Valuing money over children

And no, this isn’t even about Congress, or state legislatures trying to fund state coffers and gazillionaire’s pockets through legislation designed to keep poor children and their parents the biggest scapegoat of all time and prevent them from receiving any public services. Although that is true.

This is about Governor Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania. He’s suing the NCAA over their sanctions of Penn State following the horrific crimes against little boys by Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky. Crimes which were tacitly condoned by the lack of reporting to the authorities by everyone from Mike McQuarry to Joe Paterno on up through the university's highest officials. And for the record – reporting to the authorities doesn’t mean reporting to your boss. I’m talking about filing a police report.

No, Tom Corbett is upset because the fines agreed to by Penn State won’t all be going directly back into Pennsylvania’s coffers. He believes that all the money should go back into PA state programs, and is willing to use state money to sue the NCAA over it. Boo-freaking-hoo.

If he wanted the money to go toward education on child abuse and mandatory reporting programs and training in PA, I might be able to get behind it. But, as Attorney General of Pennsylvania, he did the equivalent of nothing when the charge was brought to his office. He was more interested in obtaining donations from these people for his run for Governor than in protecting little children. He already proved he really has no interest in providing mandatory reporting education, laws, or enforcing the ones already on the books if it comes at the expense of potential revenue or his run for the governorship.

Pennsylvania's reporting laws:
The Clery Act, which some have used as the law to which the Penn State staff was being held, requires higher education institutions to report crime statistics, but does not require mandatory reporting of child abuse at higher institutions – simply that the institution report on their internal crime statistics.

Pennsylvania’s mandatory reporting act is very elastic and could possibly be interpreted to mean that the higher education university officials did not have a legal obligation to report Sandusky’s crimes. Their moral obligation, however? Yeah. Completely trumped by potential revenue losses for the university and the football program.

Pennsylvania Professionals Required to Report (Cons. Stat. Tit. 23, § 6311) (source: https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/manda.pdf)

Persons required to report include, but are not limited to:

• Licensed physicians, osteopaths, medical examiners, coroners, funeral directors, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, podiatrists, interns, nurses, or hospital personnel
• Christian Science practitioners or members of the clergy
• School administrators, teachers, school nurses, social services workers, daycare center workers, or any other child care or foster care workers
• Mental health professionals
• Peace officers or law enforcement officials

Reporting by Other Persons (Cons. Stat. Tit. 23, § 6312)
Any person who has reason to suspect that a child is abused or neglected may report.

Standards for Making a Report (Cons. Stat. Tit. 23, § 6311)
A report is required when a person, who in the course of employment, occupation, or practice of a profession, comes into contact with children, has reasonable cause to suspect, on the basis of medical, professional, or other training and experience, that a child is a victim of child abuse.


So now, after bearing much responsibility for the continued abuse of children at Penn State’s facilities due to his inaction as AG, Corbett is complaining about how the fines are spent. The idea that a fine to an institution should be used to only provide money back into that state in which the institution resides is short-sighted, greedy, and altogether outrageous.

I don’t know how Corbett thinks anyone could possibly have sympathy for his complaint. In fact, the first You’ve Got Balls Award of 2013 goes to Tom Corbett.

Here is what Corbett should have suggested the NCAA do with Penn State’s fine money:

• In all states & territories where the NCAA has authority over sports programs, educate sports staff on signs & symptoms of child abuse, legalities & their responsibilities for mandatory reporting, and the morality of mandatory reporting.
• In all states & territories where the NCAA has authority over sports programs, donate moneys toward educating ALL mandatory reporters on signs & symptoms that might prompt mandatory reporting, as well as their personal and legal responsibilities.
• Lobby legislatures in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, & Guam for the tightening of mandatory reporting laws to include all staff employed by preK-12 schools and school districts (public or private, secular and religiously affiliated), all staff employed by day care personnel (licensed or not), all staff employed by higher education institutions (public and private), all medical professionals (including doctors, nurses, PAs, MedTechs, and any other employee in the medical field, regardless of their employer), all staff of any institution which provides services to children (both public and private), clergy (yes, I really went there), and attorneys (yes, I really went there, too).
• Donate money to groups in all 50 states that support child abuse survivors.