He HATES the NEA and gave me a CD of shows from the American Family Association showing the betrayal of the NEA. It was shocking...I knew they were bad, but my word.
If a reporter would have the guts to examine the depth of the problem, it sounds like award-winning material.
I don't disagree w/you about the AAUW's potential for mayhem or fraud or exaggeration or fueling its agenda; any rabidly pro-abortion entity like the AAUW certainly has to be regarded as suspect. But you & I don't approach AAUW reports as does the major media of the world. They tend not to raise their eyebrows about such feminist underpinnings like we would; they only report and quote them at will on a broad array of subjects. So why the silence in citing the AAUW when it comes to this subject? That, my friend, is an anomaly.
The AAUW is cited, albeit in passing in one brief line. If that is what you were referring to as "silence," you have a point. Perhaps the anonymous author -- who wrote in a supportive, unquestioning manner -- was afraid that people would be familiar with the AAUW's reputation, and scoff at the "report." If so, I think she was being overly cautious. The AAUW hasn't been outed in years; its members can thank the pc media that most people have no idea what the group is about.
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