How does a sociopathic predator remain a member of the education system for decades, despite an abundance of warning signs?

IN THE MIDST OF A PREDATOR

When the news broke that former high school teacher Tom Miller Privett had been charged with sexual battery, a majority of his ex-students were not shocked that he had committed the act, but that he had been successfully arrested. The qualities that make predators like Privett particularly dangerous are the same qualities that have allowed him, and others, to fly under the radar for decades.

Mr. Privett could be described as an eloquent and intelligent man. He always seemed confident in his ability to sway others' opinions, with his smooth educated tone, anecdotes of his time as a lawyer, and theatrical southern drawl; all parts of his elaborate ruse to hide the monster lying beneath.

"I've believed that Privett was a deeply manipulative, emotionally abusive man who battered me for 4 years." Said a former TERRA student.

PRIVETT'S SORDID PAST

A spot on Privett's debate team was a coveted role for those students who had high aspirations of becoming lawyers themselves, hoping to learn from his expertise. What he denied to disclose, when boasting of his past as an attorney, was that the only trace of any Tom M. Privett in the Online Tennessee Attorney Directory records lead to a document detailing Privett's conviction of unlawful possession of cocaine and improperly influencing the testimony of a witness. Privett was s ubsequently suspended from the Tennessee Bar Association for three years by order entered June 26, 1980. Tom Miller Privett's teaching certification (license #520384) became effective as of July 1st, 1981, according to the Florida Department of Education records. A certification he obtained in Florida just one year after his suspension from the Tennessee bar.

COMPLEX STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS

Privett preyed on every teenager's desire to be treated as an adult, and he made sure to lean into those desires and berate students whenever possible. Even then, we weren't able to see this for what it really was: verbal abuse and psychological torment.

He routinely protected the students closest to him, getting their punishments reduced and allowing them to skip class in his planning period; positively reinforcing the idea that it was much better to be in his good graces. "I didn't have the words." said a former TERRA student when she recounts why, in her naive state, couldn't explain why she simultaneously felt uncomfortable around the man but still did her best to appease him and receive his praise.

CONTINUOUS INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR

A former TERRA student recounts how Privett would outwardly try and humiliate students, particularly boys, to establish dominance. I was also in the room there to witness this account. Once, during a debate team try-out, he asked the smallest boy in the room to stand up and prove he could perform under pressure. Privett proceeded to single out a girl in the room, and asked the young man to answer the question: "Do you think this girl is hot? Why or why not?"

Another student recalls an uncomfortable incident in which she had created a pin in art class, with a profane slang word for vagina printed on it. Privett noticed the pin tacked onto her backpack and instead of instructing her that this kind of distracting accessory was not allowed on school grounds, he publicly asked the student: "Do you have a good one or are you one?"

The student, who was beside herself in the face of such a question, just continued to answer "yes, yes, yes." Later, she realized he was referring to the word written on her pin, and by proxy her own genitalia, in a sadistic joke attempt.

Privett was known to throw out manipulative and inappropriate lines describing the "sexiness" of the bodies of certain students and took note of who was responsive. He would say things like "I prefer smaller breasts" while giving a student a lingering look of approval in regards to her own chest size.

THE IMPORTANCE OF REPORTING

Another account from April of 2017, involved another TERRA teacher Alfred Manuel Bunge (License #1065909). Bunge's educator license was permanently revoked, thanks to the student's report and action from the school. Bunge's inappropriate behavior included giving a 17-year-old student a short story he had written that depicts a graphic sex scene. Just another instance of how educators can abuse and groom victims without ever laying a finger on them.

The official document quotes the story: "watching her… as she came to me ever so willing and so inviting was so beautiful, as I tasted her lips and her skin, my heart raced uncontrollably her body was young and firm, her moves were so inviting, and when I thought I had had enough, I heard her moaning…her passionate moaning…"

TO CATCH A PREDATOR

As someone who bore witness to teachers' abusive antics, and said nothing despite my own obvious discomfort, I implore others to understand that none of these behaviors are appropriate, nor are they excusable.

In the case of Bunge, he was in a small way, brought to justice and removed from his post, because the student successfully voiced their concern-which is no easy feat. Sadly for the victim(s) of Privett, it took much more to break through the facade he so expertly built.

Privett was quoted by a student publicly saying: "My time as a white man is coming to an end." After a lifetime of conniving behavior, he saw that he was slowly losing his grasp on his privilege. The privilege that allowed him to rape a young classmate every day because "this is what she was supposed to do" to appease him.

In the end, it was his own arrogance that proved to be Privett's downfall. "To help build evidence against him, the victim called Privett to discuss their sexual relationship, as detectives listened." Openly admitting and recanting the sex acts that he took part in with a minor, without remorse, he confirmed the girl's account on a recorded line.

The thing about pedophiles is that they are usually intelligent enough to recognize their perversion and understand the severity of it. Real predators like Privett exist among us, leaving behind red flags that we all took notice of, but were too naive to speak up about.

I'm here to tell Privett that, if justice is served, then he will be stripped of every single privilege he has become accustomed to. I want him to know that he is done getting away with it.

Privett, 30-year history and government teacher taught most of his career at South Dade High and at Terra, a magnet school in West Kendall. Prosecutors believe there may be more victims. Anyone with information can call the State Attorney's Office at 305-547-0441.