Oct 21, 2007 - A class on sexual harassment won't head off a predator targeting schoolchildren, District Attorney Rex Gore says. But he's going to give it a shot, anyway. He hopes to at least get the message across that those who choose to engage in indecent behavior will be punished.
On Nov. 8, Gore, whose district covers Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus counties, plans to take that message to Brunswick County Schools. Four cases involving inappropriate student-teacher relations have surfaced in the school system in the past year, three of them resulting in arrests and three in lawsuits against the school board.
"There certainly are cases that bother all of us," Gore said this week. "We want to stop it from becoming a prevalent problem."Gore will give his presentation to directors and principals, and then set a schedule to extend it to teachers, Superintendent Katie McGee said. Rather than "sexual harassment training," she calls it "ethics training;" but Gore says that rather than teaching educators ethics, he will tell them the law and provide information that may help them "reduce the chances of acts against students."
He is no expert on the topic, he said, but he does know the law, and he does have anecdotes to tell the educators from his years as a prosecutor. He said he will be sharing with them stories, research, state statutes and penalties and thoughts on how to more effectively prevent, identify and handle inappropriate teacher-student relations. By Ann Ribeiro