PSA - Sex abuse at Washington Hebrew

[Anonymous]

Drop off was good this morning. DJ was in my child's classroom upon arrival.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there really been no media attention about this? Even if police won't release many details at this point, there seems like plenty for an initial story.

Sexual abuse cases get lots of publicity these days generally and the religious angle would only add to the interest. I am truly puzzled how it hasn't garnered any attention to date.

I know, I’ve been wondering that too. Someone must have alerted the press by now so why hasn’t anything been reported?

I presume because the investigation has not gotten far enough to be able to publicly name a suspect. I am sure reporters in the city know about this either second hand, or a reporter might even belong to WH and have a child in school. And while I am outraged and disgusted by WHC's lying and evasiveness and agree this story needs to be spread far and wide, I don't think there is anything to officially "report" at this time. Newspapers aren't blogs - they aren't going to post about ongoing investigations that have no public information at this point just because it's a horrible situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drop off was good this morning. DJ was in my child's classroom upon arrival.

I don’t know how she can show her face. I know for a fact she 100% had knowledge of inappropriate touching as far back as 2016 and she did nothing. She could have prevented this and she didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there really been no media attention about this? Even if police won't release many details at this point, there seems like plenty for an initial story.

Sexual abuse cases get lots of publicity these days generally and the religious angle would only add to the interest. I am truly puzzled how it hasn't garnered any attention to date.

I know, I’ve been wondering that too. Someone must have alerted the press by now so why hasn’t anything been reported?

I presume because the investigation has not gotten far enough to be able to publicly name a suspect. I am sure reporters in the city know about this either second hand, or a reporter might even belong to WH and have a child in school. And while I am outraged and disgusted by WHC's lying and evasiveness and agree this story needs to be spread far and wide, I don't think there is anything to officially "report" at this time. Newspapers aren't blogs - they aren't going to post about ongoing investigations that have no public information at this point just because it's a horrible situation.

Plenty of times the fact that there is an ongoing investigation is itself newsworthy. I think that would be the case here. Nor would it be unusual to report that someone has been dismissed but not name the person at this juncture. The school wide meeting apparently held would also be newsworthy. There is plenty here for a story now, even if not everything is known yet.

And this is just looking at mainstream media who have a higher threshold to report on something. Less traditional outlets would seem even more willing to report.

[Anonymous]

To the pp who suggested "putting down our phones and talking to our children" way to victim blame! This didn't happen because parents are on their phones--- it happened because of a pedophile and leadership who refused to believe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This message is from a family of one of the victims to clarify what we believe has been misleading information by the temple.

Both the temple and law enforcement were informed on August 15 and August 16 of two separate allegations of potentially ongoing sexual abuse. Based upon what these two victims shared as to their experience, the names of 5 more children surfaced, each of whom may have been subjected to the same inappropriate conduct by the teacher in question. This confirms that there are at least 7 children who might have been harmed.

We are sharing this so that the temple's communication, which has not made explicitly clear that there is more than one known possible victim, does not mislead families to be unconcerned as to whether their child might have been impacted. Simply, this is potentially a more pervasive problem than has been suggested, and so all of us should demand transparency for our children's sake.

Have the families of these seven children been notified? Has every child who was taught by the alleged perpetrator been notified?

NO! And the suspect literally has taught half the school by virtue of the PLUS chaos. I think this is why the school has not been forthright. They don’t want people to understand the true magnitude of how many small children came into regular contact with this guy or how badly designed the PLUS situation was . . . PLUS is a predator’s dream come true. After a million parent complaints about plus, NOW they are making modest changes. Too little, too late!!

Can anyone say whether or not this teacher taught a regular daytime class too, or was he just involved with PLUS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drop off was good this morning. DJ was in my child's classroom upon arrival.

I don’t know how she can show her face. I know for a fact she 100% had knowledge of inappropriate touching as far back as 2016 and she did nothing. She could have prevented this and she didn’t.

Have you spoken to the attorney or the police yet? If not, please do. The more you keep repeating this without saying you’ve gone to the authorities, the more incredible your statements become.

[Anonymous]

My two cents: If you believe your child was assaulted by this individual, you should go ahead and call 911. The investigation and the school response are totally separate entities as has been noted. If you have something to report, call the police.

I did it. Hardest couple months of my life, but we got through it; perp is in jail and child doesn’t remember.

Also, see a therapist for advice on how best to deal with this with your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drop off was good this morning. DJ was in my child's classroom upon arrival.

How was today's attendance over all? Since the abuse allegations are fairly recent and still being investigated, I'd think parents are torn on whether to bring their child or wait until the investigation is complete. Or even transfer to another school since some preschools don't open util after Labor Day.

[Anonymous]

For people looking for investigative coverage, maybe blogs are the way to go, since the Post tends to be weak on local issues. Start with DCist, Petworth News, PopVille... they all do investigative work. WAMU, WTOP (maybe even local print: [e-mail]) This just makes me sick. My kids are early elementary now, and we went to different private pre-schools, but we had some teachers overlap, and this is making me sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For people looking for investigative coverage, maybe blogs are the way to go, since the Post tends to be weak on local issues. Start with DCist, Petworth News, PopVille... they all do investigative work. WAMU, WTOP (maybe even local print: [e-mail]) This just makes me sick. My kids are early elementary now, and we went to different private pre-schools, but we had some teachers overlap, and this is making me sick.

Or hell, take to Twitter. Set up an anonymous account and post away. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

I'm a first time poster and a parent of a child who started WHC this summer and whose child just began school there this morning.

My personal experience with staff and DJ has been top notch. Even before we enrolled, DJ was accessible, supportive, and easy to talk to. She even gave me advice on my child's situation at her previous daycare, which I deeply appreciated. I'm really not sure why others have found DJ to be full of "hurbis", because that has been far from my own personal experience.

My child thrived over the summer at WHC. The teachers and "floaters" were warm, loving, encouraging, and always smiling. We felt welcomed every single day that we came to camp. I was pleased and felt very secure there.

I know the identity of the alleged abuser based on what other parents have told me. I saw this person only once over the summer, and they did not interact with my child to my knowledge (I was there often, by the way).

Despite my child's positive experience, I am concerned enough that we have decided to enroll them elsewhere. Other parents have told me that because of the investigation, WHC is under heightened scrutiny and is now most likely the safest school in the area. While this may be true, I was incredibly displeased to hear that other parents had brought concerns to the school previously and that no action (to our knowledge) was taken. This is troubling, and for us at least, indicates poor judgement at the most basic level. I have also been upset by the lack of transparency from the school, and that the school allowed for a single teacher to be alone with a student. This is why we are leaving.

All that to say, I like DJ very much, and I have found my child's teachers to be fantastic.

I hope that this situation is resolved as quickly and painlessly as possible. And I hope for healing for all those involved.

[Anonymous]

So suspect was a teacher assigned to a specific class? In Plus? Camp? I have suspicions of who it is, but everyone else on here seems completely sure. They obviously won’t announce anything until an arrest is made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drop off was good this morning. DJ was in my child's classroom upon arrival.

I don’t know how she can show her face. I know for a fact she 100% had knowledge of inappropriate touching as far back as 2016 and she did nothing. She could have prevented this and she didn’t.

Have you spoken to the attorney or the police yet? If not, please do. The more you keep repeating this without saying you’ve gone to the authorities, the more incredible your statements become.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to be vague. Yes, I spoke to both the detective and the lawyer. I’m not the only one who has posted about having information though so I hope the others have reported it as well.

[Anonymous]

I believe the teacher was assigned to older students, and was in plus and camp.