This is awful. Just a short article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41194608/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Salem
Salem
Has anyone concidered that maybe the teacher is a perv who encouraged this behavior in these kids because I don't believe it was spontanious. IMHO
Note by me: I would agree 100% with Dr. Lustig, after raising 14 children. Normal and healthy sexual exploration typically occurs between the ages of 2-7, IME, but it's up to the caregivers to teach that it is not OK to touch other's private spots.
No, IMO, it's much more likely that someone in the child's life, such as a family member, is sexually abusing the child.
This wasn't playing Doctor. This wasn't just touching each other. This was oral sex. There's a huge difference. There's nothing "normal and healthy" about having oral sex in 2nd grade.
If oral sex is occurring in the classroom of seven year olds and the teacher is unaware, the entire system of teaching at this school needs to be reexamined! We couldn't even pass a note without getting caught.
Hmmm. It seems that the children told the truth.
http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_17414537?source=rss&nclick_check=1
Oakland police: Sexual conduct did occur in second-grade classroom
"Police say they think children at Markham Elementary School were telling the truth when they reported that two students engaged in sexual conduct in their second-grade classroom last month. "The kids interviewed actually gave similar accounts...."
and
"....investigators from the police department's Special Victim's Unit do not think an adult orchestrated or was otherwise involved in the explicit activity. The investigation has been closed, she said, and no criminal charges will be filed. On Jan. 20, school district officials said they had just received a report that two second-graders had engaged in oral sex in class sometime during the previous week and that a group of children had been "clowning around" in various stages of undress -- all while the teacher was present...."
and
"....The district is trying to determine who, if anyone, was with the children when the sex acts were happening and how the lapse in supervision occurred. "There are more nuances than people know," [Oakland Schools Spokesman, Troy] Flint said, though he wouldn't elaborate on what those nuances were."
more at link
JMO, but I think this teacher was either not paying attention, had slipped out of the room or was inexperienced and/or burned out. Children can be remarkably fast and circumspect with misbehaviors. Being that no charges were brought tells me that sexual exploration simply got out of hand due to a lapse in supervision. Many parents really have no clue as to what little ones will do when unsupervised. And children these days are seeing far more sexualized images than is appropriate, IMO.
If I was that teacher, I'm not so sure I'd want to go back to the classroom. Teaching is not for the faint of heart, these days. One MUST have eyes in the back of their head.