Thoughts on the new Churchill principal?

[Anonymous]

If it is the same teacher, what happened to your son might be important even though it happened last year. Can you please try contacting Mrs. Heckert so she knows the details? Mr. Rohner might not have documented anything. PPs might have information on the same teacher since the coach that drove a child off campus is also a teacher at Churchill.

[Anonymous]

The Churchill Observer had an editorial last school year about revamping the health classes to cover sexual abuse and teach students about consent. Students are asking for respect, equality, and safety in the one venue that gives them a voice. Dr. Benz did nothing to address problems at Churchill. I wonder if Mrs. Heckert will ignore the students as well.

http://www.thechurchillobserver.com/opinions/2018/02/02/times-mcps-health-course-must-revamped/

[Anonymous]

The middle school health course is equally bad. They're spending time making things like anti tobacco advertisements when they could be getting a real education on all aspects of relationships and taking care of themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if your clear message is getting through on phone messages (taken by the secretary?) and emails. I say this because if you are conveying something along the lines of the following (below), then the principal would have a legal liability from ignoring the message.

The message I would leave and email is something like:
"I have information and evidence of sexual harassment (or plain harassment) by a coach toward students. I've told the AD and he hasn't been responsive and I'd now like to speak with the principal."

If the principal ignores such a message for more than a week, then I would take it up with both her supervisor and the MCPS Title IX officer, forwarding the email as evidence of what you told the principal. That is a serious allegation with legal consequences if they do not investigate. I would be astonished if they didn't at least agree to discuss the issue with you to get more details.

FWIW, I had a similar concern about a teacher last year and emailed the Assistant Principal who was acting in Benz's place and received an email response almost immediately asking for details. (My ds didn't want to pursue and it was really a borderline issue (based on DS's perceptions) so I didn't go forward with the process, so I don't know how seriously they would have treated it in the end. But the Assistant Principal was very responsive to the initial email.)

Before talking with anyone in MCPS, you should do the following:

* To make a report of child abuse and neglect or mental injury, call Child Welfare Services [phone] (24 hours)

* To make a report of child sexual abuse, call Child Welfare Services [phone] and the Special Victims Investigation Division, Montgomery County Police Department [phone] (24 hours)

* Keep calling till you talk with an investigator. Calls sometimes fall through the cracks in the system.


If you don't want to disclose your identity or the identity of your child, you can call 833-MD-B-SAFE. This is a new anonymous tip line.


The MCPS online training course will help you recognize the signs of child abuse and neglect.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/childabuseandneglect/reportingchildabuse/story_html5.html

If you haven't taken the 30 minutes course yet, I would highly recommend you do. Follow up with a discussion with your child so they will know the boundaries other adults including teachers and coaches shouldn't cross so your child stays safe and that you are there to help. Predators often does something to blackmail a child into silence so let your child know that nothing could ever make you stop loving him/her.


Read the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct and review it with your child.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/1236%2018_EmployeeCodeofConduct_BOOKLET_ENG_8%205x11.pdf

Employees have been retrained to follow the guidelines set forth in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct. You should be concerned if any employee (including teachers and coaches) are violating these expectations. You should let your child know to come to you to let you know if a MCPS employee does not follow the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct.


There are community resources available to support your family on the MCPS Child Abuse and Neglect webpage. A child that has been abused needs psychological counseling to recover from the experience. Tree House is a great resource in Rockville, MD. https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/childabuseandneglect/


When you get to the point to report to MCPS, do it in writing and keep copies of all correspondence. You can followup with a meeting but the letter will provide proof of what you reported and when you reported it. You can also use the Bullying and Harassment form (https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/230-36.pdf) or a Complaint From the Public Form (https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/270-8.pdf) depending on what you are reporting. Thus far, there is no MCPS form for parents to report child abuse by an MCPS employee.


Finally, realize the Compliance Unit is designed to work with MCPS schools and employees. They are not a resource for parents. Thus far, MCPS does not have a parent liaison or victim's advocate to help you through the process. MCPS works to cover up their problems to minimize their liability vs. getting rid of the employees who are causing the liability. It's the corporate culture of the organization.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if there are security cameras in classrooms? My child told me something concerning about an AP Social Studies teacher that could be verified if there are cameras in the classrooms. At a minimum, Mrs. Heckert should remind staff to not be alone in a classroom with doors closed and do not put hands on students including hugging, hand on shoulder or hand on back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if there are security cameras in classrooms? My child told me something concerning about an AP Social Studies teacher that could be verified if there are cameras in the classrooms. At a minimum, Mrs. Heckert should remind staff to not be alone in a classroom with doors closed and do not put hands on students including hugging, hand on shoulder or hand on back.

There are not. That is awfully specific info if it’s speculation.

