A Nebraska teacher was caught naked with a high school student this weekend. The chase that occurred before they were actually captured was awkward enough for both parties.
However, investigations revealed that the teacher involved was also the wife of a Defense Department employee. The events surrounding this story are both hilarious and alarming.
Unfortunately, sexual misconduct in public schools continues to surface. Let’s take a look at how this latest scandal unfolded, along with other public school sex scandals across the country.
Awkward
Substitute teacher Erin Ward was found naked in a car with a 17-year-old student on Saturday night. The teacher was arrested after suspicious activity was reported in her car around 3 a.m.
When police arrived, the young man jumped out of the back of the car, got into the driver’s seat and tried to escape. The troubled teen walked just two blocks before destroying the vehicle before taking off.
Mrs. Ward was arrested at that time. After getting dressed and discovering her teacher’s ID card, she admitted to having sex with the teen.
The boy was eventually found wearing only underwear and a T-shirt. In addition to being a very naughty substitute teacher, Mrs. Ward is also the spouse of a Department of Defense employee.
William Douglas Ward is the deputy director and senior nuclear deterrence advisor for the Commander’s Action Group, U.S. Strategic Command (commonly known as STRATCOM). Strategic Command’s primary mission is to detect and deter attacks.
Unfortunately, Mr. Ward was unable to detect and stop his wife’s extramarital affair.
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disturbing trend
Because the legal age of consent in Nebraska is 16, Mrs. Ward escaped statutory rape charges, but she was accused of sexual abuse by a school employee. Douglas County Deputy District Attorney Brenda Beadle said of the incident:
“If this was an ongoing relationship, like what we’re seeing here, then I would consider this grooming.”
Grooming, in this context, is when school employees actively engage in and encourage inappropriate relationships with students and children. Unfortunately, this recent incident in Omaha was not a one-time incident.
A former Chicago Public Schools student filed a lawsuit against the district this week over sexual abuse she suffered. While attending Greater Lawndale High School for Social Justice, the student known as “Jane Doe” was sexually abused for years by dean Brian Crowder.
The lawyer in the case wrote:
“CPS, through the silence and inaction of its administrators, faculty, staff, and other agents, facilitated Brian Crowder’s grooming and exploitation of Jane Doe, a student in their care , while she was a student at LVLHS, 2012–2016.
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Meanwhile, in northern Virginia, three current or former Loudoun County Public Schools employees were charged with crimes within a year:
- A former cafeteria employee allegedly assaulted a student
- A supply teacher has been charged with possessing and producing child sex abuse material
- High school teacher suspended for soliciting children under 15 online
Local reporters are still trying to discern exactly when LCPS parents were notified of all three of the above situations.
How and why?
Americans often wonder how teachers and other powerful people can get away with such egregious deviance and abuse. Why someone would choose to take advantage of someone they are responsible for seems to be an unanswerable question.
But the truth is, just as absolute power absolutely corrupts, so does perceived authority, whether authority in position or proximity to authority. Does Mrs. Ward believe she can get away with her abuse?
perhaps. Why does she believe it?
This is likely the result of several factors. Most abusers are not first time offenders, so there is a good chance this boy was not her first victim.
This means she may have gotten away with it before. She may also believe that she is untouchable due to her husband’s status.
After all, DoD personnel and their spouses are trustworthy and upstanding citizens, right? Finally, her identity as an educator also makes her a “trustworthy” person.
However, like any institution built on power, the public school system in this country is unfortunately as susceptible to corruption as in other countries. The victims of this systemic corruption are the most vulnerable in our country, and unless parents and citizens take back power and shut down the system, this systemic corruption will likely continue forever.
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