Middle schoolers charged with sexual battery. Are we criminalizing being 13 and stupid?
School news this week sounds like a police blotter. I just read the short AJC story on the Stephenson Middle School students criminally charged with sexual battery for touching a classmate “inappropriately” and stuffing him in a locker.
Are there more of these strange incidents occurring or are schools taking trangressions more seriously and following through on them? At the middle school level, are we attaching sexual meaning to events that aren’t truly sexual in nature? Are these really criminal acts or immature kids doing stupid things?
I just have a hard time believing that kids today are remarkably different than their parents or grandparents. I don’t want to excuse criminal behavior but I also don’t want to criminalize immature behaviors.
A male student was allegedly the victim of sexual battery on March 10, Davis said Wednesday. Six students at the school were identified as participants, he said. Five of those have been charged and face school disciplinary action.
The victim, a 12-year-old, was held by students, touched inappropriately, and stuffed in a locker following track practice at the school, according to WSB-TV.
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66 comments Add your comment
You Asked
April 2nd, 2010
10:20 am
BTW – true abusers, those who hit to make themselves feel better (as opposed to those who spank to keep a child from danger or harming others) should be brought to justice by the law. I have no argument with that.
Philosopher
April 2nd, 2010
10:55 am
Hitting is abuse- once again, it has been proven over and over and over again that children can be raised and well-disciplined without ever being hit…if it can be done, it should be done. Children who are hit-spanked, paddled, whatever you want to call it- learn to hit. They see the person who loves them respond to their frustrations and the kids’ failure to do what is expected of them by hitting. So they handle their frustrations the same way. It’s no secret that parents teach by example (teachers all over these blogs talk about it). But guess, what..kids DO learn by example and no kid I ever knew fell for the the old “do as I say and not as I do”,foolishness.
Dave Wilson
April 2nd, 2010
10:57 am
the boys that did this to the little innocent should be punished for their actions. I knew this kid and it truly hurts me knowing that all of this stuff truly happened to him.
Dave Wilson
April 2nd, 2010
10:58 am
he was not hit but sexually harassed which is way more worse
H
April 2nd, 2010
11:15 am
Philosopher,
example:
Background: Little Jonny is a 10 year old student who attends the local public school in his district. He only reads at a 3rd grade level but has been forced through to 5th grade anyway because of the NCLB legislation (yes this happens everywhere). Jonny has a history of bad behavior. Little Jonny bullies the other kids in his class (Philosophers kids) and does not comply when adults ask him to do things. He causes frequent class disruptions which require the teacher to stop the lesson and deal with him. The school won’t suspend Jonny home because that counts against student attendance and could possibly affect the school making AYP under the NCLB act. They can send him to ISS, but that’s just a temporary solution and he’ll be back in class doing the same as usual. Additionally, in order to kick him out of school, he has to acquire a significant number of office referrals before any hearing can be scheduled. This could take months and the behavior detrimental to learning will continue to keep others around him from focusing. He has been talked to and warned numerous occasions about his unruly behavior. Phone calls have been made home, but his parents basically refuse to work with the school about his behavior…the response from his parents, “he’s your problem from 8am-4pm
Teacher: Ok class, let’s all take our seats. Little Jonny: (with a grin on his face) FU lady, I aint doin nuttin you say. Teacher: Jonny, I’ve asked you nicely, please take your seat…Jonny: FU, I aint doin nuttin, you can’t make me do anything
Solution: Write up-3 Swats on the rear-sent back to class
Outcome: Little Jonny now complies with adults when asked the first time and shows no defiance towards them.
James
April 2nd, 2010
11:21 am
H – we were pushing kids up through grades regardless of their actual ability long before NCLB.
Philosopher
April 2nd, 2010
11:33 am
H Lousy argument- a kid like this is too far gone for 3 little whacks on the butt to make any impression- johhny needs reform school. OK- let’s make this a little clearer- A. Present situation: kid seriously and consistently acts up; for whatever reason, principal and teachers don’t have the schmaltz to discipline him without paddling and paddling is not a choice. B. Present situation-same- kid seriously and consistently acts up, principals don’t have the schmaltz to discipline…I say, kick the kid out-he’s blown his right to a public education…but-at this point, expulsion possible but takes a lot of effort. What I am advocating is that since neither is really an option, one should be made available…and hitting is NOT the one to use.
I don’t like you or your desire to smack kids-and there seem to be quite a few of you out there just itching to be given the permission to start smacking kids..FORGET IT!! Just hand the kid over to the parents and let the parents get the kids alternative school or trained to behave acceptably.
H
April 2nd, 2010
12:10 pm
Philosopher- I have no desire to smack kids…if I, as a parent don’t want my kids to be disciplined (or smacked as you say) by an administrator, I would not sign the waiver allowing them to do so. I would then assume the responsibility of having to come pick my child up immediately if he/she becomes unruly and non-compliant. You’d be surprised how many parents aren’t willing to leave work is this were to happen. You seem to have all these ideas and no solution. Although it would be the ideal solution, just handing the kid over to the parent is not such an easy process if you read my post. You say that administrators are afraid to discipline??? Administrators are scared of getting sued. Politics and lawsuits have taken so much of the authority away from schools when it comes to discipline (as far as what they can and can’t do). If you read what Ole Guy wrote, not all parents are willing to teach and raise their kids like you.
Philosopher
April 2nd, 2010
12:23 pm
Excuses, excuses! You advocate allowing paddling. I advocate holding parents responsible- if parents don’t have the choice but to leave work and get their kid..it WILL stop happening. A teacher/admisistrator paddling a kid is no different than the man who took it upon himself to slap the toddler in Walmart…he might have WANTED to do that, but it didn’t make it right. . I just don’t want people like you who are OK with hitting kids, deciding who deserves it and who doesn’t- just don’t hit any of them. Change the laws, DO SOMETHING about the problem. Whining and wishing for “the good old days” won’t solve the problems at hand.
