We faced a difficult decision this weekend in our story about the family that won $400,000 from the Forsyth County school system in a civil case. The quick rundown: a former teacher at East Forsyth was convicted of having sex with a student. The family sued the system, arguing that officials knew the teacher had a problem but continued to employ him.
Typically speaking, open court is open court and court records are open court records. Particularly so when public agencies are involved. If the school system is going to pay $400,000, then the recipient of that money ought to be acknowledged.
But not always. The Journal’s coverage of rape victims and sex crimes has evolved over the years. Now, we don’t name the victims of sex crimes, unless they agree to be named.
Complicating things were are the fact that the girl is now 20 and that there’s evidence that the relationship was “consensual.”
We felt that the governing factor was the age of the girl at the time the crime was committed, and that state laws have been written to remove consent as a factor in sex cases involving students and teachers. There may be extenuating circumstances, but it is better to err on the safe side in this instance.
AND THE WINNERS ARE: Otterblog Jr. and I judged the first annual pumpkin headline writing contest. By unanimous vote, the winner was Dwight Defee with “The Cinderella Regatta.” Honorable mentions to Holy Floatin’ Curcubitas! and Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Paddler. Dwight wins the Journal coffee mug, which I will leave at the front counter for him to pick up. Thanks to all contestants.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
I think you made the right call. Consensual or not, I’d hate to have a bad/embarassing decision I made in high school publicized even today, 20+ years later.
As for the headline contest all I can say is “Darn, I really thought ‘Gourds Gone Wild’ had a shot.”
Congratulations to Dwight!
(Gourds Gone Wild made me snort aloud, but I couldn’t imagine the older readers of the Journal understanding the reference. It would have won on my blog, though.)
I think that’s a good call about the student, age or not. Victims of sex crimes still bear a bit of a stigma unfortunately, so the decision to step forward should always be theirs alone, in my opnion.
Good call on this. Unlike other controversial civil cases (i.e. Kobe Bryant), the criminal trial happened, and the person was convicted. Just because the girl and her family sued the school in this case, it doesn’t mean the experience is suddenly less traumatic.
Kudos to you all for giving journalism some integrity!
The real issue in this article is that the school did not defend their position. School leaders did not take the stand to defend the school systems position. Why does the victims name have any importance? Harry Wilson the attorney for the NC DPI took the stand for the victim and stated the school system did not report this crime on the state safe school report. Is a name important? WSFCS has never reported sex abuse by school personnel on the safe school report. The sheriff’s detective also testified the schools did not cooperate with law enforcement. Sworn testimony confirms school visitor/volunteer sign in logs and background checks are not being enforced. Why worry about background checks when our superintendent allows convicted felons to go on out of state overnight field trips with students? Sworn testimony confirms parents are not being notified of allegations of mis-conduct by school personnel. Sworn testimony revealed that an educator has had unauthorized sleepovers at their home. This is not being reported even though administrators are required by law to report violations. The school wants 250 million for new schools. Who in their right mind would vote yes for a school bond proposed by an administration that protects sexual misconduct? I will vote NO for school bonds until accountable leadership and non-partisan politics are out of our local public education. I will not allow my children to be educated by convicted felons or those who put them in our classrooms.
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