Head of Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools Expresses Regret for Controversial Incident

Anything that Arne Duncan says....think/do the opposite.

It didn't take more than two minutes for me to find out that Jennings himself unquestionably put the boy's age at 15. NOT 16 or 17.

So gee, who's making assumptions, getting facts wrong, being partisan, prejudiced, clearly dumb, etc?? How about those dumpster diving into name calling and character assassination try to get your facts straight before delving into abuse and name calling? Better yet, get your facts straight, and avoid the latter regardless.

* Jennings HIMSELF STATED THE BOY WAS 15 (see below after the ::: divider)

* State law at the time required reporting emotional harm or substantial risk of harm to the child’s health or welfare - e.g., NOT just sexual abuse (see below after the ::: divider)

The boy was having suicidal thoughts, that clearly qualifies as a major issue requiring far more help than Jennings was in a position to give. The risks of going to a bus station bathroom then going home with an older man you meet there clearly qualifies. That would be every bit as true if it had been a girl and heterosexual sex as for the boy and homosexual sex - except the added risk of AID in the latter case. Consider the risk of the older person turning out to be a someone into murder, torture, kidnapping, abuse, stealth drugging, etc etc etc.

How would you feel about it if the boy were your loved one; a son, nephew, godchild? Jennings implying that no one knew better at the time is absurd. The lack of judgment displayed in his handling of the situation is abysmal - even MORE so to then brag about it in a book 6 years later, and then rationalizing it here so recently.

Its one thing when its an elected official, but quite another and vastly worse when its an appointment by the president. Particularly when this wasn't even a well hidden skeleton in the closet, but rather something wide open that you'd be hard put to avoid stepping in. It calls into question the judgment of the president himself, just as the Van Jones appointment, the tax cheat appointments, and a number of others do. The pattern of multiple highly questionable appointments is even more disconcerting, if that's even possible. So many of these in a single administration has got to be unprecedented in recent history.

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MA State Law at the time required notifying Dept. of Social Services if teacher or counselor had "reasonable cause to believe…that a child under the age of EIGHTEEN years is suffering physical or emotional injury resulting from abuse inflicted upon him which causes harm or substantial risk of harm to the child’s health or welfare including sexual abuse…"

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Brewster was missing a lot of classes; he was in the boarding school so I said to his teacher, his first period teacher, I said, ‘next time Brewster misses a class I want you to tell me that he’s missed that class and, uh, I will go find him.’ So I went and found Brewster one morning when she had called and he was asleep in his dorm room. And I said, “Brewster, what are you doing in there asleep?” And he said, “Well, I’m tired.” And I said, “Well we all are tired and we all got to school today.” And he said, “Well I was out late last night.” And I said, “What were you doing out late on a school night.” And he said, “Well, I was in Boston…” Boston was about 45 minutes from Concord. So I said, “What were you doing in Boston on a school night Brewster?” He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and said, “Well I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.” High school sophomore, 15 years old. That was the only way he knew how to meet gay people. I was a closeted gay teacher, 24 years old, didn’t know what to say. Knew I should say something quickly so I finally said, My best friend had just died of AIDS the week before. I looked at Brewster and said, “You know, I hope you knew to use a condom.” He said to me something I will never forget, He said “Why should I, my life isn’t worth saving anyway.”
(apparently, according to Jennings there were a number of other suicidal indications/statements by the boy also)

The legal age of consent in Massachusetts is 16. The kid was 16. At least get the facts straight. This is the reason everyone thinks conservative are dumb.

Wow, the "messiah" surely hangs with some of the most bizarre and crazy crackpots.

Again, America needs to know is there even one associate of Barack Obama who is not a bigot, criminal or crackpot?

And what is the Left's fascination with pedifiles, from protecting and glorifying to boozing\drugging up 13 year old girls then raping them to covering up for adult gays abusing teenage boys.

But what really would you expect from Barack Obama and his co-horts who never had a second thought about letting a man who advocated blowing up his fellow Americans for his agenda have a role in educating our children, William Ayers. Most moral and ethical people would never consider let such a small, stupid man near our children, but not Barack.

Sick people.

He's a liar!! Teachers and administrators are "first reporters." He knew this! Who knows what his intentions were for not reporting this. As a retired teacher, I remember this being stresssed throughout the education courses I took in college in the early 70's. He's lying and should be fired. He would have been fired from his job back in the 80's if it had come to light that a 16 year old kid was being raped by an older man he met in a bus station. The kid was probably prostituting himself and involved in who knows what criminal activity. Jennings is a disgrace!

Posted by: Brett:... The student was not 15 -- he was either 16 or 17. Given the years Jenning's teached...
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Perfect example of a typical public school graduate. A teacher is a MANDATED REPORTER of sexual abuse. They are REQUIRED to report any suspicions of abuse of the students the "teached". Duh.

