Meet President Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings

Meet President Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings

[Original post date: 10/02/09 10:00am PST by Deep Sounding]

For a brief moment yesterday, Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings was in the news.  According to this Fox News article, he was admitting that:

[He] "should have handled [the] situation differently" when he didn't report an underage student told him that he was having sex with an older man.

He told the boy, "I hope you knew to use a condom."

"Twenty one years later I can see how I should have handled this situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities."

According to Fox News, in his 2007 autobiography, Jennings says that he also apparently had frequent conversations with the  student and received updates on his latest "adventures." The  student was 16 years old, by the way, and had come to Jennings for guidance for emotional problems that he was having. Jennings says that the student rejected his admonitions to wear a condom saying that his life is not work saving…

So not only did Jennings not "consult legal or MEDICAL authorities," (by  “consult legal authorities,” do you suppose he means CALL THE FREAKING POLICE DEPARTMENT, or do you think he means “get legal advice about how I can make sure this doesn’t bite ME in the ass?”) but then, later he spends time with the student while the student describes for Jennings stories of his sexual escapades (child abuse) with an older man.  I certainly hope that Jennings called the police when the student made clear that things were not sitting so well with him when he said “My life isn’t worth saving anyway.” (Did Jennings ever contact authorities? Apparently not.)

Nobody wants to discuss the issue though, since it happened so long ago. I guess that seems to make it ok… well it happened a long time ago… probably the guy is wiser now, and would do things differently.

Did I forget to mention that the issue came up earlier than 2007? It came up in 2004 when Jennings received the 2004 Virginia Uribe Award for Creative Leadership in HUMAN RIGHTS from the National Education Association (NEA)

Perhaps the issue was too old back then, and worthy of being ignored then too, as it didn’t seem to stop the NEA from giving him the award. Maybe they figured that Jennings had learned a valuable lesson back in 1988, and would never let that kind of thing happen again. Maybe they figured that he’s done such a great amount of good in the mean time that we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Hmm… these arguments seem popular when defending perpetrators and those who can't be bothered to report them. Granted – Jennings isn’t admitting to any crimes (Well, other than the fact that he didn’t report child sexual abuse, even though he was apparently a mandated reporter… I guess if the statute of limitations runs out, you’re clear of guilt morally as well as by law, so I suppose we should trust his integrity completely now.

The story gets muddled at this point due to heated sexual orientation / identity politics (from both sides), so it’s hard to get a non-biased bead on the facts of the situation. Here’s the most neutral telling I can come up with:

The NEA gave Jennings his award for co-founding and directing the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).  In 2000 GLSEN put on a conference for kids, by some accounts, as young as twelve, and by most accounts as young as fourteen. A state official at that conference had the following to say (apparently in answer to one student’s question about what “fisting” is):

"Fisting (forcing one's entire hand into another person's rectum or vagina) often gets a bad rap....[It's] an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with...[and] to put you into an exploratory mode."

Jennings said this in response:

"From what I've heard, I have concerns as well," Jennings told the Boston Globe in May 2000. "GLSEN  believes that children do have a right to accurate, safer sex education, but this needs to be delivered in an age-appropriate and sensitive manner.

"What troubles me is the people who have the tape know what our mission is, they know that our work is about preventing harassment and they know that session was not the totality of what was offered at a conference with over 50 sessions," he said.

- from Fox News

Well at least he’s honest! What troubles Jennings is that people taped and criticized one of his buddies talking (with young children) about the ”bad rap” that fisting gets.

I can think of a few other intimate uses for a fist. Most of them don’t involve a vagina or a rectum. One of them does involve a jackass though.

Why must we perpetuate this Laissez-faire attitude about the necessity to report suspected child sexual abuse at all levels of government?  It’s well past time for CHANGE, Obama… get off your butt and terminate this loser. Find someone who has a documented track record of attaining the prosecution of people who abuse and bully children.  Yes, you can!