A teacher bound and gagged students and put cockroaches on their faces. And no child ever reported it?

ERic, you blamed Maureen for the crimes of a criminal. You wrote “Maureen, you’re succession of articles in the past several years has lead to a huge mistrust of teachers and public schools. Would you please move on to some other topic?”

Maureen’s succession of articles has not led anyone anywhere. The actions of the criminals is what has led the public to distrust. Ninety percent of all AMerican chiildren still go to public schools. So obviously those parents are trusting teachers,

The fact that you want to blame Maureen says alot about you.

• Link
• Report this comment

The answer to Maureen’s question of why the students didn’t report it is that the students thought they were playing a game. That was made clear in the full LA times article.

Maureen, if you did your thesis on child abuse, I am very surprised you were surprised the students didn’t tell. They didn’t tell because they didn’t think there was anything to tell. They thought it was a game and of course they wouldn’t complain about that.

When was your research for your thesis, Maureen? I am very surprised you would not know that perverts trick children.

If we all think about it for just a moment…at that tender age we all make up silly unbelievable stories and tell our children. Reindeers fly and tooth fairies and so on. The children believe these stories. They are so innocent. So if it is easy to make a child believe a fat man in a red suit can fly all over the world in an evening delivering billions of presents, it would certainly be easy to tell the children that the white milky substance on the cookie or on the spoon was milk. THe cockraoches might have been a lesson about animals. Perverts use children because they are so naive.

• Link
• Report this comment

I was nauseated by the story, and can’t believe (1) anyone would do these things, although appears obvious that this man did, (2) that none of the children apparently said anything to anyone, and (3) that no one else in the school had any suspicions that there were odd things going on.

Of course, several parts of the article also raised eyebrows…

At first, neither the parents nor the children believed they had been molested, so there wasn’t much reaction, according to sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. It was only after the matter of the semen was raised that they became alarmed.

And apparently the children volunteered to participate:

“The reason some of the kids are not his students, per se, is that during the lunch breaks or recess, he’d go out to the playground and entice them back to the classroom,” Marquez said.

“They didn’t know they were being violated in that manner,” he said. “They just thought it was a game.”

• Link
• Report this comment

To those of you who say “you make me sick,” oh, well. Sometimes trying to be fair to someone who is accused of something, but not convicted, or arguing the opposite, gets you approbation from others.

IF this person did this, he should be put UNDER the jail, AFTER he is convicted.

As to my religious beliefs, NO, I have never been Baptist, or Catholic.

As to my “popularity,” kids and their parents clammor to be in my classes. The kids and their parents come back to see me and thank me. You are off base on this. I am frequently one of a child’s few cheerleaders and advocates.

And, yes, I have seen MANY horrors visited upon kids by their parents or parent’s live in, in the nearly 4 decades as a teacher, starting the first year when a little girl came to school with a handprint on her face. She had walked in on her mother and boyfriend in bed.

• Link
• Report this comment

Oh, and did I read the whole thing? No. It makes me sick to be aware of abuse like that described. I was unable to finish it. Our local judges know not to even think of putting me on a jury dealing with child abuse.

• Link
• Report this comment

Oh teacher mom,

Cameras are needed. The only people who are opposed to the idea are ,,,,,,, TEACHERS! SURPRISE!! Then and only then will real education happen. And yes, we can then go to the video tape for a timely instant replay. Not a year later.

I find the huddled masses commenting on here attempting to defend one of their own the ones who are disgusting. Perhaps you folks can team up with Jessie Ventura and continue his Conspiracy Theories reality tv show. Or you can continue like teacher mom and blame it on administration. Oh no teacher mom. The other faculty members should not be expected to police one of their own?

I still cannot get over the fact they knew about this for a year and continued to allow this “THING” to practice his craft. All you folks who claim he is being falsely accused need help. And lots of it.

• Link
• Report this comment

The crazy is really coming out now. Catholic Priests?

