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An attorney who investigates cases of sexual abuse in schools says there's an epidemic of sexual crimes in America's public schools, but the problem is largely ignored.The findings of a seven-month investigation by Associated Press reporters reveal that from 2001 to 2005, the teaching credentials of more than 2,500 educators nationwide were revoked, denied, surrendered, or sanctioned following allegations of sexual misconduct. The investigation, chronicled by the news agency in a mid-October report, states that young people were the victims in at least 1,801 of the cases-and more than 80 percent of those were students.However, AP says that during its investigation, it found a "deeply entrenched resistance" toward recognizing and fighting that sexual abuse-from teachers and school administrators who wish to avoid lawsuits, to the halls of state capitals and Congress where lawmakers are hesitant to disparage an otherwise honorable and vital profession. The result, says Associated Press, is that very few abusers get caught-and often are allowed to exit a district quietly, only to show up in another school district. That dynamic, says the report, is so commonplace that it has its own nicknames-"passing the trash" or the "mobile molester." (Read the AP report)Mary Jo McGrath is a Santa Barbara, California-based attorney who investigates abuse and misconduct in schools, and conducts seminars to teach schools and parents how to recognize the signs that abuse may be taking place. McGrath says there are 17,500 school districts in the U.S.-and she estimates that with the staggering number of sexual abuse cases being reported, it averages about one perpetrator per school.According to the attorney, the problem is largely ignored because society as a whole does not want to confront something so repulsive."If you look at where the sexual abuse is most prevalent, it's in the home-and we don't want to deal with that. It's just a topic that's so repulsive to us that we shut down," she says. "The same phenomenon takes place in schools. We cannot believe that the person with the friendly smile who we see in the supermarket and may even go to church with-[we can't believe] that teacher is also an abuser."McGrath says most abusers are not shadowy figures lurking in dark corners, but often are friendly, well-liked members of the community. AP's investigation bears that out, noting that the perpetrators it found included teachers, school psychologists, principals, and superintendents who are often popular, recognized for excellence, and (in almost 90 percent of the cases) male.As in the days of Noah....
