Houston — An elementary school teacher accused of sexually abusing at least eight young kids was sentenced to life in prison this week.
Manuel Ponce, a teacher at Sutton Elementary School in the Houston Independent School District, was charged with ongoing sexual assault of a kid.
After his arrest was published in February 2023, a more student came forward, increasing the total to eight. Some of the victims, as young as eight years old, claimed Ponce unlawfully touched them in their private parts, according to court filings.
Ponce was charged with three charges of ongoing sexual abuse of a child, one offense of indecency with a child, and one count of indecent exposure.
Court filings state that the abuse began around February 1, 2020, when he pulled a girl’s pants and underwear down. She was in his second grade class at the time.
The girl did not inform anyone until she was in fifth grade. The girl informed her instructor that Ponce would instruct the other kids to take a restroom break while asking her to remain behind so he could examine her private parts. She claimed it happened virtually daily.
Prosecutors claimed the other victims in Ponce’s classroom during the 2021-2022 school year had similar experiences.
HISD stated that Ponce resigned in 2022.
How to Talk to Your Children
Dr. Whitney Crowson, a clinical psychologist at the Children’s Assessment Center, believes that empowering children to combat abuse begins when they are babies.
“If you are just changing a diaper and you’re narrating a little bit what you were doing, you are bringing light and openness to these areas of the body that oftentimes create embarrassment, shame, secrecy,” laughed Crowson. “All of the things that we don’t want to see when discussing those topics.”
Crowson advised parents to use accurate names for body parts while speaking to their children.
“If we don’t use the proper names, then we are sending a message that they aren’t safe to talk about,” she told me.
Crowson also advised parents to let their children know that no one should touch them there.
“It’s OK to say no to adults if what they are doing is hurtful to you,” she told me. “Or if it’s inappropriate. Or if it is something you are not comfortable with. It’s okay to say no.”
Regardless, Crowson believes that parents should communicate to their children that they can discuss anything without fear of punishment.
These can be difficult conversations, but there are books for both children and adults to help make them simpler.