Opinion: Protecting Our Children Must Come Before Politics, Parents Raise Alarm Over Child Exploitation in Schools and Events

Written by, Kayla Churchill

August 22, 2025 — Parents and community leaders are sounding the alarm as schools and children’s entertainment events increasingly put minors at risk of sexual exploitation.  Warning signs are ignored, predators operate in plain sight, and institutions such as DESE, teachers unions, and lawmakers prioritize policies and reputations over child safety. From sexualized performances of young children to grooming by educators, current oversight is failing, calling for stricter hiring standards, psychological evaluations, and proportionate punishment for offenders.

At the heart of the debate is consent. Minors cannot legally or ethically consent to sexualized activities. “A child may imitate what adults celebrate, but that does not mean they understand or choose it freely,”  “Encouraging boys to wear lingerie or perform provocative dances for applause or tips is exploitation, plain and simple.”

In comparison to bacha bazi, the practice abroad in which young boys are dressed as women and forced to perform for adult audiences. Dressing children in adult clothing and encouraging sexualized performances normalizes grooming and endangers children. “Cooking, fishing, swimming, stargazing — these are healthy childhood experiences,” Parading an 8-year-old in lingerie on stage, with adults cheering and handing out money, is not play. It’s sexualization.”

The failure to act on warning signs is another concern, drawing parallels to school shootings. After such tragedies, communities claim “there were no warning signs,” yet these are often clear warning signs: isolation, threats of suicide, fascination with violence, harming animals, or disturbing manifestos. Too often, these indicators are dismissed as “kids being kids” until it is too late.

The same blind eye is applied to sexual predators in schools. “Teachers who are too close to students, display attraction, or act inappropriately are often excused,” . “DESE, teachers unions, and lawmakers often prioritize policies, diversity initiatives, or protecting reputations over protecting children — until a child is harmed.”

When predators are exposed, the public is shocked: “How did this happen in plain sight?” Simple, predators actively seek access to children. “Just as someone with a chicken coop is drawn to chickens, predators work in schools  because it gives them access,” said one parent.

The comparison to the Catholic Church’s abuse scandals is striking. Priests were quietly relocated instead of removed. Today, public schools face a similar crisis: cases are buried within DESE, teacher unions, and backroom deals. Offenders often resign quietly and are rehired elsewhere, putting children back into harm’s way.

Advocates like moms for liberty and myself  are calling for significantly stricter hiring and licensing standards for teachers. Similar to police, fire, EMS, and FBI personnel, teachers should undergo sobriety tests for drugs and alcohol, as well as thorough mental and psychological evaluations before and during employment. “We are hiring teachers to spend a significant amount of time with our most precious, valuable and easily influenced which is our children,” said one parent. “Maintaining a teaching license should require higher standards — background checks, evaluations, and ongoing monitoring — to ensure the safety and well-being of every child in the classroom.”

There is constitutional concerns about punishment. The Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments.” The Supreme Court has interpreted this to mean penalties must be proportionate to the crime and cannot involve torture or barbaric methods. 

Sexual abuse of children violates this principle for the victims: the innocent child suffers lifelong trauma, both mentally and physically, which is cruel and unusual punishment inflicted upon them. Some are calling for harsher, proportionate penalties for offenders, including chemical castration or the death penalty in the most extreme cases. “If punishments must fit the crime,”  “then ensuring predators face consequences equal to the life sentence they impose on children is not excessive — it is justice.” 

I strongly believe that uness warning signs are recognized, predators are held accountable, and institutions like DESE and teachers unions are reformed, abuse will continue. 

“The fall of Rome didn’t happen overnight,” said one parent. “People looked the other way while decay spread at the core. We cannot allow that to happen with our children. We can not allow this to happen in America. Anyone who allows this or condones this behavior should have a mental evaluation done at min. To think our great nation is the number one consumers of child sex trafficking and pornography and then to watch children fall prey and victim to predators while at places like churches and schools

We need to do better as a nation and as a state, have the strictest punishment for weirdos who think it’s fun to touch kids. Or think MAP (minor attracted persons) is a normal behavior where we all should accept them is an insane idea that I can not and will not ever support. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I will fight for children with every last breath I have. Someone once said “in politics you have to choose what hill you are willing to die on” when it comes to our children, I will die every single time on that hill if it means even one child is protected.