Teacher Accused of Statutory Rape and Other Offenses

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

IMO, statutory rape is statutory rape. Everyone who commits a crime such as the one described here should be thrown in jail for a VERY LONG TIME.

I read an article a while back that makes me think twice about the bold.

An 18 year old senior had sex with his ~16 year old girlfriend and was arrested. Do I think this person should have the same punishment as a 42 year old having sex with a 15 year old? Nope.

ETA: Found it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Dixon
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in594110.shtml

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

I read an article a while back that makes me think twice about the bold.

An 18 year old senior had sex with his ~16 year old girlfriend and was arrested. Do I think this person should have the same punishment as a 42 year old having sex with a 15 year old? Nope.

I understand there's that gray line regarding this matter.. what I meant was more along the lines of: If a teacher has sex with her 13-year-old student, or a random middle-aged man/woman has sex with a 13-year-old, they should both receive the same punishment.

Essentially, status/position/job/authoritative role shouldn't make a difference.

[southernbelle14]

Okay, just to clarify, I'm not saying she is any less guilt or responsible due to this.
I just wanted to point out a couple things.
First, I've looked this up and all but one article say that the students were 14-17 years old. This being the case, some of them would not be her students.
Also, the third article drphil posted stated that she provided alcohol to her teenage daughter and her friends at parties thrown at her house. This is far from having been asked by students at school... Under these circumstances I do not believe you can assume she acted as a predator in the classroom. She had contact with these students because of her teenage daughter, not because she was teaching them.

[*winter*]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

I read an article a while back that makes me think twice about the bold.

An 18 year old senior had sex with his ~16 year old girlfriend and was arrested. Do I think this person should have the same punishment as a 42 year old having sex with a 15 year old? Nope.

ETA: Found it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Dixon
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in594110.shtml

In Pennsylvania the law is 18, or within 4 years. This would mean if a 16 year old, for example, has a boyfriend who is 19, and is sexually active with him, he is not considered to be committing a crime. I think it makes more sense this way, although the combination of 14 and 18 seems a bit concerning- a 14 year old is basically still a child. But if some kid is 17 and her boyfriend is 19, that's not much of a stretch and isn't really the same as a 17 year old who has a 35 year old boyfriend.

[southernbelle14]

CLARIFICATION SINCE NO ONE CAN READ ANYTHING FOR WHAT IT IS:

I stated that she is no less guilty or responsible for what she did because of these facts.
I was only stating these facts because people were wondering how these kids went about asking her for alcohol, saying she must have been crossing lines in the classroom, but with these details we have no reason to assume she was.
And how often are there 14-15 year old sixth graders really?
My point was merely that this is a little more understandable with these details clarified. And by understandable I do not mean in the sense that it is understandable why she did it. I mean it makes more sense how it happened. It wasn't just some 6th graders coming up to her like "hey can you buy us alcohol." It was a mother providing alcohol for her daughter and her friends, which is still wrong but more realistic seeming.

[southernbelle14]

I also found somewhere that she was a fifth and sixth grade teacher, making it impossible for any of her victims to have been her students.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by southernbelle14

I also found somewhere that she was a fifth and sixth grade teacher, making it impossible for any of her victims to have been her students.

Um, no. She is a middle-school teacher, which usually does not include 5th grade. I'm not sure if you are implying that a 6th grader could not be sexually mature, but if so you are incorrect. I've taught 6th graders who could grow mustaches. If nothing else, they may have been former students.

[southernbelle14]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Um, no. She is a middle-school teacher, which usually does not include 5th grade. I'm not sure if you are implying that a 6th grader could not be sexually mature, but if so you are incorrect. I've taught 6th graders who could grow mustaches. If nothing else, they may have been former students.

Did you read anything I said?
First, her youngest victim was FOURTEEN. that would mean 8th or 9th grade. It doesn't say which in any of the articles I found.
Second, look up crestview middle school. This is where she taught. It is 5th through 8th grade.
Third, in at least one article I found it stated that she was a 5th and 6th grade reading teacher.

What conclusions does this information lead to? The students she supplied alcohol to and had sex with, while possibly former students, were NOT IN HER CLASS AT THE TIME. And her connections to them to be able to do all this were through her teenage daughter, which is still super creepy, just on a slightly different way.
Please actually READ what I say next time.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by southernbelle14

Did you read anything I said?
First, her youngest victim was FOURTEEN. that would mean 8th or 9th grade. It doesn't say which in any of the articles I found.
Second, look up crestview middle school. This is where she taught. It is 5th through 8th grade.
Third, in at least one article I found it stated that she was a 5th and 6th grade reading teacher.

