Damascus Brooming Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against MCPS Going to Trial

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those student rapists' names should be published. Colleges and employers should be aware of their actions and not expose their campuses to these immoral people.

I wonder how this stuff stays private given that the kids know who it is. You'd think the names would've leaked at some point....

Nevermind, some quick online searching revealed the names of the attackers, so I guess it's not such a big secret.

Sad that all of the boys were black men. I don't know if their victims were also black, but this is why safety and security is not about an attack on black kids, so often the victims of violence in schools are black and brown kids themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I hope it goes to trial and MCPS is SHAMED into doing something more to protect their students; and taking all assault complaints seriously from now on. I applaud the victims' parents for their hard work in the face of so much trauma.

My family is in its 12th year in MCPS (oldest is graduating next month!), and we have been exposed to the best of what MCPS has to offer. But I also follow stories like these, because they show the worst side of MCPS, one where victims are cast aside and perpetrators are protected. Collectively, we really need to put pressure on this sluggish school system to protect our children better.

That's RJ for you. IMO, it will only get worse with RJ. Kids now there is aren't much consequences to their actions.

My last DC will be a sophmore this fall, and I will be glad to be out of MCPS.

I pay way too much taxes to put up with this BS.

The Damascus assault was before RJ came to MCPS, so I don't see how you can judge RJ in this context.

one where victims are cast aside and perpetrators are protected

That's how MCPS does RJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I hope it goes to trial and MCPS is SHAMED into doing something more to protect their students; and taking all assault complaints seriously from now on. I applaud the victims' parents for their hard work in the face of so much trauma.

My family is in its 12th year in MCPS (oldest is graduating next month!), and we have been exposed to the best of what MCPS has to offer. But I also follow stories like these, because they show the worst side of MCPS, one where victims are cast aside and perpetrators are protected. Collectively, we really need to put pressure on this sluggish school system to protect our children better.

That's RJ for you. IMO, it will only get worse with RJ. Kids now there is aren't much consequences to their actions.

My last DC will be a sophmore this fall, and I will be glad to be out of MCPS.

I pay way too much taxes to put up with this BS.

The Damascus assault was before RJ came to MCPS, so I don't see how you can judge RJ in this context.

This happened after mcps removed separate schools for violent students. "Rj" is just part of the pattern of cost savings over safety and effectiveness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I hope it goes to trial and MCPS is SHAMED into doing something more to protect their students; and taking all assault complaints seriously from now on. I applaud the victims' parents for their hard work in the face of so much trauma.

My family is in its 12th year in MCPS (oldest is graduating next month!), and we have been exposed to the best of what MCPS has to offer. But I also follow stories like these, because they show the worst side of MCPS, one where victims are cast aside and perpetrators are protected. Collectively, we really need to put pressure on this sluggish school system to protect our children better.

That's RJ for you. IMO, it will only get worse with RJ. Kids now there is aren't much consequences to their actions.

My last DC will be a sophmore this fall, and I will be glad to be out of MCPS.

I pay way too much taxes to put up with this BS.

The Damascus assault was before RJ came to MCPS, so I don't see how you can judge RJ in this context.

This happened after mcps removed separate schools for violent students. "Rj" is just part of the pattern of cost savings over safety and effectiveness

It took a few years to start calling it restorative justice because they needed that long to imagine a name that would make everyone feel good about their kids getting shafted
In this case, literally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I hope it goes to trial and MCPS is SHAMED into doing something more to protect their students; and taking all assault complaints seriously from now on. I applaud the victims' parents for their hard work in the face of so much trauma.

My family is in its 12th year in MCPS (oldest is graduating next month!), and we have been exposed to the best of what MCPS has to offer. But I also follow stories like these, because they show the worst side of MCPS, one where victims are cast aside and perpetrators are protected. Collectively, we really need to put pressure on this sluggish school system to protect our children better.

That's RJ for you. IMO, it will only get worse with RJ. Kids now there is aren't much consequences to their actions.

My last DC will be a sophmore this fall, and I will be glad to be out of MCPS.

I pay way too much taxes to put up with this BS.

The Damascus assault was before RJ came to MCPS, so I don't see how you can judge RJ in this context.

