WTHR's Sandra Chapman, who originally broke the story about two sixth-grade students engaging in sexual intercourse in an industrial arts classroom while a teacher was supervising a class of about 10 students, had an update tonight following last night's highly-attended public meeting. Chapman shared one bit of new information in tonight's broadcast I think is worthy of discussion. She notes that when she originally confirmed the incident with school administrators, she was told the teacher interrupted the two students engaged in the sex act and put a stop to it. School administrators now say the teacher only "inadvertently" interrupted the two students without realizing the students were doing anything improper. The teacher did not learn of the incident, which took place on December 22, until January 12 according to what school administrators are now saying.
Why is this important? The January 12 date is when school officials reported the incident to Child Protective Services as it is required to do under such circumstances by law. If the teacher had actually caught the students in the act on December 22, but the school failed to report it to CPS until January 12, school administrators would have had a lot of explaining to do for the delay. It is quite possible the school mispoke in its initial response to Chapman, but it was a critical fact to get wrong to say the very least.
FOX News' Bill O'Reilly continued to hammer away at the story tonight. O'Reilly took a shot at the national news media for largely ignoring the story, while he patted the Star on the back for doing a good job covering the story. What coverage? Until today, the Star had very little to say about the incident. It is WTHR which has been out front on this story from the beginning.
The Factor questioned School Superintendent Peggy Hinckley on why the teacher hadn't been punished, while the students were expelled. Hinckley told the Factor the teacher had done nothing wrong. She then compared the incident to two students getting into a fight in the classroom, explaining you wouldn't discipline the teacher because the fight took place. I think she misses the point that an attentive teacher in a class with only 10 students, with or without obstructions, should be paying closer attention to what the students are up to. A fight between students can break out spontanerously through no fault of the teacher, whereas a sex act requires a little more thought out deliberation on the part of the students to occur.
The Factor also asked Hinckley whether the two students were using protection while they engaged in sex. When she answered she did not know, O'Reilly criticized her for still not having all the facts almost three months after the incident occurred. Hinckley said it was of no concern to the school whether the students were using protection, only to the families of the students.
7 comments:
"School administrators now say the teacher only "inadvertently" interrupted the two students without realizing the students were doing anything improper."
What part of this makes no sense? If they are doing the horizontal mambo and you interrupt them, someone has their pants undone.
In a "sweeps month" frenzy, Chapman sensationalized this story from the get-go and reported as fact several things which turned out not to be true. All anyone needs to do is to go to WTHR.com and look at the original story and compare it with what is now known about this incident.
8:22, isn't it time for you to attend the superintendent's cabinet meeting?
This superintendent has whistled through the graveyard, relishing in a championship football team, all the while ignoring their astoundingly low graduation rate and SAT scores. They built a new multi-million-dollar pool complex, and their swim team and instructional programs stink.
Their priorities are all wrong in Warren.
Pitiful.
This story won't go away until the Superintendent says:
"We erred. It won't happen again."
Period. How tough is it? In administratopr licensing classes, do they teach stonewalling? Most admins I know are pros at it.
Everybody can always do somebody else's job better ... until they've had to do it.
O'Reilly is a goof.
I was at that meeting. The Supt. made a lot of comments that were folish.
She actually told the parents that "what goes on in the school is none of their business" WTF?? My childs education isn't my business?
She was told off by several parents and should resign. Not because she is a bad superintendent, but because she handled this matter with only HER interest in mind.
Lots of problems at Warren school, but only the voters can fix them.
Didn't all this occur in Shop class? If the teacher was that inattentive in noticing that a sex act was being committed in class, how inattentive was the teacher when the kids were, say, using the dangerous power tools in the classroom?
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