Maybe I’m cranky. That must be it. Too many allergies this time of year, I guess. I suppose I could be oversensitive. I doubt it, but it is possible.
When I was a senior, a million years ago, I know, there was a 12-year-old in school who had a baby. It was still shocking enough that people whispered when they talked about it. Now they hand out condoms to middle schoolers.
I knew it would happen that someone would link the FLDS case with homeschooling and conclude that all of this could have been avoided if those poor kids had been in school. Yeah, like in one of those schools in Maine where 11-year-old children can get birth control from the school nurse? Pardon me if I call that a double standard. Apparently, having sex with a child is OK as long as you aren’t a polygamist? Not that I am condoning polygamy. I don’t even want to go there.
I do want to talk about that myth that children are automatically safer in a classroom than they are at home. Because “safer” isn’t a word I would use when I read about a 6-year-old being strapped into a chair and duct taped.
Just on a whim, I googled “teacher arrested.” I can’t possibly list all of the links here because it would take too long. For the sake of brevity, I will limit my search to just this month. You may find more than I did. I just ran out of time. Here is what I did find in a few minutes.
First there was the 3rd grade teacher in California arrested after her studets found a gun and ammunition in the classroom.
Stephanie Ragusa is back in the news after her second arrest for sexual misconduct with minor boys in Florida.
News of the arrest came hours after school official met to discuss the recent arrests of teachers accused of having sex with students.
Another female teacher got arrested in Arkansas.
Brenda Fant, 31, turned herself in today at the Bi-State Jail. She was booked on a charge of first-degree sexual assault of a 17-year old male.
In Baltimore, a teacher was arrested after drugs fell out of her purse at school.
The incident allegedly occurred during an early morning class at George G. Kelson Elementary School in East Baltimore. The teacher allegedly dropped her purse and a bag of marijuana tumbled onto the floor, sources familiar with the investigation said.
Yeah, that was at an elementary school, during school hours.
At least this one was off campus, but on the way home from school.
Police say Dudek was driving with a suspended license and under the influence of some type of drug.
This teacher was arrested before school on drug charges. (see, I like to mix it up, don’t want all the reports to be the same, you know).
Another female teacher was charged in Roseville, CA.
Kelly Christine Spaich, 28, was arrested Friday night at her Roseville home and charged with unlawful intercourse with a minor and other related charges, Roseville police spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther said.
A Delaware teacher turned herself in after being charged with slapping a student. Three times.
In the “we’re in love so that makes it OK category” we have a teacher in Georgia and another in Texas. And in Las Vegas, this student-molesting teacher had the gift that keeps on giving–an STD. Apparently, what goes on in Vegas, doesn’t always stay there.
I’m tempted to stop here, but I have a few more tabs to go, and eventually I do have a point. Stay with me.
This special education teacher was arrested on rape charges twice in one week–but police aren’t calling it a serial rape case, he is just “troubled.”
Also in Florida (is there something in the water?), we have a teacher and a 12-year-old boy he met on MySpace.
In Georgia, 57-year-old teacher Craig Bowen is keeping it in the family.
As if to prove that child molesters often put themselves into the path of children and befriend their victims, we have a teacher/pastor/family friend combo in Boston.
Forbes is an elementary school music teacher at the 7 Hills Charter School in Worcester, officials said. He is also a pastor at the Mount Sinia Church of God in Christ in Worcester, police said.
The teenager is not a student at the school, police said, but Forbes is a friend of the child’s family.
On the child porn front, Michael Jablonski got nabbed in Virginia Beach.
On his MySpace, Jablonski wrote that before working at Green Run, he taught at Independence Middle School. He made the move to because of the opportunity to work with the girls’ volleyball team.
Joseph Macanga, a teacher in New Jersey was finally arrested after several months of investigation. He was charged with distribution of pornography.
This teacher is charged with more than looking at 10 and 11 year old girls in his care.
The teacher, Jose Cruz, 44, was accused of touching five girls, ages 10 and 11, on their chests, buttocks and thighs, starting in January and continuing until Thursday, when the girls told their parents, the office said. Mr. Cruz was charged with five counts of sexual assault and five counts of child endangerment, and investigators were said to be trying to determine whether other girls were also touched.
Now did somebody want to tell me that we can protect children from predators by sending them to school? Predators, by their very nature, will put themselves into situations where they have the opportunities they seek. It isn’t about having a credential. And it certainly isn’t about homeschooling.
Got a question? Something you want to bring to my attention? 
[...] if nothing else, being sold as super-geniuses beats being associated with incest and child abuse. Isn’t that what we usually get, finger pointing and accusations of abuse? There was a time [...]