What conclusions does this information lead to? The students she supplied alcohol to and had sex with, while possibly former students, were NOT IN HER CLASS AT THE TIME. And her connections to them to be able to do all this were through her teenage daughter, which is still super creepy, just on a slightly different way.
Please actually READ what I say next time.

You are making a lot of assumptions and doing them very rudely, BTW. Just bc she taught 6th grade doesn't mean she would have access to older boys. Teachers can and do precept at recess, lunch, assemblies, etc. Children are also not always on level. Having an older child in her class is not impossible. Jumping to the assumption that she used her teenage daughter to fish for her victims is a large jump.

[southernbelle14]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

You are making a lot of assumptions and doing them very rudely, BTW. Just bc she taught 6th grade doesn't mean she would have access to older boys. Teachers can and do precept at recess, lunch, assemblies, etc. Children are also not always on level. Having an older child in her class is not impossible. Jumping to the assumption that she used her teenage daughter to fish for her victims is a large jump.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...=feeds-newsxml

Many of the students are thought to have been friends of her teenage daughter who attended the alcohol fuelled parties.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/socie...d-sex-students

A grand jury has indicted Tipton, Tennessee middle school teacher Cindy Clifton on a total of 53 charges, including 11 counts of rape by an authority figure, stemming from parties she allegedly threw at her Covington, Tennessee home where she supplied alcohol to her teenage daughter and her friends before having sex with some of the boys present

Actually, this is why I am making these assumptions.
And I apologize if you think I am rude. I personally thought SWTX seemed rather condescending, which I was not happy with due to the fact that I addressed the issues initially. But maybe I misinterpreted.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

You are making a lot of assumptions and doing them very rudely, BTW. Just bc she taught 6th grade doesn't mean she would have access to older boys. Teachers can and do precept at recess, lunch, assemblies, etc. Children are also not always on level. Having an older child in her class is not impossible. Jumping to the assumption that she used her teenage daughter to fish for her victims is a large jump.

THIS. I had a 6th grader who was 15. "Impossible" is a strong word to use, SB, and what I was addressing. Hence the casual use of "ummm . . . "

In the state of Texas, and I believe in other states, minors may drink with their parents. However, they may NOT purchase alcohol for or allow other minors to drink.Any way you slice it, if this woman is indeed guilty of the charges she made serious judgements in error and took advantage of minors.

As to the rest - I leave it to a jury of my peers to decide where the rudeness and condescension are located.

[*winter*]

Originally Posted by southernbelle14

What conclusions does this information lead to? The students she supplied alcohol to and had sex with, while possibly former students, were NOT IN HER CLASS AT THE TIME. And her connections to them to be able to do all this were through her teenage daughter, which is still super creepy, just on a slightly different way.

Why does this matter? If she is plying minors with alcohol and having sex with them in her own home, who cares if she randomly met them at Walmart? Honestly...who cares? The point is this woman is a predator, and it's frightening to think she was in a position to teach other children, if this is how she treated children in her own home!

[DrPhil]

Since we're talking about teenagers who are at the awkward stage in their childhood, it is important for people to not make "exceptions" in violation of their state laws. Giving people under the legal drinking age alcohol in a binge drinking culture and having sex and using "he/she is mature for his/her age" is problematic.

I went to middle school (and high school) with some students who had been in middle school (and high school) too darn long. They weren't in my classes because we had tracking (also known as "honors classes"). Some of them looked like they could be 25 year old men and women--smoking in the bathrooms and talking about sex, their children, or their abortions. If you saw them outside of middle school (or high school) you would think they were grown as hell. I know some of them were messing with grown adults outside of the school environment. Some of the adults may have thought these kids were grown. But I really think most of the adults knew these were teenagers once they talked to them and realized they had very little to talk about (for those who had relationships in which they actually talked about real stuff). Even a really mature teenager who seems "old for his/her age" says or does something that makes you say "yeah, you're a teenager." That is because most teenagers' lives are consumed with things that are different than most adults' lives. Even the teenagers who have "hard lives" (like some of the teens at my school) where they have to work to support their families, have children, have diseases, or anything else--are usually dealing with these "hard lives" through a teen lens and not an adult lens.