NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal
By Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board
Friday, February 12th, 2016
Recent contentions from five students at Santo Niño Regional Catholic School in Santa Fe that a teacher had put his hand on their bodies in places where it didn’t belong unfortunately reminds us that our children can’t be perfectly safe anywhere.
That’s a shame. In an ideal world, no child would be touched in any way that isn’t loving, supportive and completely non-sexual. They should be handled as the precious treasures that they are.
At this point, no conclusion has been reached about the truth of the accusations. So far, teacher Aaron Dean Chavez has been charged with five counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor. On behalf of his client, Chavez’s attorney has denied all of the allegations. It will take some time for this matter to work its way through the court system and reach a resolution. That is as it should be, with a presumption of innocence before proven guilty.
A somewhat disturbing aspect of this case, though, arises from revelations that two girls alerted the school’s principal in 2012 that Chavez had allegedly touched them on their buttocks while he bounced them in his lap when they were first-graders.
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