In Madison, Wisconsin two students confronted another in a bathroom after the regular school day had ended on April 10th. The first two raped the third. Not to fear, however, the school district’s head of safety and security is here to put it all in perspective:
Our buildings are full of kids, and kids will be kids. As terrible and tragic as that incident sounds, I would just ask that people just be patient. Our schools are very safe but there are incidents that are going to happen from time to time [emphasis mine – cd]
Yes, that’s right. You’re in charge of safety and security and a kid gets raped on your watch. That’s not bad enough? Hand your beer to a friend and go give a press conference where you chuckle rape away. Bonus points if you are callous enough to use, word for word, the gender-neutral form of the single most reviled, bullshit excuse for avoiding accountability as if now is the time for “schools see no gender”. Even more bonus points if the name of the person with the chutzpah and toxic masculinity to laugh off the sexual assault of a child so as to make his own professional failures seem less severe is Joe Balles. No, really. I couldn’t make that up.
The local rape crisis center’s spokesperson, Missy Mael, had a different take:
Forms of sexual assault are happening in schools every single day. Not always to this extent, but the way I like to approach it is – what level of sexual assault is acceptable in a school?
Perhaps CNN can answer that question after they spend a few months bemoaning how convicted rapists don’t get to be football gods anymore.
Translation: Sorry to get your hopes up, but this really isn’t as bad as it sounds. But be patient! Don’t let our safety theater fool you – sooner or later we’ll have an incident that will totally knock your socks off and sate your bloodlust for tragedy!
Alternative translation: please don’t sue us please don’t sue us please don’t sue us please don’t…
I couldn’t think of anything coherant to say when I first read this yesterday. I still can’t.
For a city that prides itself on being so “progressive,” it’s just as filled to the brim with toxic shitheads as anywhere else. To make it worse, everyone’s got that Midwestern “nice” thing going, so it’s just not polite to talk about these things.
“Mid-west nice” is overstated. “Mid-west passive-aggressive” may be more accurate. Another horrible thing – this isn’t the first incident of violence directed at a student that was reported this month at a school in the district. A second horrible thing – this isn’t the first horrifying response by security staff to violence against a student this month. Yet another horrible thing – the district didn’t even contact families and let us find out ON THE F**** NATIONAL NEWS. They contact families about unscheduled fire drills, but this in NBD.
“Kids will be kids.” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No! This is unacceptable. Kids are some percentage feral unsocialized humans, but it’s the school district’s job to deal with children as they are and, at a bare minimum, keep them safe. We’ll see if I get a response to a demand for a public apology from the alleged “security coordinator” and a specific plan of corrective action from the district.
Yeah, I’ll just sit here and hold my breath.
**passes out**
“Kids will be kids” does not equal “They’re felons.”
Now, I know that it’s damn hard to actually protect kids from dedicated bullies (because they bully’s parents will usually throw a lawsuit or two your way abd because we cannot be everywhere), but when horrible deeds are done (they don’t happen like tripping on ice), you don’t fucking go out and shrug your shoulders. You go out and make sure the perpetrators are caught and that such a thing never happens again.