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CNN Saturday Morning News

Sexual Abuse Not Just in Church; School Too

Aired June 15, 2002 - 07:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Catholic Church isn't the only place where children have fallen victim of sexual abuse. One researcher says the problem exists in other places where adults and children are brought together; the nation's schools.

Reporter Seema Mathur takes a closer look now at a new area for investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Devastating news at Floren (ph) High...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sexual relationship between this teacher and the student...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The teenager, who had an affair with his sixth grade teacher...

SEEMA MATHUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The stories crop up from time to time. Teachers accused of sexual misconduct with their students. The cases are often viewed as aberrations. The abuser as sick or criminal.

This teacher was convicted of molesting his 12-year-old student.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: There was an incident where I took her -- I didn't take her home -- we went somewhere else. I molested her there. It was an incident where I was even able to get her parents to believe that I was going to take her to go get something to eat, and I took her somewhere else and molested her there. There was an incident even in the classroom.

DR. CHAROL SHAKESHAFT, AUTHOR: Most teachers do not sexually abuse students.

MATHUR: Dr. Carol Shakeshaft has been studying schools for 25 years. In the early 1990s, she found that very little research had been done on sexual abuse of students by school staff. So, she and a colleague did a four-year study on schools in New York state, and found what they considered startling results.

SHAKESHAFT: A small number of teachers sexually abuse a pretty large number of students. If our figures are right, and we believe they are, 15 percent of the students in schools, some time between kindergarten and twelfth grade, have at least one incident of physical, sexual abuse.

HERBERT GARRETT, EXEC. DIR. SUPERINTENDENT ASSOCIATION: After a 32-year career, and 26 of those being administration -- from my personal experience, that sounds high.

MATHUR: Statistics on sexual abuse by school staff vary widely. Dr. Shakeshaft estimates the number of teachers who sexually abuse students' ranges from less than 1 percent to 5 percent. And, some studies characterize abuse as everything from lewd looks to intercourse.

So, the precise numbers are hard to quantify. But, all agree, any abuse is too much. Meet Brandy.

BRANDY, SEXUAL MOLESTATION VICTIM: He was 28 at the time, and I was 14.

MATHUR: Brandy's perpetrator, a middle school teacher, who lured her in with e-mail.

BRANDY: He asked me if I would ever have sex with him. He told me he loved me. And that he wished that things were different, so that we could be together and things like that.

JULIE MEDLIN, PSYCHOLOGIST: Oftentimes they look for a victim who they can manipulate.

BRANDY: Out of all the other girls in the school, out of all my friends who I thought were prettier and smarter than me, that were all in his classes, he picked me.

MATHUR: Psychologists say perpetrators make take a long time to groom or work to gain the trust of their victims before sexual contact. The perpetrator we interviewed did it with notes and gifts. Brandy's perpetrator started with e-mails.

MEDLIN: If they groom the child very skillfully, then the child will not tell. And, so, what they try to do is get the child to trust them and to think that they're a good guy.

Then, when they molest the child, the child becomes very confused and many times the child thinks that it's their fault that they were sexually abused.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You feel guilty. I told her to do what the teachers say. From the time she started kindergarten, you're always saying go to school, be good, do what the teacher says. You just don't expect the teachers to be saying, "have sex with me."

MATHUR (on camera): The teacher who abused Brandy pleaded guilty to child molestation, but now her parents are suing the school district because it was found right here in the teacher's sentencing plea, that he was reprimanded several times over six years before Brandy's incident. Which leads to the question: how are schools handling sex abuse? GARRETT: There are two sides to every story. And someone has to make a judgment as to the validity of the complaint, and those judgments are human judgments made by human beings. And there's just no way to say that every one of those judgments is going to be perfect.

MATHUR (voice-over): When there is suspicion of child abuse, schools in all states are required to file a report. In most cases, the investigation begins with the Department of Children and Family Services.

