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There should be a category for school employees...

Reading piled up mail from last week, I sat here wondering why it is that I have never added a category dedicated to those that we rely on the most, those that we respect, those people we entrust with the safety and wellbeing of our children everyday. It seems like at least once a week, I have a story where a school employee- usually a teacher, but not always- has thrown aside our trust and betrayed us in the worst way imaginable. They take advantage of what we as parents hold dearest to our hearts- our children.
The normally happy ten year old boy, with good grades, suddenly just wasn't himself. He wasn't as happy as he had been, he'd begun to withdraw from people and his grades dropped drastically. He began getting in trouble at school... all without an sort of explanation, until a teacher at the school he attended discovered pornographic photos of the young boy on a digital camera.

David Cech, Strassburg's dean of students and a former fifth-grade teacher, took semi-nude pictures of the boy on school grounds, Sauk Village Police Chief Tom Lacheta said.

Cech, 27, of Orland Park, was charged Wednesday with one count of manufacturing child pornography, an felony punishable by four to 15 years in prison, police said. He is expected to appear for a bond hearing today at the Cook County courthouse in Markham.

"It's vindication for my son," the boy's father said.

The boy's parents learned about the pictures Tuesday, a day after the images were discovered on a digital camera by a co-worker of Cech at the school.

Lacheta and the boy's family said there's no indication Cech molested the boy, who was examined at a hospital and interviewed by psychologists on Wednesday.

The boy's mother said Cech would take her son into his office or a bathroom, pull down the boy's pants and take pictures. She said Cech "took advantage" of her son at least 15 times."He said he was scared; he thought he was going to get in trouble," she said. "He thought people would think he was lying."

The boy's relatives and other parents said Cech would rub students' backs, mail them personal letters and often eat lunch with a group of boys in his office. Lacheta said one parent came forward Wednesday with claims that Cech behaved inappropriately with her children. Police are investigating the allegation. SRC
At this moment, Cech has been able to use use his previously clean record to convince the judge that he's a prime candidate for a low bond... and has walked out of jail after posting just $10,000- 10% of the bail Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Condon set last week.
Now, Cech has indicated that he will resign from his position with the school, and currently he is on administrative leave... but somehow the fact that other students have recently made claims that there was inappropriate behavior towards them going on and the fact that the school hasn't canned him already is just down right obscene.
"It's a relief that they say he's going to resign, but until I get the resignation, when I get the resignation, then I'll be relieved," said Sauk Village elementary superintendent Rudy Williams.

That quote has to be worth at least a bit of irratation. I've been informed that with the teachers union, it's almost impossible to consider firing a school employee. Isn't that just delightful?
I've done this long enough to understand that there are always cases where the accused is innocent. Where the claims aren't what they seem to be... where it's one persons word against another. But, when you have the words of a 10 year old, backed up by photos taken on the accused's camera, one has to wonder what shred of doubt could possible exist that entitles this man to resign rather than be fired on the spot.
I'll continue to follow this, (and by clicking this search link you can too) and perhaps someone will get around to firing this man, perhaps someone will actually make him responsible for his actions, perhaps someone will take away whatever teaching license he may have that entitled such a pervert to be a school administrator. And perhaps, if we are lucky- I'll share with you the news that he was awarded a long sentence for his deviant actions.
H/T Charles

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