Report flags risks in Montgomery County schools' background check system

...Thousands of Montgomery County Public Schools workers have fallen through cracks in background check systems, according to a new report, potentially meaning people with criminal histories could be working closely with children.

Maryland’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report Monday detailing “deficiencies” with background checks in MCPS, which serves more than 160,000 students.

The report found what it calls serious lapses in important personnel security measures required by state law and county policy within Maryland’s largest school district...

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/report-flags-risks-in-montgomery-county-schools-background-check-system/3970639/

Montgomery watchdog says school system is behind on criminal history checks

About 12,000 employees have outdated criminal history checks, and 4,900 employees haven’t been screened for cases involving child abuse and neglect.

...Inspector General Megan Davey Limarzi said in an interview the tone of the superintendent’s response letter was unusual, but she maintained that her office’s work was factually accurate. She noted that the school system agreed to most of the report’s recommendations.

“I think a lot of this back-and-forth really is a distraction, and it’s to get people to talk about something other than the deficiencies that we identified and that are contained in the report,” Limarzi said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/08/05/montgomery-schools-background-checks/

4,900 MCPS hires have not been submitted for CPS background checks. "100% Your Children are Not Safe"

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — A new report from the Montgomery County Inspector General just revealed that almost 5,000 of the district's hires have not been checked out for past violations with the state's Child Protective Services (CPS) division.

So, who's spending time with your kids in schools?..

..."100%. Your children are not safe in MCPS from people who may choose to harm them sexually," said Jennifer Gross, a licensed clinical social worker...

https://wjla.com/features/i-team/montgomery-county-public-schools-background-checks-sex-offender-mcps-education-marc-elrich-child-protective-services-safety-education-classroom-maryland-oig#

A spokeswoman for Montgomery County Public Schools declined to answer questions... ...The case took a year to put together...

 

Prosecutor alleges Md. parents watched teen daughter ‘slowly die’

The 911 call was bad enough: an unresponsive teenager inside a Maryland townhouse. It was only when police arrived that they understood the full horror of what was happening.

A 17-year-old victim, who weighed 79 pounds and for months couldn’t move on her own, had been living on a makeshift bed in the living room, the windows of the home covered in blankets, officials said Thursday. Inside were the girl’s parents and six other minor children as young as four years old, according to court records...

...Maryland law stipulates that parents or guardians who opt to home-school their kids have to annually verify their home-school program with the local school system or another institution that provides oversight.

The parents are required to submit reviews to the local school system. and school officials can ask for material that proves the student is receiving regular instruction. But the reviews can only be conducted at a time and place mutually agreed on by both the parents and the school system.

Montgomery County Public Schools requires reviews in December or January and May or June of each year, said schools spokeswoman Jessica Baxter, but there is no state requirement that students have to be present for their reviews — only their academic work does. Baxter declined to provide information about whether annual reviews were conducted for the Moore family in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, again citing privacy laws...

Prosecutor alleges Md. parents watched teen daughter ‘slowly die’ - The Washington Post

Breaking: Whitman Crew Letter: July 2018 - "parent informed the Board of a rumor of a sexual relationship between Shipley and a former crew member that began following her graduation" "MCPS was aware of the allegation"

To the Whitman Crew Community: 

We are heartbroken and disgusted by the information which came to light last week regarding Kirk Shipley’s alleged sexual abuse and sexual misconduct. When we were informed, we immediately severed all ties with him and instructed him not to have any contact with current or former athletes, parents, or other members of our community. We are incredibly sorry for the pain and anguish that all of our athletes and parents are experiencing. We regret offering Shipley a position for this fall season and, in retrospect with what we now know, that was clearly the wrong decision. We, as Board members, are also parents of athletes and we would never knowingly put our children at risk. We know many parents, current athletes, and former athletes are disturbed and angry. You have every right to be. We are as well.
 
We want to be transparent with you regarding what the Board knew, when the Board knew it, and why the Board took the actions that it did.
 
In July 2018, a parent informed the Board of a rumor of a sexual relationship between Shipley and a former crew member that began following her graduation. This rumor came to light one month after the Board had initiated an investigation in response to an unrelated individual boating complaint regarding Coach Shipley. When the Board learned of the rumor, it was told the parent had already reported it to Montgomery County Public Schools and child protective services. The Board confirmed that MCPS was aware of the allegation and the Board immediately reported the allegation to SafeSport. As a member of U.S. Rowing, Walt Whitman Crew must follow the policies of SafeSport, which gives SafeSport exclusive jurisdiction over allegations of sexual abuse and the process by which those allegations are investigated. To be clear, SafeSport policy does not allow an organization to investigate such matters itself. The Board relied on the respective expertise and experience of MCPS, SafeSport, and Montgomery County child protective services to investigate and report any findings of sexual abuse or misconduct by Shipley. Neither MCPS, SafeSport, nor Montgomery County child protective services reported any findings of sexual or physical misconduct to us..

