Nearly 300 Teachers and Educators Have Been Arrested In 2022, 3 in NC | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Brittany Raymer.

    There are questions brewing as Fox News reports at least 269 teachers and educators have been arrested since Jan. 1, 2022, and at least three in North Carolina, mostly for sexual offenses. This raises some serious questions about how safe children are in schools, if some of those tasked to keep kids safe are abusing parents' trust.

    The pandemic moved the classroom from the school into the home and exposed much of how some educators are trying to indoctrinate students into often progressive and woke ideologies. This has been confirmed by accounts like LibsofTikTok on Twitter, which retweets often concerning videos of teachers bragging about influencing students. That has many parents up in arms, but does the problem goes further than that.

    According to a report from Fox News Digital, there have been at least 269 educators arrested throughout the year, that's about one a day. Those caught up in criminal prosecution includes four principals, two assistant principals, 226 teachers, 20 teachers' aides and 17 substitute students.

    Seventy-four percent of the arrests were due to alleged crimes against children, with most concerning sexual offenses. Needless to say, it isn't a surprise that men make up 80% of those caught up in criminal investigations.

    The vast majority of the 7 million people who work in our schools across the country are good people, who only want the best for children and teenagers. But still, 269 people is 269 too many when it comes to our youth. Not to mention, how many people have slid through or continue to fall through the cracks?

    Abuse allegations often do not surface until years or even decades after the fact. That makes it difficult to corroborate or the perpetrator might be deceased. As a result, there is little authorities can do.

    This year in North Carolina, there have already been at least three teacher arrests.

    In June, Miguel Bonano, a 64-year-old middle school teacher, was arrested for having indecent liberties with a student and with a child. He had been a teacher at East Wake Academy until 2003, before a student came forward with a complaint. He is no longer employed, and the school cooperated fully with investigators.

    Superintendent Stephen Gay said in a statement, "The school has and will continue cooperating with law enforcement on the continuing investigation. This is a personnel matter, and we cannot comment further at this time."

    Just a couple of months earlier, a Cape Fear High School teacher in Fayetteville was charged on more than 50 accounts related to indecent behavior with students.

    These include "first-degree sex exploitation of a minor, 28 counts of indecent liberties with a student, and one count of secretly using or installing a photographic imaging device to arouse or gratify sexual desire."

    "It is essential to know who is communicating with your children. Predators are not everywhere, but they may be anywhere," said Cumberland County Sheriff Ennis Wright.

    Additionally, in March, a former Heritage Middle School teacher was accused of taking indecent liberties with a student in 2008.

    Children have the right to a quality education, not exploitation.