Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

This letter to the editor was in October 23 Columbus Dispatch at www.dispatch.com.


'Betrayal' series wake-up call for parents
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 3:26 AM

I write as a public-school teacher and former union member turned stay-at-home mom to thank The Dispatch for running the Oct. 14-17 series, ''The ABCs of Betrayal.'' It was well-done, and I hope it serves as a wake-up call to those who don't take this problem seriously.

The majority of teachers are involved in education for the children's well-being. However, when allegations arise in school, plenty of blame seems to fall on the student. No person under the age of 18 does has the ability to discern within an adult relationship. There should be a zero-tolerance standard in place.

If teachers make a mistake once, they should lose their license permanently and should be placed on a mandatory national registry (solely to keep them from entering the classroom again) specific to those who are caught commiting their crime while in service for children, such as pastors, youth workers, day-care workers and parents. Often the victims do not understand what has happened to them until many years later. Shame and fear will silence youth.

The teachers unions are no friend to parents and students. In cases of sex abuse by a teacher, you won't find other teachers or the unions speaking out about it. The children are not paying members to the unions.

The enemy here reveals itself in silence or apathy. Parents should not trust such characteristics. The teachers-union members who stay silent and are not infuriated by such events are just as guilty as the perpetrating teacher. I was not surprised to read that the Ohio Education Association didn't see a cover-up problem.

The Dispatch series should be a call to parents to train their children to determine what is appropriate contact and communication between a teacher and student and what is not. Don't trust the schools to do this for you. Children need to be taught, unfortunately, to not thoroughly trust any adult, and to immediately report any concerns that they have. Never discount a child's behavior or words.

The system should exist on behalf of the child and not to protect a pervert's job. When push comes to shove, the pervert usually wins with a slap on the wrist, at most, and the family loses.

Public schools are becoming invalid as they become unsafe places to send our children. Make no mistake that every district harbors these criminals in their system, whether they know it or not. Radical change is necessary, but without the involvement of quality teachers at the forefront and administrators and parents taking a stand together, it will not happen.

CRYSTAL TRAINI
Grove City




By Columbus Dispatch letter

Teach Your Children

The letter to the editor stated: ''Children need to be taught, unfortunately, to not thoroughly trust any adult, and to immediately report any concerns that they have.''

This is a difficult concept because, in effect, you need to teach your children to trust their instincts, even when in situations with adult teachers, police officers, ministers, store employees, relatives, etc. Unfortunately, sexual predators exist even in the most noble professions and within families.

While I don't think children should be told to fear all adults, I do believe they should be taught (by parents) what is acceptable behavior and what is not, and to report immediately (to a parent, trusted neighbor, teacher, etc.), when they're uncomfortable with a situation. Children should be taught to trust their own insticts. Parents should listen to their children and follow-up thoroughly.

Look at the mess created by cover-ups of abuse within the Catholic Church! No longer can organizations, whether it be churches, unions, etc., be allowed to cover-up crimes, especially against child victims.

The article pointed out incidents where teachers should never have been allowed back in the classrooms. While a small percentage of teachers are involved in such crimes against children, the system should have rules in place to assure proper documentation and sharing of information with other districts and states; whatever it takes to insure these predators are not allowed to prey on children in schools again.

Parents, along with discussions about bullies, sex, stranger-danger, safe computer usage, etc., should talk to their kids about inappropriate touching & inappropriate conversations. Encourage your kids to report (to you) incidents that make them uncomfortable.

It's a sad state when kids can't unconditionally trust their relatives, teachers, police, ministers, and other adults in authority situations. But, it's reality and kids should be armed with the knowledge of how to respond.

What would you do?

So Mr. Salzer apparently made a bad choice a couple of years ago. No criminal charges were ever filed, just a ''complaint''.

Should PLSD get rid of him for that?

What do you advocate?

Get rid of him

It certainly trivializes everything to say he made a ''bad choice'' and only a ''complaint'' was filed against him, doesn't it?

Are you saying you know more about the situation than the public does? If so, then spill it.

I'll bet you don't have any daughters that currently attend North, or may do so in the future.

I don't doubt your sincerity. I only question your judgment.

Heck, even a pedophile priest at Seton Parish who made ''bad choices'' had parishoners who passionately defended him, to the point where they left Seton when he was defrocked.

As the letter to the editor stated, the teachers union exists to protect the teachers, not the children or the parents.

How many teachers who live in the school district let their teenage daughters be taught by Mr. Salzer? After all, teachers talk, so they would have heard the rumors about him.

They would have protected their own daughters, but not necessarily anyone else's.