In June 2021, the Board received disconcerting feedback regarding Shipley during our annual survey. None of the issues raised allegations of sexual or physical misconduct. However, given the nature of the concerns, we immediately suspended Shipley, and we hired an independent investigator to perform a review of the program. Our decision to hire an independent investigator was based on several factors. We wanted to:

• have a neutral third party lead the process;
• engage someone with expertise in conducting investigations; 
• encourage community members to come forward; and 
• protect the privacy of the athletes and parents who were willing to share information confidentially.

We relied on the investigator’s findings, including the categorical statement, "There have been no allegations (or findings) of any physical or sexual misconduct on the part of Coach Shipley or anyone else involved with the program." Had this fact not been reported to us, our decision for the fall would have been different. For the concerns about Shipley that were noted in the report, we believed that we could establish protocols to address them effectively. Again, it was made clear that there were no allegations or findings of sexual misconduct contained in the report that was provided to us. We want you to know that we made what we believed to be the best decision for our children and our club, based on the information we had at the time.

On August 18, 2021, we were notified by US Rowing that SafeSport had an open investigation of Kirk Shipley that we did not know about when we made the decision to continue his employment. We immediately contacted SafeSport and they told us the following: 

1. They received a complaint in October 2020, which they closed in early July 2021 because there was "not enough to report"; 
2. On July 19, 2021, they received new information, which they did not disclose to us, so they reopened the investigation and they assigned an investigator at the end of July; 
3. Kirk Shipley was still eligible to coach; and 
4. We were prohibited from taking action as a result of learning about their investigation.

We had no knowledge of the SafeSport investigations when we made the decision to employ Shipley this fall.

When, on August 24, 2021, we learned that a criminal complaint had been filed against Shipley, we immediately severed all ties with him.

We want to apologize to those who bravely came forward to raise concerns and who feel like those concerns were not heard. The health and safety of our kids is and always has been our primary concern. As fellow parents, we acknowledge the anguish, turmoil, and pain that this brings to our student athletes.

Our focus now is on providing resources to our athletes, healing our community, and cooperating with the investigation. With that in mind, we have made the difficult decision to suspend the fall program, including Learn-to-Row. We are working on identifying alternative fall rowing programs and will have more information to share in the coming days. 

To assist with the healing, we have also lined up several therapists who deal specifically with trauma to work with any parent and/or athlete who wants counseling. They are: 

Gavin W. Behrens & Associates - Bethesda
https://www.gbehrensandassociates.com/

Rathbone & Associates - Bethesda/Rockville 
https://rathboneandassociates.com/
Britt Rathbone or John Dunn, specifically

Julie Baron & Associates - Rockville
https://www.juliebaronandassociates.com/

Also, Georgette Saad from the Sibley Group in DC (https://thesibleygroupdc.com/) is available for psychoeducational group sessions for parents, followed by separate group sessions for female and male rowers. Tentative days/times are Friday, September 3 at 7pm, Saturday, September 4 at 1pm, and Wednesday, September 8 at 5:30, 6, or 7. If you or your child is interested in attending a group session, either in person or virtually, please contact Marianne Sullivan, mariannesullivanmd@icloud.com, who is coordinating the schedule. We are paying for these group sessions out of dedicated funds – and welcome anyone who wants to contribute to this fund to support the athletes.

 Please let us know if you have questions. You can email Dave Charlton (crewdad@davecharlton.net).


Sincerely, 
Whitman Crew Boosters Board of Directors 

#BREAKING: Lawyer for accused Damascus High School rapist says school itself failed. “Why was the locker room left unattended day after day after day?” Alleges school knew history of “brooming.” @wusa9

#BREAKING: Lawyer for accused Damascus High School rapist says school itself failed. “Why was the locker room left unattended day after day after day?” Alleges school knew history of “brooming.” @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/PSoN2f1XeE

— Bruce Leshan (@BruceLeshan) March 21, 2019

ABC7: BREAKING: J.C. Abedi, the so-called "ringleader" in the Damascus High School sex assaults, is headed back to juvenile court. MoCo Judge Steven Salant said Abedi's "extreme ADHD" led him to sodomize his teammates. "He can't control himself." The victims' families are outraged.

BREAKING: J.C. Abedi, the so-called "ringleader" in the Damascus High School sex assaults, is headed back to juvenile court.

