Sexual abuse by teachers in public school system

It bothers me that so much of the focus on child sexual abuse has focused on the Roman Catholic Church. There seems to be a gleeful pouncing, an aha! because people then want to bash the faith as well.

According to evidence given at the Cornwall Inquiry, "acquaintance pedophilia" cuts across institutions and can and does occur wherever men have access to children and an opportunity to groom them with promises of special favors.

Here's an article about abuse in public schools---and how it never received the same kind of attention in the news. Thanks to Kathy Shaidle at Relapsed Catholic for the link.

The Catholic News Agency reports:

Denver, Feb. 13, 2006 (CNA) - In a continuing battle against what many of the state’s faithful call an unfair bias against Catholics, the Archdiocese of Denver has uncovered a previously unseen, but sordid list of sexual abuses by many of Colorado’s public school teachers.

The Archdiocese has lifted the lid on some 85 Colorado Department of Education reports of sexual impropriety among teachers since 1997. Reportedly, the state had revoked or denied teaching licenses, all for reasons involving sexual misconduct with minors. But critics charge, the punishment ended there.

According to a report in Denver’s Rocky Mountain News, the list revealed teachers “who prey on grade-schoolers, plying them with love notes…Teachers who download pornography on their desktop computers while students sit before them…Teachers who encourage students to meet them surreptitiously after school, on out-of-town trips, and who give them marijuana or alcohol in exchange for sex.”