Sex offenders have not been on vacation. It is a great responsibility to protect children from the heinous and harmful act of sexual abuse by teachers and other school employees. Every school administrator and staff needs the best information and strategies available to meet this obligation.

There are five critical techniques that administrators and teachers can employ to identify most sex offenders before harm is done. Once identified, school administrators must employ all possible techniques to protect children from those considered suspicious.

A key technique, ‘Appropriate Suspicion’, based on human behavior and probabilities, is a powerful tool in thwarting would-be sex offenders. Appropriate Suspicion has five levels of suspicion and strategies for prevention.

Another important technique is ‘Trust your gut’, also known as intuition/sixth sense. If someone’s behavior or comment, no matter how joking, doesn’t sit well with you or gets on your nerves, this is a clue that something might be afoot. Of course, you can’t act on your gut/intuition/sixth sense, but you can keep your eyes and ears open for any other clues that come up. Sex offenders count on people’s reluctance to “judge” anyone, therein lies their wall of protection against detection.

We can spot intelligent would-be sex offenders if we simply practice the five critical techniques for thwarting them. You won’t be breaking any ethical codes or laws by keeping your eyes, ears, and mind open to the reality that anyone, even those you love and trust, can be sex offenders.

Plus, there are seven compelling parent-approved, kid-tested techniques for turning parents and kids into potential sex offenders. As you know, teacher sexual abuse and sexual abuse in general in the school environment has increased in recent years.

Together with school administrators and staff using the five techniques to screen for potential sex offenders and parents/children using the seven prevention techniques, there is a powerful and empowering strategy to protect children from this horrible crime.

Selected news reports on the sexual abuse of students by teachers:

o On March 3, 2008, a Mountain View High School student reported to the Pima County Sheriff’s Sex Crimes Unit that she had been sexually abused by a teacher.

o On March 4, 2008, detectives with the Sex Crimes Unit arrested Jason William Baridon (DOB 12/1/75), at Mountain View High School, on two counts of sexual assault. Mr. Baridon was booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Center. Public Information Officer Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

o Physical education teacher arrested for child sexual abuse. Posted by Jeff Quinton on April 28, 2008. Baltimore County Police Department press release:…

o 4/26/08 Teacher Arrested on Three Counts of Sexual Assault: Tawni L. Wimberley, 29, a former computer/technology teacher at Flagstaff High School in Flagstaff, Arizona, has already been indicted by a grand jury on one count of sexual conduct with a minor has been charged with two additional counts of sexual conduct with a minor. Wimberley had passed all the background checks.

As a pioneer in child sexual abuse prevention/recovery, I have represented survivors of child sexual abuse for over 30 years. Criminal charges provide the justice system with an opportunity to apprehend sexual predators. Civil lawsuits for sexual abuse hold institutions that allow sexual deviants to take advantage of children accountable for the lives damaged by sexual abuse. No school setting is immune to being a haven for a sex offender.