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HELP! Should I go to the media? (Vanity)
ElenaMarie

Posted on 10/26/2009 4:38:45 PM PDT by ElenaM

My prepubescent 11 year old son was solicited for homosexual sex by a 15 year old male on the schoolbus two weeks ago. The police, led by the school resource officer, are charging the perp with assault, and I'm waiting to hear from the DA whether the charge will be upgraded to sexual assault. The perp admitted to all of it to the school administration and the sheriffs deputy so there's no debate on guilt.

The problem is that the school administration isn't interested in suspending, expelling or otherwise punishing this perp. By all accounts--especially my son's--this perp hasn't had so much as detention for what he did to my son on school property.

I've talked with the administration, the school board, the state education department, the governor's office--everyone I can think of. By all accounts the school has absolute authority to refuse to discipline this perp and if the school district decides to turn a blind eye, I have no recourse.

One of the school board members suggested I go to the media to force the school's hand.

I have doubts about this tact. While my son hasn't been reluctant to tell his friends about the "gaywad" on the bus, I don't think it's necessarily a good idea to expose him to the scum in the media. On the other hand, I worry that

1) this dirtbag is doing the same thing or worse to other youngsters in the area and the word isnt' getting out, and

2) my son is seeing that kids can get away with just about anything except bringing a butterknife to school.

So what do you think? Would you go to the media? Would you let juvenile justice deal with it and forget the school?

Any ideas?


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: child; media; sexualassault
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1 posted on 10/26/2009 4:38:45 PM PDT by ElenaM
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To: ElenaM

I don’t see why there’s a question.

GO! Scream!


2 posted on 10/26/2009 4:42:21 PM PDT by tired1 (When the Devil eats you there's only one way out.)
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To: ElenaM

I don’t think the media can say any specifics about allegations concerning a minor, unfortunately.

It might be better to bring this up with fellow parents at the school.


3 posted on 10/26/2009 4:42:24 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (I love it every time a POS dies at the hands of a victim.)
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To: ElenaM

If no one wishes to file, YOU or a lawyer can file a Writ of Mandamas which will force the law to be enforced.


4 posted on 10/26/2009 4:42:39 PM PDT by Your6
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To: ElenaM
I would be hesitant to put my kid in that situation.

Perhaps instead of media, do you think you could gather parents through word of mouth? A couple hundred parents quietly standing at the back of a school board meeting may accomplish the same thing with less publicity for your boy.

5 posted on 10/26/2009 4:43:48 PM PDT by Dianna
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To: ConservativeMind

Sorry, I forget it’s a matter for lawyers.


6 posted on 10/26/2009 4:43:56 PM PDT by tired1 (When the Devil eats you there's only one way out.)
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To: ElenaM

Wow, have you spoken to the 15 year old’s parents? Has he or they even shown any remorse? Can you take your son off the school bus and avoid the 15 year old? Is there a way you can write a letter to the editor and not use your name or have them not print it? Maybe it would stir the pot enough with the schoolboard.


7 posted on 10/26/2009 4:43:58 PM PDT by Snoopers-868th
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To: ElenaM

If you do, just be prepared for you and your son possibly be dragged through the mud as well.


8 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:04 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: ElenaM

I’d be careful about embarrassing your son. Can he be protected from ridicule?


9 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:09 PM PDT by Marie2 (The second mouse gets the cheese.)
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To: ElenaM

Ask the school staff if they would have the same response if a 15 year old boy tried to sexually assault an 11 year old girl.


10 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:15 PM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: ElenaM

Ask a lawyer about a civil suit against the kid and his family. Toss the school in as a co-defendent just to be sure you have everyone.


11 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:42 PM PDT by Glenn (Free Venezuela!)
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To: ElenaM

It depends. How well will your child deal with the media attention.


12 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:55 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: ElenaM

Your son should have kicked his ass....but then it would have been a hate crime.


13 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:55 PM PDT by indylindy (Who is the real Jim Thompson? I am.)
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To: Your6
If no one wishes to file, YOU or a lawyer can file a Writ of Mandamas which will force the law to be enforced.

