Statement Regarding the Arrest of an Urbana Teacher on Suspicion of Child Molestation
See story in the News-Gazette.
The arrest of a second grade teacher in Urbana is a disturbing event. While the facts of the case remain unclear it is too soon to rush to judgment. However, in the light of these events it serves as a reminder to the schools in their responsibility to provide a safe environment for children.
The purpose of public schools is to provide a sound education for our community’s children. Part of that responsibility is to ensure that the teaching environment is free from harm. Allegations of sexual assault must be seriously investigated and policies put in place to make sure that the likelihood of such assaults is extremely low.
To be clear, this is not an allegation of insufficiency of policies that are currently in place. However, every policy should be routinely reviewed to make sure they still meet the needs and goals of the community and the schools. This event is a reminder to take such a review to ensure policies regarding sexual assault and allegations of such assaults both ensure that, as far as legally possible, the risk to our children is low and that teachers are protected to the greatest possible degree against capricious or false allegations of sexual assault.
I call upon both the Urbana and Champaign school districts to review their policies to make sure that the risk of sexual abusers gaining employment is low, that policies and procedures regarding investigating allegations are fair yet thorough, and that the schools take prompt action to both remove predators from the schools or clear the teacher of wrong-doing.
