Given the harsh treatment of sex offenders, often viewed as inadequate by the multitudes who would rather they all be put to death immediately if not sooner, it’s difficult to explain why a female teacher from Staten Island would receive a recommendation of 90 days for her attempt to seduce an 11th grader.

According to this WABC account,

An arbitrator had recommended the [90 day unpaid suspension] penalty for 39-year-old Colleen McGraham, a tenured teacher at Staten Island’s New Dorp High School, who wondered in her blog in June 2005, “Will I ever get over this? Do I want to? I just love him so much.”

There was no physical relationship between McGraham and the student. Prosecutors said McGraham, who was 36 during the encounters in 2005, sent the 11th grader e-mails, called him and spoke to him in an attempt to seduce him. But the student instead reported McGraham to another teacher, who then told education officials.

Most of us have a really hard time comprehending how things like this happen, such obsessions being so far outside the realm of normalcy.  Had the teacher been male and the student female, there would be outrage.  But when the tables are turned, we don’t get the same sense of disgust, but more a matter of confusion.  At best, our refusal to accept the parity of the situation is latent sexism.  At worst, it’s denial that a woman can be a sexual predator.

In any event, the recommendation of a 90 day suspension never made it past the judge.

State Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam said the arbitrator’s recommendation of a 90-day unpaid suspension was “irrational” and “violates a strong public policy” to protect children.

Abdus-Salaam said the arbitrator seemed motivated by the fact that there was never a physical relationship between the McGraham and the student, and the boy had gone to college and “moved on with his life.”

But the fact a relationship didn’t develop, despite the feelings McGraham expressed in her e-mails and blog entries, “may say more about the student’s maturity that the teacher’s ability to conduct herself appropriately,” the judge said.

It’s not that I have particular feelings about the punishment to be imposed on McGraham.  I’m just astounded by the shocking difference in treatment given her when compared to any man who would engage in the same conduct. 

I can’t wait to hear what the Feminist Law Professors have to say about this.  After all, I’m sure that they will be horribly offended that she was treated so daintily.