Saturday, April 18, 2009

Horace Mann prophecy watch

Horace Mann, generally regarded as the father of America's current public school system, once prophesied: "Let the Common School ... be worked with the efficiency of which it is susceptible, and nine tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete; the long catalogue of human ills would be abridged."

It hasn't quite worked out that way, of course. Not only have the crimes not become obsolete, they are now occurring in the schools themselves. Of course, the schools hire security guards to help alleviate the problem, but -- whoops! -- sometimes the security guards are child molesters. Hate it when that happens.

As the Tulsa World's Andrea Eger reports,
A security guard who pleaded no contest this week to molesting a girl he met at Hale High School worked more extensively at Tulsa Public Schools than officials reported after his arrest.

Tracy Richard Sullins, 49, is in the Tulsa jail awaiting sentencing on one count of lewd molestation, a felony.

In 2007, Tulsa school officials said Sullins was a security guard who had substituted for only a day or two at two or three Tulsa schools in 2006, but on Friday, they reported that he began working for the district in 1999.

School officials said he was the lead guard at Hale High School between 2004 and 2005. The only other schools they knew he worked at are Byrd Middle School and Edison Preparatory School, said Tami Marler, a spokeswoman for the district. ...

Det. Jim Murray, with the Diamond, Mo., police, said Sullins was as bold as any Internet predator he has encountered.

Sullins reportedly had more than 700 addresses for female juveniles in his e-mail account and more than 200 instant messaging contacts.

"I didn't realize the kind of monster we were dealing with until we got the forensic report back on his computer," Murray said. "He bragged about making girls his prostitutes."

Murray also said that unlike what was initially reported, Sullins had more than a few days of access to girls in local schools.

No comments: