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Press Release> June 29, 2006
NCCEV Press Release
June 29, 2006
State ed board will fight teacher sex law challenge
Maria Garriga, Register Staff
06/29/2006
-HARTFORD — The state Board of Education voted Wednesday to fight
a legal challenge to the state law barring sex between teachers and
students over the age of consent.
Van Clifton McKenzie-Adams, a former teacher at Hill Regional Career
High School in New Haven, is trying to persuade the Supreme Court that
he has the constitutional right to have sex with students who have reached
the age of 16.
McKenzie-Adams was convicted of 13 counts of sexual assault in April
2004 for having sex with two students, ages 16 and 17, and sentenced
to seven years in prison. His attorney said that the students were of
age, consented to the sex, and that the state law prohibiting consensual
sex between teachers and students violates his right to sexual privacy,
including the right to have sex with students old enough to give consent.
Board members were dismayed by the lawsuit.
"It would make it difficult for us to enforce our disciplinary
and certification rules," said board Chairman Allan Taylor. With
little discussion, the board unanimously voted to file an amicus brief
in the pending case to defend the law against sex between teachers and
students.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal vowed to show the law’s constitutional
basis in court.
"Teachers must be role models and mentors — not sexual partners
— to their students. This law is vital to protecting our children
from sexual and emotional exploitation by educators. There can be no
constitutional defect or other successful legal challenge to a law that
so clearly protects the rights of all," he said in a statement
issued Wednesday afternoon.
McKenzie-Adams’ argument also troubled educators.
"Teachers have a moral obligation to their students. It’s
about personal integrity," said New Haven Superintendent of Schools
Reginald Mayo. However, he declined to make specific comments about
the McKenzie-Adams case.
Josiah Brown, associate director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute,
reluctantly addressed the issue and declined to address the case specifically.
"I find this distasteful. I can certainly see why the rule exists.
Teenagers are susceptible to various kinds of relationships with teachers.
Teachers are in a position of power. I think it’s important that
all students trust their teachers, be judged fairly for their work,
and be mentored without any intention of a sexual relationship. They
are still minors at 16 and 17," he said.
Dr. Steve Marans, a professor of child psychiatry at Yale, who is also
director of the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence, said
he was not familiar with the specific of McKenzie-Adams’ case,
but that teacher-student sex can emotionally harm students, stunt their
development and undermine the teacher’s authority in the classroom.
"Adults have a responsibility for children, particularly those
children in their care. If you are a teacher, that is central to your
role. If you are transforming that role into exploitation, it’s
a betrayal," he said.
Marans acknowledged that teens may flirt with teachers, or even fantasize
about a relationship. He calls this wishful thinking a form of experimentation
adolescents use as they make forays into emotional intimacy.
"Learning how to negotiate powerful feelings of intimacy is one
of the most important tasks of the adolescent years. With their peers,
adolescents have a level of control (in relationships) that they don’t
have with adults."
Teachers who cross the line of intimacy with students also undermine
their position of authority in the classroom, Marans said.
"It makes other students completely uncomfortable," he said.
"Teachers are the central standard-bearers of the adult world outside
of the family. A standard-bearer requires a teacher to be neutral, not
seductive," Marans said.
Pat DeLucia, vice president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers,
declined comment on the matter. Federation President Patricia Lucan
could not be reached for comment.
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Maria Garriga can be reached at mgarriga@nhregister.com
or 789-5726.
©New Haven Register 2006
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