Defending the Lambs against Wolves

Parents are suing the Allentown School District which they say is responsible for the rape of their little six year old boy by a fellow student.

How can a school district be responsible for the actions of a deeply disturbed and violent twelve year old? Because the school authorities knew that boy had sexually assaulted three other little boys in the school bathroom previously. Not only did they fail to take legal action against a violent sexual predator in their midst, but that same boy was seated beside the bathroom unmonitored as a punishment for classroom misbehavior. What the school foolishly believed was punishment that pervert saw as opportunity.

No school can protect every student against every crime. People cannot be punished before they do something wrong. That's the nature of crime and punishment. Yet once a person is known to have done something so horrible, to cover up the crimes and to fail to protect small children in their midst which are now known to be possible targets makes the school complicitous.

Sadly, hush-hush, sweep- it-under-the-rug policies have continued in schools for years. From highly publicized sexual abuse by teachers to undisclosed violence at the hands of fellow students, is it any wonder that so many families turn to homeschooling to ensure that their children learn in a non-violent environment?

Good luck to that anonymous family. May their day in court find them a small measure of justice as they seek to hold the adults in charge responsible for their refusal to deal appropriately with the wolf among the lambs.

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Sources: MSNBC and The Charlotte Observer.