Today, the Montgomery County Board of Education will discuss proposed changes to some of its Child Abuse Policy.
The statement below is from Jennifer Alvaro, MCPS parent and vocal advocate for change in how the Board of Education handles the sexual abuse of students by MCPS staff. Ms. Alvaro has written to the Board of Education in response to the policy changes proposed by MCPS staff that will be presented to the Board of Education today.
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I won't be able to attend the meeting today, not that I
was invited, encouraged to attend or would have been asked for input,
but never the less, I would have like to be there.
I want to briefly share my thoughts on what is going on.
The school system now officially has blood on its hands. There is no easier way to say it than that.
- In 2012, the State Board of Education told MCPS some basic steps they should have been and should now (then) implement. MCPS chose to ignore them. Nothing happened. No steps were taken to protect our children.
- In October 2013, I sent a detailed letter requesting basic steps be taken and offering to help. Nothing happened.
- In April 2014, MCPS had it's first work group meeting (a meeting they refuse to acknowledge publicly took place, they would instead have you believe this group started in the fall of 2014). NOTHING HAPPENED. No steps were taken to protect our children.
- Now, despite dozens of arrests, horrific media attention, countless wasted hours of people shuffling paper around and reinventing a wheel THAT DID NOT NEED TO BE REINVENTED......nothing has actually happened. No steps were taken to protect our children.
- Last week, yet another MCPS staff member was arrested for sexually abusing a girl on and off campus. The media is reporting that when he was finally arrested, he confessed.
- THIS COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED. Had MCPS acted in 2012, they would have had an employee code of conduct (and perhaps this man would not have been alone with her, not have been off campus with her, not have been texting and calling a student - all of which now are perfectly fine with the school system). If MCPS had acted in 2012, students would have been taught to report boundary violations, would have been taught they don't have to wait in terror to report. If MCPS had acted in 2012, people would not have been trying to blame the victim. IF they had acted in 2012, the other MCPS programs he worked in would have been notified quickly and appropriately.
In my
professional and personal opinion, it is totally outrageous the
Montgomery County Council and the Montgomery County Board of Education are allowing the
same people who created
this mess, perpetuated this mess and have dragged their feet to be the
ones to fix it. And please, spare me the outside consultant rebuttal. Without
a clear understanding of who did what, who stood by, who broke the law
and who covered it up what real change can be expected or hoped for? The outside consultant is useless as they were not brought in to
investigate anything.
I
simply do not have the words to express my disgust.
The policy is a
farce as it is so lacking in details, so lacking in oversight, so
lacking in transparency, so lacking in accountability to be laughable.....except, except, except, we
cannot laugh because due to the negligence of the school system CHILDREN
ARE STILL BEING PREYED UPON.
MCPS would have the public believe they
have been working hard to correct things but really, I will be happy to
walk anyone who wants to listen through the reality which is, lots of
talk and no action.
All they can really show for anything is a
website with inaccurate and misleading information (which I have
documented proof they refuse to update) and 3 principal trainings which
they admit in 2 of them, they trained people to break the law. That's
it. In 3 years, that's it.
I hope in your meeting today you take real action, I hope one of you
stands up and shouts out that the emperor has no clothes on.
I hope that
enough is finally enough.
Jennifer Alvaro
Well said bJennifer. Sins of omission. Criminal acts.
ReplyDeleteSadly, all these acts fall on deaf ears.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jennifer for your continue advocacy on this issue!!!! You are not alone but it must feel that way
ReplyDeleteMCPS is not taking this seriously, obviously. So what needs to happen is parents need to educate their kids about what's acceptable and what's not. They have to be given the power to say no to a teacher, learn that being alone with a teacher is inappropriate no matter what the reason and that they have the right and ability to resist improper behavior. Once parents start teaching their kids that school teachers and staff are STRANGERS, I think a shift will occur. The myth that teachers and staff are friends, just because they are teachers and staff....is just that... a myth. No one knows what their private lives/issues are and we shouldn't leave it where it's our kids that are the test vehicles for finding out.
ReplyDelete911 should be used more often when anything causes a child to be fearful or have a sudden change of behavior in school or coming home upset for no apparent reason just after school... Fill out a police report. of your side of the story at the minimum.What kind of an administrator or teacher would put a child on their lap anyway?
ReplyDeleteMCPS administrators and teachers. That is perfectly acceptable behavior for MCPS staff.
DeleteCan the Chromebook and issue the students a Life Alert around their neck. This will make the "policy" a moot point.
DeleteThe "prevention" discussion today was really just theater. It's theater to try to convince the public that MCPS students are being protected. The only prevention policies that truly protect kids are ones with community buy-in, where there's transparency, where there's an attempt (an honest one) to learn from EVERY abuse case found within the MCPS system. This isn't a prevention policy, it's a show. When are MCPS leaders going to show leadership and bring this issue into the light? Adults SHOULD be protecting kids (NOT the other way around)!!!!
ReplyDelete