Soccer Mom: Unplugged

That's the headline anyway.  In Monday's Raleigh News and Observer, there was a story below the fold on the front page about Johnston county teacher Rebecca Withrow who was charged earlier this month with having sex with an 11 year old student. The article takes a somewhat dismissive stance toward the case, apparently because 90% of charges nationally involve male teachers.  Crediting Mary Kay Letournea and Debra LaFave with drawing added attention to what the figures say is a relatively rare phenomena.

"Only 4% of educators who were investigated for sexual misconduct were females" according to a US Department of Education 2004 report.  Students tell another story.  They say "43% of inappropriate behavior came from female teachers."  All very interesting statistics.  But when it really comes down to it - does the gender of the predator matter?  The real question is - are our children safe?

The same 2004 report by educators about educators offers startling insight that ought to rattle even the most complacent parents. "researchers found that nearly 10% of students are targets of sexual suggestions or contact by teachers at some point in their school career."  Yes. You read that correctly.  A conservative illustration, because buses can hold more than 50 children, would be to say that out of every 2 busloads of children, 10 children will be a victim or propositioned in some way by an adult educator before he/she leaves the public school system.  Let me ask you mom and dad, how many busloads of kids come to your child's school?  10? 20? The odds it will be your child are 1 in 10.  Most suburban elementary schools have 300 children.  That's 30 victims - an entire 2nd grade class. 

My guess is that children are more likely to be propositioned as they get older. But that's just a guess.  Middle schools typically hold about 750 to 800 children.  That's 80.  High schools hold 1500. 150 students of those are targets according to the Department of Education's own admission.

Our children. In the crosshairs.