Teachers might not know of obligations

A number of years ago I was working as a physics teacher in an inner-city high school of Chicago. I suspected child abuse by a faculty member, but only suspected this with no seeing of touching or speech, and this bothered me greatly.

Fortunately, I told my suspicions to a teacher from another school who lived in my neighborhood then in Chicago. She told me that even if I suspected child abuse, a teacher is a mandated reporter and must report what I suspected to the Illinois Child Abuse Hotline, which I did. The teacher told me that as a mandated reporter I could go to jail or be sued if I did not report my suspicions. For more than 20 years I taught in the Chicago Public Schools and was never informed that I must report suspected child abuse to the authorities.

I believe from this experience that many teachers, in elementary, high school and college, are never informed that they must call the authorities as I was when child abuse is suspected or observed. Even though laws are on the books, many people do not know of their existence.

From this I believe that some of the people involved at Penn State really did not know what to do and just informed their superiors, thinking that was all they had to do. The superiors of the observers, on the other hand, were supposed to know they had to call proper authorities. I really believe from my experience with this type of situation that Joe Paterno and his assistant coach who told him of the child abuse really did not know what to do and thought that they had fulfilled their responsibilities.

Stewart E Brekke

Downers Grove