Whitman Teacher and Crew Coach Arrested

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the Superintendent’s Report on the number of complaints to CPS about MCPS employees:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/Annual%20CAN%20MEMO%20to%20BOE_Update%20Policy%20JHC%20CAN_FY20.pdf

Remember - FY20 was the start of online learning so these numbers are lower than the trend was demonstrating.

CPS screens out (does not investigate) the vast majority of cases. They have a small department so they are overwhelmed by the volume of complaints that come in county wide. MCPS employees are not a priority for them.

As pp said, when CPS doesn’t investigate or rules out child abuse, MCPS points to CPS and says that the employee is cleared. The employee keeps his job no matter how many Code of Conduct violations the employee made. MCPS fails to understand that the Code of Conduct is for getting questionable employees out of control with children BEFORE the abuse occurs.

Look at the numbers. Prior year reports are on the MCPS Child Abuse and Neglect homepage. The Board of Ed has these reports yet they have not made changes to a school system that keeps questionable staff in place till the abuse occurs.

Wow. And yes, CPS doesn't investigate most things so that should not be the "rule out" method MCPS uses. That is not the point of having internal MCPS staff do this so-called investigative work. If CPS and the police choose not to investigate, I am thinking the paid leave time is mainly to see if anyone else comes out of the woodwork. It's all CYA, because no one within MCPS is investigating beyond reading the initial report and interviewing the employee who was accused of wrongdoing. When those people turn out to be pedophiles, it will be on MCPS. People may not come out on the time table they're using, as the Whitman case shows, but they will come out with their stories eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know if Dr. McKnight is proposing any changes for the benefit of child safety in MCPS? For a situation as serious as a 20 year employee who had red flags as a child predator. is she willing to speak with the WW community? Were there lessons learned and what improvements will MCPS make under her leadership?

[Anonymous]

Please. This isn’t the only case that’s occurred on her watch. If she cared, she would properly staff the department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the Superintendent’s Report on the number of complaints to CPS about MCPS employees:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/Annual%20CAN%20MEMO%20to%20BOE_Update%20Policy%20JHC%20CAN_FY20.pdf

Remember - FY20 was the start of online learning so these numbers are lower than the trend was demonstrating.

CPS screens out (does not investigate) the vast majority of cases. They have a small department so they are overwhelmed by the volume of complaints that come in county wide. MCPS employees are not a priority for them.

As pp said, when CPS doesn’t investigate or rules out child abuse, MCPS points to CPS and says that the employee is cleared. The employee keeps his job no matter how many Code of Conduct violations the employee made. MCPS fails to understand that the Code of Conduct is for getting questionable employees out of control with children BEFORE the abuse occurs.

Look at the numbers. Prior year reports are on the MCPS Child Abuse and Neglect homepage. The Board of Ed has these reports yet they have not made changes to a school system that keeps questionable staff in place till the abuse occurs.

Wow. And yes, CPS doesn't investigate most things so that should not be the "rule out" method MCPS uses. That is not the point of having internal MCPS staff do this so-called investigative work. If CPS and the police choose not to investigate, I am thinking the paid leave time is mainly to see if anyone else comes out of the woodwork. It's all CYA, because no one within MCPS is investigating beyond reading the initial report and interviewing the employee who was accused of wrongdoing. When those people turn out to be pedophiles, it will be on MCPS. People may not come out on the time table they're using, as the Whitman case shows, but they will come out with their stories eventually.

This generally goes under police. CPS has a unit to investigate day care but that's about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the Superintendent’s Report on the number of complaints to CPS about MCPS employees:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/Annual%20CAN%20MEMO%20to%20BOE_Update%20Policy%20JHC%20CAN_FY20.pdf

Remember - FY20 was the start of online learning so these numbers are lower than the trend was demonstrating.

CPS screens out (does not investigate) the vast majority of cases. They have a small department so they are overwhelmed by the volume of complaints that come in county wide. MCPS employees are not a priority for them.

