My name is Ellen and my daughter is a Survivor (victim) of Educator Sexual Abuse and Misconduct. We reported the incident in late Feb.'00 and as this goes to print no trial date has been set. Due to this my daughter has to end and begin a school year with this "hanging over her head."

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My first emotion upon learning of this was anger and it still exists. However, it has been a roller coaster -- going through all the emotions of anger, resentment, betrayal, disbelief, stunned, shock, stagnating hurt and pain. A similar situation involving this teacher/coach was reported in '97 and was questioned by the principal and assistant principal and by profession they are not investigators. No law authorities were involved. I feel the education system of our school district at that time let our children down. The school system did not do what was in the best interest of the children; however, the school system expects the best from our children. My daughter has been scoffed by her peers and, to our initial disbelief -- educators! Since this incident I have come to realize that our school system works on "the good ole' boy" system, 'I'll cover your back if you cover my back". Superficially the apple has a bright shiny peeling on the outside but the core is beginning to decay and so is the school system. This is a process and we as society are allowing this to happen. We must get involved to protect our future generations. Another way the school took away from my daughter was she had to drop a course because the only instructor was a close personal friend of the perpetrator. There was an undercurrent all summer of what school do I/we go/send her to. She decided on returning to her same school for her senior year. It's early in the year and only time will tell. And with this I will end by saying that time can heal all wounds, but, as you know, with some wounds there is always a scar.

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