Reply to Should MCPS loose funding for failure to protect children from sexual abuse?

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Reply to "Should MCPS loose funding for failure to protect children from sexual abuse?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] Are you forking kidding me?

All these reports of abuse has proved that we need to demand more funding for -
[b]1) Better screening of employees
2) More oversight
3) More cameras and CCTV
4) More training for employees, students and parents
5) More security personnel in the school
6) More police officers
7) Metal detectors in the school entrance.[/b]

MCPS is doing a great job of being more transparent about these abuses in recent years and I am grateful for that. I would rather hear the bad news and be vigilant than hide my head in the sand and pretend that everything is fine like it happened in the past.

I am very ardent critic of a lot of MCPS policies but on this issue I have actually seen some progress.  As parents we need to make sure that our schools are funded adequately so that they can be made safe for everybody. [/quote]

I agree with the bolded with the following additions:

1) A Maryland law that makes it a criminal offense with jail time for mandatory reporters who fail to report child abuse and neglect just like 48 other states have on their books.

2) More funding for Child Welfare Services so they hire more staff to have the ability to investigate every report of child abuse and neglect they receive on their call line.  How many predators slip through the cracks because there is not enough manpower at Child Welfare Services for them to investigate every report they receive about a MCPS employee.

3) Proactively protect children by enforcing the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct.  When you have an employee who is violating your rules even after being retrained, MCPS should treat that as a red flag and fire those employees.  The Code of Conduct was written an passed by the Board of Education to recognize dangerous employees who are demonstrating grooming behaviors of a child predator.

4) Prohibit staff from putting students in their cars without another adult being present.  This is not only a safety issue for a child but also a liability issue for the employee and school district.  Ex. One of the September 2018 arrests had a staff member give a 16 year old a ride in his car and he used the opportunity to rape her.

5) Child abuse (verbal and sexual), child neglect, sexual harassment, and bullying should all be under one umbrella for reporting and compliance.  These are all child safety issues which is impossible for parents to navigate right now.  There is a form for parents to report sexual harassment and bullying but none for child abuse and child neglect.  Sometimes a perpetrator may hit all of these offenses so why isn't there one form for parents to report violations of the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct and/or employee misconduct that hurts a child?

6) Fix the Compliance Unit.  Right now, they are better at vocalizing spin then actually doing their job to enforce compliance.  If you call them today to report something that happened to your child, would they be able to direct you to the process for an investigation and resolution?  Nope.

7) Improve safety practices in MCPS Athletics.  About 30% of the arrests have been employees who were coaches (and one Athletic Director).

As far as MCPS transparency, that is a load of crap.  MCPS knows of questionable staff members who are working with students today.  Just like predators of the past - Google John Vigna - MCPS keeps an employee in place even after that employee is reported multiple times.  Predators don't stop with retraining and warnings.

I would urge the State of Maryland and the US Department of Education to read the Employment Files for every convicted MCPS employee.  How many warnings did MCPS give to that employee?  How many times did MCPS fail to report child abuse?   
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