Posted on 05/10/2006 7:03:25 AM PDT by newbeenew
¶ ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Twelve boys in the first and second grade at a St. Louis elementary school are accused of sexually assaulting a second-grade girl during recess, authorities said Tuesday. ¶ One teacher who was supposed to be supervising the recess has been fired, and another suspended with pay, St. Louis schools superintendent Creg Williams said. Ten of the boys, ages 6 to 8, were suspended for the rest of the school year, and the other two received five-day in-school suspensions. Names of the teachers and students were not released. ¶ The girl, who is 8, is physically OK but will not return to school for the rest of the school year. ``We don't know what type of emotional scars it will have on the young lady,'' Williams said. ¶ ``In my mind it's unconscionable that it happened and in my mind people have to be held accountable,'' Williams said. ``How is it this kind of thing is even in the minds of young men?'' ¶ The incident happened Friday at Columbia Accelerated Community Educational Center, a school with 400 students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade on the city's north side. ¶ Shortly after lunch, three classes of first- and second-graders were outside for recess. A student saw several boys huddled around the girl who was on the ground, and alerted a teacher. ¶ School district spokesman Tony Sanders said details of the assault are not yet clear. Police were initially called and turned the investigation over to juvenile authorities. ¶ The boys could face misdemeanor charges of first-degree sexual misconduct and third-degree assault, said Kathryn Herman, administrator of the city's Juvenile Court. She said one of the boys is age 6, seven are age 7, and four are age 8. ¶ ``These are really young kids,'' Herman said. ``I can't think of many other cases at this age with this type of incident.'' ¶ Williams said his office received ``sketchy'' information about the incident Friday, but he wasn't alerted to the seriousness of it until Monday. He immediately went to the school, then contacted the girl's mother. ¶ The district's crisis team is trying to determine if any other girls were also assaulted, Williams said. A letter was going out to district parents on Tuesday, alerting them to the incident. Counselors were also available to students at the school. ¶ Williams said the district will also consider counseling or other efforts for the boys accused of the crime. They will not return to Columbia but will likely be sent to different schools next school year, he said. The girl may also be transferred to a different school. ¶ ``We'll get help for the boys, too, then decide what to do with them,'' Williams said. ¶ Williams said other adults at the school could also be reprimanded if an internal investigation determines they failed to supervise the recess or swiftly address the incident once it came to light.
My main question: how ... does...this...happen? Not the Attention-Deficit disorder teaching staff, but that little (little!) kids are doing this?!
well, i really mucked that up. sorry!
http://www.hypercubed.com/projects/firefox/
Xinga Here and firefox and postings are WYSIWYG
WYSIWYG = what you see is what you get. No mucking about with HTML
well, we don't know WHAT they were doing, only that it has been called "sexual harassment" that's a very nebulous term - especially in school. It could mean anything from she tripped and her skirt flew up and the boys gathered around for a look see, to gang rape.
exactly what happened hasn't been told yet.
You also forgot a link to the orinal newspaper story
God help us all. This is so disturbing that I can't even wrap my brain around it yet...
That's nice. Think of their [sob!] homelife. The boys are the real victims here. [/sarcasm]
First off, they're not "young men". They're children. Secondly, it could be something they've seen on TV or on a DVD.
Little kids are taught stuff like this and it gives them ideas and they act on it. If they just let kids be kids and waited till they were older to know about sex, I doubt it would be happening, but NO...we have to enlighten little Johnny and Susie about the birds and the bees at an age at which they're not ready to handle it. The educational establishment is creating the very problems it condemns.
Yes you did. ;-)
I have a son who will turn 9 in a few days. He hasn't the slightest idea about any sexual related. How is it that these kids, between 6 and 8 have such knowledge, let alone desire to act in such an aggressive sexual manner? I blame the parents! What are these children being exposed to at home? If not at home, who's monitoring these kids away from home? Something just isn't right here with the rearing of these boys.
ping
Gimme a break! Eight year old kids can't commit "sexual" assault.Should this have happened to this girl? Of course not.Are these boys psychopaths in the making? Possibly.
But at 8 years old,this can't be treated as anything more than misbehavior.The boys may well be in need of serious discipline and control.
Misconduct? Yes."Sexual" misconduct? Nope.
Rap 'music' videos.
St Louis huh?
We don't know what happened, but it isn't simply sexual harrassment.
It's sexual assault.
Located here, in an economically depressed area of town.
http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?BFCat=&Pyt=Tmap&newFL=Use+Address+Below&addr=3120%20Saint%20Louis%20Ave&csz=63106&Country=us&Get%A0Map=Get+Map
Yes! Those too!
Betcha anything that all the kids involved are black.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.