Reply to Thoughts on the new Churchill principal?

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Thoughts on the new Churchill principal?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I wonder if your clear message is getting through on phone messages (taken by the secretary?) and emails.  I say this because if you are conveying something along the lines of the following (below), then the principal would have a legal liability from ignoring the message.

The message I would leave and email is something like:
"I have information and evidence of sexual harassment (or plain harassment) by a coach toward students.  I've told the AD and he hasn't been responsive and I'd now like to speak with the principal."

If the principal ignores such a message for more than a week, then I would take it up with both her supervisor and the MCPS Title IX officer, forwarding the email as evidence of what you told the principal.  That is a serious allegation with legal consequences if they do not investigate.  I would be astonished if they didn't at least agree to discuss the issue with you to get more details.

FWIW, I had a similar concern about a teacher last year and emailed the Assistant Principal who was acting in Benz's place and received an email response almost immediately asking for details.  (My ds didn't want to pursue and it was really a borderline issue (based on DS's perceptions) so I didn't go forward with the process, so I don't know how seriously they would have treated it in the end.  But the Assistant Principal was very responsive to the initial email.)[/quote]

Before talking with anyone in MCPS, you should do the following:

* To make a report of child abuse and neglect or mental injury, call Child Welfare Services (240) 777-4417 (24 hours)

* To make a report of child sexual abuse, call Child Welfare Services (240) 777-4417 [u]and[/u] the Special Victims Investigation Division, Montgomery County Police Department (240) 773-5400 (24 hours)

* [u]Keep calling[/u] till you talk with an investigator.  Calls sometimes fall through the cracks in the system.

If you don't want to disclose your identity or the identity of your child, you can call 833-MD-B-SAFE.  This is a new anonymous tip line.

The MCPS online training course will help you recognize the signs of child abuse and neglect.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/childabuseandneglect/reportingchildabuse/story_html5.html

If you haven't taken the 30 minutes course yet, I would highly recommend you do.  Follow up with a discussion with your child so they will know the boundaries other adults including teachers and coaches shouldn't cross so your child stays safe and that you are there to help.  Predators often does something to blackmail a child into silence so let your child know that nothing could ever make you stop loving him/her.

Read the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct and review it with your child.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/childabuseandneglect/1236%2018_EmployeeCodeofConduct_BOOKLET_ENG_8%205x11.pdf

Employees have been retrained to follow the guidelines set forth in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct.  You should be concerned if any employee (including teachers and coaches) are violating these expectations.  You should let your child know to come to you to let you know if a MCPS employee does not follow the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct.

There are community resources available to support your family on the MCPS Child Abuse and Neglect webpage.  A child that has been abused needs psychological counseling to recover from the experience.  Tree House is a great resource in Rockville, MD.  https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/childabuseandneglect/

When you get to the point to report to MCPS, do it in writing and keep copies of all correspondence.  You can followup with a meeting but the letter will provide proof of what you reported and when you reported it.  You can also use the Bullying and Harassment form (https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/230-36.pdf) or a Complaint From the Public Form (https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/270-8.pdf) depending on what you are reporting.  Thus far, there is no MCPS form for parents to report child abuse by an MCPS employee.

Finally, realize the Compliance Unit is designed to work with MCPS schools and employees.  They are not a resource for parents.  Thus far, MCPS does not have a parent liaison or victim's advocate to help you through the process.  MCPS works to cover up their problems to minimize their liability vs. getting rid of the employees who are causing the liability.  It's the corporate culture of the organization.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics