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August 27, 2005

More abuse allegations stir search for answers: How to prevent this?

More former Boy Scouts are accusing a Peninsula Scout leader of molesting them, authorities said Friday, capping a week of stunning sexual-abuse allegations that has left parents reeling and officials wondering what more could have been done to prevent it.

The week began with Palo Alto middle school gym teacher Bill Giordano being arrested for allegedly carrying on a sexual relationship 14 years ago with a volleyball player when she was in the eighth grade. It ended with Los Altos assistant scoutmaster Gregory Allen Wagner accused of molesting a Boy Scout during scouting trips over a five-year period. In both cases, additional victims have surfaced, authorities say.

Against this backdrop was the revelation that well-known Peninsula girls soccer coach Jeff van Gastel was arrested for allegedly providing alcohol to four 18-year-olds during a party that included sex, streaking and strip poker.

In the shock of the arrests, ``The community will be trying to come up with what we can do better,'' said Barb Mitchell, a former Palo Alto PTA president whose daughter played volleyball for Giordano at Jordan Middle School. ``Are we screening people well? Are we training them well? Are we being as watchful as we can be?''

Organizations that work with children already take precautions. School districts fingerprint all employees, and in 2003 the Boy Scouts of America began conducting nationwide criminal background checks on all its new volunteers.

A criminal background check was not performed on Wagner -- a former Scout -- because he had been volunteering with the organization for 17 years before the screening became mandatory. He was expelled from the group Thursday.

The Boy Scouts also has a ``two-deep'' policy that bans adults and children from engaging in any one-on-one activities. And one of the first things Scouts learn -- along with the Scout Oath and how to tie a square knot -- is how to protect themselves from abuse.

Despite the Scouts' safeguards, Santa Clara County sheriff's investigators say Wagner, now 42, molested a boy during scouting trips from 1987 to 1992. Friday, detective Deborah Johnson said at least three additional victims had come forward.

``All these boys knew each other,'' Johnson said, though they were unaware that their fellow Troop 31 scouts were also allegedly being abused.

Wagner's attorney, Jim Blackman, said his client plans to plead not guilty and is ``very upset by these allegations.''

It's unclear how Wagner could have had an opportunity to allegedly molest Scouts if all the adults were minding the two-deep policy, which began in 1985.

``In this organization I don't think it's possible for this to happen, especially to more than one person,'' said Kris De Lisle, an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 222 in Menlo Park, where she says adults are constantly looking out for each other's children.

Palo Alto school district officials plan to meet soon with teachers and coaches to discuss the boundaries between students and faculty and have been reviewing other organizations' guidelines.

``There are certain things in our society that every adult knows,'' said Marilyn Cook, Palo Alto Unified's associate superintendent. ``And in these incidents, not one of these people involved is going to say they thought it was the right thing to do.''

Giordano, 59, was charged Monday with 28 counts of sexual molestation of a child who is 14 or older after a woman, now in her 20s, disclosed the alleged abuse to her therapist. He is in jail in lieu of $1 million bail and has not yet entered a plea.

But to prevent abuse, the rules must be crystal clear, said Hofstra University Professor Charol Shakeshaft, author of a U.S. Congress-commissioned study of educator sexual misconduct.

It should be so articulated, Shakeshaft said, that even a child can recognize an inappropriate relationship and say: ``My friend Jenny, I know she's doing something with the coach and I know it's not allowed, even though she's in love with him.' ''

With such guidelines, she said, students will know ``everything a teacher needs to do can be done in a school room with other people around.''

Karen Guidotti, who oversees sex-crimes cases for the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office, agrees that communication is one of the best prevention methods so children recognize abuse and feel safe reporting it. However, she admits nothing is fail-safe. For instance, most abusers don't have prior convictions that would have been flagged during a background check.

``Short of having full-blown psychological testing on everybody working with children -- if that's even feasible -- there's no way to fully prevent it.''

Posted by Nealus at August 27, 2005 01:23 PM

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