Thoughts on the new Churchill principal?

[Anonymous]

As awful as what happened at Damascus is, I wonder if it will be a watershed moment. Kind of how the #metoo movement probably made admin sit up and look more closely at their own behavior and that of their staff. Ms Heckert just started working there and she’s not going to want to end up like a Casey Crouse. If you make enough noise and document document, she’ll be compelled to do something or risk a lawsuit. The whole country is watching MCPS right now—even BBC and Reuters etc are covering Damascus internationally. It’s a fiasco and MCPS is going to have to make some changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As awful as what happened at Damascus is, I wonder if it will be a watershed moment. Kind of how the #metoo movement probably made admin sit up and look more closely at their own behavior and that of their staff. Ms Heckert just started working there and she’s not going to want to end up like a Casey Crouse. If you make enough noise and document document, she’ll be compelled to do something or risk a lawsuit. The whole country is watching MCPS right now—even BBC and Reuters etc are covering Damascus internationally. It’s a fiasco and MCPS is going to have to make some changes.

I've been told that Mrs. Heckert knows the details. There's evidence one coach documented in text messages to a student. There were statements collected from multiple students last year. Mrs. Heckert is responsible for everything that happens from here on out. She approves all coaching contracts and she has the power to rescind them at anytime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As awful as what happened at Damascus is, I wonder if it will be a watershed moment. Kind of how the #metoo movement probably made admin sit up and look more closely at their own behavior and that of their staff. Ms Heckert just started working there and she’s not going to want to end up like a Casey Crouse. If you make enough noise and document document, she’ll be compelled to do something or risk a lawsuit. The whole country is watching MCPS right now—even BBC and Reuters etc are covering Damascus internationally. It’s a fiasco and MCPS is going to have to make some changes.

I've been told that Mrs. Heckert knows the details. There's evidence one coach documented in text messages to a student. There were statements collected from multiple students last year. Mrs. Heckert is responsible for everything that happens from here on out. She approves all coaching contracts and she has the power to rescind them at anytime.

Jeff Sullivan needs to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As awful as what happened at Damascus is, I wonder if it will be a watershed moment. Kind of how the #metoo movement probably made admin sit up and look more closely at their own behavior and that of their staff. Ms Heckert just started working there and she’s not going to want to end up like a Casey Crouse. If you make enough noise and document document, she’ll be compelled to do something or risk a lawsuit. The whole country is watching MCPS right now—even BBC and Reuters etc are covering Damascus internationally. It’s a fiasco and MCPS is going to have to make some changes.

I've been told that Mrs. Heckert knows the details. There's evidence one coach documented in text messages to a student. There were statements collected from multiple students last year. Mrs. Heckert is responsible for everything that happens from here on out. She approves all coaching contracts and she has the power to rescind them at anytime.

Jeff Sullivan needs to go.

+1 - Jeff Sullivan and the Churchill Athletic Director needs to go. It is incomprehensible that they would rehire the same coaches after what was discovered. Mrs. Heckert should be wiser than her predecessors and hire new coaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

+1 - Jeff Sullivan and the Churchill Athletic Director needs to go. It is incomprehensible that they would rehire the same coaches after what was discovered. Mrs. Heckert should be wiser than her predecessors and hire new coaches.

What exactly was discovered? I can tell you exactly what I've discovered. Churchill track is a wonderfully run and well-organized program. My daughter has gained a lot of self-confidence in the past two years, made a lot of friends, and greatly improved her running ability. Of course, Churchill can't compete with some of the stronger track programs in the area, but they do well compared with neighboring schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1 - Jeff Sullivan and the Churchill Athletic Director needs to go. It is incomprehensible that they would rehire the same coaches after what was discovered. Mrs. Heckert should be wiser than her predecessors and hire new coaches.

What exactly was discovered? I can tell you exactly what I've discovered. Churchill track is a wonderfully run and well-organized program. My daughter has gained a lot of self-confidence in the past two years, made a lot of friends, and greatly improved her running ability. Of course, Churchill can't compete with some of the stronger track programs in the area, but they do well compared with neighboring schools.

Read through this thread. This is a summary of the child safety issues based on what I know:

Two coaches were privately driving kids in their cars.

One coach sexually harassed female athletes by commenting on their appearance and on one occasion called them b*tches. He was the one who had a female athlete alone in a car. He also said god awful things to boy athletes that would be considered bullying rising to the level of verbal abuse.

