By Nora Froeschle
Tulsa World
June 2, 2008
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080602_19_A1_spancl668228
During the 2007-08 school year, at least 11 Oklahoma school employees, many of them teachers and coaches, were charged, sentenced or ordered to stand trial for inappropriate sexual conduct with students.
Most recently, the principal of Bible Fellowship School, 4915 S. Waco Ave., was charged May 21 with second-degree rape of a 17-year-old student, and on Thursday, a Jennings High School teacher's aide was charged with second-degree rape of a 16-year-old student.
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Investigations of possible sexual misconduct by two Vian Public Schools teachers are ongoing, and a Drumright High School teacher was recently suspended and is being investigated by police over accusations that he had sex with a 17-year-old student.
Fred Berlin, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has researched sexual disorders and also treated patients who have engaged in inappropriate sexual relationships with minors. Berlin has served on commissions appointed by the Archdiocese of Boston examining the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic church.
"Clearly what needs to be done is to continue to instruct teachers to keep appropriate boundaries" with students, Berlin said in a telephone interview Friday.
Asked if he could describe the profile of someone who might engage in sexual misconduct with a minor, Berlin said to do so would be to simplify a complicated problem.
He said teachers who end up in inappropriate relationships with students should not be demonized, and rarely does it turn out that the teacher is a repeat sex offender who slipped through the standard background checks.
"In many instances, it's not just a teacher doesn't give a darn about student," he said. "It's not so much malicious disregard but self-deceptive thinking that makes it difficult for them to appreciate objectively" the damage they are inflicting.
And teenage students often have crushes on their teachers, he said.
The girl whom Tyrell Brewer, the principal from Bible Fellowship School, is accused of raping told police the encounters the two had were consensual, court records show.
And in the case of former Midway High School principal Curtis Thomas Been, who is facing trial in Muskogee on 10 felony charges alleging he committed sex crimesnora.froeschle@tulsaworld.com against two underage students, one of the teenagers told authorities she had had a "crush" on him.
Court records state that when Been "approached her about having sex, she agreed."
Berlin said it is important to remember that the overwhelming majority of educators never have inappropriate relationships with students.
For those few who do, treatment requires them to face and accept the fact that their actions hurt the young people involved, he said.
Berlin said that feelings for students may develop gradually and insidiously.
"You've got a teacher working very closely, working day in and day out with these youngsters, and many times there's not a terribly large age difference."
Boundaries
It is essential, he said, that schools emphasize and re-emphasize the importance of professional boundaries.
"As physicians we are taught and reminded" of the boundary that must exist between a doctor and a patient, he said.
No college course solely devoted to the subject of teacher-student boundaries apparently exists in the higher education teacher training offered in Oklahoma. It is, however, brought up during a required course on ethics and professionalism, said Nadine Olsen, associate professor at Oklahoma State University's College of Education's School of Teaching and Curriculum Leadership.
"I can speak for our teacher preparation programs at OSU that are probably typical of others in state. In our teacher preparation, in our methods classes, there are segments where we discuss legal and ethical issues," Olsen said. "Certainly, appropriate interaction with students is discussed."
Not all of the 11 individuals in legal trouble over inappropriate sexual relationships with students during the 2007-08 school are certified teachers, and one of them, David Finch, is a former Wagoner police officer.
Olsen said she doubts sexual predators would complete years of study in education courses simply for the purpose of preying on children.
"We have five core values, and students must demonstrate their understanding of those values and their competency to demonstrate those values. One of those is ethics and professionalism, and especially professional behavior when they interact with students, parents and colleagues," she said.
Training
Robert Franklin, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for Sand Springs Public Schools, said the subject of teacher-student relationships is broached during new teacher orientation at his district.
"With our new faculty we talk about boundaries. We remind people that ... it may not be a good idea to take that young girl home, even if she doesn't have a ride," Franklin said.
"We don't dwell on that, we don't talk about it much, but we do say that on every orientation to new teachers. Then, we typically move on."
Executive Director for Human Resources at Broken Arrow Public Schools, Cathey Metevelis, said in addition to the standard background checks done on all prospective employees, information on sexual harassment is also provided.
"We have a thorough sexual harassment policy and we distribute that every year," she said.
The policy, however, does not specifically address teacher-student boundaries, but rather how certain actions could be misinterpreted, Metevelis said.
Franklin said more probably could be done to prevent incidents such as those that occurred this school year.
"There's nothing more damaging to the credibility of the profession than those types of carnal sidesteps. Those things just damage every one of us ... it causes us all to wince," he said.
Contact: nora.froeschle@tulsaworld.com
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