While parents may have the greatest impact on a child’s life when it comes to educating about healthy sexual development and reducing the risk of sexual abuse, many adults also play an impactful role—especially teachers. They have the potential to be an important safety net for kids who are at high risk for sexual abuse. Aside from home, School plays a key role in protecting children from sexual abuse. They support children and help keep them safe in school and beyond.
It is often a school’s duty to protect children. They must focus not only on safe recruitment but also on the need to create a safe environment.
However, for too many girls and boys worldwide, school is also where they experience abuse. Many children also experience other forms of humiliation at the hands of a peer, a teacher, or even a school authority.—as we all knew, most schools have policies in place for things like sexual harassment between students as well as policies dictating interactions between teachers and students. There are certain risk factors that raise the possibility of a child being sexually abused—and for the children at the Mt. Zion Elementary School in Carroll County; they just experienced a horrifying incident, because a substitute teacher just films herself masturbating in a classroom full of students!
What is the value of a child’s innocence?
Georgia teacher Amelia Ressler was charged with child molestation after police claimed she recorded herself masturbating in front of an elementary school class while filling in for a regular teacher. According to a press announcement shared on Facebook by the Caroll County Sheriff’s Office, the 30-year-old Ressler was detained on February 5, 2021.
It happened on Jan. 28, 2021, the authorities noted in the warrant, between 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Mt. Zion Elementary School, Amelia Ressler, of Carrollton, performed an “indecent act” in class, allegedly pleasuring herself, while 19 eight-year-old students were present.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said that the investigators were notified about “an indecent and immoral act while in the presence of school-aged children and are being charged currently with 19 counts of child molestation and is currently in custody.”
Ressler soon began to distribute the video after recording herself touching inappropriately in front of the children. Soon after, a member of the school community saw the video and recognized the classroom, enabling them to denounce Ressler’s improper conduct.
Georgia considers child molestation to be a criminal offense. Charges against Ressler are pending for each of the present students. The affidavit states that “a person commits the offense of child molestation when such person engages in any immoral or indecent act with or toward any child under the age of 16 or in the presence of such child with the intent to arouse or satisfy the desire of the person.”
But an officer who is conducting the investigation said that she might face more charges.
In a report, Ressler uploaded the 13-second film to Snapchat, which later became popular. The post claims that Ressler’s video starts with students seated in her classroom before pointing to the front of her legs.
“It appears she was masturbating while the classroom was full of kids, We obtained video evidence because she videoed it herself and disseminated it, and we were able to get a hold of that evidence,” Ashley Hulsey with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office told Fox 5 Atlanta.
Since the incident, investigators have started speaking to the students of the class and their parents in the hope to work out exactly what the children may have seen.
“It’s one of these things the kids are going through that they shouldn’t,” Hulsey said.
“The mental anguish that it’s causing these children and parents, that was our drive behind working this case, getting it down quickly, getting her put in jail as quickly as possible.”
Meanwhile, online users applauded Ressler’s arrest and chastised the teacher for exposing young children to the immoral act. “This disgusts me; my child is in first grade and I swear I’d go nuts if something happened to her,” a Facebook commenter remarked.
With one wrote:
“My kids go to school here. They claim to have seen her around but have not received any subs from her. Although the faculty and staff at this school are excellent, improvements are there. Regardless of whether our children were in her class or not, every parent should have its notice. I think that every classroom, as well as churches and daycare facilities, needs cameras. In order to assure the protection of our kids, we still have a long way to go.”
Carroll County Sheriff’s Office has since released a statement regarding the incident, saying:
“We appreciate the dedication Carroll County Schools has for the safety of their students as we were contacted immediately following the allegations and we will continue to work closely with them during the remainder of the investigation.”
Watch the video below:
Sources: AWM, Sleekgist, Parentsecurityonline