One coach was privately texting with students beyond what was appropriate for his job. He gave gifts and special attention to some of the male athletes. He had multiple boy athletes alone in his car on different occasions. He failed to report child abuse to authorities. Text messages confirm what he knew and when he knew it as well as how he got boys to ride in his car.

Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars. One child attempted suicide.

This is not a healthy environment for children. These men were supposedly trained to NOT do these things prior to them getting caught. They got caught but the athletic director and Mrs. Heckert renewed their contracts. I would not feel comfortable having my child on the teams these men coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1 - Jeff Sullivan and the Churchill Athletic Director needs to go. It is incomprehensible that they would rehire the same coaches after what was discovered. Mrs. Heckert should be wiser than her predecessors and hire new coaches.

What exactly was discovered? I can tell you exactly what I've discovered. Churchill track is a wonderfully run and well-organized program. My daughter has gained a lot of self-confidence in the past two years, made a lot of friends, and greatly improved her running ability. Of course, Churchill can't compete with some of the stronger track programs in the area, but they do well compared with neighboring schools.

Read through this thread. This is a summary of the child safety issues based on what I know:

Two coaches were privately driving kids in their cars.

One coach sexually harassed female athletes by commenting on their appearance and on one occasion called them b*tches. He was the one who had a female athlete alone in a car. He also said god awful things to boy athletes that would be considered bullying rising to the level of verbal abuse.

One coach was privately texting with students beyond what was appropriate for his job. He gave gifts and special attention to some of the male athletes. He had multiple boy athletes alone in his car on different occasions. He failed to report child abuse to authorities. Text messages confirm what he knew and when he knew it as well as how he got boys to ride in his car.

Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars. One child attempted suicide.

This is not a healthy environment for children. These men were supposedly trained to NOT do these things prior to them getting caught. They got caught but the athletic director and Mrs. Heckert renewed their contracts. I would not feel comfortable having my child on the teams these men coach.

Parents should review the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct with their child. Let children know to tell you if anything deviates from this standard for all MCPS employees including coaches:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/1236%2018_EmployeeCodeofConduct_BOOKLET_ENG_8%205x11.pdf

Parents should also be familiar with the Personal Body Safety Lessons MCPS has mandated for high school children:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/Parent%20Secondary%20Personal%20Body%20Safety%20Lessons%20Overview%20and%20Resources.pdf

All parents should take the online MCPS training for volunteers on how to recognize and report child abuse and neglect: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/childabuseandneglect/reportingchildabuse/story_html5.html

These are tools provided by MCPS to keep your child safe and information on how to report problems if they are discovered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:



Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars..

Jeesh. If you don't want your teenagers going in the Coach's car, why don't you just tell them that? But the kids often need rides to and from the track meets, since there are usually not enough people to afford a bus. I chose to take my daughter to and from the track meets, mainly because I like to know the driving ability of anyone driving my teenagers. But there was one time when I couldn't get there in time , and so I let the coach drive her home.

(It was awful. They got caught in traffic and arrived home 10 minutes late. My daughter had nightmares for weeks and required therapy for months.)

OK the stuff in parentheses is a joke. The ride home was completely uneventful. But I do hope that Mrs. Heckert has a spine and refuses to let you bully her into further disrupting the track team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars..

Jeesh. If you don't want your teenagers going in the Coach's car, why don't you just tell them that? But the kids often need rides to and from the track meets, since there are usually not enough people to afford a bus. I chose to take my daughter to and from the track meets, mainly because I like to know the driving ability of anyone driving my teenagers. But there was one time when I couldn't get there in time , and so I let the coach drive her home.

(It was awful. They got caught in traffic and arrived home 10 minutes late. My daughter had nightmares for weeks and required therapy for months.)

OK the stuff in parentheses is a joke. The ride home was completely uneventful. But I do hope that Mrs. Heckert has a spine and refuses to let you bully her into further disrupting the track team.

Wow. You definitely do not sound like a parent. I think any normal parent would have concerns regarding this type of conduct by a school employee. I can't believe how nonchalant you let a coach drive your daughter home. You should really check in with your daughter if that actually happened. That would be a major violation particularly if it happened after the other cases were reported to MCPS.

If someone was told specifically to NOT put children alone in their cars or you could be fired but they did it anyway, wouldn't you wonder about their motivation to break the rules? Child predators groom children to get alone time with them for the intent of sexual abuse.

Most parents did not know that children were going to be singled out for individual rides and not all trips were the approved meets or had prior parental consent. Yes, transportation was an issue to meets but those usually had multiple parents driving or a team bus.

