The NFL is currently mired in controversy surrounding issues of domestic abuse among its players, as well as how Commissioner Roger Goodell has handled the issues. There have been five arrests for domestic violence and one arrest for child abuse since the start of 2014. That doesn’t count multiple arrests for assault, drugs, DUI, and more as USA Today has tracked. Disturbing? Compare that with the 325 school teachers and employees arrested for sexual misconduct with children since the beginning of the year.

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and U.S. Representatives Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), and Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) recently attempted to bring attention to the problem in a press conference and news release announcing a bill to protect students from sexual predators. It was met with a resounding thud, as primarily only local Pennsylvania news outlets covered the announcement, according to a Google search.

Yes, there are hundreds of NFL football players versus millions of school age children, so the representation of these instances of sexual misconduct with school is statistically smaller. That doesn’t excuse the response and horrible judgment by teachers and administrators in some of these school systems, however. Consider this story related by Rep. Fitzpatrick via a press release from Senator Toomey’s office.

“The transferring of teachers known or suspected of sexual misconduct between school districts is known simply as ‘Passing the Trash,'” Fitzpatrick said. “This shameful practice was first brought to my attention in 2006 when I learned of the story of 12-year old Jeremy Bell who was drugged, sexually abused, and then murdered by his elementary school principal who had been passed between schools despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. This could have been stopped. The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act passed the House unanimously last October, and I am confident that it will be met with strong bipartisan support on the Senate floor.”

Would you like to see The NFL commish is under fire, but what about the school systems?

If you think that story is horrible, this story from Alabama broke Friday via the Huntsville Times about a 14-year-old special needs girl who was raped after teachers planned to “use her as bait” in a school bathroom. The teachers were supposed to bust a 16-year-old special needs boy who had a history of sexual misconduct. Instead of busting the boy, they left the girl alone with him and he raped her.

This incident happened in 2010 and just came to light Friday after a court documents were made public. Amazingly, the boy was given a detention, sent to an alternative school for 20 days, and allowed to return. The girl moved to another school.

These incidents of sexual misconduct with school children aren’t limited to just male perpetrators either. University of Tennessee professor Glenn Reynolds has been tracking cases where female teachers were arrested for having sex with their male students on his Instapundit blog in an attempt to sarcastically highlight double-standards. What was once considered an oddity a decade and a half ago with the case of Mary Kay Letourneau has become exceedingly more common place.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Teacher at troubled youths center charged with rape. “A female teacher at a residential center for troubled youths in Yonkers, N.Y., was arrested Wednesday after allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old male student, authorities said Thursday. The 34-year-old Leake & Watts teacher, Meaghan White, is charged with rape. She is accused of having sex with the boy at Willson’s Woods Park, a Westchester County park in Mount Vernon, N.Y., said Kieran O’Leary, a county police spokesman.” … TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Queens teacher accused of sex with students being treated for ‘psychiatric disorder,’ lawyer says. “Joy Morsi, 39, who allegedly had sex with two teenage boys who attended Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, missed a court appearance because she was being tested for psychiatric disorder, her attorney said. She is due back in court Oct. 6.” … TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Teacher Nicole Dufault charged with sex with 3 teen students at Columbia High School. … TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Police: New charges after woman visits alleged rape victim’s school. A Montgomery County woman previously charged with statutory rape was arrested Friday after visiting the alleged victim’s school, according to police. Jennifer Hodges was charged with violation of protection and contempt of court on top of her statutory rape charge…. Hodges was arrested for the statutory rape charge on June 19 and is set to appear in court Oct. 1. Hodges is also set to appear in court Sept. 24 for the violation of protection and contempt of court charges. You know, you just see more of these stories all the time, it seems.

Those are recent sexual assault incidents Reynolds found just within the last two days. There are more dating back further.

If the NFL players and league office deserve wall to wall coverage over the past two weeks for five incidents of domestic abuse within the past year, what level of attention do our children and schools deserve with 325 incidents of sexual assault by teachers or school employees within the past year? What kind of attention does Senator Toomey’s The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act deserve in the United States Senate?

[Image via BlackSphere]