Reported hazing incident involving Damascus High School JV Football team

[Anonymous]

They keep controlling this by saying JV but it has been going on and the varsity coach is in charge of the entire program. They are just keeping the varsity out of it because it is playoff time.

Send emails to jeff sullivan asking him to or demanding he suspends the program. [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"I am a MCPS teacher. I was finger printed in 1998. They ran my background check in 1998. A lot could happen in 20 years. How many people were hired a decade ago and haven't been checked since? "

This is blatantly untrue. I have worked for more than 20 years in a nonprofit that serves children, and we do FBI and Maryland background checks. They are checked every year, and even if someone who worked for us 15 years ago and hasn't since, commits a crime, I am notified. The check isn't one and done, it is ongoing forever.

You don't work for MCPS, how can you say what is true? The MCPS teacher is telling the truth. They were finger printed at hire. Period. That was it. What happened at your nonprofit has nothing to do with MCPS.

Your fingerprints don't change. They only need to do that once, and then they can run you through the system whenever they want or the can set it to alert you if there is a flag.

They do not set it up to flag you if you are arrested.

[Anonymous]

If this was any other sport they would have fired the coaches (both JV and Varsity) and canceled the season. Such a double standard for football in this country. Could you imagine if this happened on the lacrosse team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"I am a MCPS teacher. I was finger printed in 1998. They ran my background check in 1998. A lot could happen in 20 years. How many people were hired a decade ago and haven't been checked since? "

This is blatantly untrue. I have worked for more than 20 years in a nonprofit that serves children, and we do FBI and Maryland background checks. They are checked every year, and even if someone who worked for us 15 years ago and hasn't since, commits a crime, I am notified. The check isn't one and done, it is ongoing forever.

You don't work for MCPS, how can you say what is true? The MCPS teacher is telling the truth. They were finger printed at hire. Period. That was it. What happened at your nonprofit has nothing to do with MCPS.

Your fingerprints don't change. They only need to do that once, and then they can run you through the system whenever they want or the can set it to alert you if there is a flag.

They do not set it up to flag you if you are arrested.

Are you kidding me? MCPS was caught not even doing background checks on new teachers that had their licensed revoked in other states.

MCPS fingerprints and it goes on file. Period. Until MCPS does another background check, they will not know an employee was arrested in Maryland let alone another state. MCPS is naively waiting on employees to self report arrests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this was any other sport they would have fired the coaches (both JV and Varsity) and canceled the season. Such a double standard for football in this country. Could you imagine if this happened on the lacrosse team.

MCPS will do everything they can to say the coaches had no involvement.

They have no problems expelling students for bullying and hazing but a coach will get retrained because their conduct did not align with MCPS expectations. You betcha there's a double standard in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Football is KING at Damascus HS. I won't be terribly surprised if those involved in this crime aren't dealt with as strongly as they would if this had taken place at another school.

I hope that if this has been going on in the past, people will come forth and report it. But, Damascus is a close-knit small town, and unfortunately, it's much more difficult to come forward when you fear that everyone will find out that you are the one who revealed the big secret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Football is KING at Damascus HS. I won't be terribly surprised if those involved in this crime aren't dealt with as strongly as they would if this had taken place at another school.

I hope that if this has been going on in the past, people will come forth and report it. But, Damascus is a close-knit small town, and unfortunately, it's much more difficult to come forward when you fear that everyone will find out that you are the one who revealed the big secret.

The crimes themselves are out of the school's hands. The case is entirely up to MoCo detectives/prosecutors. Including the investigation of the varsity team and its history.

At the MCPS level (not at the school level) they will remove the accused from the team (for the season for sure, maybe for their HS career), suspend them for 10 days and then have an administrative hearing to see if they can come back to the school, or go to Blair Ewing. The victims will have the option to change high schools before the accused are allowed to return to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Football is KING at Damascus HS. I won't be terribly surprised if those involved in this crime aren't dealt with as strongly as they would if this had taken place at another school.

I hope that if this has been going on in the past, people will come forth and report it. But, Damascus is a close-knit small town, and unfortunately, it's much more difficult to come forward when you fear that everyone will find out that you are the one who revealed the big secret.

The crimes themselves are out of the school's hands. The case is entirely up to MoCo detectives/prosecutors. Including the investigation of the varsity team and its history.

At the MCPS level (not at the school level) they will remove the accused from the team (for the season for sure, maybe for their HS career), suspend them for 10 days and then have an administrative hearing to see if they can come back to the school, or go to Blair Ewing. The victims will have the option to change high schools before the accused are allowed to return to school.

SVI is only investigating sexual and physical abuse. If they do not suspect the coaches of sexual or physical abuse, the police will not investigate the coaches or past history of the team. They require witnesses to contact them. SVI will not search out and speak with other victims without them coming forward first.

