12-year-old girl raped at her middle school by fellow student

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On Monday, a 14-year-old El Cerrito, CA boy was charged with rape and false imprisonment of a 12-year-old girl. The alleged rape took place last week, in a stairwell at Portola Middle School.

El Cerrito Police Cmdr. Michael Regan told reporters that another student walked into the stairwell as the attack was taking place and reported it to a school resource officer.

The West Contra Costa Unified School District has placed both the principal and assistant principal of Portola Middle School on administrative leave.

Due to their ages, the names of the victim as well as the alleged perpetrator are being withheld.

Though rarely reported on, sexual assault in our nation’s public schools has become a tremendous problem in recent years. According to the California Department of Justice, 99 rapes occurred in schools within the Sacramento school district during the 2005-2006 school year alone.

As bad as the statistics are, the actual number of assaults taking place in our public schools is likely to be even more staggering than we know.

According to a study by the Center for Public Integrity, only 5 percent of students ever report being attacked.

In 2007, the children’s advocacy group Keystosaferschools,com conducted a ten-day study on the number of sexual assaults in public schools across the U.S. What follows are the disturbing results of that study, taken directly from the group’s website:

“-Jan 25, Hartford, CT â€" A 16 year-old student was grabbed near the tennis courts at about 11 am. She was sexually assaulted and dropped off in the city. She was acquainted with her attacker. Police and Hartford School District officials report the victim was very helpful and specific in her description of the attacker and the car she was in.

-Jan. 29, Barrie, ON â€" A 17 year old male is accused of raping or sexually assaulting 11 girls at Bear Creek high school in Barrie. Eight girls in grade 9 testified that he forced them into oral sex, or intercourse.

-Jan. 30, Fort Collins, CO â€" A 48-year-old band teacher turned himself into the Loveland Police Department today after being arrested for sexual assault on a child by a person of trust. He is alleged to have had a sexual relationship with a 17 year-old student.

-Jan. 31, San Antonio, TX -- A 1st grader at DeZavala Elementary School told school officials he was raped in a school bathroom on January 12th. The San Antonio School District and Texas Rangers released a sketch of the man they believe may have sexually assaulted a child at an elementary school. The man has a dark complexion, is average height with a thin build and salt and pepper hair. He is also said to be Spanish speaking.

-Jan. 31, Colorado Springs, CO â€" A 30 year-old former teacher at Brighton Charter has surrendered for violating a court order. She is accused of having sexual contact with a student, then violated a court order by allegedly contacting the victim.

-Jan. 31, MISSION, CA â€" A 16 year old student was the victim of a violent sexual assault at the hands of a school district computer technician. The two “met” in an internet chat room that eventually led to a real meeting and a sexual relationship that lasted almost two years until its violent end this week. Police believe the suspect is a sexual predator who spent a great deal of time in enticing the student. He has been suspended by the School District pending an internal investigation.

-Feb. 1, BLACKSTONE, MA - A Blackstone teacher has been suspended with pay for more than two weeks after being charged with statutory rape. The 38 year-old 8th grade English teacher is charged with three counts of statutory rape of a child, two counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14 and three counts of indecent assault and battery of a person 14 or over. Court records were sealed to protect the identity of victims and details of the alleged crimes. The school district superintendent notified parents of the teachers suspension pending court proceedings.

-Feb 1, KNOXVILLE, TN â€" Federal Investigators have arrested a high school umpire and referee on charges of sexually assaulting children and possession of child pornography. Court documents reveal that the suspect has been a Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association official for about five years and that he has confessed to sexual contact with children. His confession includes sexually assaulting a child while on camera then posting the assault to world wide web. The investigation revealed that he has served time in Colorado for sexually assaulting three 11 year-old boys. He lives within a half mile of an elementary school.