As I suspected, conservatives are completely misrepresenting the facts of this case. The student was not 15 -- he was either 16 or 17. Given the years Jenning's teached, this is the only explanation consistent with the facts, and the version of the story in the book. No laws were broken. There's also no evidence whatsoever that he was involved with an "older man." The "man" may very well have been 19.

I'm sure none of this will matter to those on here who think Sean Hannity and Fox News actually care about facts.

I love all the assumptions that the commenters are making in these comments: that the kid was 15 -- other media reports say he was 16, in which case the affair was legal in MA at the time; that the "older man" wasn't, say, 18 or 19; that the kid's parents wouldn't have kicked him out of the house for being gay; that the kid, who seems suicidal, wouldn't have immediately committed suicide after being involuntarily outed to the school, his parents, and the community (in 1988, a VERY different world); and what exactly Jennings did all do about the situation.

Frankly, not enough is known about this situation to know if this was a major lapse in judgment.

It's also worth noting that the people who are all pushing this story have been after Jennings from the start because he's openly gay, interpreting everything about his past in the worst possible light and saying horribly slanderous things about him.

I agree we should hear Jennings side of the story about this. But this hysteria strikes me as not about this situation, but about some irrational hatred of Obama and all things liberal. If we've learned ANYTHING from the past few years, it's the Hannity, Beck, and Fox News are propagantists, not journalists in any sense of the word.

Having this guy as the Safe Schools czar is like putting Mark Foley in charge of Congressional pages.

What is the young person who spoke to Jennings had been a girl, talking about an older man? Would he have made the same comment? His sexual orientation clearly colored his response. This incident should have been reported, regardless of gender or orientation.

Not just conservatives or "right-wingers" should be questioning this. This guy should be questioned by anyone who cares about potential sex abuse toward a minor.

This discussion appears to be only about politics and not about facts. Does anyone here know what the mandatory reporting laws were in Massachusetts in 1988? Jennings is not a "czar" (his position existed during the Bush years) nor has he been accused of anything remotely like what Sen. Craig or Rep. Foley got caught doing. It appears that he abused drugs and alcohol in his youth, but has turned his life around...much like President Bush did. In my school safety work, some of the best directors I've observed were not perfect in their youth - reform school, arrests, etc. gave them the perspective and the passion to help troubled kids. If we could set aside politics and focus on what is best for our school children we could fix and perhaps prevent some of our biggest social problems.

Once again we get, "Well, Republicans do it too!" as the rationale for this sort of behavior. When, Oh when will Democrats grow up and give up their fascination with hypocrisy?

Human behavior, like this, does not change. He said what is "politcally correct". That doesn't change his life style or how he would influence the president.

It seems he only regretted the comments and not the actions nor getting caught. Just doing the bare minimum to appease the apologetic media so they can move back to standard Obama worship. It has nothing to do with right or left, we condemn bad republicans but it seems far too many are often willing to forget, forgive, or ignore unethical, illegal, or immoral acts on the left.

It appears it's okay to be a slime bag on the left because it's expected while on the right it's big news because more of them try to do whats right and it shine more when they screw up.

tierra wrote: "We haven't forgotten the repressed Republicans and their daliances in airport washrooms and with legislative page boys"

I haven't forgotten. Both men lost their jobs. Will Jennings?

More importantly, why should the federal government have any role whatsoever in school safety?

I think as a teacher he was what was what they call a "Mandatory Reporter" he was required by law to report this crimnal conduct, abuse of a child reguardless of sexual orientation involved.

So this should renders him unfit to hold his position, or work with or in any field where he deals with children in any shape or form.

For what it is worth, I have met this man and his Bush-appointed predecessor. He has spent much of his adult life focusing on the prevention of bullying in schools (a HUGE problem that leads to other problems like suicide, violence, etc.). Jennings is very involved and LISTENS to what educators and parents have to say. His predecessor was a nice woman, but she was not the least bit engaged in school safety...she was a purely political appointee. So which is better for children?

As an Obama appointee you had to know that he was damaged even if its not immediately clear as to how

Gay...Straight..Ummmm who cares!!!! BUT, as a teacher, BY LAW, you have to report any criminal activity that might befall a MINOR BY AN ADULT..GAY OR STRAIGHT IS NOT THE ISSUE HERE...Thank goodness nothing happen to this kid at the hands of a stranger....

We haven't forgotten the repressed Republicans and their daliances in airport washrooms and with legislative page boys . . . and that wasn't 21 years, that was within the last few years.

The hypocrisy and repression of the right continues to be appalling.

Posted by: tierra | Oct 1, 2009 11:16:36 AM

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I'm glad you haven't forgotten - now will you be a hypocrit and accept this type of person in the white house administration?

"Incompetence rises to the top..."
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We haven't forgotten the repressed Republicans and their daliances in airport washrooms and with legislative page boys . . . and that wasn't 21 years, that was within the last few years.

The hypocrisy and repression of the right continues to be appalling.