LAMB Sued for $20M by 2 families of sexual abuse victims

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is so heartbreaking. We have a kid at LAMB now, and were excited at the prospect of our second going there too. I will have to give this real consideration. We aren't at the campus where this happened. I'm glad that the administration has been removed. I am hopeful that with one campus there will be more oversight and less divided attention. I'm still getting very scared to have my babies there.

The fact that numerous LAMB teachers spoke out, repeatedly about this teacher should make you feel better. More than one person stuck their neck out to protect the kids. The administration just couldn't or didn't want to believe it could happen.

The administrators who looked the other way are gone (counselor and Encinas). Cottman will be gone in June.

The Board should have asked more questions at the time, IMO. A few new Board members have been added in the wake of this, and they are outsiders, not people known to Cottman. I hope all of the old ones are replaced asap.

Honestly, I think right now your child is safer there, than almost anywhere else because LAMB under a microscope and everyone has learned a hard lesson.

This does make me feel a bit better.

It doesn't make me feel better. The teachers should have gone to parents and CPS. And just because people at the top are gone does not at all mean there is a culture of accountability and abuse prevention now.

And yet I think there is. You're perhaps the one who's delusional thinking this takes a very special situation to happen. No, it can happen at any school. IF proper policies aren't in place. Most parents probably don't know what those are and therefore need to have a review. LAMB now has already implemented safeguards and has a detailed implementation plan to prevent any such instances again.

Most schools have proper policies in place -- and have for decades. Don't you wonder why LAMB didn't put proper policies in place in 2015? It took more students being abused for them to do that.

Oh, please. See: Miner, Sidwell, Oyster-Adams, etc.

Exactly. And policy in place PLUS strong enforcement, which is probably where schools fall short. I am simply not buying that this is an anomaly. Have you heard of #metoo???

Abuse isn't an anomaly sadly. LAMB's response to abuse allegations (2015) and then findings (2017) is a complete anomaly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so heartbreaking. We have a kid at LAMB now, and were excited at the prospect of our second going there too. I will have to give this real consideration. We aren't at the campus where this happened. I'm glad that the administration has been removed. I am hopeful that with one campus there will be more oversight and less divided attention. I'm still getting very scared to have my babies there.

The fact that numerous LAMB teachers spoke out, repeatedly about this teacher should make you feel better. More than one person stuck their neck out to protect the kids. The administration just couldn't or didn't want to believe it could happen.

The administrators who looked the other way are gone (counselor and Encinas). Cottman will be gone in June.

The Board should have asked more questions at the time, IMO. A few new Board members have been added in the wake of this, and they are outsiders, not people known to Cottman. I hope all of the old ones are replaced asap.

Honestly, I think right now your child is safer there, than almost anywhere else because LAMB under a microscope and everyone has learned a hard lesson.

This does make me feel a bit better.

It doesn't make me feel better. The teachers should have gone to parents and CPS. And just because people at the top are gone does not at all mean there is a culture of accountability and abuse prevention now.

And yet I think there is. You're perhaps the one who's delusional thinking this takes a very special situation to happen. No, it can happen at any school. IF proper policies aren't in place. Most parents probably don't know what those are and therefore need to have a review. LAMB now has already implemented safeguards and has a detailed implementation plan to prevent any such instances again.

Most schools have proper policies in place -- and have for decades. Don't you wonder why LAMB didn't put proper policies in place in 2015? It took more students being abused for them to do that.

Oh, please. See: Miner, Sidwell, Oyster-Adams, etc.

Exactly. And policy in place PLUS strong enforcement, which is probably where schools fall short. I am simply not buying that this is an anomaly. Have you heard of #metoo???

Abuse isn't an anomaly sadly. LAMB's response to abuse allegations (2015) and then findings (2017) is a complete anomaly.

Sadly this is also not true. See: the Catholic Church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so heartbreaking. We have a kid at LAMB now, and were excited at the prospect of our second going there too. I will have to give this real consideration. We aren't at the campus where this happened. I'm glad that the administration has been removed. I am hopeful that with one campus there will be more oversight and less divided attention. I'm still getting very scared to have my babies there.