-Feb. 2, Saugus, MA -- A Saugus High School junior was recuperating at a local hospital after ingesting the date rape drug and collapsing in class. A 17-year-old classmate was later arrested by and charged with several drug offenses and attempted poisoning. Details as to how the drug was given or the intentions of the offender were not available.

-Feb. 2, Groveton, TX â€" A 17 year-old and two 15 year-old male students at Groveton High School have been charged with aggravated sexual assault. They are accused of taking a 13 year-old student into the school’s field house where they assaulted her. The younger boys told police that the girl wanted to have sex.

-Feb 2, Urbana, IL â€" A 2nd grade teacher was arrested on charges of sexual abuse of his students. Three 2nd grade girls were blindfolded and played sexual games with their male teacher. â€" Urbana schools Superintendent Gene Amberg said the district will look for ways to strengthen its hiring process. He said he expects the district to be sued over the incidents.

"I am responsible. The buck does stop here. There's no question about it," he said in an interview Friday afternoon. Another school where he previously taught has decided not to notify parents stating that they never received any complaints while he taught there.

-Feb. 3, CHATTANOOGA, TN -- A female school bus driver has been charged on accusation that she had sex with a teenage boy in Chattanooga. The bus driver was 30 and the male student 15 at the time of the alleged sexual misconduct. The investigation was initiated when a student informed the School Resource Officer of the incident.

-Feb 3, LOUISVILLE, KY â€" A Meyzeek Middle School student was pulled into an alley and raped just a block from the school. The student had just gotten off a public transportation bus and was walking the short distance to school. Surveillance tapes from the bus show a man following the student that police want to speak with. He is called a person of interest.

-Feb. 3, Decatur, AL -- A student at Calhoun Community College was sexually assaulted on campus while walking to class. The administration decided not to notify the student body because they could not identify the suspect. The victim saw her attacker at the campus library the next day and reported to police. Defending their decision not to notify students, an administration official said that the victim was not being very cooperative.

-Feb. 3, Kirkland, WA â€" A junior ed special ed para-educator has filed a complaint with the police alleging that a 13 year-old student sexually and physically assaulted her in the school. According to her complaint, she informed school officials but was told that she provoked the student’s attack. Officials at the school and at the district have refused comment citing privacy issues either with Special Ed or with personnel regulations.

-Feb. 5, GROVE CITY, PA â€" Personnel from Grove City High School became concerned about a student and reported their concerns to police. After an investigation, a 44 year-old Grove City man was arrested Friday on charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse related to persons less than 13 years of age and less than 16 years, aggravated indecent assault of juvenile and those less than 13 years of age, sexual abuse of children involving video recording of sexual acts and possessing child pornography and indecent assault.”

In 2005, Robert Shoop, a professor at Kansas State University and an expert on school violence, told the Washington Post: "Sexual harassment is a much more serious issue in public schools than most people have been willing to admit. And it's much more likely to occur in unsupervised venues -- like buses or bathrooms."

He went on: Buses are "more dangerous, in that society has become more sexualized and less civil. Now many more kids are saying, 'I don't want to ride the bus.' They're scared."

School buses today, are indeed dangerous places, as the following two cases demonstrate:

-In December 2004, a 6-year-old Frederick County, MD girl was fondled by a middle-school student while riding her bus. Her mother only learned of the assault months later, when the bus driver told her.

-In April 2004, an 11-year-old girl attending Lakeview Elementary School near Richmond, VA was attacked by two girls and three boys on her bus. The girl told police that her attackers held her down, groped her and even penetrated her with an object.

With such troubling cases, there is little wonder children feel so threatened.

In 2001, the American Association of University Women found that eight out of 10 students in grades 8 through 11 reported having been sexually harassed at school, usually by other students. One-third of public school students surveyed said the harassment began in elementary school.

It should be noted that in May 2009, Portola Middle School, where the alleged rape occurred, was the scene of a mob attack. Music teacher Tiffany Carrico was beaten by several students. At one point, Ms. Carrico was even shoved down a flight of stairs.
 

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