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Wednesday, February 23, 2022

One former Whitman High rower said coach Kirk Shipley dismissed her suicide attempt. Another says he was grooming her.

A high school coach is accused of abusing two teens. More feel victimized.


Maayan Harris was midway through her sophomore year when she injured her back rowing. But even then, she knew she couldn’t miss practice.

She’d joined Walt Whitman High’s crew team in 2017 as a freshman at the Bethesda, Md., school, and it had quickly become a huge part of her identity. She knew the sport was good for her mental health, too. After her parents’ divorce, the teenager struggled with depression, she said in an interview. Rowing helped clear her head.

What didn’t help — or rather, who — was the head coach, Kirk Shipley. A popular social studies teacher at Whitman, he had led the parent-funded club team for nearly two decades and was not a man who could be easily challenged. Despite Harris’s back injury, he pushed her to continue rowing.

“Finish the piece,” Harris recalls him saying, even as she sobbed with each stroke. She managed to get through practice, she said, aggravating her injury and ending her season early...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/02/11/whitman-rowers-kirk-shipley-abuse/

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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2022 at 9:57 AM

    Standard Bureaucratic Response:
    “We are incredibly sorry for the pain and anguish that all of our athletes and parents are experiencing,” the board told families of Whitman rowers in an email.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 8, 2022 at 12:48 PM

    Meanwhile legislative aloofness on the issue has pegged the meter:
    https://mcasa.org/law-public-policy/legislative-agenda Person in Position of Authority – HB223/SB49
    A bill to help close the remaining loophole in Maryland’s laws regarding persons in authority who sexually exploit children they have authority over. Statutory rape provisions protect younger children, child sexual abuse laws protect children during the time a child is actually in an adult’s care or supervision, certain school employees are always prohibited from having sex with their students, and new laws on sextortion provide the ability to prosecute those using threats of emotional distress to coerce sexual activity. However, the law still has gaps that fail to protect teenagers from sexual exploitation by extra-curricular activity instructors, scout masters, school volunteers, and other adults in authority. This bill closes these remaining gaps, so that all teens are protected. Lead sponsors: Delegate Sara Love and Senator Chris West.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 1, 2022 at 10:41 AM

    Question remains if Bethesda coach accused of sexual abuse will take a plea deal
    https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/04/question-remains-if-bethesda-coach-accused-of-sexual-abuse-will-take-a-plea-deal/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousMay 6, 2022 at 7:38 PM

      No! He hurt chilfren! No deals.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousMay 7, 2022 at 9:16 AM

      "According to charging documents, Shipley allegedly had a sexual relationship with the 17-year-old in the summer of 2013, just after she graduated. The other victim, who was 18 at the time of the alleged abuse, was also a student of Shipley’s," If this happened in MoCo, they would not even investigate.
      https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/courts/hearing-for-whitman-crew-coach-accused-of-sexually-abusing-two-teens-pushed-to-late-may/

      Delete

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