Sidwell Soc. Studies teacher and Sleep Away Camp Director Arrested for Sexual Abuse

[Anonymous]

Beauvoir let their teacher walk away from campus and didn't hold on to him discretely until the police could get to him.

Sidwell banned him from campus (and thus the children) and didn't (couldn't?) fire him until charges were levied.

In Sidwell's case, I am inferring that the authorities were aware of the situation and were conducting an investigation.

I am not privy to any communications or counseling that may or may not have occurred with students.

[Anonymous]

I don't even know what this means, OP: "You get what you pay for". WTH?

I feel so bad for anyone that was harmed by this guy. So bad.

[Anonymous]

The OP for this post has some serious issues ... at the very least a very unpleasant person I hope never to meet. My sincere best wishes go out to the Sidwell community ... it could truly happen anywhere and is a reminder to all parents to be vigilant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir let their teacher walk away from campus and didn't hold on to him discretely until the police could get to him.

Sidwell banned him from campus (and thus the children) and didn't (couldn't?) fire him until charges were levied.
In Sidwell's case, I am inferring that the authorities were aware of the situation and were conducting an investigation.
I am not privy to any communications or counseling that may or may not have occurred with students.

Look this very sad and the predators clearly find children. Sidwell is a wonderful school and I feel awful for their community. I am somewhat shocked at the school's lack of initiative to protect the student population, especially in the wake of the Beauvoir scandal. Beauvoir acted far more aggressively than Sidwell. Yes, the Beauvoir escorted the teacher off the campus, but they immediately got involved with law enforcement and the school community. Beauvoir chose to get involved with law enforcement immediately after Toth left campus . Remember, Toth was not coming back the following Fall and if Beauvoir didn't file charges who knows if any would have been filed at all. As for Sidwell, by simply banning the teacher from the campus for three months, the teacher had MONTHS to flee if he wanted (as opposed to hours in the case of Toth) before files were charged. They should have learned from Beauvoir that it only takes a few hours for a predator to flee. So basically Beauvoir waited hours/days and Sidwell waited over three months. From the media articles, clearly at least on student at Sidwell is involved with whatever misconduct could have happened, so the school has been aware of this for months but chose to stay out of it and ban the teacher from campus. How nice to know that the adminstration cares more about the teachers rights than the student who bravely came forward. For all we know, the teacher could have been in touch with other students during the 3 months he was free but not allowed on campus. If the school did not warn families about him, maybe he violated another child. But I forgot the protecting the ENDOWMENT is more important than the students' safety & well being (sarcasm noted).

[Anonymous]

Sidwell did a much better job of handling this than Beauvoir did. And I'm not a Sidwell parent!

[Anonymous]

I don't like how OP seems to gloat about this. Of course, child abuse is terrible. Everyone agrees. But any organization is going to go through proper legal channels in handling these matters. They don't want to be sued for slander and they need to investigate the facts. I don't have a kid at Sidwell, but I know it can happen at any school. My daughter's very beloved field hockey coach who has coached for decades was arrested last year. Everyone was totally shocked.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how organizations can eliminate flight risk between the time they learn that an investigation has been launched and charges are filed. At the same time I do not understand how the fact that the teacher was under investigation by law enforcement officials, which is official and verifiable, could be construed as slander if cited as the reason that he was put on leave.

[Anonymous]

This is very sad, but I cannot imagine how anyone can think Beauvoir handled this better.

They had the cathedral policemen escort him from the grounds and alerted police too late such that the teacher fled and is STILL at large, on the FBI's Most Wanted List for Crimes against Children, and the children affected there to date have no closure nor safety, really.

Any allegations must be dealt with through proper legal channels. Proof of the Sidwell teacher may be very different than the school having the naked photos in their possession and identifying those involved. Perhaps Sidwell did contact affected families earlier than yesterday, I don't know. The authorities clearly have known since before school started which is why the teacher was placed on admin leave. Yes he does have rights, and he still does until proven guilty. Just like the Beauvoir teacher has rights too, but he chose to fake a suicide and flee. Not necessarily indicating guilt for certain, but you can read into that as you see fit.