The fact that numerous LAMB teachers spoke out, repeatedly about this teacher should make you feel better. More than one person stuck their neck out to protect the kids. The administration just couldn't or didn't want to believe it could happen.

The administrators who looked the other way are gone (counselor and Encinas). Cottman will be gone in June.

The Board should have asked more questions at the time, IMO. A few new Board members have been added in the wake of this, and they are outsiders, not people known to Cottman. I hope all of the old ones are replaced asap.

Honestly, I think right now your child is safer there, than almost anywhere else because LAMB under a microscope and everyone has learned a hard lesson.

Yeah most school systems have policies in place, the problem is that a lot of placed don't follow them or think that because they "know" someone they can skirt commonsense polices and procedures!

This does make me feel a bit better.

It doesn't make me feel better. The teachers should have gone to parents and CPS. And just because people at the top are gone does not at all mean there is a culture of accountability and abuse prevention now.

And yet I think there is. You're perhaps the one who's delusional thinking this takes a very special situation to happen. No, it can happen at any school. IF proper policies aren't in place. Most parents probably don't know what those are and therefore need to have a review. LAMB now has already implemented safeguards and has a detailed implementation plan to prevent any such instances again.

Most schools have proper policies in place -- and have for decades. Don't you wonder why LAMB didn't put proper policies in place in 2015? It took more students being abused for them to do that.

Oh, please. See: Miner, Sidwell, Oyster-Adams, etc.

Were there additional kids abused by the same employee after administrators were informed? After they put in new policies and training did the abuse continue by the same abuser? I won't even go into how the administrators were still employed by the school after all of this was uncovered.

IIRC, at Oyster the admin called MPD immediately when allegations were reported and the teacher was arrested that day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so heartbreaking. We have a kid at LAMB now, and were excited at the prospect of our second going there too. I will have to give this real consideration. We aren't at the campus where this happened. I'm glad that the administration has been removed. I am hopeful that with one campus there will be more oversight and less divided attention. I'm still getting very scared to have my babies there.

The fact that numerous LAMB teachers spoke out, repeatedly about this teacher should make you feel better. More than one person stuck their neck out to protect the kids. The administration just couldn't or didn't want to believe it could happen.

The administrators who looked the other way are gone (counselor and Encinas). Cottman will be gone in June.

The Board should have asked more questions at the time, IMO. A few new Board members have been added in the wake of this, and they are outsiders, not people known to Cottman. I hope all of the old ones are replaced asap.

Honestly, I think right now your child is safer there, than almost anywhere else because LAMB under a microscope and everyone has learned a hard lesson.

Yeah most school systems have policies in place, the problem is that a lot of placed don't follow them or think that because they "know" someone they can skirt commonsense polices and procedures!

This does make me feel a bit better.

It doesn't make me feel better. The teachers should have gone to parents and CPS. And just because people at the top are gone does not at all mean there is a culture of accountability and abuse prevention now.

And yet I think there is. You're perhaps the one who's delusional thinking this takes a very special situation to happen. No, it can happen at any school. IF proper policies aren't in place. Most parents probably don't know what those are and therefore need to have a review. LAMB now has already implemented safeguards and has a detailed implementation plan to prevent any such instances again.

Most schools have proper policies in place -- and have for decades. Don't you wonder why LAMB didn't put proper policies in place in 2015? It took more students being abused for them to do that.

Oh, please. See: Miner, Sidwell, Oyster-Adams, etc.

Were there additional kids abused by the same employee after administrators were informed? After they put in new policies and training did the abuse continue by the same abuser? I won't even go into how the administrators were still employed by the school after all of this was uncovered.

IIRC, at Oyster the admin called MPD immediately when allegations were reported and the teacher was arrested that day.

To be fair LAMB did that too. MPD didn't arrest him though.

In the case at Oyster, there was cell phone evidence the parents had collected, and he almost immediately confessed. In this case, the parents were clueless, there was no physical evidence and he was put on leave pending the MPD investigation. And MPD didn't press charges.

