Teachers Behaving Badly

by Anne Bremner 

This post has been written by a dear friend of mine and a true talent, Katherine Kaufmann (pictured left), better known as "Coach Kitty." She has been my personal trainer for years, and she voraciously follows media regarding crimes and legal issues. She always has a sharp and witty opinion about everything she sees, and I'm honored to give her an opportunity to voice that opinion here. Take it away, Coach Kitty! 

I heard a story today about a little girl, just 12 years old, and so cute. What happened to this young girl at the hands of someone who was charged with protecting and educating her is appalling and illegal. Upon entering the sixth grade, Vicki (not her real name) became quite a teacher’s pet. (In all fairness, she did come from a broken home and the teacher was just taking her under his wing, right?) This handsome sixth-grade teacher would invite her to his home for dinner, she joined him on family outings, and he showered her with gifts and attention. What Vicki didn’t know was that like any pedophile worth his salt, Mr. Larson (not his real name) was doing something known as grooming. Alas, he was preparing his young victim for an eventual sexual assault.

By the time Mr. Larson eventually raped Vicki, it seemed to her the natural progression of a close relationship. Although she did know that they were doing something wrong, she never thought it was illegal or really even bad. Remember, she was just 12 years old. Mr. Larson had invited her over for slumber parties with his kids and had shared a sleeping bag with her many times, so by the time he raped her, nothing really seemed amiss for Vicki. After all, Vicki had known Mr. Larson since she was in the second grade and he was her teacher,. She knew his wife and kids, and this must be how things work, right?

Mr. Larson was eventually charged with first-degree rape of a child and sentenced to 30 years in prison. You should have heard the radio and TV pundits in my city where this crime took place. The outrage and fury was palpable. One noted radio talk show host was ready to form a lynch mob to go after Mr. Larson and the people I heard discussing the case at Starbucks were beside themselves with horror. This poor little girl! And this pedophile in our schools--how could this happen? Now, everyone clings a bit closer to their little girls, and every real or perceived threat to them is swiftly investigated.

Okay, here’s the deal. That story is only partly true. The teacher’s name in the real story would have been Mary Kay LeTourneau and the student's name would have been Vili Fualaau. Oh ,and the other part that isn’t quite true is that Mary was only charged with second-degree rape and was sentenced to six months in the county jail and three years of treatment. She was not, however, forced to register as a sex offender. Then, two weeks after her jail sentence ended, LeTourneau was caught having sex with 13-year-old Fualaau in her car and was re-arrested. That time, she was sentenced to 7-1/2 years behind bars, and upon release required to register as a level-two sex offender.

The part where the radio pundits and public were outraged? Meh? Not so much. I actually heard Mary Kay referred to as a “dreammaker” and, if I had a dime for every time the song "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen was played as an intro to a story about her, well, let’s just say I could quit my day job.

This double standard that society has with the way it reacts to female and male sexual predators is deep and complicated. On one hand, it appears to be rooted partly in the idea that women, unlike men, are incapable of sexual aggression. By the same token, it seems to many, that young boys are willing participants in these sexual encounters. Although both may or may not be true, it seems to me anyway, that it shouldn’t matter. If a child is unable to legally consent to sex before a certain age it is a crime for he, or she to have sex with anyone. If an adult has sex with a child, that act is considered rape. The punishment and social taboo associated with it should be the same for men and women.

Susan Strickland, a 
University of Georgia professor and social worker who treats sex offenders, surveyed 60 women 
serving time for sexual offenses. 
She found that women who have sex with boys:

a. lack the mature relationship skills to partner with men their age;

b. are also motivated by a need for power and control, and they see the boy as a blank slate they can turn into the partner they want;

c. may never have had relationship in which they felt safe.

You know what I say to that? So what? It’s either a criminal act or it’s not. I realize that the motivations between male and female predators might be different, but the outcome is the same. A child is stripped of his or her sense of security, autonomy, and ability to trust. And that is a crime. The society at large would do well to see children as children whether boys or girls. With the same developmental components and emotional capabilities.

In the case of Mary Kay LeTourneau, as well as Debra Lafave (a teacher charged with seducing a 14-year-old boy), the fact that both are blonde and stereotypically pretty has only added to the myth that they were fulfilling boyhood dreams rather than committing crimes. I did notice that the majority of media figures who had this impression were men. Perhaps they can’t see past sixth grade, and, lucky for them, they are now free to act on that hot-for-teacher fantasy they’ve been harboring all this time. However, as long as a child is under the age of consent, women and men who commit these crimes should be treated equally in the eyes of the law and society.

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Teacher Gets an F in Exclusive Interview Trying to Defend Herself of Sex Charges

Hunt for Justice
by Cynthia Hunt

A former Tennessee High School math teacher is hitting the TV news airwaves in Nashville saying she is the victim, not the predator. Sandy Binkley is charged with statutory rape by an authority figure. Investigators say she had sex with one of her students in the classroom during school hours.

In an exclusive interview with the CBS affiliate in Nashville, Binkley says the 17-year-old student sexually assaulted her. "There was one incident with one student who was one month from being 18. He is bigger than me. He forced himself on me." Binkley told NewsChannel 5.

Watch the interview. If you were really raped by a student is that how you would talk about it with a reporter?

