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

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I obviously have not read all 49 pages but I have read many including the most recent and it seems hard to understand how people would say that canceling football for a year punishes innocent kids.  School is at least in significant part about teaching kids about consequences for actions, right and wrong, and all that.  Kids also need to know that when they turn their back on obviously improper behavior they should pay a price too, that is what it means when you say there are consequences for your actions.  But the real issue here is not what those poor Freshman kids who were running sprints on the field  should suffer but that [b]MPCS seems  uninterested in what happened to the kids who were brutally assaulted  and is instead concerned about conducting a proper investigation that will drag on until people forget about the issue (probably after the Holiday break will work), the privacy rights of students  and employees and having to tussle with the union.  I am an employment attorney who also handles public employees and all of the coaches, top to bottom could be fired without legal liability, guaranteed.  And I think cleaning house would make good sense, and I would probably toss out the Principal too who is actually easier to fire than employees but the County still hesitates to take any actions.  How many more kids need to be harmed before  the County the acts?  If the County fired the employees would the County be sued, maybe, but would they lose, not a chance.  Given what has come out so far, it seems this was clearly a ritual, and I suspect a long-standing and well-known ritual, and that is all one would need.  But if the Coaches were at all decent, they would also resign to give the program a chance at a fresh start.  I think the worst aspect of the Coutny's response is it seems calculated to say that the success of the Varsity program should not be tainted.  Shameful, particularly from educators who are supposed to be setting an example.  Shameful. [/b] As it happens, I watched an episode of Friday Night Lights last night where Coach Taylor says to his wife something like, "I know what would be easiest but don't I have to do what is right?"  It would be nice if one person at MCPS asked themselves that issue because as his wife responded, yes you do, and the County should as well but that does not seem to be how it thinks at all.                 [/quote]

+1000 Damascus HS is not the only high school with a serious problem on an athletics team that MCPS has avoided dealing with.  The difference with Damascus is the level of the crime that was committed has caused what happened to make national news.

Stalling to make decisions so the issue is off everyone's radar is MCPS method of operation.  Leaving bad people in non-tenured, non-union coaching jobs is not a new practice.  Despite what the Superintendent says at a press conferences, MCPS actively interfered with a police investigation when the Principal interviewed the entire JV Football prior to calling the police.  That also is a common practice in MCPS.

The Superintendent was hoping the perpetrators would be tried as juveniles so all records are sealed.  Now, MCPS's dirty laundry will be aired on a national media stage.  The Superintendent is a puppet that swings in the direction those underneath him points him to.  The Board of Education could care less if children are being abused in their schools.  Damascus is not the only school children have been abused but the coaches keep their jobs.  Damascus is not the only school where abuse takes the form of a hazing ritual but as a parent, would you know how to report child abuse, hazing, or harassment to the school?  How long would that process take?  As far as an internal investigation, would you ever know the results?  The pre-determined outcome would be the same - everything is puppy dogs and unicorns, no evidence of misconduct so the coaches are cleared of any accusations (despite what parents and students know what happened).

For any Damascus parent who is considering filing suit against MCPS for what happened to your child, have your attorney give a public statement so I would know how to contact them.  I have evidence that what happened at Damascus is not unique.  MCPS should have strengthened it's protections for students years ago.  Ignoring problems and faults in their athletic programs has caused children to be injured due to abuse all across the county.  MCPS is indifferent to protecting children which is causing the numbers of victims to skyrocket in their schools.  MCPS is not publicly talking about what their plans are for the coaches and Princiapal because until they feel the heat, all MCPS employees will remain in place.[/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