School Sex Scandals

The spate of cases prompted the Hillsborough County school board to schedule a meeting on April 15 to discuss background checks, hiring procedures and training. "I think they are going to find that we do all we can possibly do under our financial constraints to identify if [applicants] have had something in their past," says Cobbe. "I don't know if they will suggest psychological testing, but I don't think we could afford to do it." As far as training, Cobbe says the district requires new hires to take courses in professionalism and integrity that advise teachers against getting too chummy with students. Due to recent events, the district's manager of staff development will likely recommend refresher courses, according to Cobbe. (The Pasco County school district has no similar review planned. "We have a very rigorous training program and talk to [teachers] about various issues," says DuBose.)

The cases may also help push along two bills moving through the state legislature. On Thursday, the state Senate unanimously passed a teacher ethics measure that would increase penalties against abusive educators and require the state to help schools develop ethics policies. One of the inspirations for the bill, according to one of its sponsors, was a 2007 investigation by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune into lapses in the way the Florida Department of Education handled abuse allegations. Separately, the Senate passed another measure earlier this month that would urge the U.S. Congress to support a national clearinghouse for reports of educator misconduct.

Not everyone has reacted to the sex cases with concern. As usual with liaisons involving female teachers and male students, there's been a fair amount of high-fiving and bawdy humor. In the online commentary following local news stories, plenty of respondents have applauded the boys for fulfilling a supposed male fantasy. The Buckethead Show on the 98 Rock radio station has established a "school pool" in which listeners can win prizes for correctly guessing the site of the next sex scandal. The game's promotion line: "We'll give you the cash for new school supplies and maybe some 'private tutoring' of your own ;-)." The show has even recorded a song called "Mr. I'm 17 But Still Underage Teacher Porker."

Yet that sort of trivialization worries experts in sexual abuse. "Female sex predation is not a victimless crime," says Gordon Finley, a psychologist and professor at Florida International University in Miami. "It is male victimization. They suffer to some degree the same consequences as female victims." Though a 2004 U.S. Department of Education study showed that 43 percent of sexual abusers in the education system were women, there's a paucity of research on female sexual abusers, says Finley. "Male sexual predators have always been around, and we've paid a lot of attention to them. We need to say, 'Wake up, America.'" In his view, the reported cases are just the "tip of the iceberg."

It may be that teacher/student cases are simply being reported more, says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. He notes that substantiated child sex abuse cases declined 51 percent between 1992 and 2005, according to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, a federal database.

He draws distinctions between male and female sex offenders. "Attraction to prepubescent kids is very rare among females," he says. "You almost exclusively see adult women involved with teenagers." And, he adds, "you will find women are less likely to be using coercion." Whether their motivations differ markedly from those of men isn't clear; there simply isn't enough research out there, according to Finkelhor. Which leads him to the same conclusion as Finley: the need for more studies. Only in that way can school administrators and parents gain a better understanding of what compels some educators to act so recklessly.

© 2008