This July 19, 2010, memorandum from the Kemp Mill Elementary School principal to Ann Kamenstein, Coordinator of the MCPS Department of Performance Evaluation and Compliance, describes the procedure by which the Kemp Mill principal or other adult would restrain a student in a very small room by sitting in a chair with their back to the closed door. The Kemp Mill principal says that he learned this procedure while at Broad Acres Elementary School working under principal Jody Leleck and principal intern Catherine Jasperse.
Does this procedure comply with Maryland law?
Oh my God. This is the first time I have seen this letter. He was in there with the children. The parents were not informed. There were lasting, serious psychiatric effects on the children.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scribd.com/doc/161439809/2010-July-30-Memo
ReplyDelete^As damning as this documentation of Starnes' deviant behavior is, the notarized letter below sent to the asst state's attorney give more graphic details of the principal's molestation of young boys in closets at Kemp Mill ES in Silver Spring.
http://www.savekmes.org/civilsuit/OsburnLetter.pdf
The school system was able to prevent all the graphic details from airing in Judge Rubin's courtroom in May by settling with "The Kemp Mill Six"
How is Mr. Starnes still in MCPS? Why did Asst State's Attorney Chaikin fail to act? What is Mr. Starnes' classification with CPS?
Unfortunately Jody Leleck is dead. Died right around the time of that letter. I seriously doubt she would have violated MCPS policy in such a way. There is no such closet policy. Time-out rooms went out in the 1970s. Why would Starnes take young boys into the closet on weekends as was documented in the May discovery?
ReplyDeletehttp://savekmes.org/civilsuit/OsburnLetter.pdf
Starnes' administrative secretary was alarmed enough to write the letter above to the assistant state's attorney more than two years ago. It sounds like MCPS has a closet Sandusky on its hands and is protecting him.
Let's stick to facts. Ms. Leleck passed away December 11, 2012, two and a half years after this memo.
DeleteMr. Starnes was not only taking students into a phone closet alone with him. Mr. Starnes "tutored" a male student on the weekends according to custodial staff. In Starnes' deposition recently, he said it would be fine for any teacher on his staff to take students alone into a closet if they felt the need. He shared that he had no problem with taking students alone into a closet. Is this MCPS protocol? I would not want my child in a closet with any staff member at MCPS. What are the rules regarding students being taken into closets for time outs? MCPS has not addressed this issue and according to Mr. Starnes it is fine to take students into closets with him.
DeleteIt sounds like MCPS has a closet version of Jerry Sandusky on its hands. I am hoping Ms. Sartucci of the Coalition acquires the MCPS time-out policy Starnes tried to explain away to Kamenstein in the discovery documents slowly appearing on here. There isn't a policy. Why else would veteran admin secretary Osburn be concerned enough to contact the asst state's attorney?
DeleteAgain, how does Starnes keep his job? Why hasn't MCPD and the state's atty taken criminal action?
My child was in the closet with Starnes. My child has no memory of it. His pyschologist said is it common for children to block out severe trauma that they cannot handle. I was not informed by MCPS. I had only just learned of the severe child-on-child bullying and thought that was the cause of my son's mental breakdown. The children kicked him in the head every day, called him bitch, gay, stole his belongings, strangled him, etc. None of this was reported to me by the school. As I gradually found out and informed BOE and MCPS administration, I assumed they would improve the environment. It never occurred to me that they already KNEW. I learned of Starnes in the closet with my son through the kind folks at SAVE KMES website who shared with me the information they had acquired. My son's psychiatrist has clearly stated that his behaviors are indicative of sexual abuse, and let me be clear, this is gay sexual abuse. Due to his missing memory I cannot prove, but I can tell you I believe, that the school is run by a pedophile and all the children are at risk. Eventually, my son's memories will likely return, when his mind is strong enough to handle them. The other closet children - are they in similar situations? I don't know. I hope CPS did a better job of helping them than they did helping us, which was basically to agree with Tofig that everything is peachy keen in MCPS-land.
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