This happened after mcps removed separate schools for violent students. "Rj" is just part of the pattern of cost savings over safety and effectiveness

The Damascus assaults were a "tradition" at a right-wing neighborhood school, that the coaches covered up, not to protect the fragile egos of the perpetrators, but to protect the football team. Do you really think that's an example of leftist talk-therapy coddling?

Or are you saying that everything bad is part of a pattern of everything MCPS being bad, always having been bad, and every change is for the worse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/05/13/damascus-brooming-lawsuit-locker-room/

What happened inside the locker room several years ago is well-known. Four junior varsity football players at Damascus High School in Maryland set upon their teammates, pinning three of them down and jabbing a broomstick handle into their buttocks.

But should school officials have known the attacks were likely? It’s a question a federal jury will be allowed to weigh after a judge ruled that key claims in a lawsuit against the Montgomery County school system can move forward. The judge’s decision this month is a boost to the victims and their families who have long asserted the attacks were preventable.

“Plaintiffs have put forward evidence that a reasonable jury could conclude that reckless or callous indifference occurred here,” U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte said from the bench.

Attorneys for the families say that school officials knew of at least three, earlier sexual assaults inside Montgomery County high school locker rooms, including an alleged 2017 incident among Damascus football players involving a broomstick that has emerged as perhaps the most critical and contentious part of the litigation. The families also say school officials, partly motivated to protect the powerhouse football program, allowed a player to remain on the JV squad despite his history of violence and sexual harassment, and that they left the JV locker room unchecked for an hour every day between the end of classes and the start of practice.

A football locker room, a broomstick and a sex assault case roil a school

Messitte did not set a trial date, but indicated that if the sides could not reach a settlement, the case could go before jurors for three weeks in February at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. Potential damages could top $1 million, according to attorneys in the case.

The article is long and has LOTS of good reporting and details worth checking out. MCPS has a toxic culture of folding its hands and DOING NOTHING in the face of kids who misbehave badly. And they also do a lot of box checking, when dealing with kids requires a level of thoroughness and insistence to get to the bottom of the issue.

Between this lawsuit and the one the Marguder Mom Karen Thomas has against MCPS for the shooting of her son at school in the bathroom last year, MCPS's insurer is going to be fed up and raise their premium, which I'm sure will be passed on to us as taxpayers....

The magruder one seems totally different to me. The victim in that case allegedly repeatedly challenged the shooter to fight, told him to meet in the bathroom to fight, and then when the kid pulled a gun, knocked the gun away which may have caused it to fire. Then refused to tell anyone he had been shot when help did arrive. I’m all in favor of more security especially around the bathrooms but I’m not seeing anything McPS did really wrong in that one. The security guard that found him saved his life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/05/13/damascus-brooming-lawsuit-locker-room/

What happened inside the locker room several years ago is well-known. Four junior varsity football players at Damascus High School in Maryland set upon their teammates, pinning three of them down and jabbing a broomstick handle into their buttocks.

But should school officials have known the attacks were likely? It’s a question a federal jury will be allowed to weigh after a judge ruled that key claims in a lawsuit against the Montgomery County school system can move forward. The judge’s decision this month is a boost to the victims and their families who have long asserted the attacks were preventable.

“Plaintiffs have put forward evidence that a reasonable jury could conclude that reckless or callous indifference occurred here,” U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte said from the bench.

Attorneys for the families say that school officials knew of at least three, earlier sexual assaults inside Montgomery County high school locker rooms, including an alleged 2017 incident among Damascus football players involving a broomstick that has emerged as perhaps the most critical and contentious part of the litigation. The families also say school officials, partly motivated to protect the powerhouse football program, allowed a player to remain on the JV squad despite his history of violence and sexual harassment, and that they left the JV locker room unchecked for an hour every day between the end of classes and the start of practice.

A football locker room, a broomstick and a sex assault case roil a school

Messitte did not set a trial date, but indicated that if the sides could not reach a settlement, the case could go before jurors for three weeks in February at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. Potential damages could top $1 million, according to attorneys in the case.

The article is long and has LOTS of good reporting and details worth checking out. MCPS has a toxic culture of folding its hands and DOING NOTHING in the face of kids who misbehave badly. And they also do a lot of box checking, when dealing with kids requires a level of thoroughness and insistence to get to the bottom of the issue.

Between this lawsuit and the one the Marguder Mom Karen Thomas has against MCPS for the shooting of her son at school in the bathroom last year, MCPS's insurer is going to be fed up and raise their premium, which I'm sure will be passed on to us as taxpayers....