The student was a teacher's aid at Portland High School. During a hearing, court transcripts show the student testified, "She laid down on the desk and I began to have intercourse with her...she said her tubes were tied, which is why I didn't wear a condom. She said this isn't what you expected when you signed up for teacher's aid."

A grand jury indicted Binkley after hearing from that student and from investigators. After Binkley was charged, two other students came forward saying they also had sex with her. Binkley says the other students are lying to cover up for their friend. (Binkley's Mug Shot After Arrest in 2008)

What is unusual about this case is that Binkley's attorney is allowing his client to go on TV and defend herself months before her trial. He says he hopes someone in the community knows something about this he-said-she-said case to help clear his client.

As a viewer and a journalist, I watched the first part of the exclusive interview which aired last night. In my opinion, it didn't help the defense. Binkley did not come across as credible. She sat there holding her supportive husband's hand and talking about how this has devastated her life, but she didn't seem upset.

When you compare her interview with the student's testimony in court where the 17-year-old says Binkley told him she had her tubes tied, she looks even worse. Teenage boys just don't talk that way, which immediately leads me to believe she said what he claims she said.

Binkley also distrubed me when she smiled during the interview when saying she doesn't see herself as one of those attractive teachers like Pam Rogers who has victimized students. If she isn't guilty, then her attorneys made a categorically bad decision to let this woman go on TV. She should not smile about anything that relates to teachers molesting students.

Pam Rogers was a former beauty queen turned Tennessee teacher who is in prison after she was convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old student in 2006. (Pam Rogers in 2006)

She did make one good point in her disastrous interview. She said people often assume because a teacher is charged that he or she is guilty.

What frustrated me with the reporting on NewsChannel 5 and in The Tennessean newspaper is not one reporter has answered a blaring question: How did police find out about this case? Did Binkley, who says she is the victim, go to the police or did the rumorville around school lead police to investigate if this teacher was molesting her students? I would like to know how this investigation started. I am not saying I believe Binkley is guilty if she did not go to police. Many rape victims do not. However, it certainly hurts her case if she didn't since this does involve a student.

I am glad that Binkley can speak out and defend herself. That's her First Amendment right. I've seen it work well for many defendants, but I don't know what Binkley's attorneys were thinking in this case. I do know I will watch the second story to further test my theory that she isn't telling the truth.

Now it's your turn. Here's the link to her interview, what do you think?

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Sex Education in Schools: Private Lessons

by Lucy Puryear, M.D.

It seems to me that there are more and more reports in the news of female teachers having sexual relationships with their male students. We're all very aware of male teachers taking advantage of their female students. When that happens most of us are not surprised; older men and younger women are a dyad familiar throughout the ages. The man is attracted to the girl's youth and adoration; she is attracted to his power and the prestige of being the chosen one.

Male teachers and their students are a ubiquitous story. One of my good friends in high school married our physics teacher twenty years her senior, one week after graduation. We were all fascinated, jealous, and grossed out. My English teacher once asked me to sit on his lap; I declined. My Spanish teacher got down on his knees after class and told me I was beautiful. I was 15. He must have been 40. I laughed and quickly walked out of the room. But were I more vulnerable or insecure or confused, maybe I would have pursued a special relationship with him. I'm sure I'm not the only ones with stories.

In those days we didn't consider these men sex offenders, though we should have. We just considered them weird teachers to stay away from. I made sure to never be alone in the room with either teacher again. Today male teachers taking sexual advantage of their young students are tried and punished. It is not tolerated.

But I don't remember stories of any female teachers taking advantage of male students. Was it going on and we just didn't know about it? Were the guys too proud or too ashamed to tell? And a 35-year-old female teacher marrying an 18-year-old kid was taboo. Okay for men, but no way for women.

The times have changed. Either more women are taking advantage of their male students or we are more aware that any teacher sexually engaged with any student is a sexual assault, whether consensual or not. Mary Kay Letourneau (pictured above with student Vili Fualaau) opened the door into the world of female teachers having relationships with their male students. She was sentenced twice for having a sexual relationship with Fualaau, starting when he was twelve.

Our very our Women In Crime Ink contributor Kathryn Scardino recently defended a Spring teacher who was accused of giving oral sex t0 two football players. According to the Houston Chronicle, Shannon Hrozek (pictured right) was given ten years of deferred adjudication, and agreed to surrender her teacher's license. Reading the comments of the public in response to this case was enlightening. Many applauded the two young men for getting serviced. Others pointed out that were this a male teacher with a female student the sentence would have been much more grave. We would be looking at a registered sex offender as opposed to a teacher who might have done two young men a "favor."

It is assumed that males are not harmed by having sex with an older woman, whereas young girls must be forced and taken advantage of. It is hard for many to imagine that a young boy could have sex unwillingly. But let me be perfectly clear: Any time there is a differential in power between two people, potential coercion exists. This is true for a doctor and patient, lawyer and client, pastor and parishioner, reporter and source, and teacher and student. Any time there is an inequality in a relationship the relationship cannot, by definition, be consensual.

It is the responsibility of the doctor, lawyer, pastor, reporter, and teacher to err on the side of restraint—even if the other party is "asking for it," professing love, or seems to not be harmed. It doesn't matter if the student, or patient, or client walks in to the room naked, begging to be taken. It is ethically and often legally required for the person in power to say no. Teachers need to be reminded of the power they hold in a child's eye and what a privilege it is to be given this power. A young boy assaulted by his teacher has been abused, even if others think him lucky.

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