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Source: The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.迷你倉新蒲崗Aug. 14--When female teachers are arrested for having sex with students, faces and accusations are posted across web pages, newspapers and pulp magazines. Speculation and outrage abound.In the past four months, three Inland female educators have faced charges for having sexual contact with students; one had a child fathered by a student.But perhaps the most famous case -- fodder for a TV movie in 2000 -- involves Mary Kay Letourneau, a Tustin native who at 34 began a relationship with a sixth-grader in Washington state. After her release from prison, Letourneau and the student, Vili Fuluaau, married in 2005. They have two children.Despite the publicity, the phenomenon of female teachers engaging in sexual relationships with their students is not well understood. Immaturity, neediness and emotional stress may play a role. The teachers' and student's closeness in age can be a factor. For whatever reason, the offending teachers fail to recognize professional and societal boundaries.Experts say it's difficult to draw strong conclusions and establish a standard profile for teachers who cross those boundaries -- and therefore difficult to prevent.In the three recent Inland cases, the educators' ages varies from 28 to 45.On July 1, Redlands teacher Laura Whitehurst, 28, was arrested for having sex with three Citrus Valley High School students, including the father of her child. Summer Michelle Hansen, 31, a teacher at Centennial High School in Corona, was arrested in June; she faces 16 felony sex charges involving five students. And in April, authorities arrested Erin Renee Henton, 45, an assistant principal at Tahquitz High School in Hemet, and charged her with having sex with three students.On July 31, Whitehurst pleaded guilty to six of the 41 felonies she faced. She resigned from the Redlands district the day after she was arrested.Experts say that, even if she were allowed to teach again, it's unlikely she would repeat her behavior.Franca Cortoni is an associate professor in criminology at the University of Montreal and one of a few people to study female sex offenders. She said women make up only about 5 percent of sex offenders. Very few who go through the corrections systems re-offend, she said. Her 2005 study of 380 female sex offenders showed only 1 percent were rearrested for sexual crimes.Cortoni and other experts said the dynamic that occurs between a female teacher and an adolescent male student typically is very different than that of a male teacher and a teenage female student. But, Cortoni acknowledged, there is little data available from which to draw conclusions."We're really trying to understand this whole phenomenon," she said.'RINGS OF CONSEQUENCE'While public perception may be that more of these female teacher/male student cases seem to be occurring, Cortoni said her research shows that such behavior is no more prevalent now than in the past."It's more that it just hasn't been paid attention to in the past," Cortoni said.The recent cases of younger teachers involved with older students falls into a narrow and somewhat gray area, Cortoni said. Most offenders in such cases would not be characterized as pedophiles, and there is often a mutual desire to engage in sexual activity."It's difficult to talk about the willingness on both sides," Cortoni said. "We've got someone who was in a position of authority. Are we dealing with someone who was misguidedly attracted to these boys and didn't understand the age boundaries? If she was 25 and he was 18 ... what were the boundaries? If she was 40 and he was 14, that's a whole different ballgame. Once you get into the younger ones, 14 and below, we're dealing with something entirely different."Cortoni makes it clear she isn't condoning such activity when the age barrier is small. She said students in such situations can be psychologically and emotionally damaged."The victims can have very different reactions," she said. "They can range anything from, 'Eh, I'm OK with it,' all the way to feeling violated and losing trust with women."The consequences, she said, usually ripple well beyond the two primary people involved."It tends to impact the community," Cortoni said. "It impacts how the teachers look at each other, how the other students feel, how the parents feel. There's all those rings of consequence. That can have a strong impact on victims."Wesley Maram, a psychologist and director of Orange Psychological Services in Orange, specializes in treating sex offenders. Very often, he said, teenage boys who engage in sexual relationships with teachers are looked at differently than female students who become involved with male teachers.When it comes to the potential damage, Maram said, "I don't think there is a difference."But the student's age makes a difference, he said."The damage to a teenager is different than the damage to a 10-year-old," he said. Teens are "going to be better equipped. But they're not going to be ready for an adult relationship at 16 or 17. They're suddenly thrust into a sexual relationship