Kent, WA - May 15, 2002

Kent, WA - - Mary Kay Letourneau --- May 15
Jurors are deliberating this week in a civil suit against the police and the school district for damages in the Mary Kay Letourneau case. The former sixth-grade school teacher is serving serving a 7-year sentence for child rape. She began having sexual contact with Fualaau in 1996, when she was 34. He was 12.
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 15, 2002 UPDATE: Schools, police absolved in Fualaau case . May 21, 2002 link

Bradenton, FL - May 15, 2002

Bradenton, Fl - - Teacher sentenced in child neglect case --- May 15
Because they couldn't prove the aggravated child abuse, prosecutors accepted a guilty plea for neglect of a four-year-old boy who "had broken bones in his hands, feet and shoulder, according to medical reports. He also had untreated ringworm and scratches and scars all over his body." Wanda Bennett, 41, had four adopted children and ought to know about child welfare.

Bennett was a police officer in Dallas from 1987 to 1995 and a child abuse investigator for the Department of Children & Families in the late 1990s. She then began working at Harllee Middle School in Bradenton as a special education teacher.

From Naples Daily News, May 15, 2001. link

There may be hope yet

A story I didn't see until today when they pulled it up from their archives : From the Riverside Press-Enterprise, there's a article by Ben Goad on the issue of adult-children sex "Experts weigh adult-teen dynamics" (May 7, 2002). The first paragraph pretty much says it all.

Poor self-esteem, a lack of self-imposed boundaries and being with someone less intellectually and sexually mature are characteristics commonly seen in illicit adult-teen relationships, experts say.

I don't for a minute buy the bit about a hopeless woman, but the lack of self-imposed boundaries pretty much defines the problem. And not just in schools or the church. We are talking about a 1960's philosophy that defined their limitations as "anything goes" and made a vow never to grow up. The Peter Pans have certainly made good on their promises.

Values neutral education from NEA

But, hey, we knew everything from the NEA was values neutral. The NEA web site has a 'Can We Talk?' program for parents created with funding from the CDC, presumably under Clinton. "Once children reach about 10 years old, parents start wondering what's happening to their 'little angels,'" says [NEA member, Gloria] Chapa," - - which seems like an odd way to refer to children. The section on "How parents are responding" will alternately make you laugh or cry but almost certainly be incredulous. And, to top it off, it is "value-neutral" and -- presumably, the best part -- you can use federal abstinence grant dollars to fund the program. They even provide a link to canwetalk.org that you shouldn't pass up. "We believe that young people's academic achievement is directly influenced by their emotional, physical and sexual health,..."

8 Redlands, CA - May 15, 2002

Redlands, CA - - Middle school teacher arrested May 15, 2002
A total of 110 sexual charges were filed against Sean Ramiro Lopez, 28. The Redlands, CA middle school teacher who was arrested in February and released on bail is expected to surrender next week to face 110 counts of lewd acts on a child, officials said Friday. Lopez was arrested in February at Clement Middle School on suspicion of engaging in sexual contact with a boy between April 2000 and June 2001.
From the Riverside Press-Enterprise, May 15, 2002.