Interestingly to me is that this idea has been a touchstone of the right wing for a while.

In 2004 a study (sort of; I don’t think that’s the most correct word) a researcher said that, due sheerly to the raw numbers of children in public school vs Catholic* private, there would be more victims in public school, but she didn’t actually prove that and when it came to looking at numbers, the public school survey asked people to self report whereas the Catholic numbers came from the Catholic schools and contained only reported cases. https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/a-lighthearted-dispute-does-more

There are certainly public school teachers who offend and occasionally administrators who try to cover it up, but in general it becomes public and the teacher/para/admin is fired (and tried as appropriate). Whereas in the Catholic Church… that’s not the case and that goes for a lot of private schools too.

*Jesse Singal also goes into more detail about why the focus was just on Catholic schools and not all privates with the gist being that at the time in 2004, it was very much a focus as the news of the Catholic Church’s decades of victimizing children had only just broken.

Anonymous wrote:There is concrete evidence, arrests and convictions of hundreds of "pastors" from Evangelical and catholic churches and their schools.

We see the headlines on a daily basis, eventhough Jeff shut the long running thread in this forum down.

If there were a rash of public school kids being sexually abused, in this social media era, I think we would be hearing about it with more frequency.

Your faith in the media is touching.

I live in a small MIdwestern city, area pop around 250k

It's mind boggling how often these stories come out. A recent one involved the Superintendent's nanny, who was also a paraeducator in the public school, who exchanged nude photos with a 15 year old special ed student and wanted to set up an off campus encounter, which is when he freaked and told his parents (promptly fired from her nanny job btw). Seems like at least a scandal every year in our community, and if everyone is caught why would anyone jeopardize their future doing stupid shit like this, even aside from the immorality of it? Can't wrap my head around it.

Anonymous wrote:I worked in public schools for many years and I am a strong advocate for cameras in every classroom. I'm told it will never happen however because the staff deserve privacy. I totally disagree with that. The kids deserve transparency in whatever goes on in every classroom.

I do know that if cameras were mandated it would be even harder to find people to fill teaching positions or work one one one with special ed kids.

Cameras would be a big step in the right direction anyway, but it wouldn't address the other issue of teachers (men and women) having sexual encounters with students outside of class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[b]Forbidden Fruit and the Classroom: The Huge American Sex-Abuse Scandal That Educators Scandalously Suppress

By James Varney, RealClearInvestigations
July 10, 2024

Every day millions of parents put their children under the care of public school teachers, administrators, and support staff. Their trust, however, is frequently broken by predators in authority in what appears to be the largest ongoing sexual abuse scandal in our nation’s history.

Given the roughly 50 million students in U.S. K-12 schools each year, the number of students who have been victims of sexual misconduct by school employees is probably in the millions each decade, according to multiple studies. [/b]Such numbers would far exceed the high-profile abuse scandals that rocked the Roman Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America.[b]

Article continues: https://realclearwire.com/articles/2024/07/10/forbidden_fruit_and_the_classroom_the_huge_american_sex-abuse_scandal_that_educators_scandalously_hush_up_1042969.html

This is what surprises me. The numbers of students being sexually abused in public schools is stunningly high, yet we only talk about Catholic priests for some reason.

Who is “we”?

At my kids school any parent volunteer must complete mandated reporter/abuse training. That sounds like everyone is aware of the problem to me. Where is this not the case?

Anonymous wrote:Predators are also protected by family court, judges, lawyers, cops, attorneys, and so called community service professionals. Child sex abuse and trafficking is big business. It is sickening how deep that dark underworld goes. It is also rampant in the DMV and among the wealthy. Like a pastime for them. Epstein, trump, Biden, Obama's, Hillary, Hollywood creeps. It is something swept under the rug and it needs to be addressed. Children need protection.

Yeah, the Democrats, right?

Not super religious conservative Republicans. Never.

You are blinded by your ignorant ideology

It is a problem for children all over the world, in schools, sport, scouting, religious organizations.

We should trying funding child protective services adequately, and teaching even little children about their bodies and their rights (but conservatives and the religious won’t allow this!)

I worked in public schools for many years and I am a strong advocate for cameras in every classroom. I'm told it will never happen however because the staff deserve privacy. I totally disagree with that. The kids deserve transparency in whatever goes on in every classroom.

I do know that if cameras were mandated it would be even harder to find people to fill teaching positions or work one one one with special ed kids.

Cameras would be a big step in the right direction anyway, but it wouldn't address the other issue of teachers (men and women) having sexual encounters with students outside of class.

Anonymous wrote:The Catholic Church, other religious organizations, and teachers unions are united in keeping their power. They will fight against disclosure. This is not a public versus private thing. The issue is institutional power.

+1 million

And predators seek positions of power over children so that they can prey on them. It’s disgusting but not rocket science.

Anonymous wrote:There is concrete evidence, arrests and convictions of hundreds of "pastors" from Evangelical and catholic churches and their schools.

We see the headlines on a daily basis, eventhough Jeff shut the long running thread in this forum down.

If there were a rash of public school kids being sexually abused, in this social media era, I think we would be hearing about it with more frequency.

We do hear about it frequently

The Catholic Church, other religious organizations, and teachers unions are united in keeping their power. They will fight against disclosure. This is not a public versus private thing. The issue is institutional power.