As pp said, when CPS doesn’t investigate or rules out child abuse, MCPS points to CPS and says that the employee is cleared. The employee keeps his job no matter how many Code of Conduct violations the employee made. MCPS fails to understand that the Code of Conduct is for getting questionable employees out of control with children BEFORE the abuse occurs.

Look at the numbers. Prior year reports are on the MCPS Child Abuse and Neglect homepage. The Board of Ed has these reports yet they have not made changes to a school system that keeps questionable staff in place till the abuse occurs.

Wow. And yes, CPS doesn't investigate most things so that should not be the "rule out" method MCPS uses. That is not the point of having internal MCPS staff do this so-called investigative work. If CPS and the police choose not to investigate, I am thinking the paid leave time is mainly to see if anyone else comes out of the woodwork. It's all CYA, because no one within MCPS is investigating beyond reading the initial report and interviewing the employee who was accused of wrongdoing. When those people turn out to be pedophiles, it will be on MCPS. People may not come out on the time table they're using, as the Whitman case shows, but they will come out with their stories eventually.

This generally goes under police. CPS has a unit to investigate day care but that's about it.

It’s child sex abuse. Doesn’t CPS investigate in conjunction with the police? A child that has been abused has suffered a horrible trauma. CPS are the trained experts for interviewing children. Normally, CPS conducts the child interview and the police watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know if Dr. McKnight is proposing any changes for the benefit of child safety in MCPS? For a situation as serious as a 20 year employee who had red flags as a child predator. is she willing to speak with the WW community? Were there lessons learned and what improvements will MCPS make under her leadership?

Not a chance. She has worked in MCPS for years.

MCPS prefers to pretend things like this don’t happen. We see the same thing over and over again.

[Anonymous]

I had Mr Shipley as a teacher back in 2003-04 for AP Euro. A serviceable teacher, not great but not bad either. Definitely favored the girls. When I found out it was him, can't say I was too surprised.

I have learned how little anything changes in Bethesda among the elite from my youth. This is a 48 year old ivy league educated (Penn) guy, who lives in a million dollar Georgetown house on a teachers salary, grew up in a house on the ocean outside Boston engaging in devious behavior thinking they will get away with it.

I hope I am wrong, but I got a feeling that Shipley and his money will get him a slap on the wrist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the Superintendent’s Report on the number of complaints to CPS about MCPS employees:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/Annual%20CAN%20MEMO%20to%20BOE_Update%20Policy%20JHC%20CAN_FY20.pdf

Remember - FY20 was the start of online learning so these numbers are lower than the trend was demonstrating.

CPS screens out (does not investigate) the vast majority of cases. They have a small department so they are overwhelmed by the volume of complaints that come in county wide. MCPS employees are not a priority for them.

As pp said, when CPS doesn’t investigate or rules out child abuse, MCPS points to CPS and says that the employee is cleared. The employee keeps his job no matter how many Code of Conduct violations the employee made. MCPS fails to understand that the Code of Conduct is for getting questionable employees out of control with children BEFORE the abuse occurs.

Look at the numbers. Prior year reports are on the MCPS Child Abuse and Neglect homepage. The Board of Ed has these reports yet they have not made changes to a school system that keeps questionable staff in place till the abuse occurs.

Wow. And yes, CPS doesn't investigate most things so that should not be the "rule out" method MCPS uses. That is not the point of having internal MCPS staff do this so-called investigative work. If CPS and the police choose not to investigate, I am thinking the paid leave time is mainly to see if anyone else comes out of the woodwork. It's all CYA, because no one within MCPS is investigating beyond reading the initial report and interviewing the employee who was accused of wrongdoing. When those people turn out to be pedophiles, it will be on MCPS. People may not come out on the time table they're using, as the Whitman case shows, but they will come out with their stories eventually.

This generally goes under police. CPS has a unit to investigate day care but that's about it.

It’s child sex abuse. Doesn’t CPS investigate in conjunction with the police? A child that has been abused has suffered a horrible trauma. CPS are the trained experts for interviewing children. Normally, CPS conducts the child interview and the police watch.

