School Security Guard Charged With Sexually Assaulting A Student
Security guards in schools are meant to protect students, but this one in a high school was arrested for sexually assaulting students.
Reports of sexual abuse inside schools are alarming. Studies are perpetually released depicting some dire trends, as reports of sexual abuse inside the one place parents are supposed to send their children to be safe increase at terrifying rates. Data suggests that teachers are 100 times more likely to abuse children than priests, but teachers are not the only problem. Reports of sex offenses from employees in other administrative jobs in schools are equally morose, and a school in Chicago is now feeling the effects of a security guard who was recently charged with sexually assaulting a student on multiple occasions last year.
Security guards are hired in schools to protect students. But at the South Side High School within Chicago Public Schools District, a security guard was alleged to have sexually assaulted a student on multiple occasions last year. According to reports from Fox Chicago News, the 29-year-old security guard, Tywain Carter, was held in prison in lieu of posting a $20 thousand bond at a hearing last Wednesday. The case judge, Mary Marubio, exclaimed that Carter betrayed his “position of trust” over the child. “You were a school security guard, this child was new to that school, and you used your position, as a security guard, as a way to have access to this child,” she said.
Upon the victim’s first day at the school, prosecutors say that the security guard approached the student and her mother as he revealed to them he was the school’s security guard. He promised to look after the teenager as they acclimated themselves to a new school. But instead of watching out for the student, it seems Carter did just the opposite.
As a security guard, it was part of Carter’s job to periodically need to remove students from classrooms during the day. At some point during the student’s orientation to the new school, it’s reported that Carter removed the teen from one of her classes. Carter told the teacher that he needed to remove the student from class to acclimate her to the school, according to the hearing. On multiple occasions, he was claimed to have taken them to a computer lab where the student was then assaulted.
In December, the security guard was suspended after a separate student made allegations against the security guard. Afterward, the student spoke out against Carter as well to their parents, who reported what happened to authorities along with the school. Carter was placed in custody on March 28th with a felony charge.
Security guards inside schools are common, and it has been gaining traction for a few decades. Known as school based-policing, programs that place security personnel inside schools is a practice that first appeared in public education in the 1950s, however, it did not become a normal practice until the late 1990s, according to Learning for Justice. As escalating fears over drug-related issues and violence erupted in schools, especially following the deadly shooting in 1999 in Columbine, Colorado, security guards became a norm. But some data suggests that security guards have had little effect in schools, and reports like this one hurt the initiative even more.
If Carter posts bond, the judge ordered him to go on electronic monitoring and to not have any contact with the alleged victim or their family. Similarly, the security guard is placed on leave from the school, and he can not come in contact with anyone under the age of 18. He is expected back in court on April 18th for his hearing.
