- At least one child is sexually abused by a school employee
every day in New York City schools, a Post investigation has found. Equally
as disturbing is that one-third of the employees accused of sexual abuse
are repeat offenders who've already been cited for inappropriate behavior
by school officials.
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- "It has reached critical mass," said Schools
Special Investigator Ed Stancik. "I think it's very hard for anybody
to deny that we have a real problem."
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- The Post has analyzed 117 cases of sexual abuse substantiated
by Stancik's office over a 21/2-year period - from January 1999 to June
2001 - to determine how offenders are picking off city kids.
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- The Post investigation has found that more than 60 percent
of employees accused of sexual abuse - mostly tenured teachers - were transferred
to desk jobs at district offices located inside schools. Forty percent
of those transferred suspects were repeat offenders.
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- Problem teachers, who sometimes get away with a sexual
offense, are surreptitiously transferred to other schools - a practice
known as "passing the garbage."
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- Board of Education President Ninfa Segarra was devastated
by the outcome of The Post report.
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- She said - to her knowledge - no agency has ever bothered
to analyze sexual abuse inside city schools.
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- "My gut reaction as a mother is that that number
is pretty high and it puts a lot of kids in danger," she said of the
number of repeat offenders working with children.
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- Many blame the United Federation of Teachers because
it vigorously defends its accused members. One union source said the UFT
is legally bound to protect them - even when it knows the employee is a
pedophile.
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- UFT President Randi Weingarten said blaming the union
for the problem is "outrageous." She charges that the board has
adopted a "bunker mentality" when confronted with real problems.
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- She said all teachers deserve "fair and due process,"
but refused to comment directly on the practice of defending teachers who
are repeatedly accused of being pedophiles.
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- A board source said it takes an average of 20 months
and numerous state-arbitrator hearings just to get rid of a suspected abuser.
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- "To say it's an imperfect process is putting it
kindly," the source said.
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- Since sexual abuse is one of the most underreported crimes
in schools, "the percentage of cases reported is substantially lower
than the cases that actually occurred," Stancik said.
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- And although he's seen some improvements to prevent abuse
over the years, Stancik said much more needs to be done.
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- "I have not seen a commitment to do more than just
what is necessary, as if to appear that they [board officials] are paying
attention," he said.
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- Other Post findings include:
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- * Some 212 children were victims in the 117 cases - in
45 percent of the cases, an offender attacked more than one student. Repeat
offenders made up nearly half of the suspects who attacked more than one
kid.
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- * In nearly 16 percent of the cases, school officials
delayed reporting the offense or tried to cover it up.
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- * Paraprofessionals and school aides were involved in
20 percent of the cases. Math teachers, some of whom tutored and later
tried to seduce students through the Internet, made up nearly 10 percent
of the offenders. Special-ed teachers also account for 10 percent.
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- * The average victim is a 15-year-old female high-school
student in Brooklyn, where 36 percent of the abuse cases occurred. The
average age of an offender is 39.
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- * Seventy-five percent of the victims are girls.
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- * Nearly 20 percent of the offenders are homosexuals,
and in most of these cases, the attack led to a sexual relationship with
the student.
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- When these numbers are added to another 347 substantiated
sex-abuse cases that have been probed by the board's Office of Special
Investigation between January 2000 and July 20, 2001, the statistics become
even more staggering.
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- When The Post added the OSI's 327 cases to Stancik's
117 substantiated cases of sexual abuse over 21/2 years, it was discovered
that at least one child is sexually abused by a school employee every day.
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- The board could not provide OSI's numbers for 1999.
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- Stancik's office investigates the most serious - and
often criminal - offenses, while the OSI investigates all other accusations,
officials said.
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