Reply to Whitman Teacher and Crew Coach Arrested

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Reply to "Whitman Teacher and Crew Coach Arrested"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I also would copy multiple people who supervise both the teacher and the principal and the compliance unit so that people know you're holding everyone accountable. Maybe members of the school board too.[/quote]

Good luck with that.  The WHOLE system is designed to protect itself, not the student. You can cc everyone in MCPS and nothing will be done unless the coach is arrested by the police.  The Board rubber stamps everything that MCPS decides. They have the same legal council as MCPS so their decisions are not an unbiased review of a complaint. I will bet most of them have not taken the MCPS Child and Abuse training and would not know what grooming behaviors are.

The truth are in the MCPS records of past MCPS investigations before arrests were made. It’s going to take an independent third party to fix a system that keeps predators in their school system even when the employee is caught breaking the Employee Code of Conduct.[/quote]

Does anyone know what MCPS knew and when?  If they were given everything in the charging documents, the 75-90 lewd videos, the text message chains, and still did nothing then they have mud on their faces, but I can't say I am surprised.

My other question is the role of the union?  I am a (proud) dues payer in a public sector union and know the union will go to great lengths to protect bad employees who do objectively wrong things (which is BS).  Are these boards neutered by the union fearful of a third party determining a teacher's employment status?  [/quote]

I would say that someone in MCPS should be asking in the 20 years the crew coach was a teacher at Walt Whitman, how many complaints were received?  To only ask about these two victims is to ignore the history of complaints that preceded them.

What MCPS knew and when is something a journalist should be asking.[/quote]

I think everyone agrees the system is pretty munted here, the status quo is unacceptable.  In an ideal world we would have a system where credible and objective allegations are dealt with swiftly but we dont.  That said, what should the system be then recognizing that:

a) it needs to hear out the victim and take their accusations seriously while;
b) giving the accused due process by allowing them to defend themselves.  What is to stop a disgruntled student from filing fake claims;
c) working within the parameters of the teachers union, does a credible accusation lead to termination or is it up to a principal?  In some cases it may be cut and dry, in others not so much, discretion is needed.  
d) understanding that MCPS has its own interests to protect, a seven figure lawsuit (and defense of) is borne on the taxpayer.
e) investigations done by MCPS have no teeth, there is no power to subpoena, no ability to compel testimony, if the accused stonewalls then there is nothing that can be done.

It is easy to sit here and get angry at what wasn't done and there is a lot to be angry about--I sense a coverup and that is shameful.  With these competing interests at hand, does anyone think it is possible to create a workable system?  Maybe I am jaded but I sure hope so.[/quote]

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