• Link
• Report this comment

Also, “The Freedom Writers” is a movie about a South Central LA high school — it’s very well done, based on the true story of a “newbie” idealistic and very intelligent English teacher who bucks the system. It’s received a lot of attention and is worth watching but won’t give you as much of the flavor for the elementary school setups in South Central LA (concrete buildings, doors opening to courtyards, that have no grass and no windows, individual rooms on outside hallways, etc.– my recollection from watching Hobart… like a lot of Miami schools .. they are not like ours, where they are inside a big building with rooms off of hallways).

• Link
• Report this comment

catlady, you claim your students love you and you claim their parents do too. that is not a sign that you are a good, honest person or a good teacher.

If you bothered to read the story you would know that this 30 year “teacher” was very well loved by both students and parents. He was often invited to the homes of the students — by their parents.

The teaching profession is not only not immune to pedophiles –it has more of them than other professions. Pedophiles seek out opportunities to be around children so they have a big pool of victims to choose from. This sicko you defend lived a couple blocks from the school and the park, where children are. Sandusky the rapist lived literally across the street from an elementary school and became the leader of a charity for disadvantaged children. It was his strategy to keep a nice flow of new victims handy.

So, telling us, catlady, that children and parents “love” you does not mean a darn thing. This pervert’s students and parents loved him too. You admit you haven’t read the story but you immediately rush to defend the pervert. You admit you don’t have the facts but you rush to defend the pervert. Protecting your own is more important to you and that is a huge red warning flag for everyone. You put yourself under suspicion when you rush to defend without the facts.

Because you are too busy to read, here are the facts:
The pictures were on film, which cann’t be retouched. A clerk at a photomat reported the pictures to police.
The pictures show the children with a spoon held to their lips as if they are about to drink the clear, white liquid.
The spoon in the photo was found by police in the trash with semen on it. The DNA test proved it was this pervert’s sperm.
There are more than 400 photographs of children in these positions and with cockroaches on their faces and being bound and gagged. The photos show the events happened in his classroom.

OK, now catlady, now do you believe? What other proof do you need? You say IF he committted the crime. IF? IF?

Will you admit it now that he is guilty? or will you continually defend this pervert simply for the fact that he is a “teacher’”?

• Link
• Report this comment

The beauty of having cameras in the classroom is we as parents would be able to monitor your classroom like many of you monitor this blog instead of using your time during the school day doing what you claim you have no time to do. Ahh, by the way, that would be teaching our children in case someone out there didn’t realize what I just said.

• Link
• Report this comment

cameras in the class? get out of here with that jive. parents really dont want to see how their children behave. besides, they wouldnt believe it anyway and somehow blame the teacher for the childs behavior.

• Link
• Report this comment

I love the idea of cameras in the classroom. I can watch children from the start of classes on the East coast to the end of classes on the West coast.

Totally for their safety, of course.

• Link
• Report this comment

A dentist fondles a child while the child is under gas. This dentist feeds the child ejaculate. This dentist does this to multiple children. This dentist has been in practice for 30 years.

Are all dentists doomed? Is the dentist profession “broken”? Do you advocate that all dentists should now go through some extra step for whatever? Do you advocate that all dentists should be jailed?

No one, NO ONE, is saying that this monster should be protected. No one, NO ONE, is saying that all teachers are saints. No one, NO ONE, is whining that teachers are perfect.

This is a monster. This is an individual. This individual should be punished accordingly.

Should the administrators have caught this early on? Probably. So, I would suggest that the “fault of the system” falls into the administrators lap.

However, if you are unaware, whenever administrators are asked to do anything, they simply pass the buck and make teachers do it. So, this would end up being another responsibility for a classroom teacher to do rather than to focus on teaching contect to the students.

• Link
• Report this comment

To the teachers who are wondering why this is reported. This is a matter of public record. You are teachers paid by tax dollars. These kind of abuses need exposure. You people are mandated reporters and your profession seems to attract an awful lot of pedophiles, along with the priesthood, college coaches, etc. They all need to be plastered all over the news, no one is singling you out. Please get over yourselves and be part of the solution not part of the problem. You want the news to go away – clean up your own profession, then. And you wonder why there is negative backlash, it’s because of comments made by educators on these and other blogs.

