Child sex-crime epidemic in K-12, one arrest per day so far this year: report

With nearly 270 public educators arrested on child sex-related crimes in the first nine months of 2022, this is a largely hidden and widespread epidemic that is receiving far too little attention. The crimes range from grooming to raping underage students.

According to Fox News Digital, this epidemic is averaging approximately one arrest per day. The number includes four principals, two assistant principals, 226 teachers, 20 teacher's aides and 17 substitute teachers, according to Fox News. Three-quarters of the arrests involved alleged crimes against students. Men made up approximately 80% of the arrests.

Among the most egregious examples cited is the case of Eugene Pratt, 57, a former principal, elementary school teacher and coach who taught at-risk youth in multiple Michigan public schools. He was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in August and stands accused of sexually assaulting at least 15 boys and young adult men over the course of his career.

"The number of teachers arrested for child sex abuse is just the tip of the iceberg — much as it was for the Catholic Church prior to widespread exposure and investigation in the early 2000s," Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The best available academic research, published by the Department of Education, suggests that nearly 10% of public school students suffer from physical abuse between kindergarten and twelfth grade."

"According to that research, the scale of sexual abuse in the public schools is nearly 100 times greater than that of the Catholic Church," he said. "The question for critics who seek to downplay the extent of public-school sexual abuse is this: How many arrests need to happen before you consider it a problem? How many children need to be sexually abused by teachers before you consider it a crisis?"

According to the outlet, there are approximately 3.2 million public school teachers in the country, meaning that the arrests counted in this study, which were only those that were publicized, make up only 0.009% of all teachers. But it also means that the actual number of crimes and victims is likely much higher.