<p>There had been stories similar to this at my high school and, just this year, they started to snowball. Most, if not all, dated back to students who overlapped with my enrollment, so the direct actions are not current. But the environment persists and I would suggest that there may very well be a long gestation period for people to come forward – meaning that the cases that are happening today won’t come out for years, when abused people realize that the abuse isn’t something that they could shake off and leave behind them once they’ve graduated.</p>
<p>At my high school, the same people are in charge. They’ve changed titles, but the same people who ran the show in my day are still key people – perhaps with even more power now. One person, known to students as being “creepy” and, as it turns out, the object of internal complaints by faculty members for being overly “touchy” with younger students, was made headmaster despite the dark cloud and suspicions.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most troubling thing is that people who do come forward – especially after a statute of limitations has expired – are looked upon with suspicion and derision. “What are they after?” “They’re just trying to shake down the school for some easy money.” “They’re malcontents who hate the school and they’re carrying out a grudge by airing this without having to prove it.” I’ve seen it happen time and again – particularly these past six months – where the people who have come forward have been marginalized and shunned by the well-established community of alumni and other power brokers who set the tone for the school and position themselves as the face of the school.</p>
<p>In that kind of environment you can expect the predators to feel safe to keep up their foul enterprise because they can expect their victims to pay a heavy price if they ever entertain the idea of coming forward. The reaction at Penn State was much healthier and it helped create an environment where victims can feel that they can come forward and receive compassion, not a rebuke. I assume the Horace Mann groups on Facebook are – like the Penn State reaction – designed to take a stand with the alleged victims and insist that the leadership demonstrate some sort of accountability, regardless of the statute of limitations. My high school has promoted a different culture, I think, and that’s something that parents today should take note of. Circling the wagons around the school administration and challenging those individuals who challenge the administration is a sign of a sickness that permeates the present-day culture, even if the only direct complaints of abuse are decades-old. It elevates image and public relations over safety – which, ironically, is about the worst possible image one can present to the public.</p>
<p>There’s something to be said for continuity in leadership – particularly leadership that has been demonstrably successful along many key metrics – but with longevity comes disease. Some degree of turnover in the personnel prevents complacency and as more and more new faces come into leadership, there’s less and less of a vested interest on the part of both the administration and the alumni and other benefactors to circle their wagons in defense of people from a by-gone era. It helps to be able to point to the current leadership and say how things have changed. The Horace Mann press statement made that precise point in that the current administration said that things have changed and that there’s a new sheriff in town. Understandably, people want more – but that sure beats having the old sheriff still flashing his badge and telling the loyal followers he has acquired over decades that the problem isn’t him as much as it’s these troublemakers who try to impugn him with ancient allegations. That’s how lynch mobs get started…and, in this case, they’re going after the victims.</p>