Ledger Quincy, Massachusetts The schools have a responsibility to provide a safe, wholesome atmosphere for learning. While it may feel right to want justice for this child who undeniably suffered, it is wrong to convert a single, extreme incident into a national springboard for the expansion of already unwieldy sexual harassment laws. . . . It's inappropriate to extract money from school boards who have no control over the behavior and from whom, ironically, we've effectively removed any authority to take appropriate disciplinary action. Parker Orlando Sentinel It is true that too many of our schools are rife with incivility, profanity, and bullying. Yet most intimidation is non-sexual.
Boys do the greater share of physical bullying, but they have no monopoly on hurtful behavior.
Almost any junior high school girl will tell you that girls can create as much misery as boys, especially for other girls. Children and teenagers need moral guidance. They need firm codes of discipline in a school environment that does not tolerate egregious meanness or gross incivility, whether sexual or nonsexual. They do not need a federal law that bears down hard on boys. The Miami-Dade County Public Schools Police Department, which handles allegations against employees, eventually placed a security camera in Milhomme's classroom closet, Lt.