• Link
• Report this comment

@gamom

You state: “This is a matter of public record. You are teachers paid by tax dollars. These kind of abuses need exposure.” Agree, agree, and agree.

You state: “You people are mandated reporters and your profession seems to attract an awful lot of pedophiles, along with the priesthood, college coaches, etc.” MAJOR disagree!!! If you look at the percentage of ‘monsters’ in teaching, I would bet it is far less than in many many other professions. Remember that there are likely MILLIONS of teachers in the nation.

I can understand WHY you would be so mis-informed. And, it is BECAUSE these few are in the news continuously (I’m sure we’ll hear about this one instance for months). So, you THINK that there are many teachers like this. But, it is not true. And, THIS is what is upsetting – that the news makes it appear as though it is widespread in the profession – and it is not.

You state: “Please get over yourselves and be part of the solution not part of the problem. You want the news to go away – clean up your own profession, then.”

Excuse me? Why the attitude from YOU? You are misinformed about the problem. The problem is NOT teaching. The problem is the monster. Get it? I doubt it.

You state: “And you wonder why there is negative backlash, it’s because of comments made by educators on these and other blogs.”

Again, excuse me? The ‘backlash’ as you put it is only a result of people like you that don’t understand the problem. If you would please first understand things, find out facts, and try a little cognitive processing before lashing out at teachers, maybe, just maybe, you will find a better response!

• Link
• Report this comment

@To HS Public Teacher -

I challenge you to prove it. I do not believe for one second that the percentages of pedophiles in teaching is any greater (and I think far less) than other professions.

I agree that they may physically want to be near their victims such as chosing to visit parks or live near schools. However, keep in mind that to become a teacher does required college education and other vetting. That does make a difference.

• Link
• Report this comment

its actually -sadly- easy to understand.
pedophiles excel in shaming their victims to be quiet.
they are profoundly skilled manipulators.

if this pans out to be true, just turn the animal over to
the parents in a closed gym. send crew in to sweep up remains
in the morning. and hope he lingered in pain for a long time

• Link
• Report this comment

HS Teacher, you wanted your proof. Here it is from the Associated Press:
Link: Source: http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/trial-procedure-statute-limitations/8921607-1.html#ixzz1l9jzDqdx

text:
”
A recent investigation by the Associated Press found that sexual abuse of students by the nation’s teachers is rampant – yet criminal and civil sanctions to punish this behavior are spotty at best.

Over a five-year period, the AP found more than 2,500 educators whose teaching credentials were revoked or surrendered for student abuse, and found that about half of them were also convicted of crimes related to their misconduct.

The investigation concluded that these numbers may be just the tip of the iceberg, noting that school administrators “make behind- the-scenes deals to avoid lawsuits and other trouble” and lawmakers shy away from tough punishments on the state or federal level for fear of disparaging a vital profession.

The result is that many offenders move from district to district and repeat their offenses – a scenario similar to the priest sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the Catholic Church for nearly a decade.

But the lawyers who represent sexually abused children and their families in litigation against teachers say the AP revelations are nothing new.

“The reason pedophiles want to teach or coach is: That’s where the kids are,” said Jeffrey R. Dion, a lawyer who is director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association (NCVBA) in Washington, D.C., an organization devoted to increasing awareness about civil remedies for crime victims. “It’s always been like that.”

Roxanne Conlin, a plaintiffs’ lawyer in Des Moines, Iowa, who has who has handled many of these cases, agreed.

“I’ve read dozens of articles [about teachers sexually abusing students] over the years and I always think someone will take action,” she said. “And it never happens. We’re a society that says we value children, but we don’t.”

Lawyers say litigation against teachers and school districts is difficult for a variety of reasons. The perpetrators themselves seldom have deep pockets, school districts are usually protected by sovereign immunity and strict damage caps, and statutes of limitations disqualify many potential cases.

The Crime Victims Bar tries to monitor litigation, although Dion said it’s impossible to keep statistics on cases filed. But he said there have been 191 appellate decisions involving allegations of child sexual abuse in schools.

