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In the continuing saga of the teacher-student sex scandal in Portland… two more students have come forward in the last several days to say that they also had sexual relations with former Portland High School teacher Sandy Binkley… and just like the first student, these encounters took place during school hours and on the school grounds.

Geez, is this place a brothel or a high school?  Is anyone studying and learning anything beyond anatomy?  Where are all the other teachers when this stuff is going on?

I have a thousand questions.

But you should go read this article about it, specifically the comments left by Middle Tennessee readers.  There are an alarmingly high number of commenters suggesting that we should leave Binkley alone and that what she did wasn’t a big deal. Some are suggesting that charging Binkley with rape is distorting the definition of rape and that the male students she fooled around with weren’t victims but willing participants.

What the heck is wrong with people these days?  How this kind of thing could be viewed as anything short of a serious crime warranting serious jail time is beyond me.  If this teacher was a man, and the victims female, there would be no defenders.  Anyone who abuses the trust between a minor and an authority figure to serve their own raging hormones is a criminal.  Period.  End of story.

Now, she’ll get her day in court, and she’s innocent until proven guilty and all that jazz (though she’s already admitted to the crime)… but don’t suggest this isn’t news.  Don’t suggest we’re blowing things out of proportion.  Don’t suggest a charge of rape is unfounded (look up the state law, you idiots).

And for any other women teachers in the county who are in desperate need of romance… go to Craigslist… not your classroom.  If you can’t get your sex from someone who is not a minor then you don’t deserve your sex.

Meanwhile, I hope Portland High School takes a good long look at how they’ve structured teacher free time and how three students could engage in sexual behavior with a teacher and no one find out until months later.  What a mess.