The magruder one seems totally different to me. The victim in that case allegedly repeatedly challenged the shooter to fight, told him to meet in the bathroom to fight, and then when the kid pulled a gun, knocked the gun away which may have caused it to fire. Then refused to tell anyone he had been shot when help did arrive. I’m all in favor of more security especially around the bathrooms but I’m not seeing anything McPS did really wrong in that one. The security guard that found him saved his life.

I don't know where you are getting this narrative from, but Stephen Alston Jr. was older than DeAndre Thomas. And judging from the way his family conducts themselves in public, he did not come from a healthy or good home environment:

I think Karen has a strong case and MCPS definitely failed her son in significant ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In addition to suing Crouse and the school system, the families also named as defendants Sullivan, the county wide-athletics director; Joseph Doody, the former Damascus High athletic director; Eric Wallich, the former varsity football coach at Damascus; and Vincent Colbert; the former JV football coach at Damascus. Doody, Wallich and Colbert left their posts after the 2018 assaults.

Baxter, the school system spokeswoman, declined to comment on behalf of Sullivan, Wallich and Crouse. Sullivan remains in his position and Wallich and Crouse are still with the school system in different positions, according to the school system. Colbert could not be reached for comment. Kevin Karpinski, an attorney for Doody, also could not be reached.

This is so concerning to me. Why was Sullivan, Wallich and Colbert allowed to keep their jobs at MCPS after the detail and scope of this incident was unveiled? Especially Wallich and Colbert. Those guys should be unemployable in any organization having to do with youth.

None should be employed by MCPS. Heads should have rolled at the time, but did not. Why? I want to know about that coverup as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I hope it goes to trial and MCPS is SHAMED into doing something more to protect their students; and taking all assault complaints seriously from now on. I applaud the victims' parents for their hard work in the face of so much trauma.

My family is in its 12th year in MCPS (oldest is graduating next month!), and we have been exposed to the best of what MCPS has to offer. But I also follow stories like these, because they show the worst side of MCPS, one where victims are cast aside and perpetrators are protected. Collectively, we really need to put pressure on this sluggish school system to protect our children better.

That's RJ for you. IMO, it will only get worse with RJ. Kids now there is aren't much consequences to their actions.

My last DC will be a sophmore this fall, and I will be glad to be out of MCPS.

I pay way too much taxes to put up with this BS.

The Damascus assault was before RJ came to MCPS, so I don't see how you can judge RJ in this context.

This happened after mcps removed separate schools for violent students. "Rj" is just part of the pattern of cost savings over safety and effectiveness

The Damascus assaults were a "tradition" at a right-wing neighborhood school, that the coaches covered up, not to protect the fragile egos of the perpetrators, but to protect the football team. Do you really think that's an example of leftist talk-therapy coddling?

Or are you saying that everything bad is part of a pattern of everything MCPS being bad, always having been bad, and every change is for the worse?

You're a weirdo. I'm talking about shuffling the kid who got kicked out of Clarksburg for deviant behavior over to damascus instead of sending him to the school for problem students which they don't have anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those student rapists' names should be published. Colleges and employers should be aware of their actions and not expose their campuses to these immoral people.

That would never happen in Montgomery County. Never. The victims suffer and the accused are protected. We see this over and over and over again.

And that seems to be a law enforcement and prosecutor issue, not a school issue. The state is the only party that could have held them legally accountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/05/13/damascus-brooming-lawsuit-locker-room/

What happened inside the locker room several years ago is well-known. Four junior varsity football players at Damascus High School in Maryland set upon their teammates, pinning three of them down and jabbing a broomstick handle into their buttocks.

But should school officials have known the attacks were likely? It’s a question a federal jury will be allowed to weigh after a judge ruled that key claims in a lawsuit against the Montgomery County school system can move forward. The judge’s decision this month is a boost to the victims and their families who have long asserted the attacks were preventable.

“Plaintiffs have put forward evidence that a reasonable jury could conclude that reckless or callous indifference occurred here,” U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte said from the bench.

Attorneys for the families say that school officials knew of at least three, earlier sexual assaults inside Montgomery County high school locker rooms, including an alleged 2017 incident among Damascus football players involving a broomstick that has emerged as perhaps the most critical and contentious part of the litigation. The families also say school officials, partly motivated to protect the powerhouse football program, allowed a player to remain on the JV squad despite his history of violence and sexual harassment, and that they left the JV locker room unchecked for an hour every day between the end of classes and the start of practice.