You Asked
April 2nd, 2010
12:27 pm
I’m not sure I buy the premise that three spanks is more traumatic to a kids well being as an adult than reform school? Wow. I am at a loss for words. There is no arguing with logic like that.
Edugator
April 2nd, 2010
12:39 pm
Many states don’t allow corporal punishment, and their crime rates are probably lower than Georgia’s. CP is not effective. Real parenting/teaching is.
Ole Guy
April 2nd, 2010
6:16 pm
Philo, a recuring theme throughout your comments suggests returning wayward kids to the parents. The concept seems to thread through the notion that if parents must drop what they’re doing, leave work, the house, etc, and take time to map out alternative plans for the kid, this will motivate the parent to…well…PARENT! Somehow, Philo, this intended course of action simply makes no sense. It is, after all, the parents who…reflected through their kid’s behavior…have failed in providing the sought-after direction. This would be tantamount to sending the alcoholic back to the bar because AA meetings are deemed un-pc.
Thus far, the potential courses of action, relative to Little Johnny’s continued trend toward misbehavior, boil down to three paths:
* Your suggestion…remove the kid from school and back into the custody of parents/parents who, as evidenced by Little Johnny’s demeanor, have failed in that which we expect. NO CURE THERE.
* Involve the courts, through some obtuse procedure as described in earlier blogs, in the hopes that the legal system has the time, resources (tax payer “contributions” being funneled into objectives of dubious value), or training to deal with the Little Johnnys of the world…a system which is designed to handle anti-social behaviors which we don’t want the Little Johnnys to assume.
* Allow the problem(s) to be handled in the quickest, most cost-effective, and “most-memorable” means available. Ever since the invention of the little red school house, teachers have employed CP, not because they were on a power trip, not because they were attempting to fill a void within, but simply because they were charged (as they are to this day) with maintaining an environment conducive to learning.
Somehow, Philo, throughout the history of this Great Nation, we have managed to not only maintain a pretty good civilization, but to show some rather impressive gains. Again, this is pure conjecture, but I rather think that many of those responsible for these strides did not escape some form of CP in their early school years.
Besides, what are the alternatives?
Listen before Speaking
April 3rd, 2010
2:41 am
i think your an idiot to start. I graduated from Stephenson High Scholl class of 08. My little brother attrends stephenson middle school. he is in the 8th grade.
When you have 5 kids holding one down poking him in his butt with different objects and stripping him naked then putting him in a locker thats not immature behavior, thats criminal behavior.
So I think before you judge know the whole story they couldnt release all details cause of his age but like i said my younger brother attends the school.
Ole Guy
April 3rd, 2010
10:43 am
When I was in the 3rd/4th grade, a “popular” bully game was “keepaway”…snatch the kid’s what-have-you (hat, glove, whatever), form a circle around the kid and let him “enjoy” the frustration of trying to retrieve his proerty while the bully followers toss it back and forth. Talking to a kid, one day, who was the constant recipient of such cruelty, I suggested that he simply “waste” (I don’t recall the exact 4th grade wording) one kid/any kid, it really didn’t matter…any kid who participated in the cruelty. He took my advice, and was NEVER mistreated by his classmates again. Of course, when Sister Meanface discovered who the guilty parties were (the bully, the bully followers, the kid being bullied…and me), we were all summarily smacked around and made to attend oh’dark thirty Mass daily for a few weeks.
Whatsoever
April 4th, 2010
1:10 am
There are a lot of incidences that go on in SMS that the faculty and staff are either not equipped, not knowledgeable or not willing to handle effectively. Immature acts should be dealt with through peer mediation and appropriate referral for counseling within the school and in conjunction with the home/parents. These are resolutions SMS will say they provide but will not follow through or implement unless a watchdog is in place.
This particular incident, in which I have secondhand knowledge of via my son who tried to stop the foolishness, was immaturity escalated to what happens when you don’t address foolishness early. It was definitely criminal. What’s most unfortunate is that the kids probably did not realize what they were doing were criminal acts. It is and always will be criminal, no matter the year or the decade. When a person restrains another person against their will with the implied intention to do harm, that’s a criminal act. The perps should be handled accordingly and the offense should be treated as such. It is unfortunate that when it was in the phase of one student picking on another student and stuffing him in the locker that the faculty didn’t intervene to correct the immaturity. The coaches offices at SMS are within the locker room. It was routine for the offender to mess with the victim. If the coaches had chosen to address, stop and guide instead of turning the other way and ignoring what was going on maybe this would have played out differently. Surely on that day there was more commotion than normal and even still students (one was my son) had to go and get the coaches.
I was so appalled by what happened. My son was distrubed by what he witnessed. I had to talk to him like I had never talked to him before. He seems to be mostly okay until he is subjected to speak on the matter.
Just as with the recent revelation of the molestation charges for another SMS coach no school notifications or statements of reassurance of safety for our kids was sent home. Kids were left to spread rumors and parents were left in the dark until it was publicly aired.
It is my sincere prayer that the school and the county will take a look at their missteps and truthfully begin to be effective at what they claim to be their calling – providing a quality education and guidance for our children.
BeckS.
May 20th, 2010
9:49 pm
Ok, i’m 14…
A case like this just happened to my bestfriend.
He “touched” a girl inappropriatly, he did it to everyone but only their legs, and like i just don’t believe, he really ment anything.
But, now Her mom is CHARGING him with sexual abuse and trying to get him locked up in juvi…
i just think they took it to far.
Expelled him.
At first they were suspending him but they decided to expell him, i think the mom just toook it TOO far. i loved him, he’s gone and out of my life…foreverrr…