PSA - Sex abuse at Washington Hebrew

[Anonymous]

maybe your child was the one they said they knew about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is first-hand knowledge of the allegations, which are extremely serious. In order to protect the integrity of the investigation, law enforcement has requested that affected families not share information on the specifics of the allegations. The following information is meant to complement what was shared at the meeting last night in dealing with what is actually known to the authorities and the preschool about the circulating allegations.

Here is what is understood to have occurred. A family was speaking in an ordinary conversation one has with their child about inappropriate touching and boundaries that should be maintained. In that context, the child divulged information about a pattern of inappropriate touching and behavior from the teacher in question and who has now been put on administrative leave. The parents reported it to the school and then reached out to another family whose child was mentioned by their child. When that family had a conversation with their child, even more information was revealed about what that teacher was inappropriately doing. It appears that this abusive behavior was made possible by the teacher's use of intimidating language and “grooming.” Both families reported the sexual abuse allegations separately to the preschool and law enforcement, and informed them of the mention of other specific children.

In addition to the reporting of the potential sexual abuse inflicted upon these two children to the authorities and the preschool, as noted, there has been mention by these children of others potentially having been subjected to the misconduct of this teacher. Moreover, there obviously are many more children who were at least exposed to this teacher, both during the 2017-2018 school year and during camp. It is unknown whether all of these families have been contacted yet or at all by law enforcement, as law enforcement says they would be doing.

A child might not offer this information without some inquiry, and just watching for signs can go on for years. A therapist can best advise parents how to address the potential for abuse of one’s child so as to find out if the child has been molested in any way. To also investigate whether one’s child was in harm’s way by being exposed to this teacher, families might want to consider reaching out to the temple and law enforcement to demand resources on how to at least initiate an inquiry with their children since it would seem that other children could have been affected by this teacher. Because the teacher has been with the school since 2016, it is very plausible that other children may have been harmed.

Certainly, at a minimum, families should speak with law enforcement if they suspect their child may have been harmed. If you have concern, even if you don’t have concrete evidence, please at least seek advice from a therapist to get some direction on how to proceed in your child’s best interests. It is apparently very important to intervene early with children in overcoming the trauma caused by sexual abuse.

Scholl leaders were adamant last night they they only knew of one child. Does that mean they were lying in your opinion?

Yes, they are lying. They are aware of an inappropriate incident with my child at school.

I'm so sorry, PP.

+1 I hope your DC is getting all help needed.

[Anonymous]

If you want an answer, submit a FOIA request to the DC Police, send it to the school, and tell the school they have to tell you by a certain date or you will email this website to the Washington Post, then the City Paper, then Washington Jewish week, until someone runs with the story that the Police and Washington Hebrew are denying distraught parents knowledge about whether their children were abused by the alleged perpetrator.

Especially if a Rabbi is calling you "neurotic" for worrying about whether your kids were abused.

[Anonymous]

21:28-if you are one of the concerned parents like me who have refreshed this discussion hundreds of times this past week, you’d have seen in this thread that there is a FOIA exemption that precludes the transmittal of information in cases of an ongoing investigation. No one is comfortable with the limits of information , but I recognize the constrained realities of law enforcement. Moreover, as an attendee at the meeting last night, I did not feel that the rabbi was inappropriate, nor did he say, explicitly or by inference, that anyone was being neurotic. We’re all in the same boat. It sucks. But what you wrote isn’t helping. Thank you to all those who have posted constructive comments, and my heart goes out to all suffering through this.

[Anonymous]

Some one needs to give this to wash post, etc. I do not trust the school. They need some outside eyes on them.

[Anonymous]

You do the FOIA to give everyone a chance before you go to the papers. Do you think the average reader knows about the FOIA investigative exemption when you are talking about alleged pedophila?

[Anonymous]

The MPD is leading an investigation. Be mad at the school all you want ,but at this point, they clearly have outside eyes on them.

As for the media, what would that story even look like at this point? Yes, distraught parents are being denied information. Why? For all the legitimate reasons raised at the meeting last night. End story . I want info, we all do. But we aren’t getting it . Crying to the media isn’t going to change that- not should it, at this point.

[Anonymous]

This is why liberals get owned by the GOP - you aren't willing to do what is needed to get what you want.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I’ll pass on addressing this absurdity and encourage others to do the same. As the kids say, delete your (admittedly anonymous) account

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do the FOIA to give everyone a chance before you go to the papers. Do you think the average reader knows about the FOIA investigative exemption when you are talking about alleged pedophila?

That's nonsensical. The people who process the FOIA requests know about the exemption and that is all that matters. It will eventually be denied and you will be right back where you started.

Arguing for a FOIA request first would only make sense if there were some sort of exhaustion requirement to try FOIA before trying other things like going to the press. Of course, there is no such requirement and if you want to go to the press just go to the press.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been very painful for me as my children have attended the school since 2014. We have loved the teachers and their support of our children and family; we have learned so much about the importance of play-based learning under the direction of the director. I can attest that my kids are flourishing after moving on to elementary school, showing me that we made the right decision attending the school. I have been a room parent, and helped with school functions, attended "coffee talks" with the director. I am very involved. This accusation doesn't sound like any of the employees I know. I am praying there has been a giant misunderstanding.

The school is being as transparent as it can be: they sent emails to staff, parents, and members of the congregation (believe me, I've asked everyone who has had any connection to the synagogue). They had the townhall. I agree that I want to know the gender of the adult, the gender of the child, and what exactly the alleged did. But before the investigation is complete, they cannot give us that information.

I stand by WHC for what they have given to me and my family and I hope we can find peace and a resolution soon.

Im happy that you have had such an amazing experience at WHC but statements like this are hugely problematic and why victims of sexual abuse are often hesitant to come forward and often not believed - because people say “but he/she seemed so wonderful and I could never see him/her doing something so terrible!!”. Just stop. Abusers are often very charming, social, etc. They aren’t always the creepy guys in unmarked vans but rather usually part of the community and well known to lots of people (see: Catholic Church, Larry Nassar, penn state, etc). They just hide their disgusting predilections and behavior well. Or not so well, and people just cover up for them (see: same exmplaes$. But either way - enough with the trope of “but he’s such a nice guy!” crap.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I'll just send this thread link to the WP instead of giving WHC the chance to do the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I'll just send this thread link to the WP instead of giving WHC the chance to do the right thing.

Go for it. You think this is a well kept secret and ONLY the posters on DCUM know about it? You are such a moron.

[Anonymous]

Obviously reporters don't know about this, fairly big local scandal that has not been reported anywhere. But keep allowing parents to be distraught over the fact that they don't even know who the alleged abuser was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously reporters don't know about this, fairly big local scandal that has not been reported anywhere. But keep allowing parents to be distraught over the fact that they don't even know who the alleged abuser was.

It is going to look very bad the longer it takes to become public.