Back at my other home a big news item these days is the case of the 31-year old female high school teacher who was caught late at night in a car having sex with a 16 year-old male student.

Her job was Instructional Coach, meaning that she coached the teachers in better teaching methods and she was the faculty person in charge of an after-school student club, so she did have some direct contact with students.

Yes, I agree what she was caught doing is wrong, and yes it was right for her to quit her job and that she will be punished with criminal penalties. And yes the court should have told her to stay out of contact with persons under 18 years of age.

What bothers me is that she has two young daughters under 5 years old and the court has denied her contact with them because now she is considered to be a child molester. "Prosecutor Renee Doak said she is uncomfortable with letting Bowles see the girls in person because no experts have assessed whether Bowles poses any risk to them."

For several weeks it was no contact at all. Finally, the judge grudgingly said she could talk to them for 30 minutes every other day with the husband listening in because she was very active in her daughters' life and it has been very stressful for them to suddenly cut off her relationship with them, as if she'd died.

I suppose if she'd been caught molesting young girls or if the 16 year old boy was non-consenting, I could understand this, but this seems like hair-splitting, nit-picking political-correctness over-kill.

I'm wondering if all those male teachers who are prosecuted for having sexual relations with their female students are subjected to the same bans with respect to their children. Guess I'll start paying more attention to the news articles about this kind of offense.