Considering the Victims of a Sexual-Misconduct Nightmare

By Clyde Haberman
New York Times
April 9, 2012

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/considering-the-victims-of-a-sexual-misconduct-nightmare/?ref=romancatholicchurchsexabusecases

In the sexual-misconduct nightmare that has forced the city's school system to wake up to distasteful realities, there are several models to consider. Two that come to mind are "The Children's Hour" and the Roman Catholic Church in America.

"The Children's Hour" was a 1934 drama by Lillian Hellman, about two school teachers whose lives are destroyed when a vicious student falsely accuses them of having a lesbian affair. In that era, such a relationship was deemed so abhorrent that The New York Times's theater critic, the esteemed Brooks Atkinson, could only bring himself to describe the women coyly as being charged with displaying "an unnatural affection for each other."

The play could easily serve as a reference point for some city teachers who have been accused of indecent behavior in the classroom, and say that they themselves are the true victims.

A music teacher said to have inappropriately put third-grade boys on his lap told The Times on Friday that his troubles were rooted in his poor relationship with the school's principal. Another teacher, accused of tickling children and rubbing their legs, insisted to The Daily News that he had been framed by lying students who wished "to get back at me for giving them detention."

Is it possible that some young people make up stories about a disliked teacher? It would be foolish to dismiss the idea out of hand. "The Children's Hour," though dated in many respects, offers an insight into the terrible consequences of succumbing to a witch-hunt mentality.

But there are also instances in the not-distant past of school teachers or aides having indeed behaved improperly, only to then be allowed to move on and work at other schools.

Does that sound familiar? It's as if no one in charge absorbed lessons that should have been learned from the Catholic Church's scandals, in which bishops chose to shift sexually abusive priests to new parishes rather than drum them out of the fold and thereby protect the real victims: violated children.

One New York teacher is reported to have been accused of touching students on their breasts and buttocks, and of behaving disgracefully in other ways, at least six times since 1994. Yet he kept on teaching, endlessly migrating from school to school.

Cases like his prompted Dennis M. Walcott, the city's schools chancellor, to decide that enough was enough. Last month, he sent a letter to school principals promising to do a better job of letting them know about teachers and aides who were disciplined for misconduct elsewhere.

To some degree, the models of "The Children's Hour" and of the church's self-inflicted wounds are in conflict.

Fair play dictates that the accused be given a proper hearing and thus a chance to defend themselves against charges that may be overblown, or even entirely fictitious. No one wants to see the appalling rush to judgment depicted in the Hellman play become real-life dramas in city schools.

On the other hand, Mr. Walcott is understandably frustrated with a system that has let offenders hold onto their jobs and continue to have regular contact with children. This year alone, all three months of it, at least seven school employees have been arrested on sexual-offense charges, including an assistant principal in the Bronx accused of groping two girls. How can anyone not be alarmed and ask what in the world is going on?

A few days ago, responding to a Freedom of Information request, the Education Department released records of 16 cases in which it had sought to fire teachers for sexual improprieties, but was stymied in arbitration. The arbitrators agreed that the teachers had transgressed, but not enough to warrant dismissal. Instead, they imposed fines and suspensions.

Due process was upheld. But you have to wonder about the meaning of "zero tolerance," which is what everyone in the school system says should be the policy for sexual misconduct. Sounds more, at least in some cases, like maybe 20 percent tolerance, or 30 percent, if not higher.

Contact: haberman@nytimes.com