Who Is Teaching YOUR kids?

From the lovely and writerly Anne-Marie over at Teacher Smackdown:

In Westport, Connecticut, former Bedford Middle School art teacher, Paul Held, 69, is being sentenced in one of the most disturbing child porn cases the U.S. Attorney’s office has ever seen.

Held had a huge collection of 3 million to 4 million child porn images. Authorities say that some of the pictures were taken in Held’s home, and others were taken in school including “under skirt” photos of his unsuspecting students. He also confessed to collecting snuff films showing the rape and murder of children.

Y'all heard me? Three to four MILLION images. SNUFF FILMS of children. Rest of the story here and here.

Know who is in your schools, around your kids and how extensively they were screened.

Comments

[DangerDoll]

Well now I just need to vomit.

[Heather]

And people wonder why I may home school my children...

It would be so nice if all the sickos and wackos LOOKED like sickos and wackos, you know?

[Jen]

Oh my god. Note to self - Never let kids out of my sight ever again. Ever. Holy poop on a cracker.

[Anne-Marie]

Thanks for the linky love, CB. And yes, the problem with sex offenders is that there is no cure short of castration. They will eventually be released until we develop the technology to ship them to Mars. So make sure you go online and check out your kids' coaches, karate instructors, piano teachers, etc. You can contact your local police department for a list of sex offenders living in your area if you cannot find the information (which is free) online. Your stat'es Bureau of Investigation should have an online listing, but many larger police and sherrif's offices have website listings as well.

Also, ask your school district what kind of background check they run on teachers, staff and most importantly volunteers. Usually employees who have contact with kids are heavily screened. Volunteers probably are not.

[StickyKeys]

Oh Jaysus Lord woman, look at you riling up everyone. While I do think it's good common sense to know the people that interact with your kids, I think it's more important to hold the school accountable for making sure their employees are clean and that the correct information is relayed to the parents.

I don't know if this man had any priors and if he didn't all the background checks in the world wouldn't have stopped him, but people like that usually slip in some way so the school had to be made aware of some sort of inconsistencies or strange behavior.

[joistmonkey]

I am sure that more child abusers are parents than are teachers, or scout leaders, or kung-fu instructors.

BAN PARENTS!!

Sorry, I'm just following a twisted logic to it's conclusion. It is awful to hear that someone with access to kids has been abusing them (that said, this teacher bloke was clearly a paedo but was he actually abusing the kids? a moot point really, but still valid) but it is clearly the case that these people are in a massive massive massive minority, and the oversensitive accusing nature of the media and of edgy parents isn't helping.

I'm all for stringent controls on who is allowed to teach etc. but it is cold hard fact that much more of these offences are committed by family members and parents.

You don't hear people saying that couples should have to pass 'I am not a paedo' tests before they have kids, do you?

My Mum and Dad have loads of pictures of me naked or in underwear as a kid. What does that mean? :-)

[DangerDoll]

I would posit that most parents and family members do not have access to possibly hundreds of children per day, day in and day out, and alone.

Also, I fail to see how your point that he may not have actually been hands-on abusing the children would be valid (which, by the way, he was - read the article). Whether he dabbled in child porn and snuff films or produced his own in his living room, these people do not exist in a vacuum. And they are rarely satisfied long-term by simply watching the action on video...as evidenced by the fact that he felt compelled to take the under-skirt photos, touched sixth-graders inappropriately, and took sexual photos of a four-year-old in his home.

And as for your assertion that these people are in the "massive massive minority"...do you think that most teachers, scout leaders, and kung-fu instructors are possibly also parents?

Do you have children? Have you ever been sexually abused? Perhaps you should shut the fuck up. (Apologies, CB, but I had to.)

[Mark]

"My Mum and Dad have loads of pictures of me naked or in underwear as a kid. What does that mean? :-)"

What does ANY of your comment mean? Did you even read the post?

"Authorities say that some of the pictures were taken in Held’s home, and others were taken in school including “under skirt” photos of his unsuspecting students. He also confessed to collecting snuff films showing the rape and murder of children."