Only when it involves a parent, close relative or caretaker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the Superintendent’s Report on the number of complaints to CPS about MCPS employees:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/Annual%20CAN%20MEMO%20to%20BOE_Update%20Policy%20JHC%20CAN_FY20.pdf

Remember - FY20 was the start of online learning so these numbers are lower than the trend was demonstrating.

CPS screens out (does not investigate) the vast majority of cases. They have a small department so they are overwhelmed by the volume of complaints that come in county wide. MCPS employees are not a priority for them.

As pp said, when CPS doesn’t investigate or rules out child abuse, MCPS points to CPS and says that the employee is cleared. The employee keeps his job no matter how many Code of Conduct violations the employee made. MCPS fails to understand that the Code of Conduct is for getting questionable employees out of control with children BEFORE the abuse occurs.

Look at the numbers. Prior year reports are on the MCPS Child Abuse and Neglect homepage. The Board of Ed has these reports yet they have not made changes to a school system that keeps questionable staff in place till the abuse occurs.

Wow. And yes, CPS doesn't investigate most things so that should not be the "rule out" method MCPS uses. That is not the point of having internal MCPS staff do this so-called investigative work. If CPS and the police choose not to investigate, I am thinking the paid leave time is mainly to see if anyone else comes out of the woodwork. It's all CYA, because no one within MCPS is investigating beyond reading the initial report and interviewing the employee who was accused of wrongdoing. When those people turn out to be pedophiles, it will be on MCPS. People may not come out on the time table they're using, as the Whitman case shows, but they will come out with their stories eventually.

This generally goes under police. CPS has a unit to investigate day care but that's about it.

It’s child sex abuse. Doesn’t CPS investigate in conjunction with the police? A child that has been abused has suffered a horrible trauma. CPS are the trained experts for interviewing children. Normally, CPS conducts the child interview and the police watch.

Only when it involves a parent, close relative or caretaker.

If it’s an investigation of a teacher/coach, that person was in a caretaker role for the child.

Perhaps CPS needs more funding and to hire more people for the volume of reports they receive. Perhaps they should have designated staff so there’s time to consider the reports of abuse by MCPS staff.

MCPS has the ultimate responsibility to keep child predators out of schools which the blueprint is the Code of Conduct. When MCPS is soft on enforcing the Code of Conduct, child predators like the WW teacher/coach have a place to break the rules and abuse students.

[Anonymous]

I said this upthread, but CPS and police concerns can lead to criminal charges, but MCPS should be firing people for offenses that don't rise to the level of a crime (at least not at the moment) but whose behavior violates the code of conduct, is unprofessional or suggests they could pose a risk to children. The harm mitigation shouldn't be about whether MCPS will get bad press or sued but whether the teacher is interacting appropriately with students. MCPS protects teachers not kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had Mr Shipley as a teacher back in 2003-04 for AP Euro. A serviceable teacher, not great but not bad either. Definitely favored the girls. When I found out it was him, can't say I was too surprised.

I have learned how little anything changes in Bethesda among the elite from my youth. This is a 48 year old ivy league educated (Penn) guy, who lives in a million dollar Georgetown house on a teachers salary, grew up in a house on the ocean outside Boston engaging in devious behavior thinking they will get away with it.

I hope I am wrong, but I got a feeling that Shipley and his money will get him a slap on the wrist.

Even the worst case scenario for him he’ll be out in 3 yrs.

I’m Guessing he gets 18 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had Mr Shipley as a teacher back in 2003-04 for AP Euro. A serviceable teacher, not great but not bad either. Definitely favored the girls. When I found out it was him, can't say I was too surprised.

I have learned how little anything changes in Bethesda among the elite from my youth. This is a 48 year old ivy league educated (Penn) guy, who lives in a million dollar Georgetown house on a teachers salary, grew up in a house on the ocean outside Boston engaging in devious behavior thinking they will get away with it.

I hope I am wrong, but I got a feeling that Shipley and his money will get him a slap on the wrist.

