Reply to Grand Jury report on LCPS sexual assault cases is unsealed

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Reply to "Grand Jury report on LCPS sexual assault cases is unsealed"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This whole situation brings up a number of tricky questions, especially surrounding the rights of the accused.

1)  What should happen to a student who has been observed to be acting in an inappropriate manner, but not in a rule-breaking way?

2)  What should happen if the school has been contacted by family with concerns about the student's behavior?

3)  What should happen to a student who is accused of a serious crime?

I'm not sure that I have a good answer for any of these.  I'm not exonerating LCPS or the cops, clearly there were serious mistakes made, but I empathize a bit with their plight, in that you can't just kick a kid out of school for questionable behavior.  And for #3, what if it was later found that the first encounter was consensual all the way through?  Does the student get to come back?

Remember, under the Title IX rules instituted under the Trump administration, the accused are presumed to be innocent throughout the disciplinary process.[/quote]

I think there has not been enough scrutiny on the admins at that school. The superintendent is the one in the spotlight but the ones running the school basically left their teachers and assistants out to dry.

They’re the ones who knew about the situation and allowed their employees, who knew nothing of the events, to handle a student who had to leave a previous school due to serious accusations. They didn’t give them any support despite having knowledge that the teachers and TAs don’t have any access to.

Did the superintendent forced this school to accept the transfer? Did he force them to ignore the TA? There was the art teacher who reported that 2 female students asked to be moved away because they felt uncomfortable. Did anything else happen? Did anyone follow up with those students who felt uncomfortable?

What is very concerning is that the AP’s response to the TA’s email is that “it’s a classroom management issue.” Basically washing his hands of the situation and implying that the TA is supposed to be able to handle that. If that’s the case, then what is their job? If an employee describes an inappropriate incident that made them feel uncomfortable, and all they get is an admin saying “Not my problem. You just need to have better classroom management skills!” Imagine how demoralizing it is. You bought up concerns and now you’re told it is a YOU problem because you don’t have classroom management skills. Did the superintendent force this AP to ignore the TA and make it sound like it was their fault the kids are acting like that? I doubt it. They acted on their own accord and decided they didn’t care about their employee’s concerns.

Is that why the other TA who went into the bathroom didn’t notify anyone? Because there is a culture of admins ignoring inappropriate behavior?

I think the case doesn’t just highlight issues around the rights of the accused, it also highlights how the people who are lowest on the totem pole like subs, TAs, and teachers are often forced to deal with the toughest situations on their own with no support. And then they get ignored when they voice concerns so they have to continue working in an uncomfortable environment. Meanwhile, where were the administrators?[/quote]

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