The law is being enforced. The school is doing nothing to discourage the kid's behavior.

14 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:55 PM PDT by Dianna
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To: Your6

The police are taking it seriously. DJJ called me today to begin the victim impact report.

It’s the school that doesn’t care.


15 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:56 PM PDT by ElenaM
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To: ConservativeMind

“It might be better to bring this up with fellow parents at the school.”

This could be an excellent way to go. Other parents are VERY likely to be equally concerned...and parents have power.


16 posted on 10/26/2009 4:44:58 PM PDT by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: ElenaM
With the utmost respect, ma'am, I say I think you should go...

...down to the public school office and tell them you are pulling your child out of their cesspool and homeschooling him.

I know it's a sacrifice; my wife and I gave up a lot to homeschool our kids. But little kids shouldn't be propositioned by adolescent pedophiles, and that's going to happen in the public schools of today.

17 posted on 10/26/2009 4:45:05 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Proud to be an American, where I least I know I'm free!)
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To: ElenaM

I doubt they’ll do anything. The people in charge these days are likely to smile and call it puppy lovin’.

dirtbags.


18 posted on 10/26/2009 4:45:20 PM PDT by GeronL (http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com .... I am a rogue nobody. One of millions.)
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To: ElenaM

I’m sure you will get varying suggestions. One suggestion is to consider getting legal advice in IMHO.


19 posted on 10/26/2009 4:45:38 PM PDT by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it! www.FairTaxNation.com)
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To: ElenaM
It's a good story, with the school czar's gaying of schools it would be good to see it on a national level.

But I would caution you that kids are kids and may go after your son even though he is the victim. You could ask the media to protect your identity, however, the school may out you to get even.

20 posted on 10/26/2009 4:45:47 PM PDT by txroadkill ( 9/12/2009 another win for the Gipper!)
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To: ElenaM
I would probably see a lawyer about presenting the school with the option of doing what they had to do to make sure the perv had no contact whatsoever with your son, either purposefully or accidentally, for the rest of your son's school career, or facing a lawsuit.

I would use the legal route to make the lives of the school officials so miserable that they would be forced to get rid of the pervert, one way or another.

21 posted on 10/26/2009 4:46:39 PM PDT by GiovannaNicoletta
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To: ElenaM

If I read you correctly, the youth responsible is being formally charged. What more do you want? Often times a school will refrain from action when a higher authority is taking action, that’s nothing new. With a little luck the 15 year old will get some schooling behind bars after being sentenced.


22 posted on 10/26/2009 4:46:58 PM PDT by Melas
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To: ElenaM

This is digusting. What is the country coming to? The School doesn’t want to touch that pervert out fear of being labled “anti-gay”. Hell they probably even support him.

Should you go to the media? I’d say no, unles you ready to be smaeared and labled a homophobe and be Keith Olbermans “Worst Person in the World”

If you do go to the media, go ONLY to Fox News.

I will be praying for you and your son. This is such an awful thing for a boy that young to have to deal with.


23 posted on 10/26/2009 4:47:05 PM PDT by AmericanSphinx71 (mmm mmm mmm, Chairman Mao Zedong Obama, mmm mmm mmm)
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To: ElenaM

Call your lawyer.Do not go to the media.


24 posted on 10/26/2009 4:47:19 PM PDT by fatima (Free Hugs Today :))
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To: ElenaM

In my job training it is drilled into us that we are to take every sexual harassment accusation seriously. Why? Because my employer can be liable for how I handle the situation.

A letter from your lawyer to the school board should do the trick. Detail what you expect to have happen to the offender in the letter.

The school doesn’t already have a policy covering sexual harassment?


25 posted on 10/26/2009 4:47:22 PM PDT by listenhillary (A "cult of personality" arises when a leader uses mass media creating idealized/heroic public image)
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To: ElenaM

OPINION:

Everything you post on FreeRepublic.com is in the public domain.

Understanding this, you now know that anyone (including the media) can pick up your story.

#

So, as a wife and mother what would I do if I were in your shoes?

1. File a police report with the police department.
2. Consider a good private school or homeschooling for my son.
3. If I was considering telling my story to the media (which I never would);
I would ask my husband and my son how comfortable they are with media exposure regarding this incident.


