Protecting kids from CSA in schools
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/rick-despatie-teacher-charged-1.6022099
It’s clear the administration did not take effective action to correct the concerning behaviour of this teacher. Tragically, the youth are suffering because the adults did not take the actions needed to interrupt and disrupt this teacher’s inappropriate behaviour.
The article mentions a parent was told: “ the vice principal would be monitoring the teacher's class”. My question would be: how? It seems very unlikely a vice principal would have the time to monitor a teacher’s class daily.
Parents were also informed that the teacher “was… to keep the door to his classroom open”. Unless another adult is sitting in the hallway monitoring the teacher daily, is having an open door enough to deter inappropriate behaviour? Obviously, this was not an effective strategy.
It’s understandable for parents and students to be upset and outraged. They came forward over a span of ten years, but their attempts to have the behaviour corrected fell on unresponsive ears.
Questions I would ask are:
What are the policies and procedures to address concerning behaviour within the school, district and teacher’s union?
What information gets gathered from the students when incidences like this are reported?
How is the administration accountable to the students and caregivers?
Sounds like some restorative justice circle work is needed in the community.
If your kid reports concerning behaviour to you or you observe concerning behaviour by any school personnel, when you report it, get clear on what the school will do to address it.
If their response is lacking, such as at St. Matthew High School, go to the district school board and the teachers union. It important to remember reporting concerning behaviour is not making an allegation of abuse. Reporting concerning behaviour is an opportunity to interrupt or disrupt inappropriate behaviour BEFORE it escalates.
The reality is sexual offenders are attracted to working in schools as it allows them access to kids. Here are notes on a study looking at cases in Canada spanning 20 years from 1997-2017
Females represented 75% of all contact victims and 77% of all non-contact victims with a mean age of 14
69% were high-school-aged when the abuse began
Of the total number of offenders, 87% were male and 13% were female
“the ages of all offenders (at the time of the offense) ranged from 19 to 78 years”
The number of known victims per contact offence case ranged from 1 to 30 students per offender
86% of all offenders in the study were certified teachers. Educational assistants, student teachers, special needs assistants, support staff., custodians, and school bus drivers made up the rest.
Besides their primary occupation in a K-12 school, many offenders also had secondary occupations. In half the cases, the secondary occupations of offenders included youth-sports coaches (at schools and in the community).
In most cases (70%), grooming behaviours were identified as the offender’s tactic. In 24% of the cases, the offender was considered “opportunistic”, 4% used luring, and “the remaining 2% of cases involved some combination of these tactics.”
Male school employees were identified as offenders in 85% of all contact cases with a mean age of 41; the average age of victims was 13; 81% of their victims were females and 19% were male.
Female school personnel comprised the remaining 15% of contact offenders with an average age of 34; 84% of their victims were males and 16% were female victims with an average age of 15.
Where grooming was the primary tactic, technology such as e-mail, texting, social media, “electronic communication,” chat rooms/video chat, instant messaging, and the telephone was used in the majority of cases (71%).
It is clear technology is being used by school personnel as they seek access to students. Offenders used technology in only 42% of all cases before 2010; this number rose to 60% of all cases in 2010, and to 83% of all cases in 2016 and after.”
In more than half the cases (62%), the offenders were employed in a high school. Out of those numbers, 67% worked in public schools
media coverage was included in the study as it provided crucial demographic and narrative data.
The frequency of media reports suggests that incidents of CSA by school personnel in Canada are being disseminated to the public. “At the same time, however, and somewhat paradoxically, the consistency of these reports also suggests that little is being done to curb this problem.”
In the conclusion, it was recommended, “that the teacher regulatory bodies in every province, in every territory, should make their disciplinary decisions regarding all professional misconduct (not only that involving the sexual abuse of children) available to the public.”
The reason for this kind of transparency is “because an offender might be guilty of sexual misconduct involving a student/child, but not be charged with a crime (and thus one’s criminal record may remain clean)”. Public lists of disciplinary decisions “could provide the valuable information to inform employers about the past activities of prospective employees.”
Read the full study here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10538712.2018.1477218