The implied assumption when a coach is driving a team to a meet that multiple children will be in the car. The travel permission form does not have a box to check - I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION FOR MY CHILD TO BE ALONE IN A CAR WITH AN MCPS EMPLOYEE. It definitely does not give a coach permission to take a child off school grounds for an activity like lunch or a trip home. It is MCPS protocol that an MCPS employee should have another adult in the car when transporting children. Parents would gladly pay a transportation fee for expenses for a bus so their children do not have to be alone in a coach's car.

Then there are the text messages. Real creepy but black and white evidence of how an employee gets your child's cell phone number and reals the child in like he is that child's best friend. The messages provide names other students who were targets. The coaches apparently didn't like each other much so there are text messages documenting one coach saying, "There's a reason he is not a parent or a teacher" when reflecting on how little the bully coach knows about how to instruct teenage children. Past alumni were named who went on to be great college athletes but the bully coach thought, "he wasn't mentally tough enough". It is a sick dynamic how these two coaches operate with each other and treat children.

It is also a requirement that all chaperones are certified by taking the Child Abuse and Neglect training prior to driving any child but your own for an athletic event. The Churchill Athletic Director is making a big deal about that requirement this year because central office discovered the chaperone rules were not followed last year.

It's your choice if you are a Churchill parent to put your child on a team with all these red warning flags going off. The employees are risking their jobs if they continue violating the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct. You are risking your daughter's safety if you are knowingly allowing them to break the rules with your child.

[Anonymous]

Per the Code of Conduct of USATF, these coaches would loose their coaching certification and be permanently banned from coaching a USATF team. I guess MCPS standards are lower than club standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars..

Jeesh. If you don't want your teenagers going in the Coach's car, why don't you just tell them that? But the kids often need rides to and from the track meets, since there are usually not enough people to afford a bus. I chose to take my daughter to and from the track meets, mainly because I like to know the driving ability of anyone driving my teenagers. But there was one time when I couldn't get there in time , and so I let the coach drive her home.

(It was awful. They got caught in traffic and arrived home 10 minutes late. My daughter had nightmares for weeks and required therapy for months.)

OK the stuff in parentheses is a joke. The ride home was completely uneventful. But I do hope that Mrs. Heckert has a spine and refuses to let you bully her into further disrupting the track team.

I don't have kids at CHurchill but I'd bet money this was written by someone connected to the coaches in question. In my whole time working for MCPS, I've always known that if I had to drive a kid anywhere, there would have to be another staff member in the car with me. No question. Any mcps employee behaving differently is knowingly violating policy, and I'd want to know why too if I were a parent. In a decade, I've driven a kid twice, both times with an administrator or a security officer in the car with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars..

Jeesh. If you don't want your teenagers going in the Coach's car, why don't you just tell them that? But the kids often need rides to and from the track meets, since there are usually not enough people to afford a bus. I chose to take my daughter to and from the track meets, mainly because I like to know the driving ability of anyone driving my teenagers. But there was one time when I couldn't get there in time , and so I let the coach drive her home.

(It was awful. They got caught in traffic and arrived home 10 minutes late. My daughter had nightmares for weeks and required therapy for months.)

OK the stuff in parentheses is a joke. The ride home was completely uneventful. But I do hope that Mrs. Heckert has a spine and refuses to let you bully her into further disrupting the track team.

I don't have kids at CHurchill but I'd bet money this was written by someone connected to the coaches in question. In my whole time working for MCPS, I've always known that if I had to drive a kid anywhere, there would have to be another staff member in the car with me. No question. Any mcps employee behaving differently is knowingly violating policy, and I'd want to know why too if I were a parent. In a decade, I've driven a kid twice, both times with an administrator or a security officer in the car with me.

+1000 Having students ALONE in vehicles with MCPS employees is a huge liability for the coaches and MCPS. It is a huge safety risk for students. Employees are trained on this stuff and they did it anyway. MCPS is crazy for not firing them when they were caught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars..

Jeesh. If you don't want your teenagers going in the Coach's car, why don't you just tell them that? But the kids often need rides to and from the track meets, since there are usually not enough people to afford a bus. I chose to take my daughter to and from the track meets, mainly because I like to know the driving ability of anyone driving my teenagers. But there was one time when I couldn't get there in time , and so I let the coach drive her home.

(It was awful. They got caught in traffic and arrived home 10 minutes late. My daughter had nightmares for weeks and required therapy for months.)

