There are 341,000 students in the Chicago Public Schools, divided among 638 schools—476 elementary schools and 162 high schools. According to the recent report by the Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General (OIG), there were 446 sexual misconduct allegations reported to the OIG during the calendar year 2023.
It seems like a lot. But it isn’t, especially when you consider that the OIG reported 67% of those cases involved “non-sexual policy and guideline violations.” (I’m not sure why they are reporting them among the sexual misconduct violations.)
Only 33% of the cases were considered sexual in nature. Only 7% of the 446, or approximately 31 cases, involved sexual acts, while 116 of the 446 involved some other kind of sexual misconduct.
Why the OIG uses percentages is unclear since 7% of 446 equals 31.22 cases, and 26% equals 115.96. The percentages seem to obscure rather than enlighten. Sexual abuse either happened or it didn’t, and it can’t be fractional.
Why even report the 299 (298.82) non-sexual misconduct cases as sexual misconduct in the first place?
The CPS OIG has greater investigative capability than any other district investigative unit in the nation. In fact, the unit has greater investigative power than even the local police because they have the ability to subpoena records and witnesses without going to a grand jury. They can subpoena phone records, bank statements, credit card records, text messages, emails whenever they have cause. And they can enforce those subpoenas in court using their own attorneys.
Even with all this authority and capability, the OIG only investigated 147 cases last year that turned out to be sexually related. Those cases actually occurred in several different years. It’s just they were reported in 2023.
One hundred forty-seven cases could be a lot or minuscule depending on the total number of children who were sexually targeted in 2023. But how many total cases are there every year?
We don’t know for sure, but we can make a pretty good estimate.
In 2004, the United States Department of Education released a study conducted by Charole Shakeshaft, at the time, with Hofstra University. She found that 9.6% of students are victims of educator sexual misconduct sometime between kindergarten and twelfth grade.
The study was issued two years after the Boston Globe published its shocking revelations about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. The effects of those revelations were still being felt everywhere. Allegations, lawsuits, and condemnations were almost daily occurrences.
Yet when Shakeshaft’s report was issued, there was hardly a ripple of reaction. Her assertion that the sexual exploitation problem in our public schools was 100 times worse than the problem in the Catholic church largely was met with silence. Nothing was done.
Last year, a follow-up study was conducted by Elizabeth L. Jeglic of John Jay College and several of her colleagues. That study found that 11.7% of children between kindergarten and twelfth grade became victims of educator sexual misconduct, a 2.1% increase. The difference could be a statistical error. We don’t know with 100% certainty.
In any case, based on these studies, we can say with a good degree of certainty that of the 341,000 children enrolled in Chicago Public Schools, somewhere between 33,000 and 40,000 of them will become victims of sexual misconduct by an adult in the school system by the time they graduate. So, an estimated 2,500 to 3,100 of them will be abused every year.
The OIG looked into 147 sexual abuse incidents last year. Those 147 cases cover at least a 5-year period, and during those five years, between 12,500 and 15,500 children had become victims of an educator in the Chicago school system. What this means is one percent, or less of the actual cases of abuse that occurred in Chicago schools were investigated by the OIG last year.
The OIG’s Sexual Allegations Unit has 30 specially trained staff members. They are skilled and motivated. But the number of cases they handle every year is a tiny fraction of the number of children being sexually exploited. We don’t even know about 99% of the victims, much less hold anyone accountable for their abuse.
Some teachers and other staff being hired are predators. School personnel are unable or unwilling to recognize the signs that someone might be an abuser. Some might recognize the problem but turn a blind eye to it. The most vulnerable children are not being provided extra protection, signs that a child is being abused are overlooked, grooming behavior is excused. For all these and many more reasons, children in our schools are being sexually exploited by the thousands.
Every year.
When you consider that the CPS OIG is the very best in the country, imagine the disastrous child protection failures at all the other school districts. Most don’t even have investigative capability.
Something is very wrong.
