(BBM)
The feel I've had from the start is they are very naive.
JMO, but they seem to believe they're in this secure bubble, a small close-knit 'country' school where it's all one big happy family and there is no need to even consider that bad people do bad things to little kids.
What a horrific wake-up call.
First let me say that I am in no way singling out Oregon's public school system but because this discussion is about Kyron Horman, a 7-year-old child who was last seen at the school he attended there, and because so many ademantly refuse to believe for one second that a teacher/school employee could be responsible
OR that a school's district administrative board would engage in "covering up" a teacher's history of sexual abuse complaints/allegations previously made by students, I am posting the following.
Calliope, in response specifically to the part of your post bolded by me above; IF there is an atmosphere of naiveness, it is of their own choice because IMO there has been a number of wake up calls - wake up calls that include sexual offenses against children committed by teachers, school volunteers, and coaches thru out the state of Oregon - some very close to home...
THE NEWSPAPER OF EDUCATION RIGHTS
June 2008
The Oregonian recently reviewed hundreds of cases of teacher misconduct to study the way this dynamic is at work in Oregon. Reporters found 47 cases over ten years in which districts had made confidential settlements with teachers accused of abuse.
Middle school teacher Kenneth John Cushing, for example, allegedly touched at least eight female students inappropriately. Through public records requests, the Oregonian obtained a copy of the agreement Salem-Keizer Public Schools made with Cushing in 2004. The district promised to cite "personal reasons" if potential employers called to check Cushing's references, and to make "no reference to this agreement." In return, Cushing resigned quietly without dragging the district through a formal inquiry. Three years later, Cushing left a job teaching at a charter school in Tucson, Arizona, apparently also for "personal reasons." Administrators at that school said that Cushing's record there was clean.
Other private agreements unearthed by the Oregonian resembled Cushing's in persuading accused teachers to resign, except that some also provided cash settlements, health insurance benefits, or recommendation letters. According to the paper, this practice "is so widespread, school officials across the country call it 'passing the trash.'" (The Oregonian, 2-18-08: Link to referenced article;
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/02/schools_cut_secret_deals_with.html)
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I could easily fill a page if I were to list every sexual abuse case involving an Oregon teacher/employee therefore I'm posting this link - Although it is not all-inclusive, it does give a fairly good compilation of the history of cases for each state - In this case the link opens up directly to Oregon's cases.
http://badbadteacher.com/category/oregon/
Granted, the prolonged disappearance of a child from school is something that doesn't happen very frequently - typically when a child is offended, they're returned to class and their absense goes unnoticed... JMHO ~