[Anonymous]

Another student involved in a car accident today. This was the second student car crash in the vicinity of the school this academic year. My child said a Senior crashed into a utility pole with his car this morning. When the power company was working to repair the pole, the power to Churchill got disrupted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another student involved in a car accident today. This was the second student car crash in the vicinity of the school this academic year. My child said a Senior crashed into a utility pole with his car this morning. When the power company was working to repair the pole, the power to Churchill got disrupted.

This post is the very reason why DCUM can be very unreliable, so take what you read here with a huge grain of salt. I work at Churchill, so I know what happened.

Your child is wrong. There was a crash on Gainsborough this morning. It occurred about 20 - 25 minutes AFTER school began. It did NOT involve any Churchill students. Yes, power was disrupted for about 5 minutes around 10:45.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Another student involved in a car accident today. This was the second student car crash in the vicinity of the school this academic year. My child said a Senior crashed into a utility pole with his car this morning. When the power company was working to repair the pole, the power to Churchill got disrupted.

This post is the very reason why DCUM can be very unreliable, so take what you read here with a huge grain of salt. I work at Churchill, so I know what happened.

Your child is wrong. There was a crash on Gainsborough this morning. It occurred about 20 - 25 minutes AFTER school began. It did NOT involve any Churchill students. Yes, power was disrupted for about 5 minutes around 10:45.

+++1000000000 this. No students involved!

[Anonymous]

The driver of one of the vehicles was a Churchill dad who just had dropped off his 9th grader at school. His car was hit so hard to eject him out the passenger side of the car and the car was pushed into the utility pole. Makes you wonder how fast the car that hit him was traveling down Gainsborough and if there were other factors that contributed to the accident including the bottleneck of traffic around the school in the morning. Yes, this is the 2nd accident in 3 months but quite serious for the family of the student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The driver of one of the vehicles was a Churchill dad who just had dropped off his 9th grader at school. His car was hit so hard to eject him out the passenger side of the car and the car was pushed into the utility pole. Makes you wonder how fast the car that hit him was traveling down Gainsborough and if there were other factors that contributed to the accident including the bottleneck of traffic around the school in the morning. Yes, this is the 2nd accident in 3 months but quite serious for the family of the student.

There is no bottleneck of traffic around the school 20 minutes after school starts, which is when the accident occurred. I wish people would stop making up facts to fit their narrative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The driver of one of the vehicles was a Churchill dad who just had dropped off his 9th grader at school. His car was hit so hard to eject him out the passenger side of the car and the car was pushed into the utility pole. Makes you wonder how fast the car that hit him was traveling down Gainsborough and if there were other factors that contributed to the accident including the bottleneck of traffic around the school in the morning. Yes, this is the 2nd accident in 3 months but quite serious for the family of the student.

There is no bottleneck of traffic around the school 20 minutes after school starts, which is when the accident occurred. I wish people would stop making up facts to fit their narrative.

I heard the crash so I am not sure your timeline as to when the accident occurred is correct.

I would be in favor of a speed camera in front of Churchill like was suggested last year. I would also be in favor of a a new look at traffic patterns around the school and the effect of the changes Mrs. Heckert made to see if there were any unanticipated dangerous repercussions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The driver of one of the vehicles was a Churchill dad who just had dropped off his 9th grader at school. His car was hit so hard to eject him out the passenger side of the car and the car was pushed into the utility pole. Makes you wonder how fast the car that hit him was traveling down Gainsborough and if there were other factors that contributed to the accident including the bottleneck of traffic around the school in the morning. Yes, this is the 2nd accident in 3 months but quite serious for the family of the student.

There is no bottleneck of traffic around the school 20 minutes after school starts, which is when the accident occurred. I wish people would stop making up facts to fit their narrative.

I heard the crash so I am not sure your timeline as to when the accident occurred is correct.

I would be in favor of a speed camera in front of Churchill like was suggested last year. I would also be in favor of a a new look at traffic patterns around the school and the effect of the changes Mrs. Heckert made to see if there were any unanticipated dangerous repercussions.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/two-injured-when-car-strikes-utility-pole-near-churchill-high-school/


The article says a call was received by police at 8:04 am.

Since the first bell at Churchill is 7:40 am and class starts at 7:45 am, this accident happened after school started.

[Anonymous]

The Principal also sent an email home (below). So STOP spreading rumors that aren't true and tell your kids the same!

This morning, following the arrival of students, a car accident occurred in front of the school. The accident did not involve any students or staff members from Churchill High School. As a result of the accident, PEPCO was contacted to repair power lines. The school lost power at 10:45 a.m. for about ten minutes. The power outage did not disrupt instruction or our students transitioning to lunch.

[Anonymous]

The article says a call was received "around 8:04". That's an estimate and there could be a lag between the time the call was placed and the accident actually occurred.