As anguishing as it is for parents awaiting more details about a Landis teacher charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, they might take some reassurance from the fact that the suspect has been teaching at the school for only a year, and this does not appear to be a case where previous problems at other schools went undetected or, even worse, were ignored.
The 29-year-old suspect, Jason Shafer, was in his first year of teaching at Landis Elementary School and had previously been in college in New York, according to investigators. Imagine how much greater the emotional trauma might be — for students, parents and faculty — if the suspect had been teaching at the school for several years, and the number of students who had passed through his classroom numbered in the hundreds, rather than the dozens. Think of how that would rachet up the anxiety and anger as parents waited for more information about the contents of the computer discs and books of photographs that investigators confiscated from the suspect’s home last week.
Unfortunately, the sexual exploitation or abuse of youngsters too often goes undetected or unpunished for long periods of time. In a 1998 special report on the problem of sexual abuse or exploitation by school employees, the journal Education Week recounted several cases where perpetrators had continued inappropriate behavior with students over many years, in different school systems. In one of the more egregious examples, two men won a million-dollar civil case against a school district in Maine that allegedly had ignored allegations and evidence of abuse against a teacher extending over two decades. In most of these cases, the report concluded, school administrators weren’t willfully protecting predators; they were simply reluctant to take action, fearing they lacked sufficient evidence to fire an employee or prove a case in court and might themselves be liable for damages if the allegations proved false. In other cases, suspects were able to intimidate or cajole their victims into recanting accusations.
In this case, however, the suspect has been formally charged — and parents will get the answers they desperately want and need. However, because this is an ongoing investigation, those details may not come as quickly as one would wish. While any criminal investigation involves methodical work, allegations of sexual crimes against children are especially sensitive, both because of the need to shield victims from further trauma and to protect the rights of suspects whose reputations can be irreparably harmed by unfounded allegations.
As for establishing innocence or guilt, this case may offer another reassurance. While computerized communication has opened new avenues of exploitation for sexual predators — and made law enforcement more difficult — those same electronic mechanisms can provide irrefutable evidence for prosecutors.
It’s often easy for authority figures to manipulate vulnerable youngsters and convince them that wrong is right and black is white. But photographs don’t lie, and e-mail records or chatroom transcripts can’t be coaxed to change their stories.
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