Sex and the Teachers. What's Going On In Tampa Bay?

All right, all right, what the hell is going on here?  Yesterday, yet another teacher in the Tampa Bay area was arrested, this one for "engaging in inappropriate behavior" with a 16 year-old student.  He took her on a "field trip" to the zoo.  Now I've got to ask, what 16 year-old goes to the zoo with a teacher, without any other friends, students, teachers or parents?  Obviously he was way out of line, sending her romantic text messages and so on.  But where was her brain in the process? We live with a generation of kids brought up with instant access to the Internet and cell phones.  She can't be that innocent.

And what IS it with the teachers in our area who are stooping down to this level?  There are, I believe, well over 30 teachers to date that have been arrested on sex charges.  I've lost count, but here's a link with a map and details.  Here's another one, with a rather exhaustive link to the database.

What amazes me is the sudden surge in teacher/student sex cases that seem to show up on the news almost every day.  Is there some type of teacher sex club that we parents are not aware of? 

 

Look at this photo of the smiling Stephanie Ragusa.  She's not on her way to a party, folks. Those are her mug shots.  The 28 year old has been arrested three times since April for sex with underage "victims." This past week, they caught her coming out of the house of her 16 year-old "friend with benefits." 16? What the hell, girl?  Guys in their 20's aren't interested in you? I see a lot of financially publicity in Stephanie's future, and I don't think her "victim" is traumatized, either.  Hollywood will eat it up.

Accuse me of a double standard, but take a look at the new breed of teacher in Tampa Bay. Why the sudden surge in sex cases?

This one looks like your basic PTA mom. The 45 year-old honors English teacher took two students to the liquor store to buy alcohol, then took them to a Howard Johnson's motel  where they were joined by three other boys.  She was charged with one count of unlawful sex with a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Let's take a look at her background. TBO reports that she had no other misdemeanor or felony criminal records in Pasco or Hillsborough counties, and graduated summa cum laude from the University of South Florida in May 2000 with a bachelor's degree in secondary English education.  On the surface, everything looks peachy.  hmmm.

And what about this one, a 40 year old substitute from Pasco County?

What kind of woman is even interested in a KID when it come to sex? Are they genuine predators, or is there a shortage of Real Men in Tampa Bay?

And what's up with this one, married with three kids? 

I just don't get this fad, if it is one.  Is this the new generation of Women Going Through a Midlife Crisis? If it's happening with the teachers, then it has probably spread out into the public mainstream as well.  Should we be checking out our local coaches, public librarians, fast food managers and piano teachers?

I'd like to know, just what type of hiring standards are in place for Hillsborough and Pinellas county schools?  Who is handling the background checks? Or did these women suddenly decide to screw up their careers, pardon the pun, solely on a lark?  I would love to hear from these teachers, to find out just why they did what they did. They had to know they'd get caught at some point in time.

A scan of this website,  shows a long list of teachers, both male and female, who have been arrested over the past few years.  We're always outraged when it's a male who attacks the kids, and as well we should. But I'm puzzled at the splurge in female teachers, especially given all the publicity lately.   Yet, we can't deny there IS an increase in teacher related sex crimes against kids.

When we send our children to school we should have reasonable expectation that they will be safe from, above all, their teachers. 

On the flip side, sometimes the students themselves need to wise up. Today's kids are notoriously casual about text messaging, social networking and emailing their friends.  Given their age and level of maturity, they may not realize how serious these messages can be interpreted by overly cautious adults.  Maybe it's time the parents start teaching them the art of holding back when their sixth sense kicks in.

In this article by Times Staffer  Letitia Stein, first year Brandon High School teacher Ashley Buchanan talks about the gray area between hugs and messages, and just how close is too close.

"As a young teacher, Buchanan says, she has to be especially careful. Students tell her all the time that she looks like one of them. They jokingly invite her on dates and to the movies.

"I say in the current climate, you can't say things like that. You think it's funny, but you're crossing the line," she said. "They don't understand the consequences of what they say."

It's a pit that you can slide into if you're not diligent at the front end," said Jade Moore, executive director of the Pinellas teachers union, recalling cases of teachers sending e-mails at 2 a.m. "It's going to look bad, whether it's innocent or not."

