Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
In a country where even suspected abuse by a priest is considered front-page news, the mainstream media is almost completely mum about a recent move by teachers’ unions to block a bipartisan bill aimed at stopping convicted sex offenders from working in schools.
Fox News is reporting that the bill, which has already passed in the House, is running into opposition by major teachers’ unions such as the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers who fear the legislation could jeopardize workers’ protections under union contracts. The NEA also believes that the criminal background checks which would be employed to properly screen employees “often have a huge, racially disparate impact” because minorities make up a disproportionately high proportion of people convicted of crimes.
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., has also come out against the bill because it doesn’t not allow for people to overcome their criminal pasts.
And so, for these reasons, convicted sex offenders should get a free pass to work in schools where they have direct access to children. There will be no state and federal criminal record checks for employees, even those who have unsupervised access to elementary and secondary school students, or for anyone seeking such a job.
This is in spite of the fact that U. S. Department of Education figures show that “nearly 9.6 percent of public school students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career.” And this report is 10 years old!
The problem of sex abuse in public schools is so bad that Dr. Carol Shakeshaft, author of the above referenced study, estimates that the “physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.”
But we should allow them to work amongst our children because of union contract concerns and the possibility of racial discrimination? People are urged to check the backgrounds of plumbers and petsitters but not the people who are working around our children everyday?
As usual, one of the few media outlets to broadcast this appalling story is Fox News. Last week, anchor Megyn Kelly interviewed Kyle Olson of the Education Action Group Foundation who rightly said the unions’ objection to this bill proves that “unions are out to protect the adults…they are not out for the interests of the children.”
“We should have zero tolerance for issues like this,” Olson said. “We have zero tolerance policies for weapons, a kid who bites a Pop Tart into a gun or has a Hello Kitty bubble-maker will be suspended or expelled if they have those sorts of things …”
As Olson correctly pointed out, the bill is not stopping sex offenders from working, it’s just not allowing them to work in schools.
“They shouldn’t have direct access to children,” Olson said, adding: “Again, I think that is a no-brainer.”
And what some people would call good old common sense.
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