And just this past school year in the state of Georgia, 16 teacher licenses have been revoked for sexual misconduct. In California, 23 licenses revoked. And in New York, a loss of 21 licenses for sexual misconduct.

(on camera): If a teacher loses a license, their teacher's license in one state, can they get it again in another state?

GARRETT: It's possible, yes.

SHAKESHAFT: We need a really good federal system that school districts can look at to see if a candidate they want to hire for a teaching position has been accused, or has been convicted of sexual abuse in another state, because we do see movement from state to state.

MATHUR (voice-over): In addition to keeping a better eye on who's gaining access to public school children, experts say the number one safety lesson is for parents to talk to their kids about appropriate and inappropriate touching.

(on camera): If your victim said, "Please don't touch me," would you have stopped?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have stopped. I would have stopped.

MATHUR (voice-over): Seema Mathur, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, joining me now to talk more about sex abuse in schools is Valerie Reicheg. She's a member of Survivors of Educator Sexual Abuse and Misconduct Emerge, also known as S.E.S.A.M.E. Valerie is in our New York bureau.

And, joining us here in Atlanta is psychologist Julie Medlin, she works with both sexual abusers and victims of sexual abuse.

Good morning to both of you.

All right, Valerie, let's start with you in New York. Take us back, and tell us -- you know -- just emotionally, what you had to go through, and also -- it took 20 years before you came forward. Tell me why it took so long. VALERIE REICHEG, "SURVIVORS OF EDUCATOR SEXUAL ABUSE AND MISCONDUCT EMERGE": Emotionally, I would say there were many threats used, intimidation, and fear tactics. There was a lot of manipulation and coercion. And, the grooming period was about a year long. And then, I just buried it and put it away and was basically petrified and frozen with fear for 20 years.

But it doesn't really ever go away. It kind of stays inside of you, and just gets bigger and bigger until you have to release it somehow.

PHILLIPS: So, Julie, when you first meet someone like Valerie, someone who has experienced this type of trauma, what's the first step to the healing process? Or, at least trying to deal with this?

JULIE MEDLIN, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, the first step, obviously, is for them to tell. And hopefully that some action is taken, some appropriate action -- the allegations are investigated, and that the offender is removed from the school system.

In terms of treatment, the first step is to help the person realize that it's not their responsibility that they were sexually abused, and that they are not to blame.

PHILLIPS: Valerie, let's talk about protection for a moment. How do state laws protect children from sex abuse in schools? I was reading here through these notes that some forms of sexual molestation are not even a crime in some states.

REICHEG: Right, that's one of the pieces that we're trying to work on. We very strongly believe that we need to get a federal mandate requiring that all 50 states enact legislation that prohibits one in a position of trust and authority from engaging a minor under the age of 18 in sexual activity. Currently, that's only the case in 16 out of the 50 states.

PHILLIPS: How many kids will be molested before -- the perpetrator -- I'm asking Julie this, Valerie. I'm going to bring you in on this, too. But, a perpetrator -- how many times does it usually happen before he or she is caught?

MEDLIN: Well, the research suggests that a child molester has committed an average of 24 molestations before their first arrest. And, of course, many children never report sexual abuse so that number may be much higher and many people who are reported for sexual abuse never actually get prosecuted.

PHILLIPS: Who is the perpetrator?

MEDLIN: Well, unfortunately, it is the typical average American male. Which means that we can't tell who's the perpetrator just by looking at them.

PHILLIPS: Valerie, tell us about S.E.S.A.M.E., and how you're involved not only in pushing for new laws but also helping others like yourself deal with situations like this that may have occurred decades ago.

REICHEG: OK, well, I became involved with S.E.S.A.M.E. approximately seven years ago. I met the founder at a conference, and the name has since been changed, about a year ago. It now stands for Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct and Exploitation.

And, number one, we go around to conferences and speak out wherever we can, trying to increase public awareness to encourage people to break their silence and report the abusers. The only way that anything is going to change?

