Teacher sex abuse scars family, town

AP reporters in every state and the District of Columbia identified 2,570 teachers who were punished for sexual misconduct from 2001 to 2005 alone, for actions that ranged from fondling to viewing child pornography to rape.

Though experts who deal with sexual abuse say victims tell the truth more often than not, the ordeal is often worsened when the community around them is drawn in, and people take sides. Often, victims and their families face uncooperative administrators, disbelieving neighbors and an agonizing legal journey.

Are your children really safe in the public schools?

"I thought my children were safest in school," the girl's mother says. She shakes her head. As a child, she went to Pershing Elementary, the same school her two daughters attended and one of several in Berwyn, where Sperlik taught band for 18 years.

Apparently not.

The girls thought it was enough to flag an adult's attention without having to be too explicit.

Grindle, according to court documents, spoke to the children individually and to some of their parents, though she didn't show the letter to the parents. She told them that their daughters felt uncomfortable with the band teacher - that she had spoken to Sperlik, that he explained that he was only correcting their posture and tapping them on the knee to help them keep a beat.

The parents felt reassured."She told me she had my daughter's self-interest at heart. That made me feel good," the mom says.

Later in court, however, the girls claimed they had privately told Grindle that Sperlik touched them in their groin area. Grindle insisted that never happened.

Given her findings, she made no report to police or child protective services. She did, however, tell Sperlik not to touch his students for any reason.

Their daughter gave police the names of the two other girls, whom police interviewed separately. Eventually, other young women came forward, some saying that they hadn't realized what Sperlik was doing was sexual until they were older.

Many in the community didn't want to believe it.

To them, Sperlik was an awkward, but generally well-liked bachelor and accomplished drummer who related to his students better than other adults.

"I've always known Bob's a little socially inept," says Michelle Nafziger, a mother who went to high school with Sperlik. Her five children also had him for band.