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Loading ...Meet Colleen Solberg. She was an “assistant to the teacher” in the Special Needs class at West High School in Iowa City, IA. Turn-ons include grunting, sweating, the sex scene in Forrest Gump, and teaching retarded children how to text message on their cell phones.
Turn-offs include smokers, strategy games, and kids who tease.
From the Press-Citizen here:
A high school teaching associate in Iowa City admitted to having sex with a student.
Colleen Katharine Solberg, 38, a special education teaching associate at West High was arrested early this morning for lascivious acts with a minor. She had sex with the student three times from June through September 2007.
Solberg began passing notes and poems to the student and later bought him a cell phone to use. She has admitted the charge and said she knew she had ‘crossed a line’ by having sexual contact with the victim.
Police were informed of the acts by a family member of the victim’s.
Though the student was above Iowa’s age of consent of 16 years old, Solberg was still charged because she was in a position of authority.
She worked in the school’s special education Learning Center, helping with the organization of the room and working with students and teachers.
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15 people responded in this post
Stir of Echoes in reverse. I think I’m going to chuck.
Yes, her behavior is sickening. However, I find your comments about Special Needs individuals to be hateful and ignorant. Your use of the the word “retarded,” as well as the disturbing attempt at a sexual joke leave me feeling sad that you yourself are having any type of influence over children. You are a fine example of why I so very much believe in public education. Your obvious lack of knowledge concerning Special Education, and the indiduals that these programs service is disturbing.
Jennifer,
Are my comments more hateful and ignorant than raping a retarded kid? If you think so, then you must be a product of public education.
I find your intolerence of my views twice as disturbing as your lack of a sense of humor.
AMEN, PATRICK.
Pat,
My daughter was reading over my post and pointed out a spelling error. I apologize. I hope you weren’t offended. See, I have a sense of humor. Keyboarding skills suffer this late at night, so good-bye for now.
Jennifer
Jennifer, I got your offline email. Thanks for that. It seems you really only have a problem with my usage of an English Language word or “retard” which is what was used for a century to describe emotionally, mentally and physically deformed people with a wide range of defects.
In Russia they outlawed words too to enforce the proper speech of the political climate. They invented politically correct speech.
You also asked how I knew he was retarded? He was in the “special education” class, and that’s not where the valedectorian polishes her graduation speech. Regardless his level of impairment, this teacher preyed on the weakest of the weak at the school.
That’s whats offensive. Not my usage of english words.
Hey, if you could get my offline posts to you on here, that would be great.
Thanks, Jennifer
The assumptions drawn from this poorly written newsarticle are dramatic and typical. Nowhere in the article does it indicate the student is developmentally disabled. Special education includes students with learning disabilities and behavioral disabilities. It is for students who may benefit from personalized assistance to learning. He was likely an at-risk teen with a troubled home life who wasn’t thriving in a standard classroom setting. Most of the alleged relationship occurred during the summer when this young man was no longer a student. I’m not defending her actions, but I think you should reevaluate your assumptions regarding the case. The case of “raping a ‘retarded’ kid” is more shocking than the true story, but it’s all in your head.
No, Elizabeth, its not in my head at all.
She worked for the learning center at the school. The curricula for the classes is here:
http://www.iowa-city.k12.ia.us/west/programofstudies/specialprograms.htm
They mention both physically and developmentally disabled students.
It was indeed likely that the teen had a troubled home life. Most teacher sex predators select just such kids to be their victims. But its also likely that the child was somehow disabled. The point is that this teacher’s aid was working with the school’s most vulnerable children.
And this isn’t the first special ed teacher I’ve written about.
I’m aware of the curriculum for special education classes. They focus on developmental, behavioral, and physical disabilities. They also include assistance for learning disabilities and for those students who simply have difficulty reading. There are also ESL courses. Until facts arise which identify the student as developmentally or physically disabled, your crass statements are assumptions not facts.
No Elizabeth, its neither crass, nor is it an assumption. What’s crass is a teacher raping a child who is even less capable than normal children to make adult decisions. And the odds that it was a retarded child as opposed to school valedictorian are extremely in my favor.
So to turn your logic around on you, until facts arise which identify the student as developmentally or physically normal your crass statements are assumptions, not facts.
I don’t think I’ve said anything crass. And lets get away from this special education thing. We both agree it’s not just “retarded” kids in these classes. We can also agree that no part of any article about this story indicates that the student was in a special education class. He was a student at West High. And at the time of the alleged sexual encounters he was not a student there at all. He dropped out in April. Although she was an associate at the school and that is considered a position of public trust which holds higher standards for behavior than the rest of society, to assume that she used that position of authority to persuade or manipulate the student into a relationship is also an assumption. It’s amazing how easy it is for you (and the news media) to draw the most sensational story out of the fewest facts. You latched on to the words “special education” and “lascivious acts with a minor” and that was all you needed. All news media and bloggers are overly capable of providing inaccurate or misleading information. You are perpetuating the dissemination of inaccurate and misleading information for the benefit of people who read headlines but skip the articles. In the interest of personal integrity you have a responsibility to present information truthfully. Your opinions are what they are, but don’t alter the facts to suit yourself.
I’m always amazed at the ability of liberals to gloss over depraved behavior by using the excuse that they don’t know all of the facts, dont really know the people involved or the pathetic excuse that people shouldn’t judge others.
Keep looking the other way Elizabeth.
How am I glossing over depraved behavior? I’m responding to the public facts of the case as stated in police reports. You are responding to your fantasy version of the story. Something to consider: if this student were physically or developmentally disabled, isn’t it possible the accused would be charged with sexual assault or rape? Researching the Iowa code for definitions of these different charges would be a responsible place to start if you want to infer any details about the case.
I can think of a dozen cases where a story broke and was manipulated by the press, only to dramatically change when more facts were released. Refer to the Amanda Knox case as a prime example.
You are free to judge whomever you want, but you are still guilty of presenting information in a misleading manner with the purpose of sensationalizing the story.
It’s not a pathetic excuse to save judgement until all the facts are in, it’s responsible.
[...] is it about special needs teachers that make them want to molest their students? See here, here, here, and here. Is it all the hugging? Or is it that they think these disabled kids won’t blab to [...]
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