Testimony Before the Maine Legislative Committee on
Educational and Cultural Affairs by Paul H. Gray
2/10/00
I want to take a moment to introduce myself. My name
is Paul Gray. I am not, nor have I ever been, a public
school worker in Maine. I was born and raised in
Maine, my mother's people were among the families that
settled the town I live in back in 1765, I attended
Maine public schools, Kents Hill Prep, and Bowdoin
College. I have been teaching for the past 28 years
at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1986 I
received the award for outstanding teaching in my
college, in 1992 for outstanding teaching in the
University Graduate Program, and in 1993 I won a
national award for outstanding teaching in my
discipline. I don't tell you this to brag, but just
to establish a lifelong commitment to education. Last
August, my wife and I retired to Maine. It's great to
be back home, and we're here to stay, if the price
of heating oil doesn't drive us back to the Sunbelt.
Weekend before last, Gov. King spoke publicly about
the fingerprinting of Maine's public school workers.
He said that fingerprinting was a terrible thing to a
group of people, but we can't ignore reality. I agree
with the governor. With so many state officials
implying that Maine's educators are making much ado
about nothing, it was reassuring to hear our chief
lawmaker remind us that mandatory fingerprinting is a
terrible thing for a state to be doing to any its
citizens. And who could quarrel with his warning that
we can't ignore reality. What disturbs me is that
whoever recommended fingerprinting to the legislature
as a solution to child abuse doesn't seem to have
given the reality of the problem so much as a glance.
What is the reality of child abuse, the reality our
governor insists we can't ignore?
At this point, I must apologize for having to bore you
with statistics. Were this a
classroom, I would tell you that there'll be a quiz on
this data. Since it isn't, I can only ask
respectfully for your attention. The time limit
permits me to answer only three questions about child
abuse in the late 1990's: 1) how extensive is the
problem; 2 what are the trends in child abuse; and 3)
who's doing the abusing. The information I provide
comes chiefly from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human
Services, the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse
and Neglect Information, and David Walters' book,
Physical and Sexual Abuse of Children: Causes and
Cures.
First, is the problem of child abuse bad? You better
believe it. The estimate for 1997, the last year for
which we have analyzed data, is approximately 948, 000
cases of child abuse in this country. [4-1]
Second, is the problem getting worse? No, it isn't.
In fact, since 1993, it has declined from a high of
15.3 out of every 1000 children to the current 13.9.
[4-1] Most important, sexual molestation as a
percentage of overall abuse has declined by 4.8
percent. [4.2] The only significant area of increase
in child abuse is neglect, which has risen by 7.8
percent. [4-2] Please, don't get me wrong. Child
abuse is still a terrible blight on the American
landscape. But there is no reason for hysteria in
looking for solutions.
Third, who are the perpetrators of child abuse?
According to figures released in 1999 by the U.S.
Dept. of Health and Human Services, 75% of all
perpetrators are parents of the victim. 10% are other
relatives of the victim. 8% are strangers, 5% are
non-caretakers,. and way down there at less that 2%
is everybody else. Notice that you can't find public
school workers listed as a separate group, because
they are, as the professional counters put it,
"statistically insignificant." To find out about that
you have to go to something called The National
Association of Directors of Teacher Education and
Certification Manual which includes data on educators
convicted for child abuse from 1987 to 1994, the peak
years for child abuse, you will recall. They cite only
national figures, but if Maine is a typical state
(and no evidence shows so far it isn't), it comes out
to something less than one case a year.
If the State's estimate of 47, 000 public school
workers is accurate, and the cost for fingerprinting
them is $49 apiece, and if my math is correct, that
comes to over two and a quarter million dollars. That
seems to me a rather drastic solution to less than
one
case of child abuse a year especially when you realize
that Maine in 1997, above and beyond its 3746 cases
of substantiated child abuse [D-9] had another 3425
cases Dept. of Human Services it "considered
appropriate" for investigation, but lacked the funds
to do so. [F-16]. And keep in mind the two and a
quarter million is going for fingerprinting-a
deterrent so dubious it doesn't even figure among the
U.S. Dept. of Human Services' proposed solutions to
child abuse.
I want to end with a brief comment on a disturbing
column by Maine's Commissioner of Education that
appeared in the Bangor Daily News and perhaps other
newspapers around the state. In his remarks, the
Commissioner not only implies that anybody opposed to
fingerprinting is opposed to background checks, quite
a different matter, but worse, he paints a picture of
public school workers as more concerned with their
personal privacy than with the abuse of our children.
I call the committee's attention to the fact that
nationally, public school workers are the number one
source for reports of child abuse. [3-1; graph, 3-2]
More of the data we have on this problem come from
alert and caring educators than any other group.
Maine is no exception. Among the top three sources of
child abuse information in 1997, 518 reports came from
law enforcement personnel, 740 from social services
people, but 850 [State Data ;Tables, D-5] came from
the teachers, principals, secretaries, bus drivers,
and cafeteria works, who it would seem, are the best
friends a boy or girl in trouble has got. Please
don't be follow the example of our education
commissioner by confusing our front-line soldiers in
the fight against child abuse with the enemy. And
above all, as you search for solutions to child abuse
in Maine, heed the words of our governor and keep a
steady eye on reality.