MCPS strikes me as a very shoddy organization. The teachers in our school have been great, so don't look at this as an indictment on teachers. The central office seems either incompetent or just self-absorbed. In the past few months, we have heard about a lawsuit around a principal who locked kids in a closet and performed other abuses and intimidation against teachers. The suit was settled out of court, but the stench is still in the air. The principal still has his job. We also know of a case where a principal stole money from kids accounts in a work program. MCPS is now hiding behind lawyers on this one and has no comment. One nice comment might be "Here is your money folks, we are sorry". This sex abuse case is the latest. I am sure it will only get heard in public because the police and legal system control it now. You can bet if this was handled internally, MCPS would just let the guy go and tell everyone that they can't comment on employee matters. The fact that some teachers raised concerns and nothing was done is appalling. What is going on with this expensive school system?

I personally think we should not have teachers in a room alone with kids unless there is more than say 10 kids in the room. If there is < 10 for a lunch bunch or something, then two teachers need to be in the room. If you want a different number then 10, then that is fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That MCPS had numerous warnings and complaints is awful. Plus seems like they are bracing for more victims to come forward. A tragedy-if MCPS could have prevented some of these poor girls from being victimized, they are soooo in the wrong here. Lots to learn and at the expense of young girls. Praying for these girls and their loved ones.

MCPS could have easily prevented most of the incidents had they had the brains to create an investigative branch of their security department. MCPS is all about visible security but there is no professional people to investigate complaints against employees. They rely on administrators who have zero experience in conducting investigations.

Just watch. This fact will become huge later on in this case.

Just turn it over to police.

Anonymous wrote:That MCPS had numerous warnings and complaints is awful. Plus seems like they are bracing for more victims to come forward. A tragedy-if MCPS could have prevented some of these poor girls from being victimized, they are soooo in the wrong here. Lots to learn and at the expense of young girls. Praying for these girls and their loved ones.

MCPS could have easily prevented most of the incidents had they had the brains to create an investigative branch of their security department. MCPS is all about visible security but there is no professional people to investigate complaints against employees. They rely on administrators who have zero experience in conducting investigations.

Just watch. This fact will become huge later on in this case.

That MCPS had numerous warnings and complaints is awful. Plus seems like they are bracing for more victims to come forward. A tragedy-if MCPS could have prevented some of these poor girls from being victimized, they are soooo in the wrong here. Lots to learn and at the expense of young girls. Praying for these girls and their loved ones.

^^That is WHAT is dangerous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am have a toddler that I am planning on sending to MCPS when she is of age. Is it possible to request all female teachers? This happens way too frequently. Of course, crazy things could happen with female teachers as well but chances are 1 million times less.

Well for one thing, don't visit the White House as a tourist. The president is male, you know. Just looking out for you!

This has nothing to do with the President and I am not "fucking nuts", thanks though! It is a known fact that child molesters often go into professions where they work closely and can prey on young children (teachers, doctors, priests, Jerry Sandusky, etc). Growing up, there was a pediatrician in my town who was preying on young girls, and various inappropriate male teachers. Maybe it is something in my town, but other people I know seem to have had some questionable experiences at some point in their life to. 9/10 men in these fields are probably 100% innocent and well intentioned, it is the 1/10 that I would rather avoid working closely with my child. You cannot deny the facts that this kind of stuff is in the news all of time, and most often, we never know these things happen. This guy was doing this for 13 years without anyone having an inkling of what he was doing.

I really don't care if any of you think I'm crazy. I wanted to see if anyone agreed with me and I guess not- that is totally fine. Good to know.

Lady calm down.
I am not the pp you are responding to, but I have some serious, helpful advice.
You need to stop looking at statistics and start teaching your child about privacy, how her body is her own, she has a right to say no to physical affection(from parents, friends, uncles, aunts,whomever).
Then you need her to trust her instincts about people (friends, teachers, etc.), she needs to know to know how to discern creepy and dangerous situations and people.
This is a skill that will be honed OVER A LIFETIME.
I am still doing it, so you need to start now.
You want to know how to do all of this, get the books "The Gift of Fear" and "Protecting the Gift"
Your random hysterical fear aimed at ALL men is not a gift to your child.
It is the very thing that will not enable her to recognize REAL danger when it comes for her, because it will not look like what she is expecting.
THAT IS WHY IT IS DANGEROUS.
Just a few thought from another mom of a daughter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's forget about the "would you want a male teacher for your child" issue.