Even the worst case scenario for him he’ll be out in 3 yrs.

I’m Guessing he gets 18 months.

Sentencing guidelines in the District of Columbia call for up to ten years. Assuming no more girls come out of the woodwork, I agree with the poster quoted, I think his wealth and privilege gets him 18 months. It is sad because if a less well to do Whitman teacher/coach did the same thing, they would be facing a much worse sentence. Want proof of money and privilege getting slaps on the wrist, look up the case of the Whitman students who "robbed" the Smoothie King in 2006/07. In a nutshell, a football player and his friends did an inside job, they were charged with armed robbery but because the father knew judges in Rockville, they were able to plea it down to 3 nights in jail or something like that.

I don't get it here. Why would a decent looking guy with a stable job and money throw it all away thinking he could get away with something you simply aren't going to get away with? I am not going to be an armchair psychologist here but there must be more going on. It's like shooting the queen or president in a crowd, you can do the deed but you aren't getting away. I understand it in a way, there's a power trip here going after teenage girls, but at the same time was it worth it to him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I don't get it here. Why would a decent looking guy with a stable job and money throw it all away thinking he could get away with something you simply aren't going to get away with? I am not going to be an armchair psychologist here but there must be more going on. It's like shooting the queen or president in a crowd, you can do the deed but you aren't getting away. I understand it in a way, there's a power trip here going after teenage girls, but at the same time was it worth it to him?

My guess is he had been doing it for years, and when he started he was closer to the girls' age and found it more justifiable then (in his eyes). He got more brazen as the years went on of not getting caught -- typical criminal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had Mr Shipley as a teacher back in 2003-04 for AP Euro. A serviceable teacher, not great but not bad either. Definitely favored the girls. When I found out it was him, can't say I was too surprised.

I have learned how little anything changes in Bethesda among the elite from my youth. This is a 48 year old ivy league educated (Penn) guy, who lives in a million dollar Georgetown house on a teachers salary, grew up in a house on the ocean outside Boston engaging in devious behavior thinking they will get away with it.

I hope I am wrong, but I got a feeling that Shipley and his money will get him a slap on the wrist.

In Montgomery County, yes. But his teacher was arrested in DC. DC isn't about protecting the MCPS brand like the Montgomery County State's Attorney's office of John McCarthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had Mr Shipley as a teacher back in 2003-04 for AP Euro. A serviceable teacher, not great but not bad either. Definitely favored the girls. When I found out it was him, can't say I was too surprised.

I have learned how little anything changes in Bethesda among the elite from my youth. This is a 48 year old ivy league educated (Penn) guy, who lives in a million dollar Georgetown house on a teachers salary, grew up in a house on the ocean outside Boston engaging in devious behavior thinking they will get away with it.

I hope I am wrong, but I got a feeling that Shipley and his money will get him a slap on the wrist.

Even the worst case scenario for him he’ll be out in 3 yrs.

I’m Guessing he gets 18 months.

Sentencing guidelines in the District of Columbia call for up to ten years. Assuming no more girls come out of the woodwork, I agree with the poster quoted, I think his wealth and privilege gets him 18 months. It is sad because if a less well to do Whitman teacher/coach did the same thing, they would be facing a much worse sentence. Want proof of money and privilege getting slaps on the wrist, look up the case of the Whitman students who "robbed" the Smoothie King in 2006/07. In a nutshell, a football player and his friends did an inside job, they were charged with armed robbery but because the father knew judges in Rockville, they were able to plea it down to 3 nights in jail or something like that.

I don't get it here. Why would a decent looking guy with a stable job and money throw it all away thinking he could get away with something you simply aren't going to get away with? I am not going to be an armchair psychologist here but there must be more going on. It's like shooting the queen or president in a crowd, you can do the deed but you aren't getting away. I understand it in a way, there's a power trip here going after teenage girls, but at the same time was it worth it to him?

The security guard at RM got 20 years all suspended but 18 months. So no it has nothing to do with wealth. It’s because judges don’t value the impact this has on young girls.