LAMB made all staff go thru training upon his return to school -- and he CONTINUED to behave inappropriately with kids. Teachers reported it, and LAMB FAILED to notify CPS or MPD again. This was the breakdown / mistake. They also could have fired him for not heeding the newly re-communicated policy about over familiar behavior with students. And they did not.

[Anonymous]

17:15 poster-your part in bold doesn't even begin to Scratch the surface of their mistake. Mistakes happened far worse and more critical before this point.

[Anonymous]

Holy crap. as the saying goes, no matter how flat you make a pancake, it has two sides. so obviously there lawsuit is one side, written with a lot of hindsight. But if even 20% of it is accurate, my god.

I would argue very strenuously that LAMB is not the safest place right now. Because the lesson that seems to have been learned is that whistleblowers will be fired or will leave, the board will do anything to protect its own, and there will be no ramifications. HOW THE HELL DOES COTTMAN STILL WORK THERE??!! and according to at least one LAMB insider posting here, she appears to think she is blameless and a victim herself. This is really disturbing.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There's no reason for any teacher or staff member in any type of school to take kids to a basement and lock the door. Just think of the PTSD impact on those kids. 8 years? Unreal.

All the kids went to the basement, pretty regularly (according to my LAMB kid from that classroom) to help Mr Fernandez retrieve or put away 'science materials.' The kids understood it to be part and parcel of the Montessori curriculum where students help care for the classroom environment.

So far as my kid will admit, nothing happened when he was down there with the teacher. But I still worry.

I've been a special ed teacher and now a school psychologist for many years. We're not allowed to take any students of any age to a place like a basement---and certainly now with a closed door--much less a locked one!

certainly not

Sounds like the entire school was well aware that Fernandez took these basement trips all the time. Why was that permitted?! Overnight trips? Field trips where he's the sole chaperone? How does this happen today?

I'm the PP who mentioned this.

I didn't know about the basement trips until 2 years later when the arrest was reported in the Washington Post. And I asked my DC about whether he ever went to the basement storage at LAMB and he said -- 'yeah, we had to help Mr Manolo get science materials from there.'

Clearly it set off an alarm with another faculty member -- because a teacher reported two incidents of this to the administration.

There were annual overnight camping trips for older children at LAMB. Multiple faculty and admins went -- parents did not. But it seems that LAMB didn't follow the standard 'no adult should ever be alone with one child' rule. But Fernandez actually seems to have assaulted a child in the presence of a second. The 'going out' field trips around DC are a Montessori thing -- and usually involved one adult taking 2-4 children someplace that the children planned an excursion to.

Clearly the school needs to rethink that. NEVER offsite with a single adult alone with children. I don't buy the "it's a Montessori thing"

+1 absolutely. unreal.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:How does Diane Cottman show up to work each day?

She is utterly shameless. She's been asked to leave, but she's sticking around until the end of the year.

In almost every conversation I've had with her since this abuse scandal, she will refer to the fact that people are saying nasty things about her online.

I hope this lawsuit is a wake-uo call. I doubt it though. She's delusional.

The Board should fire her immediately. It's inexcusable that they have not.

+1 If I had children that age, I would NOT send them to such a poorly run school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap. as the saying goes, no matter how flat you make a pancake, it has two sides. so obviously there lawsuit is one side, written with a lot of hindsight. But if even 20% of it is accurate, my god.

I would argue very strenuously that LAMB is not the safest place right now. Because the lesson that seems to have been learned is that whistleblowers will be fired or will leave, the board will do anything to protect its own, and there will be no ramifications. HOW THE HELL DOES COTTMAN STILL WORK THERE??!! and according to at least one LAMB insider posting here, she appears to think she is blameless and a victim herself. This is really disturbing.

Much if not most of what is alleged in the lawsuit document HAS BEEN CONFIRMED by outside investigators hired by LAMB to look into how the allegations against Fernandez were handled. Cottman is leaving at the end of the school year but plenty of folks are wondering why it wasn't immediate.