I think an earlier (or even the original) poster commented on MCPS hiding things. While MCPS may not be covering things up, the story line here is that they had numerous opportunities to intervene and many red flags were raised, yet they continued to give this guy access to the children. So while they may not be covering things up, this is also not a story about a predator who was slick and did a good job of hiding things. He took advantage of an opportunity to abuse children that was handed to him by MCPS. I imagine they're not saying very much right now because their lawyers are bracing for the fallout.

I missed that part of the story. Where did you get that?

Not the PP, but I read the same thing. Multiple teachers complained about the music teacher locking his door with girls in the room, etc. why was that never followed up on??

I find that the most troubling part of this story. That I really can't trust MCPS to take action until something bad actually happens.

Anonymous wrote:Let's forget about the "would you want a male teacher for your child" issue.

I think an earlier (or even the original) poster commented on MCPS hiding things. While MCPS may not be covering things up, the story line here is that they had numerous opportunities to intervene and many red flags were raised, yet they continued to give this guy access to the children. So while they may not be covering things up, this is also not a story about a predator who was slick and did a good job of hiding things. He took advantage of an opportunity to abuse children that was handed to him by MCPS. I imagine they're not saying very much right now because their lawyers are bracing for the fallout.

Exactly!

It let's me know that I can't trust MCPS in regards to addressing issues. It seems like they protect their own. This monster taught for years and there is no way that no one didn't notice anything strange about him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/montgomery-county-teacher-charged-with-14-counts-of-sex-abuse-of-students/2013/08/13/547cc04c-041b-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html

And today's story in the washington post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/parents-worry-after-teachers-arrest-on-child-pornography-charge/2013/04/21/1c0b82a6-91bc-11e2-9cfd-36d6c9b5d7ad_story.html

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2013/08/administrators-didnt-take-it-seriously.html

Anonymous wrote:Let's forget about the "would you want a male teacher for your child" issue.

I think an earlier (or even the original) poster commented on MCPS hiding things. While MCPS may not be covering things up, the story line here is that they had numerous opportunities to intervene and many red flags were raised, yet they continued to give this guy access to the children. So while they may not be covering things up, this is also not a story about a predator who was slick and did a good job of hiding things. He took advantage of an opportunity to abuse children that was handed to him by MCPS. I imagine they're not saying very much right now because their lawyers are bracing for the fallout.

I missed that part of the story. Where did you get that?

Let's forget about the "would you want a male teacher for your child" issue.

I think an earlier (or even the original) poster commented on MCPS hiding things. While MCPS may not be covering things up, the story line here is that they had numerous opportunities to intervene and many red flags were raised, yet they continued to give this guy access to the children. So while they may not be covering things up, this is also not a story about a predator who was slick and did a good job of hiding things. He took advantage of an opportunity to abuse children that was handed to him by MCPS. I imagine they're not saying very much right now because their lawyers are bracing for the fallout.

Anonymous wrote:I am have a toddler that I am planning on sending to MCPS when she is of age. Is it possible to request all female teachers? This happens way too frequently. Of course, crazy things could happen with female teachers as well but chances are 1 million times less.

Here's a different question for you. Do you want your daughter to grow up thinking that interacting with children (taking care of children, teaching children, being interested in children as fellow human beings) is something only women should do?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am have a toddler that I am planning on sending to MCPS when she is of age. Is it possible to request all female teachers? This happens way too frequently. Of course, crazy things could happen with female teachers as well but chances are 1 million times less.

Well for one thing, don't visit the White House as a tourist. The president is male, you know. Just looking out for you!

This has nothing to do with the President and I am not "fucking nuts", thanks though! It is a known fact that child molesters often go into professions where they work closely and can prey on young children (teachers, doctors, priests, Jerry Sandusky, etc). Growing up, there was a pediatrician in my town who was preying on young girls, and various inappropriate male teachers. Maybe it is something in my town, but other people I know seem to have had some questionable experiences at some point in their life to. 9/10 men in these fields are probably 100% innocent and well intentioned, it is the 1/10 that I would rather avoid working closely with my child. You cannot deny the facts that this kind of stuff is in the news all of time, and most often, we never know these things happen. This guy was doing this for 13 years without anyone having an inkling of what he was doing.

I really don't care if any of you think I'm crazy. I wanted to see if anyone agreed with me and I guess not- that is totally fine. Good to know.

I agree with you! However, I watch all people like a hawk. You can't ever let your guard down these days because there are lots of evil people in our society.

*none, not nine.