MoCo Judge Steven Salant said Abedi's "extreme ADHD" led him to sodomize his teammates.

"He can't control himself."

The victims' families are outraged. pic.twitter.com/poLPfL9NGS

— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) March 21, 2019

Dear Concerned Parent from Barnsley and other MCPS Schools:

Dear anonymous parent from Barnsley and other similarly situated parents:

Thank you for your letter concerning the situation you have encountered at Barnsley ES concerning the conduct of an MCPS employee.

Unfortunately, I am unable to do anything with the information.  Even if I were to share this information, in my hands this is just unsubstantiated hearsay - the legal definition of hearsay is a statement other than one made by the person making the statement offered to prove the truth of the matter.  I can't vouch for you or for the facts underlying your issue.

What I can do is offer you the following advice from an expert in child abuse.  This person suggests the following, not in any particular order:

• each and every person who has ever witnessed / heard about an event or has a concern (when this involves children as the target or children as witnesses to the event) should make a report to both Child Protective Services (emotional abuse) and to Police - specifically the Special Victims Unit (hostile / threatening environment).  

• every past thing and every future thing should be reported every single time.

• regarding info above, the same complaint should be forwarded to the superintendent and copied down the chain of command.

• every parent in the school should familiarize themselves with the new Employee Code of Conduct . . . here is a link:   http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedfiles/staff/0168.16_employeecodeofconduct_booklet_web.pdf     Parents can cite specific code violations and demand action be taken.      

 None of these things are guaranteed to be helpful however as sadly, what you are describing MAY not reach the level of CHILD abuse. CPS or MCPD may reach what they can legally investigate, but they are on alert for situations in MCPS and may very well know more than any of you.

. . . [T]the school system is NOT a sovereign nation in Montgomery county.  The same laws and protections that apply to people on the street and in other employment situations apply to MCPS as well.  In my experience, MCPS has told people they cannot call the police etc and they do their own investigations.   . . .   They do not have their own special laws / protections.   Adults should be reminded that if they wouldn't allow someone in Safeway to talk to them like this, they should not allow it in a school either.  

Send your concerns up the chain of command - to the MCPS administrators in charge of your school, and if no action is taken, continue up the chain of command.  Include the entire Board of Ed and county council.

Be loud, be vocal, if this is a real issue at your school, only you and others who can speak to the events can stop this behavior.  If you witness something and don't act, its as if the event did not occur at all, and the individual will likely continue until someone steps forward.

Today: Lawrence Joynes Sentencing for Sexual Abuse of MCPS Elem. Students

Court System:

Circuit Court for Montgomery County - Criminal System

Case Number:

124485C

 

Event Date:	08/28/2015 Event Time: 01:30 PM Judge: QUIRK, JOSEPH M
Location:	50 Maryland Avenue North Tower Courtroom 9b Courtroom: 9B
Description:	SENTENCING

For information on this MCPS teacher's arrest start at the link below and then follow the Lawrence Joynes posts:

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2014/02/mcps-music-teacher-lawrence-joynes-plea.html

MCPS Should Have Called Child Protective Services 25 Times...Another Teacher with Restrictions on his ability to touch students!

Instead of calling Child Protective Services, MCPS has set up an internal database for instances that "just don't feel right."  

Note to the Board of Education and Superintendent Joshua Starr:  YOUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO CALL CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES when there is suspected inappropriate contact between a teacher and a child.  That's the law! It is Child Protective Services' job to investigate!  

Look what this Gazette article reveals! Another teacher with restrictions on his ability to TOUCH students!  How many teachers/staff today have a restriction on their ability to touch or interact with students?

Gazette:  New Montgomery school database tracks reported inappropriate staff behavior

About 25 incidents entered this school year

...One staff member involved in an incident that was reported in the database this year was terminated after he had previously been told not to touch students, Grundy said. Other incidents listed included a teacher who tapped a student on the butt and another who lifted students in the air.

...One employee, who had previously been told not to touch students, was terminated this school year after he was seen holding hands with two female students, Grundy said. Grundy said he thinks that, in that case, the principal would have picked up on the repeated behavior without the help of the database...

