Not too long ago, I  posted about a Connecticut science geek kid who was expelled from school for bringing a disposable camera in and another kid getting shocked by the batter.  His lawyer, some guy named Norm, convinced District Court Judge Kravitz, who has  some history of blind deference to school officials, that this was a joke.  The judge mused whether the rubber band he held would be a weapon in the eyes of school officials, and tossed the case.

And yet, serious problems not only go under the radar of school officials, but generate a backlash that makes one wonder whether our children would be safer in school or in Oz.  The prison, not the munchkinland.

From the Buffalo News, via our hinterlands correspondent Kathleen, comes this story of “hazing”.  What exactly happened is unclear, as the story enjoys the vagaries of the phrase “sexually abused” when it speak of what three members of Wilson High School’s boys varsity baseball team did to at least two members of the junior varsity team. 

The police didn’t “haze” Abner Louima. 

So the school officials held a meeting, after the “incident” broke when police arrested the varsity ball players.  This is what happened :

They came to the public information session hosted by school and police officials about the April 17 incident on a bus, where three varsity boys baseball players allegedly sexually abused at least two junior varsity players. Armed with passion, many of the audience members took to the microphone and targeted television and print media for what they saw as turning their small town into a circus.

They also stepped up to the plate to defend varsity coach Thomas J. Baia and junior varsity coach William M. Atlas, who have been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and stand accused of turning a blind eye toward activity on the bus.  Some former players, fellow teachers and parents of former and current players spoke highly of their experiences playing for Baia and Atlas.

An expert on hazing, Susan Lipkin, a psychologist from Port Washington, LI, offered this advice:

“Parents should understand that stopping hazing now does two things: it protects all the children coming up from being … hazed in the future and prevents students from behaving that way when they go on to college, the military or the workplace,” Lipkin told The Buffalo News. “And kids need to know that you don’t have to be hazed to be part of a team. It does not build team spirit or bonding.”

* * *

“The common trend over the past five years or more has been basically to turn a boy into a girl by penetration,” Lipkin said of the worst situations. “In other words, they get engaged in homosexual play and then they call the victim gay because he’s been sodomized. Ironically, it’s the perpetrators that are committing the homosexual act.”

Well, that was useless.  Half of Port Washington are psychologists.  They all talk like this, which explains why Long Island is has its own problems:

And members of a Long Island high school football team sodomized three junior varsity players with a broomstick during a preseason training camp in Pennsylvania.

Here’s the deal.  When cops do it, it’s sick.  When little Johnny the football or baseball player does it, it’s still sick.  And when it happens under the auspices of school officials and parents, who are perpetually cautious of science geeks but seem to have a blind spot when it comes to their athletes, we seem to have a problem brewing.

“We’ve come a long ways from a wedgie,” said Wilson Village Trustee James O’Donnell III.

You think?  There are real threats to kids and there are nonsensical concerns that seem to envelope school officials.  Is it hard to appreciate why a child sodomized with a broomstick while teachers/coaches watch and do nothing is different than a disposable camera?  Do we need a psychologist to explain what happened, or tell us after the harm is done that little Johnny is acting out his repressed sexual confusion?

How about this idea for school officials:  Your star athletes don’t get to commit violence on younger children any more than anyone else.  Sodomizing kids with broom sticks is about as bad as it gets, and if it’s happening on your school bus, or at your school’s camp, under the watchful eyes of your teachers/coaches, you have an extremely serious crime on your hands.  Forget the disposable cameras and make sure that no child in your care is ever sodomized again.