26 posted on 10/26/2009 4:47:42 PM PDT by Cindy
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To: Snoopers-868th

The perp’s father called the sheriff cussing and screaming about his son being charged. I don’t see much good coming from that.

I don’t know how we’re going to avoid the bus, and I keep coming back to the notion that my boy has to change and not the dirtbag.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks. I nearly had an aneurism when the principal told me the jerk wouldn’t be at minimum suspended for so much as a day.


27 posted on 10/26/2009 4:48:00 PM PDT by ElenaM
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To: ElenaM

The best thing to do would be to beat the homo within an inch of his life. Of course you can’t do that..., but it would still be the best thing to do.


28 posted on 10/26/2009 4:48:43 PM PDT by babygene
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To: ElenaM
World is topsy turvey - a kid with a Swiss army knife in his car gets suspended from school, but a teenage sexual predator gets a pass? I vote scream and scream loudly. Maybe the Principal is a pervert, too —and this isn't the first incident he's turned a blind eye to.
29 posted on 10/26/2009 4:49:15 PM PDT by MrsEmmaPeel (a government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you have)
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To: ElenaM

Get a restraining order and give a copy to your school administration. They will be forced to comply.


30 posted on 10/26/2009 4:49:38 PM PDT by AmusedBystander (No Jimmy, it's because he's a RED.)
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To: ElenaM

No. It’ll be like getting raped again. Especially today, when the gays get all the breaks.


31 posted on 10/26/2009 4:49:49 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Ram "Health Care Reform" down our throats in '09, and we'll ram it up your @ss in '10.)
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To: Dianna
The law is being enforced. The school is doing nothing to discourage the kid's behavior.

Unfortunately, "zero tolerance" is for everybody who's not gay. That's why they're choosing to ignore this situation because they fear the ACLU.

They're more likely to expel the victim on trumped-up charges (i.e. your son).

32 posted on 10/26/2009 4:50:20 PM PDT by pray4liberty (http://www.vacinfo.org)
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To: ElenaM

You and your son need a lawyer. In addition to a writ of mandamus, the school is responsible for your child’s safety and welfare at school and on the bus. On the other hand, you could hire a billboard, obtain a picture and out the kid as perv predator. Make him prove he isn’t.


33 posted on 10/26/2009 4:50:23 PM PDT by La Lydia
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To: ElenaM

http://search.recordonline.com/?source=thr&q=robert+sigler
In my area, a school super named Robert Sigler had an ‘innapropriate relationship’ with an underage male student.
Someone blew the whistle on it, got fired.
There was a coverup attempt, and bad feelings all around over it.

That said, how attentive to scandal are the local media types?


34 posted on 10/26/2009 4:50:47 PM PDT by Darksheare (Tar is cheap, and feathers are plentiful.)
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To: Cindy

Yes, ma’am, that’s why I didn’t use last names.

I wish I could pull him out of school but right now I’d have to put us into the poor house—literally—to do it.

I’ve been really grateful for how concerned the police have been. They alone see this as serious as I see it.


35 posted on 10/26/2009 4:51:15 PM PDT by ElenaM
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To: ElenaM

I would go to the school board and tell them that
if they do not take action to discipline the perp,
you will bring criminal charges of sexual harassment
and file civil charges and name the school in the
civil suit for supporting the behavior. I would
get a good attorney and have him write a letter that
included a list of actions, including the press.

I may be wrong, but that’s what I’d do... I came close
before when my daughter was sexually harassed by a
young man. I read them the riot act and gave them 24
hours before I went to the police. To their credit,
they acted immediately.

good luck,
ampu


36 posted on 10/26/2009 4:51:23 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: ElenaM

At the very least, I would make a list of all the uncooperative school representatives and document every conversation/communication. Then make sure that you will be supporting any child/family that has future problems with the perp— and their negligence will be front and center. As they used to coach us in business: treat it like you are headed for court (regardless), because you may wind up there. Having the documentation already prepared, and written at the time of the incident carries much more weight than writing it all down later from memory....

hh


37 posted on 10/26/2009 4:52:00 PM PDT by hoosier hick (Note to RINOs: We need a choice, not an echo....Barry Goldwater)
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To: AmusedBystander
Get a restraining order and give a copy to your school administration. They will be forced to comply.