The child has to feel safe and secure enough to report the abuser, and know that someone is going to take action. At least to get to the local law enforcement agencies and then to the state education department -- teacher certification offices. And, the child needs to know that they're going to be believed and protected.

And then the second piece that's really important is ensuring that the teachers who are mandated reporters do in fact report, and are held accountable for failures to report.

PHILLIPS: Julie, how do you talk to your kids about child molestation at such a young age without making them paranoid or nervous or looking at every single teacher like, "Oh, could this person be someone who is going to hurt me?"

MEDLIN: Right, well I think the best way to talk to them about it is to say it's not OK for somebody to touch your private parts. And if that happens you need to tell someone, and you also need to tell someone if they touch you in any kind of way that makes you feel uncomfortable.

And, I think it's important for parents to let their children know that respect for adults does not mean blind obedience. And that sometimes adults do make mistakes and that children don't just have to blindly follow whatever adults tell them to do. That they should trust their instincts, and tell when they feel uncomfortable about something that's happening to them.

REICHEG: I think that's a really tricky part, because you get very -- the child gets very confused in that piece of being compliant and obedient and the good girl or the good boy, whichever the case may be. It's very difficult as a child to step out of that against someone who is an adult, in a position of trust and authority.

PHILLIPS: Valerie, did you ever at any point think to yourself, boy, I'm really becoming a different person -- I'm really changing. Did your mom and dad ever say to you, Valerie, are you OK? I mean, maybe the first year or maybe six years later. Did they ever -- sort of -- try to open up the door or notice something different about you and you really wanted to talk about it?

REICHEG: Well, what's interesting is that basically there seems to be two extreme ways that children deal with it. And, I dealt with it the way of becoming this over-achieving perfectionist, not showing anything. If anything, the outward appearance was to be perfect and happy and there was always a smile and everything was hidden and buried. I know it's very difficult for people to understand or believe that you can do that, but you just become kind of this master of masking all of the pain and keeping it all inside.

There are other people who go the other extreme and do act out in a lot of ways and I think it's easier then, for it to be detected.

PHILLIPS: Valerie Reicheg and Julie Medlin, we're going to continue this discussion. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go -- we haven't talked about soliciting e-mails, but why don't we at wam@cnn.com. I've got my computer up right here. If you've got questions either for Valerie or for Julie. Are you OK with taking maybe some e-mails, with some questions? Valerie, is that OK with you?

REICHEG: That's fine.

PHILLIPS: Terrific. Maybe there are some folks that have some questions for you. So, let's pitch that at wam@cnn.com. We're going to come back in the eight o'clock hour and talk more about this and address some e-mails.

All right. And, also, Valerie we've got your Web site. Why don't you tell us about this? We're going to bring it up so folks can see it. What can you -- tell us what's on the web site.

REICHEG: OK, on the web site, there are goals and our mission. There are areas where you can write in, you can ask questions, you can tell your stories. There are contacts for a state legislation. And, there are other survivors' stories because we have found it very important for a survivor to read about someone else's experience and know that they're not alone, they're not isolated. They'll find very similar experiences and feel comfortable, maybe, in breaking their silence.

PHILLIPS: Writing is a good thing, isn't it, Julie -- therapy?

MEDLIN: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Keeping a daily journal, and sharing writings with other folks. Poetry. A lot of this stuff is used as an outlet, isn't it?

MEDLIN: Yes it is, that's one of the things that we recommend for our clients is for them to be able to keep a journal or write about nightmares that they're having about the sexual abuse. Anything to help them talk about it, process it and get those feelings out.

PHILLIPS: All right, Julie, thanks. Valerie, thank you -- we'll see you back here at the 8 o'clock hour.

All right. We're going to have more, as we said, in the next hour. About 8:20 a.m. Eastern, we're going to go inside the mind of a child molester. A former teacher convicted of molesting a student tells us how he lured his victim in, and our guests Julie Medlin and Valerie Reicheg will return to discuss how sex abuse effects both the victim and the perpetrator.

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