D
David_Paul
Guest
New York Daily News
Editorial
In the past week, no fewer than five New York City teachers have been accused of improper sexual behavior. Four, with students. The fifth, uh, shall we say, “at” them. The roll call includes two males and three females. Four of the alleged offenders had sexual relationships with kids; the fifth, one of the men, to state the obvious, is charged with lewdness and endangering the welfare of minors for repeatedly exposing himself in public.
And the Department of Education did not summarily fire them. But don’t blame Chancellor Joel Klein. Under the contract with Randi Weingarten’s UFT, he doesn’t have the power to dump teachers who sexually prey on students. The contract limits school officials to assigning such teachers to so-called rubber rooms, where they can collect full pay while department lawyers fight protracted battles for the right to fire them. Some may wind up canned, but arbitrators may return others to the classroom after, say, a suspension.
Such a petty penalty is in the news today, following a state court ruling calling the one-year suspension of E-mail predator and high school teacher Cary Hershkowitz logic-defying, inexplicable and “totally irrational.” Still, Hershkowitz cannot be dismissed outright.
Make no mistake. Any sexual contact between teacher and student is predatory and should be judged criminal. Never mind if the victim - and they are all victims - is 16 or older. The “age of consent” should not be a factor when the relationship - physical or verbal, occurring in school, out of school or in cyberspace - is between an adult school employee and a student. That adult abuses both the student and his or her own authority.
Klein previously has asked the Legislature to “make it a criminal offense for a DOE employee to engage in sexual conduct with a student,” and he now is seeking legislation to mandate the dismissal “of any employee who is found by the Special Commissioner of Investigation to have engaged in sexual activity with a student.”
That such laws do not exist now is beyond belief. That they will exist in the future - the near future - is imperative.
Forget union protections for sex offenders. Let’s protect the kids.
Editorial
In the past week, no fewer than five New York City teachers have been accused of improper sexual behavior. Four, with students. The fifth, uh, shall we say, “at” them. The roll call includes two males and three females. Four of the alleged offenders had sexual relationships with kids; the fifth, one of the men, to state the obvious, is charged with lewdness and endangering the welfare of minors for repeatedly exposing himself in public.
And the Department of Education did not summarily fire them. But don’t blame Chancellor Joel Klein. Under the contract with Randi Weingarten’s UFT, he doesn’t have the power to dump teachers who sexually prey on students. The contract limits school officials to assigning such teachers to so-called rubber rooms, where they can collect full pay while department lawyers fight protracted battles for the right to fire them. Some may wind up canned, but arbitrators may return others to the classroom after, say, a suspension.
Such a petty penalty is in the news today, following a state court ruling calling the one-year suspension of E-mail predator and high school teacher Cary Hershkowitz logic-defying, inexplicable and “totally irrational.” Still, Hershkowitz cannot be dismissed outright.
Make no mistake. Any sexual contact between teacher and student is predatory and should be judged criminal. Never mind if the victim - and they are all victims - is 16 or older. The “age of consent” should not be a factor when the relationship - physical or verbal, occurring in school, out of school or in cyberspace - is between an adult school employee and a student. That adult abuses both the student and his or her own authority.
Klein previously has asked the Legislature to “make it a criminal offense for a DOE employee to engage in sexual conduct with a student,” and he now is seeking legislation to mandate the dismissal “of any employee who is found by the Special Commissioner of Investigation to have engaged in sexual activity with a student.”
That such laws do not exist now is beyond belief. That they will exist in the future - the near future - is imperative.
Forget union protections for sex offenders. Let’s protect the kids.
