When I was at primary school (aka grade school) from age 7 to 10, my teacher was a very charming and jovial fellow, but he was a bit touchy-feely with the kids. Hands-on-shoulders and around-the-waist kind of thing. I didn’t mind too much, it was very parental and nothing really made me uncomfortable, but I have also never forgotten it, so it must have preyed on my mind for some reason.
There had always been claims from other kids my age and older that he was a kiddy fiddler, as we called them in those days (the 1970s), but aside from some second-hand stories, I had no evidence of that. He had never done anything untoward with me, he was just very tactile.
Years later my brother claimed that he had been caught doing it once too often and jailed, but I had looked around online occasionally for some corroborating evidence on that and couldn’t find anything - my brother wasn’t always the most reliable source - but I have just searched again and found that not only was it true, but he’s been found guilty a second time for other earlier offences.
Here’s the article, with his picture and name, and some details of his offences (nothing graphic, just dates and places). This is all after my time knowing him - the school mentioned is about 80km from mine - so there are still skeletons that may yet be unearthed from my era.
On a tangentially related note, as a child I had a crush on his daughter, who I also know has gone all weirdo hippy and changed her name to something silly.
We had a “fun” uncle who turned out to have gotten caught molesting children and having kiddie porn on his computer. Recently I ran across a photo with my sister and him at a family party. She was about 10 at the time, and he had a real creepy vibe in the picture.
My elementary school gym teacher, who was beloved by all for his jovial attitude, is currently doing time in a state penitentiary for sexually assaulting minors.
It creeped me right the hell out when I found out.
Both my high school gym teacher (and my mother’s, too, to give you an idea how long he was getting away with it) and my fifth grade teacher.
The latter had a conviction in another state before he was hired at my school, which didn’t have to do a background check because it was a private religious academy, and has since become an advocate for convicted offenders. Mostly, I remember he was anabsolute religious zealot, fasting for 40 days at Lent. No-food-fasting, not typical Lenten fast. Which made an impression at a Jewish school.
I had a beloved art teacher, the nicest person you could imagine, and a not so beloved physics teacher who were arrested for the rape of a couple of my fellow students. I, too, was really creeped out when I heard the news. I couldn’t believe it and was sure those students must be lying but then the teachers confessed.
Some years ago I bought a classic car from a guy who turned out to be a high school teacher - he seemed like a really nice guy; he gave me a good price, and I was very happy with the purchase.
Much later I was looking online for the pictures he’d posted of the car, and found out that he’d been convicted of molesting two of his students.
What a nightmare that must have been for his wife and kids, Jesus.
Can’t recall anyone I’ve known personally getting accused of sex offenses. The one that rips my heart out is Dave Holland (Judas Priest) who was convicted of child molestation.
The band director at my high school married a girl in my graduating class. She was already 18.
He was quietly terminated. No charges that I ever heard about. I’ve always wondered if their lives together turned out ok. I seriously doubt any school hired him again.
The only male teacher at my Catholic school was quietly dismissed when he knocked up an 18 yo former student of his. Rumor has it that it started while she was still a student, and a minor.
Hmmmm, would it be indecent to punch a child in the face?
It would most definitely be assault and certainly a very bad thing to do. I don’t know that I’d use the word indecent. Not that I’d call it decent, I just wouldn’t reach for the word indecent when describing such an assault.
As to the OP, I could have written it almost word for word about a high school teacher of mine. He was always very touchy-feely, really big on hugs. Could easily have been interpreted as just being a guy who had an attitude toward affection that didn’t quite line up with the more broadly observed social standards. He was a big Leo Buscaglia fan, if that adds any context.
Years after I had graduated, there was a “mutual” agreement that he would resign. Then just a few years ago he was charged will sexual assault against a couple of students from the school he had moved on to.
When I knew him, everyone who ever talked about him described him as being “weird” or “inappropriate” in how he’d express affection but no one ever said anything about molestation unless joking around. All the same, we made a point of taking control of situations where, left unchecked, we thought he may make additional advances. I can definitely see more vulnerable students, students with unhappy and unstable home lives, longing for attention, being at risk of being taken advantage of by him.
Although I have zero statistics, and no experience as a child molester, it seems obvious to me that if you are into that sort of thing, being a schoolteacher is where you would naturally go.
So finding an inordinate number of child molesters in the school environment should not be surprising.
We just had a former teacher and principal busted for taking photos of little girls at a mall, then refusing to hand over his phone (arrest was for resisting arrest and nothing else… so far). Again, a super-nice, highly respected guy in the system.
My junior year in HS, my band director announced to the class he was leaving before the end of the year because he needed to take over the family farm. He gave a big sob story about how his father was deathly sick, and so forth. We swallowed it, because he was really charismatic and was the type who could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.
He came back for the awards ceremony, and gave the best concert season trophy to our drum major, who had actually left school a semester early and didn’t participate in concert band. We eventually found out why.
The next year, we found out what really happened. He had been discovered at an area hotel with the current drum major and the previous drum major, signed in the hotel registry as “Mr X, wife and daughter.”
Well, a punch to the face would be inexcusable AND criminal, but you could picture it happening as part of a general meltdown with no indecent intent. Groping the kids, OTOH, try and explain that.
AB well, depending on the laws there, beyond the resisting/obstructing they may not be able to charge him with much more than taking pictures w/o individual permission unless they find something more incriminating in his files. Maybe harassment/stalking…
Ah yes, the traditional ways… “Yes, this is my new trophy wife and this is my daughter from my first marriage. That’s why they look 18 and 16. The name is Mr. & Mrs. John Smith; I’ll be putting down a cash deposit.”
As I’ve stated here before… I have a lot of fun memories of hanging around with my parish priests back in the 1960s and 70s. We often played stickball with Father P, or tossed a football around with Father K, or played roller hockey in the schoolyard with Father F.
None of them ever did anything bad to me. In fact, I never even heard a rumor of anything bad happening. But one can’t help but wonder, in retrospect. I’d like to think the priests were just the good guys they seemed to be, but scandal forces me to question my happy memories, damn it.
The school I went to (Catholic boys high school) has had at least 4 Marist brothers convicted of abuse (I was taught by this guyand this one) and one other lay teacher who confessed to abusing students at the school he transferred to but he then killed himself before any trial.
“Yes, this is my new trophy wife and this is my daughter from my first marriage. That’s why they look 18 and 16. The name is Mr. & Mrs. John Smith; I’ll be putting down a cash deposit.”