Coaches

Title: "Out of Bounds: We trust our kids to them every day. But a Chronicle investigation reveals the relationship between secondary school coaches and students is rife with abuse."
Writer: Danny Robbins
Date: April, 2001
Publisher: Houston Chronicle

TT - What makes the series compelling is that what could be said about coaches and students, their relationships, the system that investigates the conduct and the attitudes that determine the degree of interest in investigating the problem, could be said about just any school district or suspect teacher. The system fails to protect students.
It's classic "Passing the trash" - moving intinerent abusers from one school to another.

In "Sexual misconduct by educators in Texas." they conducted a three-month study and found 64 Texas Middle and High School coaches who in the last four years as a result of allegations of sexual misconduct involving students or other minors.

They report on the disposition of the cases, talk to the foremost authority on the subject of abuse in schools, Dr. Robert Shoop of Kansas State (you can see him in an interactive report in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune series), a former investigator for the State Board for Educator Certification, and the founder of SESAME Inc., a nonprofit organization that serves as a national clearinghouse for information dealing with educator sexual abuse. Former coaches tell why and what they did.

Why are there so many coaches and band teacher cases?

The number of coaches involved in sexual misconduct with students is generally attributed to two factors. One is the amount of unstructured time coaches and students spend together. The other is the power and stature of coaches, particularly those affiliated with successful programs.

TT - What could be said about coaches can be said about band teachers, depending on your community priorities. Well-written and informative. See right hand side for other parts to the series.

A Flawed System

Series: "Broken Trust: A Herald-Tribune Investigation"
Authors: CHRIS DAVIS, MATTHEW DOIG & TIFFANY LANKES
Published: March 18, 2007
Pub by: Sarasota Herald-Tribune

A four-part series on how Florida's system of teacher discipline is dysfunctional at every level.
Sub head: Despite charges by students, instructors often end up back in the classroom. The series continues on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
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It was the culmination of two years of investigation and reviewing 14,000 records, interviewing hundreds, including a teacher who sexually abused a student who would talk to them.

Reading the text versions of the stories is easier. (Otherwise, it's like a slideshow for idiots.)

The interactive online presentation shows that what a newspaper can do in the Information Age to connect with readers and convey a vast amount of information. The case flow with commentary by Dr. Robert Shoop is an espcially brilliant way to educate and inform.

Dirty Secrets

Title: "Dirty Secrets: Why sexually abusive teachers aren't stopped"
Subtitle: A small but dangerous contingent of sexual predators lurks among the dedicated teachers in our nation's classrooms
Author: Jane Elizabeth Zemel and Steve Twedt
Published: October 31, 1999
Publisher: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Summary: First of a three part series. "The Post-Gazette has examined 727 cases across the U.S. in which an educator has lost his or her license for sex offenses during the past five years, and has found some disturbing trends.

Among them:
The number of teachers who have lost their licenses because of sex offenses has increased nearly 80 percent since 1994.

Several of those who lost their licenses were caught only after they had been molesting students for many years.

Offending teachers sometimes get help landing another teaching job from a unexpected source -- their former bosses. The practice is so well-known among educators that they refer to it by name. They call it "passing the trash."

TT - Links to additional articles in the series at bottom left sidebar.