another pedophile at Cloverly Elem

[Anonymous]

Yes, MCPS staff member here (not admin)-----do NOT report this to your principal or anyone in your school, go straight to those special numbers and/or police. Parents, please don't be complacent. I promise you nothing will happen if you don't take action. It's such a systemic issue. The county is so big and bureaucratic and this is just a symptom of a much bigger problem. There are some good people in the county but no one is taking ownership of this issue. There's been talk for instance of getting rid of Benz for YEARS but no one made it happen. We've got shitty principals all over the place who no one is monitoring, and certainly no one is asking staff what we think. Those climate surveys are ridic because we know we could pay a price for honesty.
There's this crazy combo of telling us what we can't do (i.e. anything that departs from "the plan" no matter how cool for kids),
plus telling us about last minute new curricula/tech we have to implement (i.e. last summer's tech debacle, this year's GT courses for all middle schools);
plus getting treated like pawns (i.e. I know a longtime MCPS employee who was moved around within the system two years in a row because of retaliation that no one would admit to tho of course;
plus total lack of transparency (i.e. hoping staff don't notice that they don't give a crap what we think);
plus principals "joking" about who they think the most likely pedophiles are but doing nothing;
and the list goes on.
I'm not surprised that attrition is increasing. I no longer feel comfortable sending my own kids to MCPS for so many reasons.
Students are not held accountable for dealing drugs in bathrooms, middle schoolers are not held accountable for calling classmates homos or kikes, teachers are not held accountable for gross sexual harassment, principals are spineless ladder climbers, and we've got a super who can't send a simple email letting us know that there's lead in the water or creepy pedophile subs getting arrested.
Thanks for letting me vent. Organize yourselves, parents!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He lives in Columbia, which isn’t too far down that area. But it does make me wonder if he also subbed in Ho Co.

Yes, he has substituted in Howard County as well. I received an e-mail from the Superintendent yesterday. It was sent to all Howard County parents last evening after 9pm. I awoke this morning to see an e-mail from my child's principal which indicated that he sub at my child's school back in November 2017. This monster has been floating around various schools molesting children. WTH! Maryland really needs to crack down on the pedophiles in their schools.

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

So HoCo sent out an email but MCPS has not sent out anything. I certainly have not received an email from Jack Smith about this.

That's a shame. Mr Smith needs to stop burying his head and address the parents of MCPS. The Howard County Superintendent sent out a letter last evening. I just recently received an email from my child's middle school principal 15 minutes ago that Mr. Katz subbed at their school last year. The principal gave the dates and the teachers that he has subbed for. He also gave us a number to contact detectives working on the case. Both my elementary and middle school administrators at my children's school have made themselves available today for parents to discuss matters with them. Tomorrow both schools will have people (I'm assuming counselors and the school's psychologists) in place to talk with parents. I have friends who live in Baltimore County Schools and their principal sent them a letter as well. This is horrific because this creep got around all over this area.

My hope is that all of us within Maryland need to join forces on this matter and take it to the state level because it has effected so many school communities in various counties.

The number that my principal gave us was [phone]. The email mentioned that this is the number to call if your child was victimized by Mr. Katz. The detectives are in the process of seeking other victims of this creep. Please talk with your child and if you have any concerns contact authorities ASAP. Don't wait on the schools. Go straight to the authorities!

Thank you. That seems like a good way to respond to the situation. Unlike Jack smith who just pretends it doesn’t happen.

