Richard Condon, New York City school’s commissioner of investigation haa examined 593 complaints of illicit relationships since April 2009 and has substantiated 104 of those cases.
That means over “100 city teachers, administrators and other school staffers have been caught in the last five years engaging in sexual or “inappropriate” relationships with students, according to the New York Post.
“I’m absolutely stunned at that number,” said Laura Timoney, a Community Education Council member whose 15-year-old daughter attends a city high school on Staten Island. “It’s shocking, but what do you do to stop this?”
Social media and smart phones are believed to be part of the reason for what appears to be an increasing trend. The reasoning is that it makes staff/student communication not only eaiser, but able to take place at nearly all times and places. Consequently, staff and students are talking more frequently and often while at home, or on their own time.
“These one-on-one conversations can turn personal, creating a quicker sense of intimacy,” Lane said. “The electronics make it easier for a predator to gain the trust of a child and then exploit that trust.”
The student-staff hanky-panky constitutes only a fraction of all sexual-misconduct complaints, which include groping, molestation and assault. In 2013 alone, Condon’s office received 566 complaints against Department of Education employees with a “sexual component.” It opened 233 investigations and substantiated 24 percent, or 58, Condon reports.
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