I Feel Sick

I feel sick because I just received information about a man I used to work with before I retired. He was a fourth grade teacher. Most everyone, staff and administration knew that he was not a good teacher. Parents were mostly unimpressed and students either loved or vehemently disliked him. In short everyone knew he did just what he had to get by and he played favorites: He had 3 lines, (students line up for recess, lunch, dismissal, etc.) one for girls, one for what he called "the men," and one for all the other boys. The men were the boys that he deemed good at sports. He was a volunteer wrestling coach at the local high school. (These were all clues.)

I still don't know how the district or law enforcement were tipped off, but it has now been revealed that he was/is a much more deviant individual than any of us ever could have imagined. (See the press release from the United States Attorney's Office, Central District of California by copying the link to your browser: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/former-orange-county-elementary-school-teacher-pleads-guilty-possessing-child-sexual)

I feel sick to my stomach. Many of my students, at least 1/3 each year went to his fourth grade. The students I taught and nurtured, bolstered their egos and felt responsible for went into his class. The article states that he is not accused of molestation, but clearly he thought about it. To make it even worse, he is married with step children and a new young child of his own. :0(

I'm really not actually qualified to pass judgement on anyone else, lest I want to be judged by others. BUT, I have an opinion and it is that he should serve as many years in prison as he did subjecting students to his deviant thoughts. 5 years just isn't enough.

Bob has reminded me that you can't punish people for their thoughts. If he was looking at the videos while on school property though, I think that is worse than viewing them at home. If he was viewing them from his iCloud account then he probably was looking at them on the job. 5 years is not enough!

I'm going to be sick.