How can this be?  Simple.  The molester was a fellow teacher.

Convicted child molester Neal Erickson gets teacher support, while the victim doesn’t even get acknowledged. As the story tells it:

“I am asking that Neal be given the absolute minimum sentence, considering all the circumstances surrounding this case,” wrote Amy Huber Eagan, a teacher and wife of board member Mike Eagan. “I am also hoping that he can stay remanded to the custody of the Ogemaw County Jail and not be sent to a prison facility.”

Neal Erickson abused this boy for three years, documented and publicized his abuse, and tore a family apart, as the article notes.  The only reason he was caught was apparently because the abuser posted pictures of the abuse on the Internet, and an anonymous person sent them to the School Board.  This man is a vile predator, not some “confused” sad-sack.

Speaking of vile, this from the molester’s wife:

While I acknowledge that Neal’s conduct with [the victim] was wrong, I do not believe he was damaged by Neal’s actions and I base my opinion on my personal interaction with [the victim], both before and after Neal’s actions. However [my daughter] very likely could be. Please don’t punish her by his absence in her life.

Unbelievable.  Have they really no shame at all?

Thankfully, The district’s parents understand just what is at stake here:

[H]undreds of parents who are rallying behind the Janczewskis are threatening to pull their children from the district if the school board doesn’t act, a serious concern because of the potential loss of per-pupil state funding.

But what do the parents receive from the school’s teachers?  A “stick in the eye”:

10 people, including seven WB-RC teachers, submitted letters of support for Erickson, most pleading for a reduced sentence. They included Campbell, Amy Eagan, Coe, Toni Erickson, Carol Rau, Marilyn Glover, Sandi Lee, Kathryn Weber, Kathleen Sheel and Kathleen Palmer, the Herald reports.

The “thin chalk line” of teachers covering up for teachers.  It never ends.  The judge gets it, though:

Judge Michael Bumgartner told Erickson he was “appalled and ashamed that the community could rally around, in this case, you,” according to the Herald.

In fact, Neal Erickson got some of what he deserved: Neal Erickson was sentenced to 15-30 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct after he admitted to engaging in sex acts with a former student.  At Jackson State Penitentiary in general population, hopefully.

The family also wanted “the seven teachers who publicly supported Erickson terminated immediately, Eagan to step down or be recalled from office, and action by the school district to help prevent other students from suffering abuse.”  Anyone with the slightest amount of common sense would call for these same actions.

Not surprisingly, the School Board does not have the slightest amount of common sense.

Even worse, the local government establishment seems hell-bent on protecting Mike Eagan, the Board member who publicly sat in support of the child molester at the trial.

These child-molester apologists appear to go so far as to burn down the garage of the victim’s family.

Infuriating.  This entire nest of vipers needs to be cleared out.

Support the Janczewski family.