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GET OUR KIDS OUT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
By Nick Jackson
May
15, 2005
NewsWithViews.com
I write as a public school graduate from Ohio. Ohio was the Key State in the 2004 elections. We are often considered a reflection of the rest of the country. Our political and moral landscape gives a snapshot of what the rest of the country may be experiencing. Sometimes we are affectionately known as �The heart of it all.� This article is however not an advertisement for everyone to flock to Ohio but an admonishment and an indictment that our school systems have failed to protect our children. This is also a warning that this brief review of recent incidents in Ohio schools, reflects trends that are happening all around the nation.
The first incident transpired at Mifflin High School in the Columbus Public school District on Mar. 9th. NBC 4 reported that according to witness accounts given to school investigators, a 16-year-old developmentally-delayed student was dragged into the auditorium and was forced to perform oral sex on at least two boys, while more than a dozen other students were called to watch. One student videotaped the act.
More than one hour later, teacher Lisa Upshaw called the father, and said when he arrived, he "asked if we were going to call the police. Mr. (Richard) Watson (school official) said, No, we don't want to do that. We don't want the police.� "Administrators reportedly warned the father that if police were called, the news media would follow. The father of the 16-year-old girl, who is developmentally delayed, had to call police and take his daughter to the hospital. State law requires officials to immediately report cases of abuse to law enforcement or face up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine, said City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr.
According to the Columbus Dispatch ( Apr. 24th Ed.) assistant principal Retterer-Helfrich�s involvement with the situation was limited because she was, �overseeing Mifflin students who were taking state required tests that day.� Are proficiency tests now more important that reporting a rape and ensuring the safety of our children? She later said, �The public is unaware how common sexual activity-and particularly oral sex-is �in, out, after, before, during� school. What is next in our schools, administrators and officials creating oral sex safe zones for kids?
In the aftermath of the outrage of the Mifflin High School incident, on April 27th-Apr. 30th the 31st Annual meeting of the National Conference of Black mayor�s was held in Columbus and hosted by Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman. One of the issues discussed was school safety. Gangsta� rapper Ludacris was slated to speak at the Youth�s Luncheon. I will spare any lyrical examples from Mr. Ludacris but he was quoted by Seventeen magazine in Oct. 2002 in regards to obscenity as saying, �I don�t know how I get away with it.� Minister Louis Farahkan was also one of the speakers.
Consider another incident that took place in this great state in the Heartland. Three teenage boys have been charged with raping a fellow special education student at East Technical High School. AP reported that school officials became aware of the alleged rape after a custodian saw sexual activity between two students while a third student hit one of them in the head at the school�s track on April 22nd. The school notified police three days later.
Kenneth Trump, president of the Cleveland Based National School Safety and Security Services stated, �This is a problem that has existed in schools for decades,� �There�s this old school mentality that�s far too prevalent. It�s an issue of image.� Robert Shoop, a Kansas State University professor of education law and an expert on sexual exploitation in schools stated, �Clearly, at a time when schools are under so much scrutiny, it�s a very natural reaction not to want to do anything to think we are bad people.� He added, �When you see 14 and 15 year olds having sex, and somebody beating someone on the head, anyone with common sense would call the police immediately and let them investigate.�
Closer to home for me, I even picked up a County Newspaper this morning and read the following headline on the front page, �Woman: Official failed to report sexual assault, Parent says her 5-year old daughter was sexually abused on the school bus.� The Newark Advocate, May 8th edition reports, a Heath resident reported to police on Feb. 17th that her daughter was sexually abused by a 17 year old on a Heath School Bus while being taken to the Blessed Sacrament School where she attends kindergarten. The Mother says, �Terry Kopchak (Heath High School Principal) never bothered to call police or children�s services, �she said �The district wants to blow this off.�
These three incidents are not isolated incidents. Even without doing a thorough statistical analysis, I am confident that this under reporting and drive to protect our public school�s image is more prevalent that we can imagine. This places the parent who loves their precious child and wants what is best for them in a quandary. Jesus, commanded �suffer the little children come unto me,� and also speaks of a �millstone� being hung around the neck and �drowning� in regards to causing a little one to sin.
Certainly, there are valiant Christian educators in the public school system attempting to wrestle the children away from godless ideologies. They are to be commended in their missionary work. There are also parents who are courageous in their effort to bring their children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and seeking to protect them and nurture them with diligence.
However, I often hear Christian parents say, �I�ll send my kids to public schools so that they can be salt and light in the classrooms.� If being salt and light means calling the police when the administrator refuses to report a sexual assault, have at it. For every child that stands strong, we�ll lose 5. Why send your kids to fight a battle you should be fighting?
On a personal note, I lost any precious seed of faith that had been planted as a youngster in the public schools and was steeped in Darwinian dogma. I did not come to faith but by God�s grace when I was 26. Folks, it�s not the same public schools we remember. My alma mater, one of the top public schools in Ohio has over 90 percent going onto college. Recently they have added a GSLBT club, and have an annual day where students can dress up as the opposite sex. It�s time we wake up.
I know these reports are frightening and discouraging. Much like the officials who did not call 911, are we refusing to act? Will we rescue our children from the Darwinian halls of Babylon run by the Canaanites and Philistines? I exhort the reader, �Please save your kids!�
As for me and my house, we will be home-schooling.
� 2005 - Nick Jackson - All Rights Reserved
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Nick Jackson is a physical therapist from Ohio who assists pro-life and pro-family ministries in the Central Ohio area. He is also executive director of Reform America, a Christian Activist organization based in Columbus. For more information on Reform America go to www.reformamerica.com or to contact Nick send him an
E-mail at nick@reformamerica.com
�The
public is unaware how common sexual activity-and particularly oral sex-is
�in, out, after, before, during� school.