There was a meeting recently where parents brought up the issue of sexual predators and Smith just got up and left, saying he needed to be elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, MCPS staff member here (not admin)-----do NOT report this to your principal or anyone in your school, go straight to those special numbers and/or police. Parents, please don't be complacent. I promise you nothing will happen if you don't take action. It's such a systemic issue. The county is so big and bureaucratic and this is just a symptom of a much bigger problem. There are some good people in the county but no one is taking ownership of this issue. There's been talk for instance of getting rid of Benz for YEARS but no one made it happen. We've got shitty principals all over the place who no one is monitoring, and certainly no one is asking staff what we think. Those climate surveys are ridic because we know we could pay a price for honesty.
There's this crazy combo of telling us what we can't do (i.e. anything that departs from "the plan" no matter how cool for kids),
plus telling us about last minute new curricula/tech we have to implement (i.e. last summer's tech debacle, this year's GT courses for all middle schools);
plus getting treated like pawns (i.e. I know a longtime MCPS employee who was moved around within the system two years in a row because of retaliation that no one would admit to tho of course;
plus total lack of transparency (i.e. hoping staff don't notice that they don't give a crap what we think);
plus principals "joking" about who they think the most likely pedophiles are but doing nothing;
and the list goes on.
I'm not surprised that attrition is increasing. I no longer feel comfortable sending my own kids to MCPS for so many reasons.
Students are not held accountable for dealing drugs in bathrooms, middle schoolers are not held accountable for calling classmates homos or kikes, teachers are not held accountable for gross sexual harassment, principals are spineless ladder climbers, and we've got a super who can't send a simple email letting us know that there's lead in the water or creepy pedophile subs getting arrested.
Thanks for letting me vent. Organize yourselves, parents!

Pointless. Your union is endorsing all the same Board of Education members to stay in office. You are paying to send out the Apple Ballot to thousands of homes telling voters to vote for the same people that you are complaining about. Your union controls the election and your union supports Benz and pedophiles. You win.

[Anonymous]

The Board of Education has a plan meeting on Thursday, March 22nd at 3pm. They need to move this issue to the top of the agenda, however, this is what is currently planned.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/agenda/2018/032218%20agenda%20DRAFT%20v2(1).pdf

Parents, PTAs, concerned faculty - the first of many marches till there is real action is Thursday, March 22nd at 2:30pm.

Address: Carver Education Center, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville, MD 20850

Bring your children, take them out of school early if necessary. They are not safe till the Board of Education makes MCPS do what is necessary to get child abusers out of our schools. Student groups - lend your voices as well. Student newspapers and public media - help with announcing this event. This is worth marching out of school for.

Can the PTAs get the word out through their list serves? Can all the parent groups in school get the word out to their members? Parents reading this, please contact everyone you know. We need 600 parents to represent the 600 victims of child abuse that MCPS and the BOE have ignored far too long.

[Anonymous]

Marches and email are great but what you all really need to be doing is talking to your kids when they start K about what is inappropriate touching and tell them to tell you when it happens.
No one wants to tell a 5yo about this kind of stuff but you have to.
I talked to my 5yo about it and got books about her body and good touch/bad touch and what to do.
2 months into the school year another child kissed her after she told him not to. She immediately told the lunch aide who took them to the Principal where my kid said " no one is allowed to kiss me" Even though this was another 5yo and not an adult I am so glad I talked to her about this and proud of her for doing the right thing.

Schools cant do anything if a background check is clean and no one speaks up.

[Anonymous]

Principals / teachers who see something inappropriate can call Child Protective Services to report. That is something that they are not doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[

Pointless. Your union is endorsing all the same Board of Education members to stay in office. You are paying to send out the Apple Ballot to thousands of homes telling voters to vote for the same people that you are complaining about. Your union controls the election and your union supports Benz and pedophiles. You win.

Only because the union is active in the election for BoE, and you're not. If you don't like the apple ballot, get to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

Pointless. Your union is endorsing all the same Board of Education members to stay in office. You are paying to send out the Apple Ballot to thousands of homes telling voters to vote for the same people that you are complaining about. Your union controls the election and your union supports Benz and pedophiles. You win.

Only because the union is active in the election for BoE, and you're not. If you don't like the apple ballot, get to work.