Sidwell is providing counseling whereas Beauvoir did basically nothing. Offered an initial consultation for affected kids. Most therapists provide a free initial consultation anyway. They have not reached out to any of the families anymore as they are probably trying to make is a distant memory. It isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is very sad, but I cannot imagine how anyone can think Beauvoir handled this better.

They had the cathedral policemen escort him from the grounds and alerted police too late such that the teacher fled and is STILL at large, on the FBI's Most Wanted List for Crimes against Children, and the children affected there to date have no closure nor safety, really.

Any allegations must be dealt with through proper legal channels. Proof of the Sidwell teacher may be very different than the school having the naked photos in their possession and identifying those involved. Perhaps Sidwell did contact affected families earlier than yesterday, I don't know. The authorities clearly have known since before school started which is why the teacher was placed on admin leave. Yes he does have rights, and he still does until proven guilty. Just like the Beauvoir teacher has rights too, but he chose to fake a suicide and flee. Not necessarily indicating guilt for certain, but you can read into that as you see fit.

Sidwell is providing counseling whereas Beauvoir did basically nothing. Offered an initial consultation for affected kids. Most therapists provide a free initial consultation anyway. They have not reached out to any of the families anymore as they are probably trying to make is a distant memory. It isn't.

You're damn right Beauvoir did nothing! As a result, I've lost all respect for xxxx and will never set foot in that school again.

[ Edited by admin. Please don't name names. ]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell did a much better job of handling this than Beauvoir did. And I'm not a Sidwell parent!

Except that this teacher had been on the faculty since 1979 (according to the story in the Post)! Can there really have been no red flags until last year?

[Anonymous]

I think 10:15 has it right. The real difference here is that Toth chose to flee (thus making the scandal much bigger) while the Sidwell teacher did not flee. I can't speak to counseling at either school but I think both schools acted appropriately to protect the kids at their schools (at least once they were aware of a problem). The bigger problem is how we can protect all of our kids from these individuals. That is where I think the police and local authorities are responsible, not the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like how OP seems to gloat about this. Of course, child abuse is terrible. Everyone agrees. But any organization is going to go through proper legal channels in handling these matters. They don't want to be sued for slander and they need to investigate the facts. I don't have a kid at Sidwell, but I know it can happen at any school. My daughter's very beloved field hockey coach who has coached for decades was arrested last year. Everyone was totally shocked.

I agree. It's a delicate balance. You absolutely must protect the kids, but accusing someone of child sex abuse is pretty much career-ending. I wouldn't take that lightly either. I don't have a child at Sidwell and never will, but I do think they handled this as well as can be expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like how OP seems to gloat about this. Of course, child abuse is terrible. Everyone agrees. But any organization is going to go through proper legal channels in handling these matters. They don't want to be sued for slander and they need to investigate the facts. I don't have a kid at Sidwell, but I know it can happen at any school. My daughter's very beloved field hockey coach who has coached for decades was arrested last year. Everyone was totally shocked.

I agree. It's a delicate balance. You absolutely must protect the kids, but accusing someone of child sex abuse is pretty much career-ending. I wouldn't take that lightly either. I don't have a child at Sidwell and never will, but I do think they handled this as well as can be expected.

Wonder if the parents of the victims feel that the schools handled this appropriately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like how OP seems to gloat about this. Of course, child abuse is terrible. Everyone agrees. But any organization is going to go through proper legal channels in handling these matters. They don't want to be sued for slander and they need to investigate the facts. I don't have a kid at Sidwell, but I know it can happen at any school. My daughter's very beloved field hockey coach who has coached for decades was arrested last year. Everyone was totally shocked.

I agree. It's a delicate balance. You absolutely must protect the kids, but accusing someone of child sex abuse is pretty much career-ending. I wouldn't take that lightly either. I don't have a child at Sidwell and never will, but I do think they handled this as well as can be expected.

Wonder if the parents of the victims feel that the schools handled this appropriately.

I don't know. If your child was a victim, what would you have wanted the school to do?

[Anonymous]

If my child were involved I would NOT want the school to say anything about the investigation because if charges were not brought then the child/children involved could come off as false accusers. So perhaps this is why the school waited until formal charges were brought. (I find it odd that they took so long, the onus there is on law enforcement of course.)