Americans are increasingly skeptical of our education system; in large part the uphill battle between parents and schools stems from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the ‘wokeism’ pandemic. A terrifying report found yet another reason for concern.
A Fox News Digital analyst found nearly 270 public educators have been arrested on child sex-related crimes in the US from January 1 to September 30. The crimes range from grooming to raping underage students.
Those arrested included four principals, two assistant principals, 226 teachers, 20 teacher’s aides and 17 substitute teachers. “At least 199 of the arrests, or 74%, involved alleged crimes against students.” Over 80% of those arrested were men, and only 43 of the alleged crimes did not involve students.
“While all states require prospective employers to conduct criminal background checks on educators, and most states — 46 — require fingerprinting, only 19 states require employers to request information from an applicant’s current and former employers.
Moreover, only 14 states require employers to check an applicant’s eligibility for employment or certification, and only 11 require applicants to disclose information regarding investigations or disciplinary actions related to sexual abuse or misconduct.”
“The number of teachers arrested for child sex abuse is just the tip of the iceberg — much as it was for the Catholic Church prior to widespread exposure and investigation in the early 2000s,” Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The best available academic research, published by the Department of Education, suggests that nearly 10% of public school students suffer from physical abuse between kindergarten and twelfth grade.”
“According to that research, the scale of sexual abuse in the public schools is nearly 100 times greater than that of the Catholic Church,” he said. “The question for critics who seek to downplay the extent of public school sexual abuse is this: How many arrests need to happen before you consider it a problem? How many children need to be sexually abused by teachers before you consider it a crisis?”
The Fox News analysis “looked at local news stories week by week featuring arrests of K-12 principals, assistant principals, teachers, substitute teachers and teacher’s aides on child sex-related crimes in school districts across the country. Arrests that weren’t publicized were not counted in the analysis, meaning the true number may well be higher” writes the New York Post.
Many of the arrests in Fox News Digital’s latest analysis involved especially heinous allegations such as “Eugene Pratt, 57, a former principal, elementary school teacher and coach who taught at-risk youth in multiple Michigan public schools, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in August. He is accused of sexually assaulting at least 15 boys and young adult men during his education career spanning several decades.”