Teachers & School Administrators - If you're unions are not part of the solution to get child abusers out of our school SPEAK UP. Change the unions. Keeping abusers in place while they are being investigated only gives them more opportunities to abuse children. Read your own MCPS Employee Code of Conduct. Shouldn't teachers who violate these things be removed from working with kids? Why aren't they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marches and email are great but what you all really need to be doing is talking to your kids when they start K about what is inappropriate touching and tell them to tell you when it happens.
No one wants to tell a 5yo about this kind of stuff but you have to.
I talked to my 5yo about it and got books about her body and good touch/bad touch and what to do.
2 months into the school year another child kissed her after she told him not to. She immediately told the lunch aide who took them to the Principal where my kid said " no one is allowed to kiss me" Even though this was another 5yo and not an adult I am so glad I talked to her about this and proud of her for doing the right thing.

Schools cant do anything if a background check is clean and no one speaks up.

That’s fine and we talk about it a ton, but please don’t make it sound as if MCPS has no responsibility to address this issue.

It’s great that it worked out well for your daughter. But, unfortunately, sometimes it does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He lives in Columbia, which isn’t too far down that area. But it does make me wonder if he also subbed in Ho Co.

He did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marches and email are great but what you all really need to be doing is talking to your kids when they start K about what is inappropriate touching and tell them to tell you when it happens.
No one wants to tell a 5yo about this kind of stuff but you have to.
I talked to my 5yo about it and got books about her body and good touch/bad touch and what to do.
2 months into the school year another child kissed her after she told him not to. She immediately told the lunch aide who took them to the Principal where my kid said " no one is allowed to kiss me" Even though this was another 5yo and not an adult I am so glad I talked to her about this and proud of her for doing the right thing.

Schools can't do anything if a background check is clean and no one speaks up.

I agree that parents need to take charge in their own homes. As a parent of a child that was abused at school - my guilt and shame is that I just didn't think to tell my child that the treatment he received wasn't ok. He lived through hell and back. There is a million things I wished I did differently, but not having a talk every year is one of them.

[Anonymous]

You can stop blaming the counties and principals. People who teach, sub, volunteer, etc., all go through the SAME process. They may never have been caught, they have no record, or they haven't done anything up to now. A background check will likely turn up nothing. The schools did their part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can stop blaming the counties and principals. People who teach, sub, volunteer, etc., all go through the SAME process. They may never have been caught, they have no record, or they haven't done anything up to now. A background check will likely turn up nothing. The schools did their part.

BS - no one saw this guy do anything before??? The point is that MCPS tells their employees to call Central Office - not the police or Child Protective Services. That is what needs to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marches and email are great but what you all really need to be doing is talking to your kids when they start K about what is inappropriate touching and tell them to tell you when it happens.
No one wants to tell a 5yo about this kind of stuff but you have to.
I talked to my 5yo about it and got books about her body and good touch/bad touch and what to do.
2 months into the school year another child kissed her after she told him not to. She immediately told the lunch aide who took them to the Principal where my kid said " no one is allowed to kiss me" Even though this was another 5yo and not an adult I am so glad I talked to her about this and proud of her for doing the right thing.

Schools cant do anything if a background check is clean and no one speaks up.

That’s fine and we talk about it a ton, but please don’t make it sound as if MCPS has no responsibility to address this issue.

It’s great that it worked out well for your daughter. But, unfortunately, sometimes it does not.

MCPS and HCPSS acted on their responsibility...there were checks, training, etc. What would you have them do differently?

[Anonymous]

An example - a teacher, who just went through the new mandatory training, is violating the MCPS Code of Conduct. Not just one infraction, but many, including texting and meeting with the student individually off school grounds. The teacher is reported by parents to the principal. What is MCPS reaction - do nothing and keep the person in contact with children.

The MCPS Code of Conduct was designed to identify pedophile grooming behavior. These are what a pedophile does before the sexual abuse occur. Getting rid of teachers who violate these basic standards of conduct would be the first step to protect students.