The vast majority of these cases settle. But Conlin won a $20,000 verdict in 2005 against the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, school district for failing to protect a fifth grader, Jennah Branmow, from Gary C. Lindsey, who allegedly fondled the girl’s breasts.

The trial revealed that Lindsey’s behavior was nothing new. Thirty-one years earlier, Lindsey had been forced to quit his first teaching job in Oelwein, Iowa, for the same activity. He then moved on to a series of other schools.

The Bramows appealed the $20,000 verdict, contending that the trial court erred in excluding the testimony of a police forensic investigator who had interviewed the girl. The Iowa Court of Appeals, however, let the verdict stand (Bramow v. Cedar Rapids Community School District, No. 5-439/04-1118).

The Bramows reached a confidential settlement with Lindsey prior to the trial.

Dealing with denial

William Friedlander of Ithaca, N.Y., said he tries to bring teacher sex abuse cases in federal court in order to get them out of the local community. Teacher perpetrators are often very popular, he said, and people in the community often find it difficult to believe allegations against them.

As an example, he described a case that he brought against a popular math teacher and coach, Gary Serlo, on behalf of two boys who said they’d been abused by him.

Serlo was widely admired, and had been chosen by students and faculty as “teacher of the year.” But Friedlander said the admiration was not universal. His two clients and several other students complained of Serlo’s behavior and actions. In class, he fondled their backs and found reasons to reach for items so that he would rub against them. He grew more aggressive and began surreptitiously reaching into their pants.

Then he took one of the boys onto his boat and forced him to perform oral sex. The boy told his grandmother, who came to the school in a fit of rage, Friedlander said. The school looked into Serlo’s background, apparently for the first time, and saw that 24 years earlier – as a teacher in Pennsylvania – he’d served six months in prison when he was convicted on charges of attempted deviate sexual intercourse with eight named students.

Serlo was charged and convicted and is back in prison.

But the families also filed a Title IX suit in federal court. Both Serlo and the school district were named as defendants, and the claims included negligent hiring and negligent supervision.

“It’s very tricky handling these cases,” said Friedlander. “These kids need counseling and a lot of kids don’t want to do it because it’s traumatic. When you’re dealing with adolescents, it can just be very, very hard.”

So when the school district offered a confidential settlement, his clients accepted.

While Friedlander can’t talk about the case in any detail, he does talk about the events that led to the lawsuit and the criminal conviction.

“They had no policy, no training for anyone to recognize sexual abuse,” he said. “In depositions, teachers said they didn’t know what to do.”

In the wake of the lawsuit and criminal trial, the district now has a policy in place – and New York State now requires schools to conduct background checks on teachers they’re considering hiring.

Tips for plaintiffs’ lawyers

“These cases are very difficult,” Conlin said. “They require the ability to investigate independently, [because] the records will be incomplete and the people who know will be gone.”

Lawyers must also deal with federal school privacy laws that prohibit the release of personal information about students without the consent of parents or guardians.

Conlin said perpetrators are often difficult to corner and are skilled at talking their victims into secrecy.

“Most teacher pedophiles are very kind [to their victims],” she said. “They don’t threaten. They say, ‘This is our little secret.’”

Dion agreed. “It’s not something where a stranger jumps out of the bushes and grabs a kid,” he said. “They groom their victims over a long period of time. They tend to find victims whose credentials can be undermined. They pick kids from troubled homes, kids with behavioral problems.”

Before taking these cases, lawyers should conduct an “environmental scan” of the school where the alleged incidents occurred, suggested Mary Jo McGrath, a plaintiffs’ attorney with experience in sexual abuse cases and the founder of McGrath Systems, an educational consulting company in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The first indication of an abusive teacher typically comes in the form of rumors among students, said McGrath. Adults have a tendency to discount talk among schoolchildren, but “in 30 years of doing these cases, I can tell you that I’ve never heard a false rumor. Students know what’s going on.”

The first step for an investigating lawyer, therefore, is the student interview. Most students will be hesitant to share the information with adult authority figures, “but if you get them in the right environment, they’ll open up.”

“I tell them the reason I’m talking to them is to check on how school is going for them,” she said.

