BOE to Leave Children in Danger of Being Sexually Abused, BOE to Accept Illegal Policy

Open Letter from Jennifer Alvaro to Montgomery County Board of Education in advance of their Monday, June 29, 2015, vote on Policy JHC Child Abuse and Neglect.

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June 21, 2015 

To:  Montgomery County Board of Education

In 2012, you were instructed by the state board of education to correct errors and flaws committed by MCPS which allowed and enabled a member of your staff to continue sexually abusing students for years. You chose to do nothing. Since 2012, the public has been made aware of well over a dozen cases where MCPS staff have been arrested & convicted (for sexual abuse) or publicly identified as being as inappropriate sexually to our children.

Please share your rational for ignoring the state board of education and their recommendations.

Please tell me other situations where constituents are ignored and dismissed without being spoken to directly after 3 years of outreach.

Please tell the public what other workgroup(s) MCPS has convened (which have been downgraded to advisory group) whose own group members have to file freedom of information requests to get public documents that relate to the issue they are working on. Information I am still waiting for, I might add.

Please share with the public what other policies & regulations MCPS are currently implementing or planning to implement with full knowledge they violate / conflict with current laws, statutes and AG opinions.

Please share with the public how it is possible to pass a policy based upon other critical documents that have not yet been written much less approved.

Please explain how the schools are going to train 23,000 employees and countless volunteers about sexual abuse without being able to show them (via the code of conduct) what grooming behaviors are.

Please share with us, why county leadership is willing to pass a policy when MCPS staff who are the lead members of the advisory group have stated in meetings, “it’s not perfect” and “we’ve done a lot but still need to do more”.

Please share with us how we as parents are to find it reassuring or acceptable you as a board are going to leave our children in danger of being sexually abused by your staff by you passing a flawed policy because, “we are going to review it every year”. Please show us hard data where this has worked for you in the past.

Please explain how it is acceptable to attempt to publicly blame & shame parents by making public comments saying they have demanded action but now are demanding you slow down. These parents (myself included) are simply asking you to postpone one vote and demand accountability and excellence from your staff so our children are safe. We are not asking you to slow down anything, had you demanded excellence from your staff, we would now be supporting approval of the policy.

Please explain how it is acceptable for the leaders of a world class school system to have abdicated their most basic duty to ensure safety and demand excellence.

Please explain how it is acceptable to knowingly do the wrong thing because you have delayed doing the right thing for so long.

Please reflect upon the following:

“To study psychological trauma is to come face to face both with human vulnerability in the natural world and with the capacity for evil in human nature. . . Those who bear witness are caught in the conflict between victim and perpetrator. It is morally impossible to remain neutral in this conflict. The bystander is forced to take sides. It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering”. Judith Herman

Jennifer Alvaro
MCPS Child Abuse Advisory Group Member 
Parent of 2 MCPS Students 
Alumni of MCPS Schools 
Licensed Clinical Social worker (MD &VA) 
Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider