Reply to Reported hazing incident involving Damascus High School JV Football team

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Reply to "Reported hazing incident involving Damascus High School JV Football team"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Damascus lost in the state semi-finals last night and in the last two minutes had multiple personal fouls and players rushing the field to fight.  This just goes to show the problems are not just relegated to the JV team and the culture of the entire Damascus program is a disgrace.  The county really needs to step it up and do something about the coaching staff to fix this problem.   [/quote]

To fix a problem, MCPS would have to admit there's a problem to fix.  Right now, they are aiming all blame on the athletes arrested.  They are predisposed to only look at the criminal offenders, not the back story of why so many athletes participated in a gang rape.

Unless there is pressure from the Damascus community including a willingness to not let children play football till the coaching staff is changed, the JV and Varsity coaching staff will remain the same for next year.  The time is now for Damascus families to contact in writing the principal, the school athletic director, and the MCPS athletic director about your concerns.  Contact your school PTA and the MCCPTA as well so you can get help advocating for a change.  Unless you make noise and ask for the coaches to be removed, nothing will happen to them and you will have the same coaches next year.

Finally, and more important, if your child was a witnessed or has information about the culture on the JV team, even if it was years ago, contact the police if it was a criminal act and fill out the Bullying and Harassment form for your principal.  The more information that is collected, the stronger the case will be to get children the help that they need and to fix a broken athletic program.[/quote]

I would also encourage parents at other schools where Crouse was an administrator to provide information about the type of environment she fosters and her responses in terms of sexual assault and sexual harassment at other schools.  She was principal at Eastern Middle School when male students carried out "Slap Ass Week" (2011-2012 school year) which was so pervasive that girls walked form class to class with binders covering their butts.  Her initial response in 2011 was to treat it as a "joke" that some students didn't find "funny".  She seemed entirely unaware that touching the private parts of another person without consent fell somewhere in the range of sexual harassment to sexual assault and was a crime not a joke.  None of these incidents were reported on the "school safety and security at a glance" forms.

That is a reflection, not only on her, but also on the overall of the extremely poor training MCPS administrators and staff get regarding sexual assault and harassment issues and legal obligations in general. [/quote]

I had a child at Eastern a few years ago when Crouse was principal.  The PE classes at Eastern were often a hostile environment for girls.  If parents complained about the conduct of particular boys these boys would typically get transferred to another PE class where they would harass a  different group of girls.   The PE teachers (with one notable exception) were worse than useless.  
I think it is noteworthy that Eastern feeds into Blair high school but we have not heard of these kinds of problems in the PE classes there.  The tone and expectations at any school are set at the top by the Principal and Renay Johnson would not stand for this kind of behavior and her PE teachers and coaches know this.[/quote]

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