A football locker room, a broomstick and a sex assault case roil a school

Messitte did not set a trial date, but indicated that if the sides could not reach a settlement, the case could go before jurors for three weeks in February at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. Potential damages could top $1 million, according to attorneys in the case.

The article is long and has LOTS of good reporting and details worth checking out. MCPS has a toxic culture of folding its hands and DOING NOTHING in the face of kids who misbehave badly. And they also do a lot of box checking, when dealing with kids requires a level of thoroughness and insistence to get to the bottom of the issue.

Between this lawsuit and the one the Marguder Mom Karen Thomas has against MCPS for the shooting of her son at school in the bathroom last year, MCPS's insurer is going to be fed up and raise their premium, which I'm sure will be passed on to us as taxpayers....

The magruder one seems totally different to me. The victim in that case allegedly repeatedly challenged the shooter to fight, told him to meet in the bathroom to fight, and then when the kid pulled a gun, knocked the gun away which may have caused it to fire. Then refused to tell anyone he had been shot when help did arrive. I’m all in favor of more security especially around the bathrooms but I’m not seeing anything McPS did really wrong in that one. The security guard that found him saved his life.

I don't know where you are getting this narrative from, but Stephen Alston Jr. was older than DeAndre Thomas. And judging from the way his family conducts themselves in public, he did not come from a healthy or good home environment:

I think Karen has a strong case and MCPS definitely failed her son in significant ways.

I am not so sure it is that clean cut. According to some reports, the victim of the shooting was an extremely aggressive bully who even went to the shooter’s home to harass him. Ultimately the truth will come out. But if those reports are true, there is a young life that is completely gone due to failure to intervene to protect a child from a bully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I hope it goes to trial and MCPS is SHAMED into doing something more to protect their students; and taking all assault complaints seriously from now on. I applaud the victims' parents for their hard work in the face of so much trauma.

My family is in its 12th year in MCPS (oldest is graduating next month!), and we have been exposed to the best of what MCPS has to offer. But I also follow stories like these, because they show the worst side of MCPS, one where victims are cast aside and perpetrators are protected. Collectively, we really need to put pressure on this sluggish school system to protect our children better.

That's RJ for you. IMO, it will only get worse with RJ. Kids now there is aren't much consequences to their actions.

My last DC will be a sophmore this fall, and I will be glad to be out of MCPS.

I pay way too much taxes to put up with this BS.

The Damascus assault was before RJ came to MCPS, so I don't see how you can judge RJ in this context.

This happened after mcps removed separate schools for violent students. "Rj" is just part of the pattern of cost savings over safety and effectiveness

The Damascus assaults were a "tradition" at a right-wing neighborhood school, that the coaches covered up, not to protect the fragile egos of the perpetrators, but to protect the football team. Do you really think that's an example of leftist talk-therapy coddling?

Or are you saying that everything bad is part of a pattern of everything MCPS being bad, always having been bad, and every change is for the worse?

Nope. That is not true at all. The rapist came from a different school. He had already been in trouble and had been shuffled around. But, MCPS doesn't believe in suspending kids, and focuses on mainstreaming kids (even when there are serious issues), the kid ended up at Damascus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those student rapists' names should be published. Colleges and employers should be aware of their actions and not expose their campuses to these immoral people.

That would never happen in Montgomery County. Never. The victims suffer and the accused are protected. We see this over and over and over again.

And that seems to be a law enforcement and prosecutor issue, not a school issue. The state is the only party that could have held them legally accountable.

Nope. Law enforcement is there to catch criminals and get them off the streets. Our judicial system is responsible for holding criminals accountable. Unfortunately, our current legal system is dysfunctional and favors criminals over victims.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/05/13/damascus-brooming-lawsuit-locker-room/

What happened inside the locker room several years ago is well-known. Four junior varsity football players at Damascus High School in Maryland set upon their teammates, pinning three of them down and jabbing a broomstick handle into their buttocks.

But should school officials have known the attacks were likely? It’s a question a federal jury will be allowed to weigh after a judge ruled that key claims in a lawsuit against the Montgomery County school system can move forward. The judge’s decision this month is a boost to the victims and their families who have long asserted the attacks were preventable.

