Ugh, I hate to even link to this story because a friend with a kid at Bronx Science told me about it, but I’m so upset just thinking about it, because I have a kid at home who is so vulnerable to someone as sophisticated as this guy.
Apparently he is (was?) an extremely popular, effective teacher.
This stinks, for everyone.
The kids on the news last night were shocked and said he was the most popular teacher at the school. This is just so sad and horrifying.
Yes, this guy was kind of the consummate role model for an idealistic, ambitious high-schooler. If you can’t trust a teacher like this, who can you trust?
Wouldn’t this type of guy be exactly who you’d expect to do this?
After all, the anti-social misanthropic sort who all the kids hate wouldn’t be able to pull this off.
For what it’s worth, the Bronx Science team has been a powerhouse in Forensics for decades. This man may have been a good coach, but he most definitely did NOT build that team!!!
Those poor kids.
Jeez, this guy knew what he doing was not just wrong, but abhorrent. I never understand why folks with “creative” sexual impulses refuse to restrict themselves to like minded adults and not teenagers.
Predators go where the prey is plentiful.
I hope they throw the book at him.
As someone who actually knows Jon Cruz, I am horrified. I debate in many circuits with Bronx Sci (though I am not a student there) and have spoken to him and have even been in rooms alone with him. Now granted he is gay and I am a girl, it’s still stunning to think about what could’ve happened if his tastes weren’t limited to boys. I was absolutely stunned when I read this news. It’s especially terrifying because parents spend hundreds of dollars for their kids to be part of the team and leave them in his care on overnight trips in different states. I could only imagine the panic they experienced when they first read this. This is just stunning to the debate community. He’s had such a prominent role in Northeast circuits and ran basically all of the tournaments in one league. It’s a good thing he is behind bars. If convicted of all charges, he’ll face a minimum of 30 years. I’m hoping he gets the max.
Yes, and that’s what’s so chilling about it–the kind of person you think is the ideal role model/mentor for your child is a monster in disguise. Better to have your child distrust everyone or only seek out help from the misanthropes on staff?
I have two sons–one who as a younger child was extremely skeptical of anyone who was too friendly or too interested in him. We never had to teach him about “stranger danger” because his innate makeup was to be suspicious of everyone. He’s much more accepting now and less judgmental, but in some ways, I’m thankful he was the way he was as a little boy because, while he was never the most popular kid or the darling of the most popular teachers, he likely was never the target of a pedophile either (or at least I like to tell myself this).
My other boy was diagnosed with an attachment disorder after we adopted him. There is nothing more terrifying than having a young child who trusts pretty much anybody and seeks affirmation from adults (including complete strangers) wherever and whenever he can find it. Having to explain to your neighbors that while, yes, it’s nice that we have such a friendly outgoing child, we don’t want him spending an inordinate amount of time chatting them up.
And when you try to explain what an attachment disorder is to them, they of course think there’s something off about you. Really? He seems like such a nice boy! Well he is a nice boy, but he’s got a lot of damage underneath the surface and he needs to maintain healthy and appropriate boundaries. I can’t tell you how many of them, including teachers and other well-educated professionals, ignored our pleas to keep a healthy distance from our son.
I’ll never forget the difference in Halloween trick-or-treating outcomes of our two boys. The one would get the usual haul and the other would have received twice the amount as his brother, along with several “custom” goody bags that were made just for him. I’m sure most of these adults meant well, but it was so bizarre to my husband and me. They actually directly defied our requests to treat our son like they would any other little boy and not give him special attention.
“There is nothing more terrifying than having a young child who trusts pretty much anybody and seeks affirmation from adults (including complete strangers) wherever and whenever he can find it.”
True and absolutely frightening for parents in this day and age. Seems like I took a deep breath every time toddler Lake Jr. would turn to a stranger in public and start broadcasting “Hi, I’m Lake Jr…” and just blithely chat away until I could get a hold of him.
Lengthy piece in today’s Times detailing the accusations against Jon Cruz: http://nyti.ms/1yjM4zO
All the social media apps available to kids these days (which I’m terrible at keeping track of) make the risk of being taken advantage of by an adult predator that much greater. Cruz allegedly used the Kik app to message underage boys.
The last post hits the nail on the head.
Life today is different than it was in the past. Especially because there are ways of essentially non-detectable communication that enable adults to interact with students in ways that were impossible years ago. Back then, you either had to stand in proximitiy to people to speak to them, or call them on the phone, which meant, at one time, the family phone, which usually was somewhat public.
I’m not sure people have changed, but their opportunities have been enhanced, for sure.