When "Tell A Teacher" Fails
I was reading through the news tonight and a story caught my eye. (It can be found here.)
The story it tells is disgusting. I remember the story well when it happened in 2006. Here's the gist of it:
"In the spring of 2007, a panel investigating safety at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate after the murder of student Jordan Manners heard allegations that in October 2006, a 14-year-old was dragged into a school washroom and forced to perform oral sex on two males.
Police later charged the six youths. In December 2007, officers charged the school's principal and two vice-principals for failing to report the alleged incident, or suspicions of it, to authorities." - thestar.com
I don't think I need to say much, the problems with the legalities are pretty evident. And to be honest, I'm speechless. All I can say is that it's quite depressing that the very people we are told to tell when we're younger and things go wrong are the very people who turn their backs on us sometimes.
Why on earth did the Vice Principal and Principal not report it?
1
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: When "Tell A Teacher" Fails.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/8324
Weekly Feministing Newsletter
Feministing RSS Feed
The school system is a bit of a fucked up microcosm- as long as you are young enough and do not committ certain crimes, your principal is your cop, judge, and jury and often it is not in your best interest.
I can only speculate why crime and harassment are contained within the system. For smaller offenses, I can see the opportunity to give students a second chance to learn and rehabilitate is valuable for younger students.
When it comes to High School, I think you deal with the complex boundaries of community dynamics. When I was in HS, children of parents who were extensively involved in the community and with the school were treated with the "I do not believe the young Mr.X did things A, B, and C. We know his parents! This is not behaviour that they would encourage!"-kid gloves. Principals and teachers have a place in the community too and accusations of rape can just as easily leave school staff to be social outcasts if there are preexisting friendships between the accused and the staff.
But Good luck if you have a history of minor school-based offenses and your parents are inconsequential to the operation of the school.
On the other hand, regardless of what the case above is, I'm sure you know that popularity and charisma can often be the one thing that kept the crime away from the ears of the adults in charge for so long.
It was probably just a case of CYA syndrome...
The principle of the school with sexual assaults probably is not going to get promoted or even stay principle for much longer if word gets out that someone was sexually assaulted becuase they were a religious minority...
Perhaps the P and VP thought it was best if this were quietly swept under the rug.
Bronwyn, you're absolutely right about everything you said in your comment. However, the words I got from people who attend the school, one of whom knows the girl who reported it to the school's administration say that she reported it almost right away.
It's quite likely that it's a combination of what you both said.
Thanks so much for your comments, you brought up things I hadn't really thought about in relation to this.
I would also say that there's a good chance that the principal and vice principal simply didn't believe the girl. There's so much of it in the rest of society, why not in schools?