HELL IS FOR CHILDREN: PROVIDE SAFE HARBORS FOR KIDS

Because hell, hell is for children

And you know that their little lives can become such a mess

Hell, hell…

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

If you have kids in local schools – private or public – you might want to have that birds-and-bees conversation you have been putting off and hoping their mother would do it.

In the wake of settlements by the Catholic Church with the victims of pedophile priests, count school teachers among other potential perverts. One sends their kids to school thinking it is a safe place as any. Next to the church – oops – it used to be.

Like priests, not all of them are suspect. But there are enough bad ones out there to exercise caution.

There have been cases where teachers have become involved with students (males with females, males with males, females with males, females with females, etc.) in the past in Brownsville public and private schools.

The latest was the arrest last Tuesday by the Brownsville Police Department who charged a BISD teacher with having an improper relationship with a student.

The police said that Juan P. Gomez, a social studies teacher at Stillman Middle School, was accused of having an improper relationship with a 17-year-old student while serving as a youth group minister at classes held at St. Mary’s Catholic School. The class, we have been told, was not part of the school which only goes to the 6th grade. Texas law prohibits relationships between educators and students.

Alfonso Gutierrez Jr., interim administrator for public information at the Brownsville Independent School District, said Gomez was placed on administrative leave on April 16 because of the allegations.

“The district obviously takes measures for the safety and the well-being of all of our students,” Gutierrez said.

Gee, that's great Alfonso. But why weren't parents at the private school warned back then that  Gomez might have been a wolf in sheep's clothing teaching students about the Lords' word and about resisting temptation and respecting the innocence of children?

Obviously, that task of warning the young about the existence of predators among the teaching staff – including a youth minster of all things – must fall on the shoulders of us parents. Students must be made aware that there are bad people among the good, and that the enticement to evil can come from all quarters.

Giving them you blessing at the door when they depart is not enough. Include the reminder that evil is all around and that they should be constantly aware of it. Provide safe harbor for them when they encounter it.