And now I'd like to ask you, are these things happening in your school district? And if so, approximately how many teachers in the past year have been arrested for sex with a minor?  Take a look at this long, endless list of links on the Times site about Tampa Bay area teachers.  It's a list I'd like to see come to a screeching halt. There are good teachers here, and great schools, too.  So how can we end this slippery slope?

Thirty teachers. Just what is really going on in Tampa Bay schools?

Comments

[Linda]

We recently had that happen here in KS...the teacher and kid were caught in her car at a state park/reservoir. In the middle of the DAY...when they BOTH should have been at school.

She resigned her position...then "un-resigned"...then, after her arraignment, re-resigned. Crazy.

I remember thinking one of the teachers we had, a younger man, was GORGEOUS...(looking back....not so much, lol) and many of the girls in my school thought so too. They THREW themselves at him. But he was never interested. And he was a REALLY good guy, too...he even gave me a ride to early morning play practice in his old VW bug (I think I would have rather walked, he had NO heat, and it was the dead of winter, lol...lesser of two evils was that WALKING a few miles was tough). But he never once tried anything.

I think one of the biggest things is that 20-30 years ago, we weren't as exposed to sex...nudity was a HUGE no-no on TV, etc. Yeah, sex is sex and all boys think about it, but our parents raised us to respect those older than us, and we FEARED them. Nowadays, too many parents blame everyone else for their kids' shortcomings, never taking the responsibility upon themselves. They are friends and buddies to their kids, and they teach their kids that it's okay to treat an adult the same way you treat your classmates. So why not hit on the teacher? And the teachers? Well, they're flattered by having the young hot studs thinking "that way" about them. horrible, but true.

[FC]

I wondered a couple of weeks ago if you'd do this. The Tampa area seems to be overloaded with skanky school employees ... I'm not going to honor them by calling them "teachers".
Teachers care about their charges.
They set the standard and hold themselves separate from the kids.
"You and I are not the same" is something my students here at the beginning of the year. You can be caring and supportive without violating the most sacred trust a parent puts in you, but you need to keep the professional distance.

It means I high 5 the middle school girl who is coming to hug me, my door is always open if a student is in it, and no kid gets a ride home ...even if they need it, etc.
A thousand little things you do to protect yourself from false charges and misinterpretation.
Being ancient has cut down on student crushes, but your ears would burn if you read some of the notes young teachers (even me once) receive from kids.

With porn piped into their homes (yes, they are watching it) and a tremendous drop in actual parenting, kids today say things to teachers that I would never have dreamed of saying outloud when I was in school.
The teacher next to me is 55 and prettier than most of the 20 something teachers here and she gets rude sexual comments from sixth graders!!

It's a sign of a culture that is more and more trashy and unaccountable.

[kenju]

It's not only Tampa. That has happened here in NC at least 10 times over the past 2-3 years. Most of the teachers are blonde bombshells who wouldn't need to prey on teens for sex, they could get it anywhere. I don't get it.

[MrsJoseGoldbloom]

Hi Laura, how are things with you?

This teacher/student sex thing is getting out of hand, and it is all over the country. I just don't understand how an adult can look at a child under 18 and be sexually interested...I just don't get it. When my teenaged daughter has male friends come over I find myself feeling irritated with them because they're soooo immature, and hyper. Maybe that's it, these teachers aren't emotionally mature for one reason or another and they feel more comfortable with the young kids. Whatever the reason, more drastic measures need to be put into play soon so we can stop this disturbing behavior.

[decrepitoldfool]

Remember about 15 to 20 years ago when there was a big scare about day-care centers subjecting children to Satanic rituals and various forms of bizarre activity? A few people even went to prison for it and some families were completely destroyed by what turned out to be just a media and prosecutorial frenzy. Pretty much none of it ever happened though the base level, if any, is almost impossible to determine.

Probably there has always been some base level of sex between teachers and students. It's very possible that level has not changed but awareness of it has, which is a good thing though unlikely to affect the base level in the long run. Of course Faux News trumpets an "epidemic" of sex between teachers and students, which means punishments will not be measured against harm, only against personal revulsion.