Nearly 300 public educators arrested for sex crimes against minors

In the first nine months of this year, almost 270 public educators were arrested for child sex-related offenses ranging from harassment to rape of students.

A Fox News analysis revealed that from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, at least 269 educators were arrested, which equates to almost one arrest per day. The offenders include four principals, two assistant principals, 226 teachers, 20 teachers' aides and 17 substitute teachers. Eighty percent of the assaults were committed by men, and 74% of the total involved crimes against students.

Ten percent of students suffer physical abuse

Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute, told Fox News that "the number of teachers arrested for child sex abuse is just the tip of the iceberg — much as it was for the Catholic Church prior to widespread exposure and investigation in the early 2000s."

Rufo continued: "The question for critics who seek to downplay the extent of public-school sexual abuse is this: How many arrests need to happen before you consider it a problem? How many children need to be sexually abused by teachers before you consider it a crisis?"

"Egregious" sexual abuse

The study analyzed local news stories from every state in the country that featured arrests of school district principals, assistant principals, teachers, substitute teachers, and teachers' aides for child sex-related offenses. Among the most "egregious" cases were:

- Eugene Pratt, 57, a former principal, elementary school teacher and coach at several public schools in Michigan, has been accused of sexually assaulting at least 15 children and young adults during a decades-long educational career.

- Stephen Kenion, 56, taught self-defense classes to public school students in Baltimore. He was arrested after being accused of impregnating a 14-year-old former student and having sex with several children since 2009, including an eight-year-old.

- Anthony Mattei, 59, a high school teacher in the Allen Independent School District in Texas, was charged in August with two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

- James Eschert, 51, of Plymouth Public School in Connecticut, was arrested in January on five counts of risk of injury to a child and two counts of sexual battery. The principal and three staff members at were also charged with failing to report sexual abuse by the fourth-grade teacher after students consistently complained about the educator's misconduct, per a Law & Crime report.