Reply to Whitman Teacher and Crew Coach Arrested

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Whitman Teacher and Crew Coach Arrested"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]^^one other point: the Whitman crew parent's defense of "we just couldn't imagine it" is like what Joe Paterno said in defending his continued support of Jerry Sandusky well after he knew about the allegations.  That is, he just couldn't conceive as possible.  And again: if you are a parent with oversight of children, *it is your job* to educate yourself and to force yourself to consider these kinds of scenarios.  Mandated reporters don't get to say they just couldn't believe something could happen, so they ignored the signs.  Ignorance is a poor defense.[/quote]

I am the Whitman crew parent, and I think you are over-spinning what I said.
But I take your point.

Know that one is trying to get off the hook here.

Meantime, the board has offered free counseling services to current and former rowers (and maybe their families--I'm not positive about that).
The counseling is being paid for with donations.
Maybe you have suggestions for what else the team could do.[/quote]

The board that provided protection for an abuser... do I have a suggestion? Yes! I have a suggestion, fire every.single.person.on.the.board.

Hire and investigator to find out what they knew and when.

Report the HR person who "cleared" the coach and find out what type of relationship they had with the board/coach.

I wouldn't waste the money to hire an investigator was lets be real, no one is going to hold anyone accountable but the board and everyone involved or who had knowledge should be fired.[/quote]

I think our team is being held held to account.

We have been largely closed since early summer.

The Post article certainly cast us in a stark, if skewed, light.

I only hope the publicity will make it harder for Shipley and his reportedly very skilled lawyer to beat the charges.

Anyone can see that we face a likely lawsuit(s) by the victims who reported Shipley to the police.

We've all been held to account by angry parents of a graduated rower in a post-arrest team meeting. Seventy-plus people, including kids on the line, listened to them at length.

But at some point, those who decry bullying risk crossing the line into self-aggrandizing rancor.

Some of the crew kids have experienced this online and in real life. (Fortunately, they have taken it in stride.)

At an all-Whitman zoom call on child sexual abuse prevention, a social worker--not on the panel-- chimed in only to castigate the Whitman crew team in front of the entire group.

Her demeanor and approach contrasted sharply with that of the professionals on the panel, and the moderators moved quickly to shut things down. 
[/quote]

Sorry to hear that. [b]I think most people are worried about how to prevent this type of stuff from happening again[/b]. It is easy to miss red flags. The crew board clearly messed up. Why did they repeatedly hire that crappy consultant and many of them were too cozy with the coach. Not sure there is blame towards anyone else really. Too bad Whitman HS never figured anything out given he was a long time teacher. There may have been a few complaints about him that were never followed up on.
[/quote]

I don't think you can really prevent it without fundamental changes that I don't see happening, maybe I am jaded.

1.  There is a certain contingent of people from Bethesda who seek out elite college admissions using any means possible.  You know, they would sell grandma or sabotage a rival if it meant they could get into a certain school.  In that vein they will overlook crappy behavior from a coach or teacher like him because well, that's someone else's kid and they are collateral damage.  It is sad but true and is the reason he kept getting coaching contracts.  I don't know for sure but I also think he brought home 4s and 5s on the AP test.
2.  He is a predator and he is smart.  Dumb predators don't get away with it for long, the man probably has been doing it for decades at this point.  He knew his limits and probably got away with it enough times that he kept on going.
3.  I am a member of a public sector union and know that it takes a lot to get in trouble, it requires proof.  The teachers union requires a lot of direct documentation in order to do anything--piggybacking on the point above, he is smart and knows not to rock the boat at work.  Or if he does, to cover his tracks, while I don't know the intricacies of the MCEA, I do know that he probably knew where the line was.

My hope is that something changes.  We have telling women to speak up and everything will be right.[/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