...The practice is called “passing the trash.”
It happened at Stamford High three years ago. The behavior of a male teacher was called into question after one student reported that he’d touched her breast, another reported that he’d sent her inappropriate texts, and after he was found locked in his darkened classroom with a third student.
School officials paid the teacher his $80,000 annual salary even though he’d worked only two months, let him resign in good standing, wrote him a recommendation letter, agreed to not speak badly of him, and agreed that he had not engaged in improper conduct.
“I can’t wrap my head around how this is even a conversation,” said Dayna Patashnik, a mother of two Stamford public school students, who spoke at the board meeting. “As a parent, my No. 1 job is to keep my children safe. I thought it was the same for the school system - their first job is to make children safe, and then they can learn. It would never occur to me that something like a separation agreement would be allowed.”
Nancy Nish, who has one child in the school district and one who graduated, said the practice is disturbing.
“These are high-level school officials, the ones you trust your children to, and they are trying to hide what’s going on and push these people into other school systems. How can you send on a potential predator?” Nish said. “It’s like they don’t care about children, only about getting the person out of their district and letting someone else deal with it. There is no telling how often it happens.”
National studies show that nearly one in 10 American students in kindergarten through 12th grade is the victim of sexual misconduct at school. To date, “Don’t pass the trash” laws exist in Oregon, Missouri and Pennsylvania.
At Stamford High in 2011, four assistant principals tried to get then-Principal Donna Valentine to report the touching incident. Valentine refused, investigated on her own, and concluded it was an accident. The four assistants took their concerns to then-Superintendent Joshua Starr, who transferred three of them...
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/The-Stamford-agreement-that-just-wouldn-t-6425016.php#page-1
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"passing the trash" it sounds like an ingrained systemic problem.
ReplyDeleteIt's one that Joshua Starr continued when he came to MCPS. He left Lawrence Joynes in the classroom. It took Homeland Security to do what Joshua Starr would not do.
DeleteThat's one good thing Homeland Security has accomplished.
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