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Intershame On: Bethlehem Area School District |
Lack of Compassion
06/22/2009
Hey assault victim! Get to class!
From lehighvalleylive.com ...Advocates for a Liberty High School student, who was sexually assaulted last September, claim the school district is re-victimizing her by failing to make accommodations for her to finish ninth grade.
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The girl's mother, [...] said her daughter missed school immediately after the incident then repeatedly throughout the year.
Some of the absences were due to meetings with police or the Northampton County Division of Children, Youth and Families, the mother said.
In late November, about two months after the assault, the girl's mother received notice that she was being taken to truancy court because her daughter was absent too many days.
"She had a week out of school to heal. They really didn't want to give her any more time than that," the victim's mother said. "I was like 'Are you kidding me?'"
"Are you kidding me" is an understatement. Sexual assault victims are often subject to further, more subtle abuse after their initial attack. Victims are often blamed for their situation, shunned by their peers and suffer the humiliation of not being believed. A sexual assault can have long lasting psychological effects on its victim. Every person handles these situations differently and for this girl to be hauled into truancy court shows a severe lack of compassion by the school district. Of course she's going to miss school. Perhaps understanding that and adjusting their policy would have been a better course of action.
Some good news has come out of the publicity generated by this story. The Bethlehem Area School District has been embarrassed into waiving summer school fees for the girl.
To this, Intershame.com offers the Bethlehem Area School District a sarcastic pat on the back. It shouldn't have taken a public shaming to motivate them into action.
Comments
- 1060 days agoBoo on Bethlemhem School District. I am sure this district will look more closely now at every move they make in further decisions. Shame on you!
- 1060 days agopapageorgio326 : Thanks for your comment and thanks for the opportunity to clarify. Im arguing that the system already has the fingerprints of socialism all over it (see the link I provide above) and those who think the governments proposed approach to reform will make the system more socialist dont really understand how the proposed reform works. If the public plan being proposed by the government were mandated and free of charge, Id appreciate the socialist argument more, but its not. The public plan will cost a citizen more than just the taxes they contribute " if you want the public plan, youre going to pay a premium just like any private plan right now. Really, by creating a plan of their own the government is using their enormous size to apply the capitalist concept of undercutting prices. Its almost as if the government is stealing Wal-Marts business play book. I understand there are great differences with how people see this proposed reform and I really do appreciate your input to the debate. Im sure Im going to write many other things that people think are insane and if I need to be called out for them, great. Open debate is always better than silence.
- 1059 days agoAs a former advocate for children with education disabilities, I've seen school districts give the wink and nod to the assault upon these children by peers. So this sexual assault to such school districts is just a wink and a yawn. With this mentality running our public schools, it would be surprising if they did not fail to properly educate a huge proportion of students.
- 1059 days agoWhy don't the parents of the students in the school district, organize to fire the people responsible for persecuting this sexual assault victim?
- 1059 days agoI went to sleep away summer camp in that town for 10 years and I can't say I'm terribly surprised >_<
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