with an adult 迷你倉出租ith expectations they won't be able to meet."Many, he said, end up feeling victimized and exploited by a trusted person in authority.LOSING THEIR FOOTINGIt can be even more confusing for those involved, Maram said, because the attraction they feel is often a normal response. The student crush is a well-known phenomenon. It's up to the teacher to handle it appropriately, Maram said. Some lose their footing when their own feelings get involved, he said."People who are 28 will still find teenagers attractive," he said. "But it's culturally inappropriate, and public policy has strong sanctions against it. You may find that urge to look at that person, but you have an internalized barometer that (tells you) that's not appropriate."In situations where an adult crosses that boundary, Maram said, "it's probably an internal value system they lack because of a family experience or their own immaturity or an antisocial orientation. Social rules are less important then their own needs. Their self-involvement is such that they fail to empathize or appreciate how they're going to impact the minors involved."Cortoni said such individuals often project their fantasies onto a student."Because the numbers are not huge, the research is very tentative," she said, "But as a rule, they tend to idealize these young men and view them pretty much as equals. It can be a little exciting and fulfilling some of their needs. They may find (adult) men vaguely threatening, and they can get closer to these younger boys."Reducing the instances of such behavior is a challenge."How do you really safeguard against this?" Maram said. "Probably education, where the teachers are not just given a class on ethics, but a class on attraction and the circumstance in which they may find themselves."The educational experts interviewed for this story said existing training focuses on avoidance and recognizing potential problem behavior in other teachers. They could recall few, if any, teacher education offerings dealing directly with the potential for emotional entanglements.At the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools office, Assistant Superintendent Diana M. Asseier said she had not heard of any such training."I'm not aware of it occurring anywhere," Asseir said. "I really am not aware of that happening at the district level. It doesn't happen at the induction programs that we run. The pre-service programs, at the colleges, I don't know if much of that happens there."Mikki Cichocki, a teacher in the San Bernardino Unified School District and a spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association, said she had not heard of such an approach, either."I'm not aware of training specific to that," Cichocki said of dealing with attraction. "Our line is, 'Don't do it.'"DRAWING BOUNDARIESThe training that does exist has focused on providing teachers with guidelines on appropriate protocol, such as making sure they are not alone in a classroom with a student with the door closed and not providing a ride home to a student, she said.While some have suggested psychological screening that might identify teachers with a predisposition toward inappropriate relationships, Cichocki said she doesn't believe it's something the union has seriously considered."We don't have an official policy on that," she said.Experts say any such screening would be problematic and likely ineffective.Anne Jones is the associate dean of university extension at UC Riverside and the director of education programs. She said teachers get a lot of guidance during the process of getting their credential and doing their student teaching."Their behavior and interactions and ethical conduct at the school site and in the community are very closely monitored," Jones said. "They're not left to their own devices to figure out how to behave."Those who oversee student teachers, she said, are aware of the potential for problems."We take the possibility very seriously, and we do what we feel we can to ensure we are equipping people to make good decisions when they become educators," she said.Student crushes are not something novice teachers have experience in dealing with, Jones said. It's important, she said, that they are coached in using the appropriate verbal tools to draw clear boundaries.In essence, she said, avoiding inappropriate relationships comes down to just that."You're developing strong connections with students regardless of age," she said. "It falls on you as a professional to draw that boundary."Jones said teachers are advised to seek the help of a school psychologist or counselor if they have trouble with such a situation.Psychologist Maram says such a strategy relies on the teacher's exercising good judgment."They should reach out to a counselor or therapist rather than act out compulsively," he said. But "when a person has an emotional problem, the last thing a person wants to do is expose themselves to talking about it to strangers."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) Visit The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) at .PE.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