It Isn’t Just Cops

I slam cops when they are wrong, but let me flip to the other side and support them on this one. I was loosely involved with the events here. Be aware, the details are a bit disturbing.

Years ago, we had a teacher at the local school that was molesting a young child. This teacher was well liked, the students, his fellow staff, and the parents all loved him. The scores that his students received were at the top of the scale. I believe he was even teacher of the year a couple of times. No one suspected a thing.

I can’t remember for sure, but I think the victim who came forward was in Kindergarten or first grade. Like I said, this was years ago. Probably more like 20 years ago. This teacher would play a game with this young girl that he called the “finger game.” In this game, he would have her stand with her back to him and put her hands behind her back. The teacher would then put one or more fingers in her hand and she would have to tell him how many fingers were there. The game eventually changed, and it wasn’t fingers that he was putting in her hand. Yeah, disgusting shit.

The child told her parents, who reported the incident to the school. The principal investigated and decided that the accusation was unfounded. The accusations went away. Six months later, another parent came forward and was dismissed the same way, only this time the parent didn’t let it lie: they went to the police. The cops investigated and arrested the teacher. During the investigation, it was discovered that this teacher had molested more than half a dozen students over at least one school year. There may have been more victims, it’s impossible to know at that age. It also turned out that there were at least three school officials who knew about the accusations but didn’t take action because they didn’t find any evidence that they were true. The record in court painted a different story. I am including statements from one of the trials so you can read it for yourself, but I have made some slight edits to remove names.

The father told the Principal that he liked the teacher and did not want to get him in trouble, but the father wanted the game to stop. The Principal talked to two of the students, and they confirmed that this game had taken place after school while they were waiting to be picked up. One of the girls used the term “wiener” in describing the game, and one said she heard a sound like a zipper during the game. After interviewing these two students, at approximately 2:00 p.m. that day, the Principal called the Human Resources (“HR”) Department and told the Director of HR that he had received a complaint from a parent about the teacher that involved a game being played after dismissal that the father thought seemed unconventional.

Instead of notifying law enforcement, the school district’s HR department decided to investigate for themselves. They investigated for a week before finally calling the police.

The police went to the school, arrested the principal and a few other school staff members. You see, teachers are mandatory reporters- they are required to report all suspected child abuse to law enforcement and/or children and family services. It isn’t the job of school officials to investigate crimes- they are required to report them.

The press at the time was busy reporting about how the teachers were being unfairly accused of sex crimes by an overzealous police department that was out of control.

The principal was even more popular than was the teacher, and a large group of parents and teachers went to the next meeting of the local government, demanding that the charges be dropped and the police involved be fired for daring to arrest this principal, teacher, and other school staff members. The school district superintendent released a statement saying that he was fully supporting the school officials, and that they wouldn’t be fired. 

The teacher was charged with multiple counts of child abuse and of lewd and lascivious molestation of children under the age of 12. He reached a plea deal and pled guilty to one count of child abuse. He received a sentence of 8 days in jail, with credit of 8 days for time served, 5 years of probation during which he could not work with children, and a fine of less than $400. His teaching license was revoked. Pretty light penalty, I would say.

The school staff all had their charges dropped. They sued the city and the police officers involved. The case was settled. I can’t find a record for what happened to the teacher. He seemingly vanished. I am guessing that he changed his name. Of the school staff members, one wound up as a groundskeeper, one died a couple of years later, and the third now works for Publix supermarkets.

I sometimes wonder how those children are coping. They are now in their late 20s and some likely have school aged children of their own.