Blair Magnet Sexism
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Anonymous
| What’s protection for principals look like in terms of due process? Do they have, say, a union? Are they at-will employees? Because it takes about a year to two years to get rid of a bad teacher—and more if the principal is bad too and doesn’t collect data as s/he should. |
Anonymous
| Principals and administrators have a union. Teachers have a union. School support staff have a union. Coaches do not. They are at will employees and can easily be let go. Just don't renew their contract. |
Anonymous
| Can MCPS investigate and collect data but change the assignment of the employee in question? Why leave someone in place to abuse more students? How much damage could be prevented by getting that person away from students? |
Anonymous
It seems to be the MCPS to ignore a users as much as they can. |
Anonymous
+1000 shouldn't employees be put on administrative leave out of caution for the kids while there's an investigation? |
Anonymous
| MCPS investigations serve to ignore problems by finding blame on families and victims. It sends a strong message that it's not worth the risk to report to MCPS. |
Anonymous
| People came forward for YEARS at Blair. Why MCPS would ignore the complaints and let a teacher like that be on staff really shows how little they care about the children in their schools. Shame on MCPS. People still working with MCPS who dropped the ball should be fired. |
Anonymous
| This is horrifying! Things were a bit like this when I was in high school in the early 80s, but I would have thought things would be better now! I am so sorry these kids didn't feel empowered to come forward, and I'm sorry that those who did were brushed aside. This is a toxic classroom environment especially for girls, but also for boys. I have a child headed to Blair next year, and the school had better be getting their shit together. |
Anonymous
Completely agree, obviously the 80s is when he started teaching, but I would have hoped keeping a job that long would mean cleaning up his act over the years. I also had teachers like this back then (and he seems extreme even for that day) but hoped they were long gone. |
Anonymous
I don't think you need to worry. The teacher is gone and it is a new administration. I have discussed this issue with my child and others in the program and feel reassured that this is not an issue and has not been one since Walstein left. Having said that STEM is notorious for often being hostile to women especially at the college/grad school level so I am glad this story came out and prodded me to have this discussion with my child. Our daughters need to know that they should speak up and in today's #MeToo era they will be taken seriously and our sons need to know that they should also speak up for their fellow classmates and future colleagues. |
Anonymous
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As a parent of a child who reported what was going on at my child's school, MCPS used the following tactics:
* If this is going on, why haven't other children come forward? * Why didn't your child advocate for himself for the abuse to stop? * As parents, we must have had a role to play in what happened. MCPS said they investigated but did not interview other children that would have been witnesses or potential witnesses. Children were too scared to come forward on their own. Some needed counseling services because of the damage that had been done. Other parents knew what happened and even knew it happened to their children but for whatever reason (shame and fear of retaliation) they did not report what happened to their kid. Keeping abusers in place while an active investigation is going on sends a strong message that nothing is going to happen to change the environment so witnesses stay silent. If MCPS truly cared about children and wanted to get predators out of their schools, they would hire third party investigators to do a thorough investigation. For abuse cases, they would collaborate better with the MCPD so the police are the ones who diligently find other victims and have the evidence they need to prosecute. MCPS covering up cases of abuse in hopes that they can sidestep 1 lawsuit only hurts future generations of children and potentially opens the door for 100s of other lawsuits. The MCPS Employee Code of Conduct is a step in the right direction by the Montgomery County Board of Education. However, it is not worth the paper it is written on if employees with multiple violations are not dealt with. The violations include grooming behaviors of child predators, so in that context, one violation is one violation too many. Shame on the Teacher's Union if they do not support the termination of teachers who fail to follow the Code of Conduct. Shame on school administrators who find every excuse in the book as to why an employee violated the code but the teacher meant no harm. I cry BS!!! Predators are skillful liars and if an employee has multiple violations but you keep her/him in a position that has contact with kids, what do you think will eventually happen? |
Anonymous
As a parent who's daughter is in a college STEM program and looking forward to a Ph.D. program after graduation, she has had better experience at the University of Maryland than in MCPS. Treatment of women in these fields depends on the culture of the organization. Some have made improvements to encourage women in STEM, some ignored persistent problems and have a long way to go so females have equal access and are treated fairly. |
Anonymous
Actually, I would say the same abut my HS v. college experience back in the bad old days. It wasn't until college that my skills received any special attention. High School had more gate keeping and teachers like this goon, who could pontificate about genius (and act out these prejudices) without recourse. College really was closer to a meritocracy. There was a very clear reversal of fortunes playing out where students who had been coddled in HS found out they didn't necessarily have what it takes. |
Anonymous
I agree. Engineering in the late 1980s and early 1990s. My best time was at a top engineering, large public university. It was so large and anonymous and hard that they didn't notice I was a girl when they graded me. College was the closest to a meritocracy because it was hard enough the weed through those that couldn't make it. Least sexism I've had was in college. |
Anonymous
I guess I was one of the fortunate few 80s HS math girls ('84-'88). Maybe b/c all my HS math teachers were women? Maybe just my own arrogance? I don't know. Never felt outclassed by the boys. Took highest honors/GT/AP classes, on math team & in math honor soc. Didn't get straight As b/c I wouldn't do my homework & got Cs on homework quizzes b/c I was doing all the work during the quiz! Never got a chance to find out in college b/c I majored in history (even though I wrote a scholarship essay on my calculus teacher, who was top math teacher at the school & a woman)! Oh well. I'll just live vicariously through my kids, who oddly have dealt w/ more girl discrimination (from students, not teachers) in middle school magnet than I did in all of middle & HS. But, with some encouragement me & friends/fam as well as supportive teachers, they are stronger for it. A shame they have to be "strong" and hope there are universal changes. |