Whitman Teacher and Crew Coach Arrested
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Anonymous
| Technically you report to the DCI office above, so to Simmons. She has two investigators on staff. Not enough. Not well trained either. I would therefore stay on top of it so it doesn't get buried. I don't know the solution to this particular problem. You might have to go to the press. You will have more luck if you have others who can make a report and also are familiar with the behavior. |
Anonymous
Time in and time out, the MCPS investigation will keep victims in the dark regarding what was discovered or corroborated. It’s a dog and pony show, with no real investigation. There is a bias to cover up what happened and discredit the victim. There’s no county or state office that can investigate. However, if there’s proof such as emails, pictures, or texts that create a hostile environment and the proof became known in less than 180 days the try filing a Title IX complaint with the Office of Civil Rights at the US Department of Education. They have experienced investigators. |
Anonymous
| I also would copy multiple people who supervise both the teacher and the principal and the compliance unit so that people know you're holding everyone accountable. Maybe members of the school board too. |
Anonymous
Good luck with that. The WHOLE system is designed to protect itself, not the student. You can cc everyone in MCPS and nothing will be done unless the coach is arrested by the police. The Board rubber stamps everything that MCPS decides. They have the same legal council as MCPS so their decisions are not an unbiased review of a complaint. I will bet most of them have not taken the MCPS Child and Abuse training and would not know what grooming behaviors are. The truth are in the MCPS records of past MCPS investigations before arrests were made. It’s going to take an independent third party to fix a system that keeps predators in their school system even when the employee is caught breaking the Employee Code of Conduct. |
Anonymous
| Agree with your assessment. In the short run, the best bet is if the press exposes the holes and illuminates MCPS's poor track record of protecting children. I am pretty sure there are a few whistleblowers in this thread. If any reporters or people in the media are reading these posts, could you please provide your contact information if you'd be willing to write about this topic? It's my hope that posters with inside information will reach out to you. Thank you. |
Anonymous
I would be inclined to say this is not possible in this day/age/area. But, when I was on jury duty, a jurist had a somewhat see through top, and the judge not only ogled her, but commented to the court on the view. I couldn't believe that was happening. I mentioned it to the prosecutor (woman). So old boy antics are clearly still a thing. Wow. |
Anonymous
Does anyone know what MCPS knew and when? If they were given everything in the charging documents, the 75-90 lewd videos, the text message chains, and still did nothing then they have mud on their faces, but I can't say I am surprised. My other question is the role of the union? I am a (proud) dues payer in a public sector union and know the union will go to great lengths to protect bad employees who do objectively wrong things (which is BS). Are these boards neutered by the union fearful of a third party determining a teacher's employment status? |
Anonymous
I would say that someone in MCPS should be asking in the 20 years the crew coach was a teacher at Walt Whitman, how many complaints were received? To only ask about these two victims is to ignore the history of complaints that preceded them. What MCPS knew and when is something a journalist should be asking. |
Anonymous
I think everyone agrees the system is pretty munted here, the status quo is unacceptable. In an ideal world we would have a system where credible and objective allegations are dealt with swiftly but we dont. That said, what should the system be then recognizing that: a) it needs to hear out the victim and take their accusations seriously while; b) giving the accused due process by allowing them to defend themselves. What is to stop a disgruntled student from filing fake claims; c) working within the parameters of the teachers union, does a credible accusation lead to termination or is it up to a principal? In some cases it may be cut and dry, in others not so much, discretion is needed. d) understanding that MCPS has its own interests to protect, a seven figure lawsuit (and defense of) is borne on the taxpayer. e) investigations done by MCPS have no teeth, there is no power to subpoena, no ability to compel testimony, if the accused stonewalls then there is nothing that can be done. It is easy to sit here and get angry at what wasn't done and there is a lot to be angry about--I sense a coverup and that is shameful. With these competing interests at hand, does anyone think it is possible to create a workable system? Maybe I am jaded but I sure hope so. |
Anonymous
| Principals theoretically document violations of the code of conduct and are the ones who put a teacher on peer review, but Human Resources/DCI does the firing in accordance with union policies. Some offenses don't require that long process. Principals don't want to lose good teachers and have to line up subs, but they also don't want to be or appear complicit or harbor child abusers, I'm going to assume, so they occupy a weird position in all of this. They are front line responders and mandated reporters and legally can't turn a blind eye, but do they at times? Yes, they do. They are not enough to stop this from happening on their own, but they may be the only one hearing odd things that stick out as suspect in aggregate. Sometimes people don't see what they don't want to see though. There are several student sites on Instagram that call out specific teachers by name as being sketchy and inappropriate with female students, but some posts are a couple of years old and those teachers are still teaching. Were they investigated? I don't know, and I agree that there has to be a mechanism for screening out false accusations, but is anyone looking into these allegations at all? Are principals aware of what the girls are saying and monitoring these teachers closely? Or are these staff members still having lunch with students in their classroom and texting them and making comments about their bodies? This is a big story for any reporter but it's not a simple problem. |
Anonymous
| When there is a serious accusation of misconduct and there are competing interests between MCPS, a teacher/coach, and a student, then a neutral party such as an outside Inspector General needs to do the investigation after the police. That would bring objectivity and fairness to the process. |
Anonymous
| MCPS would never agree to that. |
Anonymous
MCPS does not have an IG. They've rejected the idea time and again. Yes, a $2.5bln organization with no independent oversight. MoCo always keeps it loco! |
Anonymous
Who can force their hand? The press can expose the need for one, but who has the authority to make it happen? It's past time. |
Anonymous
| Does the County Council have the ability? |