POSITIVE ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
Defining the Problem - General Premises
1) Child abuse is child abuse no matter where it occurs.
2) Child abuse committed by Maine school personnel is statistically almost non-existent (a
small fraction of 1% of the abuse in Maine), and almost none of these few cases involves
individuals with prior criminal records discoverable through fingerprinting.
3) Limited resources of time, money and personnel should be applied where they will have the
greatest positive effect on child abuse with the least negative fallout (i.e., abetting the teacher
shortage crisis, causing mistrust of school personnel, etc.).
Alternatives - Within Schools
1) Improve/bring consistency to existing background check and hiring procedures by:
a) requiring training in effective checks/hiring procedures of all candidates for
administrators' certificates (to be offered by State and/or universities);
b) studying and implementing ways to overcome the "pass the trash" problem of
references failing to give candid appraisals of job applicants.
2) Since school personnel are statistically the ones most likely to report abuse, give them
professional training in how to recognize the signs of abuse.
3) Teach students how better to protect themselves from potentially abusive situations.
We can never watch all members of the community; there will always be undetected
and first-time pedophiles out there whom fingerprinting cannot discover.
4) Provide better support for networking of existing agencies and school personnel, each
of which may have a piece of the bigger solution but lacks the resources to coordinate
efforts.
Alternatives - Outside Schools
1) Re-allocate the fingerprinting/FBI check money to DHS to enable it to investigate
and fully pursue ALL cases of suspected abuse. Despite claims to the contrary, recent fatal
cases (Logan Marr; Michael and Linda Frost) demonstrate that DHS is not providing
adequate follow-up on referrals of children in dangerous situations.
2) Examine the judicial response to child abuse where it returns pedophiles to the community
without rehabilitation within months, thus perpetuating the problem.
3) Offer training in recognizing the signs of abuse to police, clergy and others.
4) Advertise hotlines where citizens can report suspected or known abuse.
Prepared by Maine Educators Against Fingerprinting, 1 Stone Ridge Drive, Waterville, ME 04901
info@slipperyslope.org