Read the Washington Post story from 11/30/17 https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/leaders-at-dc-charter-school-are-out-of-jobs-after-teachers-sex-abuse-case/2017/11/30/84cb7c2e-d5dc-11e7-b62d-d9345ced896d_story.html?utm_term=.17fe6ff55fc1

[Anonymous]

And, by the way, it’s not $20 million. It’s $120 million. $10M per count x 12 counts = $120M

[Anonymous]

Isn't it ironic that students from LAMB are featured with the Mayor on the cover of the DCPS Accountability Report.

Clearly it is not accountability of school administration to students.

https://twitter.com/MayorBowser/status/949047060359254017

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap. as the saying goes, no matter how flat you make a pancake, it has two sides. so obviously there lawsuit is one side, written with a lot of hindsight. But if even 20% of it is accurate, my god.

I would argue very strenuously that LAMB is not the safest place right now. Because the lesson that seems to have been learned is that whistleblowers will be fired or will leave, the board will do anything to protect its own, and there will be no ramifications. HOW THE HELL DOES COTTMAN STILL WORK THERE??!! and according to at least one LAMB insider posting here, she appears to think she is blameless and a victim herself. This is really disturbing.

And I would respond that you are not informed enough to have that opinion.

I know it is delightful to trash a school, but you aren't aware of the new policies put in place and the resilience of the teachers and parents.

Diane is delusional, but she is there for kingsbury alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap. as the saying goes, no matter how flat you make a pancake, it has two sides. so obviously there lawsuit is one side, written with a lot of hindsight. But if even 20% of it is accurate, my god.

I would argue very strenuously that LAMB is not the safest place right now. Because the lesson that seems to have been learned is that whistleblowers will be fired or will leave, the board will do anything to protect its own, and there will be no ramifications. HOW THE HELL DOES COTTMAN STILL WORK THERE??!! and according to at least one LAMB insider posting here, she appears to think she is blameless and a victim herself. This is really disturbing.

And I would respond that you are not informed enough to have that opinion.

I know it is delightful to trash a school, but you aren't aware of the new policies put in place and the resilience of the teachers and parents.

Diane is delusional, but she is there for kingsbury alone.

Agreed. While I would like to see Diane fired tomorrow, I have been very impressed by the teachers and parents and how they have come together. The teachers in particular deserve a lot of credit for not only holding the school together but helping the students excel in very difficult circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap. as the saying goes, no matter how flat you make a pancake, it has two sides. so obviously there lawsuit is one side, written with a lot of hindsight. But if even 20% of it is accurate, my god.

I would argue very strenuously that LAMB is not the safest place right now. Because the lesson that seems to have been learned is that whistleblowers will be fired or will leave, the board will do anything to protect its own, and there will be no ramifications. HOW THE HELL DOES COTTMAN STILL WORK THERE??!! and according to at least one LAMB insider posting here, she appears to think she is blameless and a victim herself. This is really disturbing.

And I would respond that you are not informed enough to have that opinion.

I know it is delightful to trash a school, but you aren't aware of the new policies put in place and the resilience of the teachers and parents.

Diane is delusional, but she is there for kingsbury alone.

It doesn't take a single person to complete a deal, and no piece of property is worth the school's integrity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap. as the saying goes, no matter how flat you make a pancake, it has two sides. so obviously there lawsuit is one side, written with a lot of hindsight. But if even 20% of it is accurate, my god.

I would argue very strenuously that LAMB is not the safest place right now. Because the lesson that seems to have been learned is that whistleblowers will be fired or will leave, the board will do anything to protect its own, and there will be no ramifications. HOW THE HELL DOES COTTMAN STILL WORK THERE??!! and according to at least one LAMB insider posting here, she appears to think she is blameless and a victim herself. This is really disturbing.

And I would respond that you are not informed enough to have that opinion.

I know it is delightful to trash a school, but you aren't aware of the new policies put in place and the resilience of the teachers and parents.

Diane is delusional, but she is there for kingsbury alone.

It doesn't take a single person to complete a deal, and no piece of property is worth the school's integrity.

Further, she could be moved into a special consulting role for the deal, if she's that important to it. Not retaining her position - a position of honor. It's disgusting.