MCPS Gets an 'A' in Protecting Predators

From a parent:

Women all over the country watched as multiple victims came out against accused sexual predators with a long history of harm and wondered where it started and why the first victim was not believed?  

Even when victims did report their complaints, the predators were free to continue. It was only when multiple victims came forward that the cases became too hard to visible anymore.  

Montgomery County Public Schools never got the #MeToo message. How many students have to report sexual harassment and assault to MCPS before they take action to expel the perpetrator? 

 It is a philosophical question to be sure but not a theoretical one. I have recently seen the sexual harassment reporting process at MCPS and its massive failures up close. What I learned explains the chronic problem MCPS has with students who report predators on campus.

In this particular case, I need to obscure some details to protect the reporting students and sadly the identity of the alleged student perpetrator. To be clear, I have shared all of the details, text messages, images, and stories of this account with the school principal, the title nine coordinators in the office of the chief of staff at MCPS HQ, the head of the school board, and the Superintendent of MCPS.   

The principal at the high school called me a liar and mean spirited for making what she called baseless allegations. MCPS said they followed every protocol and that there was no problem. 

MCPS, we have a problem.

Three students reported another student for pervasive and repeated harassment and assault. Following MCPS procedures established at their high school, the school security guards took their statements. The students were humiliated by the process. They felt the guard doubted and downplayed their accounts. The security guards joked about their lunch plans in between taking their statements. The School Resource Officer, who should be an advocate for students, stood in the corner on her phone completely disengaged from the process. These staff members were not a caring and empathetic team of professionals who did their best to make the reporting students feel supported/

The principal of any MCPS high school can set the procedure by which students report harassment by faculty or other students. In this case, Renay Johnson, principal at Montgomery Blair High School, assigned this most sensitive task, not to a trained school counselor or high-level administrator, but one of the least qualified members of the team. 

When the accused student started posting on social media about the accusers and sending text messages, I sent the messages to MCPS HQ. I spoke directly to the Title 9 coordinator, who listened to my issues, received copies of the communications then told me to stop contacting her.   

The dismissive contempt that the students encountered should be horrifying to MCPS, but when I contacted the school board and the superintendent, there was no objection to the treatment. I have long email chains that verify that MCPS asserts they did nothing wrong, and they will do nothing wrong again. I am sure that is cold comfort to the next victim.

The accused student spent all of a week on suspension before being allowed back to school. I do not doubt that without substantial assistance, the student will offend again.  

We have seen in the case of the sexually harassing Montgomery Blair Math Teacher, Damascus High Student Sex Assault in the locker rooms, And now the lacrosse Coach at Walter Johnson High school, predators tend to repeat and MCPS seems to be unable to stop it.

I read with dismay yet another story of MCPS employing teachers who were harassing students, this time at Walter Johnson High School. The students did not report the shoulder rubs and the wrestling with him and other students. (https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/bethesda/lacrosse-player-says-former-walter-johnson-girls-coach-made-her-and-teammates-uncomfortable/)

The coach would later be arrested in a kidnap scheme by police long after he left MCPS. When the story came out, one brave student wrote a piece describing the behavior in the school newspaper, how they felt it was uncomfortable.

It is clear from the student article that everyone knew. Students were warned about getting in the car with the coach.  https://www.wjpitch.com/top-stories/2020/01/22/wj-lacrosse-coach-gary-reburn-what-the-team-didnt-get-to-say/

"Every girl on the lacrosse team who had interacted with Reburn, regardless of age, knew there was something off with our varsity coach," says Lily Salvatore in  The Pitch, a student publication.

What if they had reported to MCPS? Would MCPS then take swift and decisive action against the perpetrator?   

Let's look at the case of Eric Walstein at Montgomery Blair High School, who retired from teaching after years of alleged harassment of female students. His last three years under Renay Johnson, the then and current principal at Blair. Mr. Wailestin's former students wrote a letter to outline his behavior in 2018, but MCPS already knew all about it from a report by a parent in 2011. Walstein claimed to be unaware of any concerns the school had about him. (https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/blair-alumni-accuse-renowned-math-teacher-of-years-of-harassingbehavior/) 

After some time has passed, we will likely find out that the creepy lacrosse coach at Walter Johnson was reported like the Blair Math teacher but that he was allowed to keep teaching.   

The lawyers for the Damascus High students said that MCPS had reported the assaults and that everyone knew. MCPS countered by calling the lawyers for the student's liars. Although the lawsuit was in the early stage, it seems unlikely for a lawyer to make that assertion without some proof.   

Would it have mattered if the students at Damascus, Blair, or Walter Johnson did report? I am not sure it would have. It certainly did not matter in the case of the three students who reported this month.

MCPS needs to make a wholesale change in its reporting procedures. We need to get security guards out of the reporting process entirely. There is no place for sensitive matters like sexual harassment and assault, except in the hands of highly trained professionals like school counselors and psychologists.

No policy changes are needed. Each principal can make the change today. Principals are in charge of how reporting is handled at MCPS within their schools. You can pressure your principal to make the change today to:

1. Reporting should happen only to a high-level school administrator who is a direct report to the principal.  
2. Students should be offered counseling sessions with the school psychologist for three months following each incident.
3. Students should be given privacy in reporting, and be prompted to call their parents. MCPS rules require informing parents within 24 hours, but parents don't have to notify at the time of reporting. Students could be offered a chance to call their parents or a trusted adult. Students don't have to make the call, but knowing that they can reach out to their parents and have them present when reporting, for some students, would be comforting. 

While I feel there is no perfect response to the issues at MCPS, we need to realize that the process matters. All reporting students need to be treated with respect and dignity.  

If MCPS can manage to change their process and take claims seriously with real consequences for predators, then they can claim to protect students.