“But you don’t want to plant ideas, or use leading questions,” she said. “The interviews need to be well crafted. When they are, it’s amazing what comes out.”

It is also common for victims to come forward years – sometimes decades – later. Dion said the single biggest impediment to bringing civil actions for teacher sexual abuse is the statute of limitations. In most states, cases must be brought within two or three years of the incident. However, he pointed out, three states – Alaska, Delaware and Maine – have eliminated statutes of limitations for sex-abuse cases involving children.

He also said that some states have modified the law to adopt the concept of “delayed accrual.” These states allow individuals to claim a “point of awareness,” when they realize after the fact that they have been injured.

Another impediment for plaintiffs’ lawyers is sovereign immunity, which varies widely across the country. But Dion said lawyers should be aware that sovereign immunity doesn’t automatically preclude a claim. Sometimes, he said, school personnel can be named individually as defendants.

For instance, in 2000 the father of an abused South Carolina boy won a $105 million jury verdict for the emotional injuries that he suffered in learning of his son’s abuse. (”Father breaks new ground suing for sexual abuse of son,” Lawyers USA, Jan. 8, 2001. Search terms for Lawyers USA Archives: Meyers and Flowers).

In that case, a private school was held liable for only $250,000 because of the state’s charitable immunity statute, but two individual defendants were covered under the school’s insurance policy, each with $2-million limits.

“It takes creative litigation to figure out ways to get around some of the sovereign immunity issues to get justice for these victims,” Dion said. “It’s difficult, but it can be done.”

An ounce of prevention

“With a minimum amount of effort, [these suits can be] avoided,” said William Friedlander, an Ithaca, N.Y. lawyer who won a confidential settlement in a suit against teacher and school district.

Attorney Mary Jo McGrath, founder of McGrath Systems, a Santa Barbara, Calif., educational consulting company, said this holds true for any litigation against a school district. After many years as a plaintiffs’ lawyer, she now devotes much of her time to conducting training sessions for schools on how to avoid being sued for teacher sexual abuse.

A good anti-abuse, anti-harassment policy, she said, contains three tiers:

1. Awareness.

School personnel need to be made alert to “warning signs.” This includes teachers who are seen to be spending too much time with individual students.

“It also means recognizing what I call ‘boundary violations,’ like sitting too close, moving in too close, looking too closely into a student’s eyes,” said McGrath.

2. Intervention and complaint management.

People need to recognize what McGrath calls “the ‘Ick!’ factor” – reports that might not rise to the level of abuse but are nevertheless troubling.

3. Investigation by professionals.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ga mom – Bite me.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Good Mom.

First, your article is not from the Associated Press. It is an opinion piece from an online magazine – hardly reputable.

• Link
• Report this comment

To: not the real sloboffthestreet

I’m certain you are not a real anything. People who are against such a thing as cameras in their classroom are most likely to be the ones that have secrets to hide from parents & administration. As for you watching children closely and providing after school help? This I have got to see!!!

Maureen, Is Moderation like Time Out?

• Link
• Report this comment

HS teacher – if I am to understand your posting..you say that a college degree and other vetting might make a difference – abusers come from ALL walks of life. College Degree, no degree, it simply does not matter. Abusers are often ‘well liked’, respected, even revered, that’s how they ingratiate themselves to the families of victims. And masters at manipulation…if these kids were blind folded and rewarded for this game….this is perfectly reasonable why the kids didn’t report it. My question is …where was the administration? Is anyone watching these sickos.. Come On..this clown worked for 30 years and no one raised a question — especially the adults who are working at the school? ! Lots of questions here.. similar to Penn State. Makes me wonder how many other victims there are. It seems to me that a lot of educators don’t realize they are mandated reporters, and if they don’t report a suspicion, they are definitely part of the problem. And for your ‘bite me’ comment….WOW, enough said.

• Link
• Report this comment

To cat lady and others defending this POS teacher.

Give me one good reason a cup and spoon in the classroom trash should test positive for semen. Just ONE good reason.

Anyone?

• Link
• Report this comment