A 13-year-old, a few minutes late for school, scurried towards the door. Her mom kissed her good bye then felt a chill race down her spine. Mom decided to follow her daughter. A half block behind, mom watched as a motorist followed her daughter. As the child was about to enter her middle school, the driver pulled over, got out, and pushed the child against the school fence, yelling, "Didn't I tell you to get into the car?" Shaking in fear at the stranger hovering over her, the child screamed, "I am only 13!" – It is the only defense young girls in East New York, Brooklyn are given to protect themselves from adults who prey upon them.
Mom grabbed the stranger by the collar. The stranger turned in anger, offended that someone would interfere. Mom, all of 5 feet tall, gave the stranger a kick to the head, threw him to the ground, and held him with a knee to his back until police arrived. As he was arrested, the stranger told police he did not know how old the child is. Mom said, "You are a liar. I heard her tell you how old she is."
This child, whose name was withheld at the request of her mother, was lucky. Many other NYC public school children have been victimized by sexual predators.
The New York City Chancellor's Regulation on Sex Offender Notification "addresses procedures for sharing information about convicted sex offenders with schools and parents, pursuant to New York's Sex Offender registration Act." The regulation states "principals are required to inform students and parents about the various means through which information about registered sex offenders may be obtained." It also includes background information, actions to be taken by the safety administrator upon receipt of the notification, and actions to be taken by the principal upon receipt of notification, including a sample letter to parents.
The directives to school principals are explicit. Principals are to alert school staff, and for schools located within the same zip code as the zip code in which the sex offender resides, principals are required, within two weeks of receipt of notification, to provide to all parents at the school a copy of the notification, including the photograph of the sex offender.
There is little evidence the Sex Offender Regulation is being implemented. A cursory survey found most parents are unaware of sex offenders residing in their neighborhoods. None said they received any notification from their child's school. When queried, no parent coordinator or parent association president said they were notified or even aware of the directive. When contacted, Eric Nadelstern, CEO of the Empowerment Schools Support Organization, said he'll "look into the matter."
In some neighborhoods, the 8 a.m. walk to school is a perilous path. Predatory adults have been seen intercepting young school children's trek to school. Concerned community residents have reported seeing such incidents, and stopping it with a simple command: "Go to school." Many mothers have witnessed men solicit their children, who are standing just a few feet from mom. Incident by incident, these moms confront the men, who disappear once they realize a concerned adult is hovering nearby.
Some children have not been so lucky. In East New York, Brownsville, Bedford Stuyvesant and Harlem, too many middle school children have been recruited into commercial sex exploitation by adults. In March of 2008, a Bronx 10-year-old girl, playing in front of her building one Sunday afternoon, was taken to the roof and raped.
The problem does not stop at the schoolhouse door. At times, sexually exploited children bring learned behaviors into school.
In one school, a 7-year-old boy emitted a blood curdling scream from the stairwell adjacent to the cafeteria. During lunchtime, a 7-year-old girl had taken him to the stairwell and attempted to perform oral sex on him. Not knowing what she was doing, the boy became afraid; hence, the scream. An investigation by school administration found the girl was being sexually abused by a family acquaintance. Mandated to report suspected child abuse, school staff obtained help for the little girl and kept a watchful eye on her, as she would occasionally attempt to repeat this behavior with other classmates.
At another school, two 10-year-old boys told their female classmate, "You are pretty. We are going to rape you." The girl did not know what rape was; for her safety, her mother removed the girl from the school.
Recently, an eight-grade girl reported being repeatedly approached in school by two 12-year-olds and a 10-year-old, who were recruiting the older girl to join them in working for the children's pimps.
Although some adults discount these and other incidents as resulting from exposure to sexually explicit popular music, many precocious behaviors come from premature carnal knowledge taught to children by sexual predators in the home and community.
One year ago, a count of the victims of child sex predators in Brooklyn by zip code/ address of offender found 904 victims ages 0-19. Of these, 295 were ages 0 through 12. No child is too young; one predator in zip code 11226 had "actual sexual intercourse" with a baby who was seven days to 364-days-old. There were 255 victims ages 13 to 15. There are more child victims this year – offender records are added to the NYS Sex Offender Registry regularly.
As of April 1, 2009, the NYS Sex Offender Registry's compilation of registered sex offenders by county included 1,864 offenders living in Kings County (Brooklyn). The Bronx has 1,467; New York (Manhattan) has 1,083; Queens has 1,079; and Richmond County (Staten Island) is home to 255 offenders.
Child sex offenders are usually men – of the hundreds of child sex offenders living in Brooklyn, only about one dozen are women. An overwhelming number of Level 2 and 3 child sex offenders living in Brooklyn are reside in African-American and Hispanic communities. Many offenders victimize multiple children. A variety of tactics are used to force children, mostly girls, to submit: drugs, guns, knives, choking, hitting, and kidnapping. Quite a few predators were strangers, however more were known by the child and child's family, including babysitters.
The impact of schoolchildren being victimized by sex offenders is far reaching. According to Christine Rucker, director of the Adolescent Education Program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, "When children under 16 are 'dating' adults, the relationship is based upon the needs of the older person. Hopefully they are not being threatened by someone making decisions for them. The child is not fully matured or learned in the basic coping mechanisms to deal with that relationship. The child may exhibit emotional problems and become frustrated because they are losing their own childhood."
Rucker calls adults getting sexually involved with children "an overall problem. When teenagers get pregnant, they may not be able to take care of the child on their own, without her family's assistance." Explaining further, Rucker states "If she doesn't have her family's help, it is harder to attend school during regular hours. They might have to attend night school or get a GED. Financially, they find it harder to get a job because they didn't finish their education."
Because of the adverse effects on the children victimized, Rucker states, "In my opinion, the children are being taken advantage of."
Legislative leaders in Albany have taken up the issue. Many have crafted legislation seeking to strengthen the intent of New York State's version of Megan's Law, the Sex Offender Registration Act, closing notification loopholes.
Assemblymember Annette Robinson (D-District 56) has introduced legislation establishing a sex offender public awareness program, by providing for educational outreach services to schools, community groups, and clergy, operated at the community level. Robinson recalled her years as a member of District 16's Community School Board. "We had health education in schools that talked with parents about health issues. Parents would ask 'What do I say?' Parents learned how to keep children safe." Remembering when she was a teacher at Head Start, Robinson said "Children would act out explicit sexual behavior." Part of the problem, according to Robinson, is that there are "folks that see children as adults."
"We get notices from the NYPD," said Robinson. "What does not happen is that people don't get education to teach their children on how to keep them safe. There is no education in schools about that."
This article was written as part of an education reporting fellowship granted by New York Community Media Alliance.
