Not Acceptable
Jamal Butler, 29, of Durham, NC
Jamal Butler, a former band director at Southern High School in Durham, NC, has turned himself in to face two chages of sexual activity with a student. The alleged victims were both 16-year-old female students of the 29-year-old baby-faced teacher.
I can’t help my visceral reaction to news like this; I want to tear someone’s face off even though the accused must be proven guilty. A band director is a bit more than a teacher. Students see him after hours, have lunches on the weekend with the guy, see him under stressful situations, see him with his family and friends, in casual clothes, and learn more about the man than most teachers. A band director is just like a coach — a primary influence on a young life. Such a delicate power must never be abused. Never. I don’t care how sexy the 16-year-old, or how much she might even thinks she wants it.
It’s just not acceptable. Butler is scheduled to appear in Durham County court tomorrow morning, and Southern High is conducting its own investigation. And then we’ll see.
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Again this, at least for me, raises the questions of whether we (or specifically the board of education) should have noticed anything in the guys profile before they employed him. We just don’t know enough about the psychological profile of these child molestors. It’s especially difficult with someone like this who doesn’t seem to be violent, and also seems to repent his actions (thus turning himself in). Someone like that could be normal in every other respect.Scary how you never know what’s going on in people’s heads.
Speaking as someone who was a young teenage temptress myself… I have mixed views.Of course, at 29 he should have made a wide berth from these girls. But I can imagine how hard it must’ve been. I remember being around 17 and breaking down the will of a guy who was about 24. He was a teacher (not from my school), and he was really cute! I met him at a nightclub (fake ID was a forte of mine back then) and he resisted my attempts to seduce him a couple of nights before finally giving in.I don’t blame him – I was incredibly willing, I was flattering him, and in the end, he was following his libido. He was a nice guy and actually, I ended up dumping him. But seriously, if he’d been found out, it would’ve destroyed his career. I know how hard I made it for him. We’re all only human so, as much as I want to say that all guys who have sex with underage girls are bad…. I don’t think they are. I think they’re just guys, and thinking with their little ‘head’, not their brain.
I hear what you’re saying Svasti, I really do, but teachers are in that authority position and they have to resist. It does so much damage.