“Plaintiffs have put forward evidence that a reasonable jury could conclude that reckless or callous indifference occurred here,” U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte said from the bench.

Attorneys for the families say that school officials knew of at least three, earlier sexual assaults inside Montgomery County high school locker rooms, including an alleged 2017 incident among Damascus football players involving a broomstick that has emerged as perhaps the most critical and contentious part of the litigation. The families also say school officials, partly motivated to protect the powerhouse football program, allowed a player to remain on the JV squad despite his history of violence and sexual harassment, and that they left the JV locker room unchecked for an hour every day between the end of classes and the start of practice.

A football locker room, a broomstick and a sex assault case roil a school

Messitte did not set a trial date, but indicated that if the sides could not reach a settlement, the case could go before jurors for three weeks in February at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt. Potential damages could top $1 million, according to attorneys in the case.

The article is long and has LOTS of good reporting and details worth checking out. MCPS has a toxic culture of folding its hands and DOING NOTHING in the face of kids who misbehave badly. And they also do a lot of box checking, when dealing with kids requires a level of thoroughness and insistence to get to the bottom of the issue.

Between this lawsuit and the one the Marguder Mom Karen Thomas has against MCPS for the shooting of her son at school in the bathroom last year, MCPS's insurer is going to be fed up and raise their premium, which I'm sure will be passed on to us as taxpayers....

The magruder one seems totally different to me. The victim in that case allegedly repeatedly challenged the shooter to fight, told him to meet in the bathroom to fight, and then when the kid pulled a gun, knocked the gun away which may have caused it to fire. Then refused to tell anyone he had been shot when help did arrive. I’m all in favor of more security especially around the bathrooms but I’m not seeing anything McPS did really wrong in that one. The security guard that found him saved his life.

I don't know where you are getting this narrative from, but Stephen Alston Jr. was older than DeAndre Thomas. And judging from the way his family conducts themselves in public, he did not come from a healthy or good home environment:

I think Karen has a strong case and MCPS definitely failed her son in significant ways.

I am not so sure it is that clean cut. According to some reports, the victim of the shooting was an extremely aggressive bully who even went to the shooter’s home to harass him. Ultimately the truth will come out. But if those reports are true, there is a young life that is completely gone due to failure to intervene to protect a child from a bully.

I'll tell you this, regardless of whatever bullying people are trying to lay at DeAndre's feet, Steven Alston Jr was no angel. He had to procure a ghost gun, sneak it into school, then he showed no remorse after he shot the boy, which definitely was not by accident as the PP is trying to claim: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/maryland-gun-violence-former-student-sentenced-after-shooting-15-year-old-classmate-at-montgomery-county-high-school/65-5431a3f5-7a46-49f5-a421-03a66cc2578f

On Thursday, Montgomery County Judge David Boynton sentenced Alston to 40 years in prison, with all but 18 years suspended; he'll also be on probation for five years upon release. As part of his plea deal, if Alston completes a program for young offenders, he could be eligible for early release.

Boynton called the Magruder shooting a “seismic event” in Montgomery County's history, specifically pointing out how Alston had bought and assembled a ghost gun and planned the shooting. At the hearing, three photos were shown of Alston posing with the unregistered gun and showing off magazines filled with bullets. Not released was security camera video shown in court from inside the school showing Alston apparently skipping down the hallway after the shooting.

"It looks like he’s celebrating what he’d just done, skipping down that hallway not having a care in the world knowing he’d just shot another human being," State's Attorney John Mccarthy said.

Again, seeing the family Alston Jr. came from, he was not innocent and given his conduct, he was definitely not innocent. He plotted, planned and attempted to murder his classmate. And he was OLDER than DeAndre. How often are younger kids bullying older kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those student rapists' names should be published. Colleges and employers should be aware of their actions and not expose their campuses to these immoral people.

I wonder how this stuff stays private given that the kids know who it is. You'd think the names would've leaked at some point....

Nevermind, some quick online searching revealed the names of the attackers, so I guess it's not such a big secret.

Sad that all of the boys were black men. I don't know if their victims were also black, but this is why safety and security is not about an attack on black kids, so often the victims of violence in schools are black and brown kids themselves.

What does race have to do with this? This was horrific and they should go to jail.