Molestation in Elementary School Library by Third Grader on Classmate; Librarian Mishandles 8 Year Old Victim's Plea for Help; School Refuses Comment

"Mom Says 3rd Grader Performed Sex Act On Her Son,"
by Kelly Hessedal,
WREG-TV CBS3,
6 November 2009
(and see the video at this site):

FAST FACTS:

* Mom says her son's 3rd grade classmate performed sex act on him
* Alleged incident happened in library, while librarian was there
* District says it can't comment


(Memphis 11/06/2009) Sex in school. And we're not talking about a high school or even middle school. We're talking about an incident that allegedly happened at an elementary school.

The mother of an 8-year-old boy says one of the girls in his third grade class performed a sex act on him in the school library, during school hours.

"It was shocking. I was flabbergasted," said mom Lashonna Lee.

She never expected to have "the talk" with her 3rd grade son this week. But after a 9-year-old female classmate allegedly performed a sex act on him in the school library, she says she had no choice.

She says her son tried to stop it from happening, by raising his hand to get the librarian's attention.

"The teacher told him if he's not telling on himself, don't tell on anyone else," said Lee. "And that's when he put his hand down, and the little girl proceeded to take his private out and proceeded to do what she did."

Lee says the assistant principal called her Wednesday.

"It happened Monday," she said. "I didn't find out until Wednesday so I don't know how he was feeling those two days."

WREG contacted MCS to ask how might something like this have happened in a school library? Between 3rd graders? Under adult supervision?

But all we received was a one-sentence e-mail stating: "We cannot comment specifically on this case due to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act."

"He was sexually molested at school, forced to have something done to him that he didn't want done," said Lee.

She says the the assistant principal told her the librarian was reprimanded and the girl in question was suspended but she doesn't know for how long. She also says the school refuses to remove her from her son's class.

"I don't know how it's affected him, but I know he's not comfortable in the classroom with her at all," said Lee.

"This has opened my eyes," she added. "These kids are very advanced for some reason, they know about things they shouldn't know about at that age."

Memphis Police say they were called to the school Wednesday but Lee says the District Attorney's Office told her this isn't a criminal matter.

Meanwhile, she'll go to the school board next week asking her son be transferred to a different school. She has an attorney, and says a civil lawsuit could be in the works.

Copyright © 2009, WREG-TV; Reprinted as a Fair Use.

Does anyone else think the American Library Association's [ALA] "anything goes" policy might have something to do with this? I suggest the lawyer investigate the possibility, and I ask the attorney to consider contacting me.

"This has opened my eyes," she added. "These kids are very advanced for some reason, they know about things they shouldn't know about at that age."

For some reason? Might that reason be, at least in part, the ALA? Yes, there are plenty of other cultural influences, but that does not mean the ALA should be ruled out without considering the possibility.

For example, the ALA awarded a book containing oral sex as the best book of the year for kids 12 and up. The book is pervasively vulgar as well. I personally got the author to admit he would not give his own award-winning book to his own 12 year old if he had one.

That is just one aspect of the kind of information that may evidence the ALA's culpability. I look forward to speaking with the attorney to list more.

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