MCPS has a duty to shut this culture down throughout the county. It is not just a football and student problem. It is not just a Damascus problem. To say it is only the police's responsibility to investigate and give the coaches a free pass because they are not arrested would be an irresponsible response by MCPS. They should see if the coaches violated any provisions of the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct that created the atmosphere that 5 students felt compelled to sexually assault 4 other students. If the coaches violated the code of conduct, they should be fired.

If the varsity coach knew hazing was occurring for years on the football teams or played any role that promoted this type of culture, he should immediately be fired. If nothing else, he should be put on administrative leave till this all gets sorted out.

Sport is supposed to complement academics and build character not shatter a child's mental and physical wellbeing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the procedure for reporting hazing?

Per MCPS, the MCPS Form 230-35 is to be filled out for reporting hazing. This is the MCPS Bullying and Harassment form.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/detail.aspx?formID=40&formNumber=230-35&catID=1&subCatId=78

It would be great if MCPS could add hazing and verbal abuse to the title so it is clearer this is the form they want students and parents to use.

So a student has to wait until they are violated before they can report rape.

There is no way to report that they heard of a violation.

They need to know the names of the voctimeand the perpetrators and
Fill out a form and submit it?

They can't just tell a counselor?

[Anonymous]

Some of the details came out today and it sounds horrible: https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-damascus-hazing-20181107-story.html
No way that this "tradition" was not known by others on the football team; or the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:they need to look into staff on student bullying and staff on staff bullying. The culture is rotten to the core. Kids have been traumatized, and staff have been traumatized too. The people at the top need to know there’s a culture of this crap. I feel sick after reading that article.

Kevin Lewis with ABC7 broke the story with the Damascus JV Football team. Perhaps contact him or the Washington Post if you have specific information that will help the media shed some light on the culture of coverup in MCPS when it comes to bullying, harassment, hazing, and abuse in MCPS. Until the media reports, Dr. Smith does nothing to fix problems in schools. It's like he is on another planet and indifferent to the rotten culture within the schools he id Superintendent for.

How can i contact Kevin and can it be anonymous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Football is KING at Damascus HS. I won't be terribly surprised if those involved in this crime aren't dealt with as strongly as they would if this had taken place at another school.

I hope that if this has been going on in the past, people will come forth and report it. But, Damascus is a close-knit small town, and unfortunately, it's much more difficult to come forward when you fear that everyone will find out that you are the one who revealed the big secret.

The crimes themselves are out of the school's hands. The case is entirely up to MoCo detectives/prosecutors. Including the investigation of the varsity team and its history.

At the MCPS level (not at the school level) they will remove the accused from the team (for the season for sure, maybe for their HS career), suspend them for 10 days and then have an administrative hearing to see if they can come back to the school, or go to Blair Ewing. The victims will have the option to change high schools before the accused are allowed to return to school.

Why should the victims have to leave the school at all???????????

How about the perpetrators never be allowed to return!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:they need to look into staff on student bullying and staff on staff bullying. The culture is rotten to the core. Kids have been traumatized, and staff have been traumatized too. The people at the top need to know there’s a culture of this crap. I feel sick after reading that article.

Kevin Lewis with ABC7 broke the story with the Damascus JV Football team. Perhaps contact him or the Washington Post if you have specific information that will help the media shed some light on the culture of coverup in MCPS when it comes to bullying, harassment, hazing, and abuse in MCPS. Until the media reports, Dr. Smith does nothing to fix problems in schools. It's like he is on another planet and indifferent to the rotten culture within the schools he id Superintendent for.

How can i contact Kevin and can it be anonymous?

Email address: [e-mail]

Webpage: https://wjla.com/station/people/kevin-lewis-07-17-2015

ABC7 Contact Information: https://wjla.com/station/contact

You can ask to remain anonymous. ABC7 won't post your name or the name of your child without your permission.

[Anonymous]

Washington Post:

Donna St. George / Staff Writer / The Washington Post

301-738-1554 or 202-334-4325

[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Football is KING at Damascus HS. I won't be terribly surprised if those involved in this crime aren't dealt with as strongly as they would if this had taken place at another school.

I hope that if this has been going on in the past, people will come forth and report it. But, Damascus is a close-knit small town, and unfortunately, it's much more difficult to come forward when you fear that everyone will find out that you are the one who revealed the big secret.

The crimes themselves are out of the school's hands. The case is entirely up to MoCo detectives/prosecutors. Including the investigation of the varsity team and its history.

At the MCPS level (not at the school level) they will remove the accused from the team (for the season for sure, maybe for their HS career), suspend them for 10 days and then have an administrative hearing to see if they can come back to the school, or go to Blair Ewing. The victims will have the option to change high schools before the accused are allowed to return to school.

Why should the victims have to leave the school at all???????????

How about the perpetrators never be allowed to return!

The victims get a choice. That’s the difference.

MCPS determines if the perpetrators get to return.

Even if the perps do not return to DHS, it sounds like there may be more victims and peeps from previous years.