I agree with this suggestion. You can also make them PAY for a home tutor for your son for the rest of the term!

38 posted on 10/26/2009 4:52:24 PM PDT by pray4liberty (http://www.vacinfo.org)
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To: ElenaM

Charge the School Administration with a HATE CRIME.
They HATE STRAIGHT KIDS.


39 posted on 10/26/2009 4:52:41 PM PDT by 4Speed
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I know it’s an oxymoron, but does anyone know a good lawyer in SC?


40 posted on 10/26/2009 4:53:34 PM PDT by ElenaM
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To: ElenaM

It’s wrong any way you look at it, but is ‘soliciting’ the same thing as sexual assault?

If a 15 year old boy ‘solicited’ an 11 year old girl, would it be sexual assault?

Just curious.


41 posted on 10/26/2009 4:54:07 PM PDT by autumnraine (You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out!)
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To: ElenaM
Go to the DA and demand charges be filed. It will be in the news then OR just shoot, shovel and shutup.
42 posted on 10/26/2009 4:54:18 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof. V for victory)
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To: ElenaM

I don’t think they could charge him with sexual assault if he asked your son verbally without physical contact. If you go to the media you should prepare your son for the attention he will get. You might even attract the gay rights nut jobs who will defend the 15 year old and accuse you of being homophobic. Who knows what the media will turn this story into. We live in a world where the homo is always the victim.


43 posted on 10/26/2009 4:54:38 PM PDT by peeps36 (Democrats Don't Need No Stinking Input From You Little People)
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To: ElenaM

You need to see a lawyer and the others are right. This is sexual harassment and the school needs to establish a policy that handles this type of thing since they are teaching it. This is downright disgusting and I know it may not seem fair to be the one “punished” but my kid would not get on that bus again and I would tell the driver and the school exactly why. A lawyer might be able to get you another bus ride for your boy.


44 posted on 10/26/2009 4:54:50 PM PDT by Snoopers-868th
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To: ElenaM
I wish I could pull him out of school but right now I’d have to put us into the poor house—literally—to do it.

No, it won't. Make them pay for a private tutor or private school (an out-of-court settlement, as it were). That's cheaper than going the Court route, but you will need a lawyer to broker the deal. A friend of mine in a similar situation did that and got the school district to pay for private schooling for her son.

45 posted on 10/26/2009 4:56:44 PM PDT by pray4liberty (http://www.vacinfo.org)
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To: autumnraine

Yes. I believe verbal abuse is Simple Assault. If there is physical contact it’s Aggravated Assault. Telling me you’re going to punch me in the nose - Simple Assault. Actually doing it — Aggravated Assault.


46 posted on 10/26/2009 4:57:24 PM PDT by ichabod1 ( I am rolling over in my grave and I am not even dead yet.)
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To: Snoopers-868th

Sexual harassment is also a volatile workplace or in this case school bus.


47 posted on 10/26/2009 4:57:48 PM PDT by Snoopers-868th
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To: ElenaM

You need to speak with a lawyer who is very skilled in sexual harassment/sexual assault lawsuits.

If you don’t know whom this may be, call several different lawyers and/or law professors and ask who is the expert on this issue in your area.


48 posted on 10/26/2009 4:57:50 PM PDT by iowamark (certified by Michael Steele as "ugly and incendiary")
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To: ElenaM

Get an attorney, threaten to sue, ask for private school tuition to settle, case solved.


49 posted on 10/26/2009 4:58:00 PM PDT by Tuscaloosa Goldfinch
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To: ElenaM

Sounds like your school should be on the dangerous schools list. If it was a Republican adminstration, I’d say call the U.S. Justice Department. Since it’s a pinko administration they’d probably reroute your phone call to Kevin Jennings — you know, the school safety czar.

Can you get him out of there?


50 posted on 10/26/2009 4:58:38 PM PDT by goldi (')
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