Is this considered okay in your world, Joistmonkey, simply because he didn't put his hands on them?

Where I come from, that's seriously sick and twisted shit.

I can't believe some people.

[joistmonkey]

How bizarre - because I post a comment saying that more parents are abusers than teachers, and because I make the point that it is te motive behind the act of making 'potentially obscene' photographs which makes it a crime, then *I* am a sick twisted paedophile myself, who should shut the F up?

I'm not going to argue with either of the two comments criticising me, because I believe that they are entitled to their opinion (even if I disagree with what they are saying) in exactly the same way that I'm entitled to mine.

However, I'd like to make a few points.

1) "Do you have children? Have you ever been sexually abused? Perhaps you should shut the fuck up." - I strongly believe that someone doesn't need to have experienced the exact circumstances of a discussion in order to have an opinion on it (I have an opinion on Jimi Hendrix, but am not black and don't play the guitar. I have an opinion on fish and chips but I am not a fish or a potato). No, I haven't got kids, no I wasn't abused. I am a teacher however, and have spent time teaching, and have undergone extensive training in child protection issues, hence consider myself informed enough to have an opinion.

2) Yes, teachers have 'access' to a lot more kids than parents. Yes, many teachers are also parents. However, much more abuse happens between family members, due partially to the length of time and the circumstances surrounding the access of the adult to the child. Plus, a teacher is more likely to be caught, less likely to evade checks and access kids, and professionally (though I admit not w.r.t. having kids taken from them into care like parents might have) has more to lose. I am just pointing out the sensationalism around teachers, when they are in some ways comparatively minor abusers (albeit of more kids) compared to the larger number of incidents and more serious abuse done by parents.

3) RE: hands on abuse of the kids - I admit I didn't read the article carefully enough. I also accept that someone watching child porn is supporting the abuse of kids by providing a market for these sick films, which is clearly wrong. However, I was making the point that posessing images and 'inappropriate touching' (though clearly criminal) are comparatively less 'serious' abuse compared to rape and sexual assault and murder - things which happen behind closed doors and we don't sensationalise to the same amount when a news story occurs - 'cause it isn't as easy to police, and as easy for parents to think 'that could be my child'

4) Though you're perfectly entitled to think what you like, I would hope that you'd like to retract your comments about me needing to 'shut the F up', just because I disagree with you, and the slightly ropey 'i can't believe some people' comment, as if you are implying that anyone who makes an argument which potentially slightly lessens the justification for hating a sick paedo, would also be an abuser themself :-)

[Mamalicious]

Gack. That's disgusting.

But sadly, not surprising.

This is why I'm very careful about ALL of the adults who are allowed access to my children.

[DangerDoll]

The bulk of your initial comment was flippant and condescending. You admit to criticising the reaction to the article without closely reading the article itself.

Your comments remind me of an expert on sailing who has read all the books on sailing, put together models of boats, and watched the regatta sail from the safety of the dock, yet has never actually been on a boat. I take back absolute nothing. Enjoy your opinion.

[joistmonkey]

I'm sorry, if as a secondary school teacher who deals with the consequences of kids who have been brought up with daily abuse (usually physical, emotional and verbal, though on occasion sexual) you believe I am not 'qualified' to make comments on the issue of child abuse, or permitted an opinion on the whole sphere of teachers, parents, children and abuse.

I'm not going to question your right to an opinion, nor turn the question round and wonder what 'qualification' you have for your views. You obviously feel passionate about the issues - lets remain objective though.

I'm sorry you felt I was looking down on you in a condescending manner, as if I was superior to you. Perish the thought.

[Mrs. Mustard]

As a teacher, the quality of teachers and educators is a very important issue to me. These people are acting in loco parentis and should be screened very carefully. The fact that people like that are even IN schools scares me and pisses me right off.

[jennifer]

We homeschool our kids, though not specifically for this reason. It does give me a little comfort to know that the only people who have access to my children are screened by me, rather than screened by someone who can't possibly care about my children the way I do.