OK the stuff in parentheses is a joke. The ride home was completely uneventful. But I do hope that Mrs. Heckert has a spine and refuses to let you bully her into further disrupting the track team.

I don't have kids at CHurchill but I'd bet money this was written by someone connected to the coaches in question. In my whole time working for MCPS, I've always known that if I had to drive a kid anywhere, there would have to be another staff member in the car with me. No question. Any mcps employee behaving differently is knowingly violating policy, and I'd want to know why too if I were a parent. In a decade, I've driven a kid twice, both times with an administrator or a security officer in the car with me.

My dd was on a different team last year, and no issues arose. But I recall messages when they were trying to set up the carpool to Away games that they really wanted to get enough parent volunteers and they preferred not to have the coach drive the kids, but that was an option if necessary. Never crossed my mind that this would violate policy. (I understand why it does, but it wasn't anything I thought about.) I also don't know why I'd be more squeamish about having the male coach drive my dd than having a teammate's father drive my dd. In both cases, I'd want other kids in the car, but I've never expected there to be more than one adult in the car.

Generally, though, this whole stream seems like good justification for them to figure out the Away schedule and bussing situation so that bussing is a real option without missing significant amounts of the school day. Both types of drivers put kids at risk and create liability issues, and the parent-driving carpool is very inconvenient on top of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars..

Jeesh. If you don't want your teenagers going in the Coach's car, why don't you just tell them that? But the kids often need rides to and from the track meets, since there are usually not enough people to afford a bus. I chose to take my daughter to and from the track meets, mainly because I like to know the driving ability of anyone driving my teenagers. But there was one time when I couldn't get there in time , and so I let the coach drive her home.

(It was awful. They got caught in traffic and arrived home 10 minutes late. My daughter had nightmares for weeks and required therapy for months.)

OK the stuff in parentheses is a joke. The ride home was completely uneventful. But I do hope that Mrs. Heckert has a spine and refuses to let you bully her into further disrupting the track team.

I don't have kids at CHurchill but I'd bet money this was written by someone connected to the coaches in question. In my whole time working for MCPS, I've always known that if I had to drive a kid anywhere, there would have to be another staff member in the car with me. No question. Any mcps employee behaving differently is knowingly violating policy, and I'd want to know why too if I were a parent. In a decade, I've driven a kid twice, both times with an administrator or a security officer in the car with me.

My dd was on a different team last year, and no issues arose. But I recall messages when they were trying to set up the carpool to Away games that they really wanted to get enough parent volunteers and they preferred not to have the coach drive the kids, but that was an option if necessary. Never crossed my mind that this would violate policy. (I understand why it does, but it wasn't anything I thought about.) I also don't know why I'd be more squeamish about having the male coach drive my dd than having a teammate's father drive my dd. In both cases, I'd want other kids in the car, but I've never expected there to be more than one adult in the car.

Generally, though, this whole stream seems like good justification for them to figure out the Away schedule and bussing situation so that bussing is a real option without missing significant amounts of the school day. Both types of drivers put kids at risk and create liability issues, and the parent-driving carpool is very inconvenient on top of it.

As a parent, whenever driving someone else's child, keep your own child in the car with you. It is something parents normally do instinctively but it is a good safety practice for everyone in the car and it minimizes the parent driver's liability. MCPS should encourage this practice for parents who are helping to drive teams to athletic events. I agree, the away schedule is known at the beginning of an athletic season so there is time to hire buses or organize the carpools so a coach is never alone with a child in a car. It just takes organization and communication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



Perhaps your child did not experience these things. They are large teams so some kids got more attention than others. However, many children (girls and boys) came forward last year to complain. Some children were more affected than others, particularly if they were one of the children in the cars..

Jeesh. If you don't want your teenagers going in the Coach's car, why don't you just tell them that? But the kids often need rides to and from the track meets, since there are usually not enough people to afford a bus. I chose to take my daughter to and from the track meets, mainly because I like to know the driving ability of anyone driving my teenagers. But there was one time when I couldn't get there in time , and so I let the coach drive her home.

(It was awful. They got caught in traffic and arrived home 10 minutes late. My daughter had nightmares for weeks and required therapy for months.)

OK the stuff in parentheses is a joke. The ride home was completely uneventful. But I do hope that Mrs. Heckert has a spine and refuses to let you bully her into further disrupting the track team.

This person is a grossly sick individual if he thinks the reporting of child abuse should be joked about in such a manner. I can't believe any person would actually not recognize the significance of why an adult should not be alone in a car with a child that is not his own. This is not a parent posting.