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84 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
CHICAGO - When 11 fourth-graders accused their substitute teacher
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of molesting them, authorities were ready to believe them. Even
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the teacher agreed that children so young rarely lie about such
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things.
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This time, they did lie - prodded, police say, by a classmate who
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had offered them $1 apiece to accuse the teacher falsely.
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"What's so scary - and so sad - is that you've got 9-year-old
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kids sophisticated enough to know they can get a teacher by
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saying he fondled them," Chicago Teachers Union spokeswoman
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Jackie Gallagher said.
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"You just don't want to think that our little kids who you're
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still reading nursery rhymes to are figuring they're going to
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stick it to their teacher."
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Albert Thompson told police his class at Fuller Elementary School
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on Chicago's South Side became unruly during his May 9
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assignment. He said some children ran out of the classroom, and
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he had to stand by the door to keep others inside.
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When Thompson threatened to report their misbehavior, a
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9-year-old girl offered to pay 10 classmates - nine girls and a
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boy - $1 each if they joined her in claiming that Thompson
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fondled them, police said.
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Thompson, 43, never was charged. Police cleared him after some of
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the children made inconsistent statements and one admitted they
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had made up the story to get him in trouble. The 9-year-old also
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recanted, police said.
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But he hasn't gotten another teaching assignment.
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"We're in a society where you're guilty until proven innocent,"
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Thompson said Tuesday. Political correctness and children's
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rights "overrode my rights," he said.
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At the same time, even Thompson said the case was unusual. "For
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every case like mine, there are nine cases" where a child really
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was abused, he said.
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"This is really the exception," said Bette L. Bottoms, an
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assistant psychology professor at the University of Illinois at
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Chicago who has researched the use of child witnesses in sexual
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abuse cases. "Let's not use this as an example to discredit
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children in general."
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Lt. Robert Hargesheimer said the children probably had not
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thought through their actions and how the allegations "could
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damage this guy personally and professionally."
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The district still must review the police report before giving
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Thompson more teaching assignments, said schools spokesman Dawne
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Simmons.
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School officials are also trying to decide how to punish the
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youngsters.
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"What these kids have done is as evil in many ways as the kid who
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poisoned a teacher's coffee cup or as the kid who points a knife
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at the teacher," Gallagher said.
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But she added that she thinks the children will benefit more from
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counseling than severe punishment.
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Erin Sorenson, executive director of the Children's Advocacy
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Center of Northwest Cook County in suburban Hoffman Estates, said
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the children need to be made aware that their actions have
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consequences.
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She suggested community service, letters of apology to Thompson
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or deductions from the children's allowances to show that police
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investigations cost money.
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Thompson said he hopes to turn his ordeal into something positive
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by becoming an advocate for abused and molested children.
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He wasn't sure if he wanted to return to substitute teaching. He
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said he thought he'd be better off teaching Bible studies at his
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church.
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And he said, "I think that I need a vacation."
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