------------------------------------------------
Wednesday March 5, 2014

New Montgomery school database tracks reported inappropriate staff behavior

by Lindsay A. Powers

A new database in Montgomery County Public Schools to track reported allegations of inappropriate staff behavior with students is up and running — and being put to use.
About 25 incidents have been entered into the database this school year, according to Robert Grundy, director of the Performance Evaluation and Compliance Unit in the school system’s Human Resources and Development Office.
One staff member involved in an incident that was reported in the database this year was terminated after he had previously been told not to touch students, Grundy said. Other incidents listed included a teacher who tapped a student on the butt and another who lifted students in the air.
Superintendent Joshua P. Starr said in a June memorandum that the school system would use a confidential database as part of its new tracking system for staff members who engage in inappropriate behavior with students.
Grundy said the database serves as a central location for reported incidents, making it easier to track and “establish a pattern” of behavior from an employee who changes schools.
Grundy said the employee’s name and identification number go into the database — essentially a complex Excel spreadsheet — when a report is made.
“If the same number goes in, it turns red,” he said. “You know there’s a prior incident.”
A report of alleged inappropriate behavior has to be made by a principal for it to be entered in the system, Grundy said.
The school system enters all such reports from principals, he said.
“We’re trying to get those things that just don’t feel right so early on we’re picking these things up as opposed to after the fact,” he said.
Grundy said the school system does not want the database to supplant a call to Child Protective Services.
In addition to entering current incidents, the school system is also going back in its records to add older incidents to the database as well, Grundy said.
Those older incidents include cases that are “more egregious” than what is typically seen and that either the school system’s human resources office or an individual school investigated, he said.
As he has gone back through the records, Grundy said, he said he found that the person involved in each incident has resigned or been terminated in almost every case.
Of the 25 incidents reported this year, Grundy said, one involved a staff member who “tapped a student on the butt.”
Another incident involved a second-grade teacher who lifted students up and down simulating a rollercoaster as a reward in the classroom.
One employee, who had previously been told not to touch students, was terminated this school year after he was seen holding hands with two female students, Grundy said. Grundy said he thinks that, in that case, the principal would have picked up on the repeated behavior without the help of the database.
The database, however, is aimed more at careful reporting that catches behavior from staff members who don’t stay under one principal or at one school.
“We told the principals we want everything reported,” Grundy said.

MCPS Music Teacher Joynes - New Charges: includes 14 criminal counts on a new child pornography charge, 4 additional counts of third-degree sex offense, and an additional count of rape.

A former Montgomery County music teacher charged with sexually abusing 15 students was indicted Thursday on 39 counts tied to the alleged abuse.
Lawrence W. Joynes, 55, of Dundalk, is charged with sexually abusing 14 elementary school students at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring, where he taught for 10 years.
Joynes is also charged with having an inappropriate and sexual relationship with a student at Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring in the 1990s...

http://www.gazette.net/article/20140228/NEWS/140229144/1124/former-silver-spring-music-teacher-indicted-on-child-sex-abuse-charges&template=gazette

Breaking News: Starr calls Joynes allegations "very disturbing" in closed meeting

On August 15, 2013, Superintendent Joshua Starr commented on the arrest of long time MCPS music teacher Lawrence Joynes.  He made these comments at a meeting for MCPS administrators.

The meeting was not open to the public and these comments were not made public as part of a press release.  Superintendent Starr's comments were recorded and placed on YouTube as an unlisted video. If you look at the "share" function on this video it says:
This video is unlisted. Be considerate and think twice before sharing.

Did Superintendent Starr forget to Tweet this video out to staff, parents and the public?

As of today, this video has only been viewed 332 times.  There are 22,236 employees in MCPS.
There has been no public response from Superintendent Starr or the Board of Education to the arrest and Baltimore County conviction of MCPS music teacher Lawrence Joynes. There has been no task force, and no outreach to victims.

Joshua Starr and Leading by Example

Clearly, our Montgomery County Superintendent of Schools, Joshua Starr, follows the leadership model of extraordinary contradictions. 

His latest?  Josh has been cyberbullied about his decision whether to close schools earlier this week. 

He READ all the tweets, some were cute, some were offensive, and some - well, he may have referred them because they appeared to be threatening to him personally and his family.  According to News 4, MCPS staff tracked down all the tweets, referred them to the schools and perhaps law enforcement officials.  And he sent out a letter to the families of all 150,000 plus MPCS students.

You can read for yourself in the NBC4 story, with video.

The Superintendent's Letter is here

Remember, this is from the Superintendent of Twitter.  Josh is known for his twittering habits, and frequently twitters from Board Meetings and on his travels.    At the end of his letter, he encourages people to contact him on his (gasp) twitter account (@mcpssuper).

This mom of the MCPS educated and tech savvy generation has some advice to Josh.

1.  Lead by example.  Stop encouraging folks to contact you by twitter.  You can't control the message but you can control how you communicate.  Twitter unfortunately, has become your preferred mode of communication.  Do the taxpayers of MoCo get information about your travels from other media?  Nope, not from the BOE, from public disclosures of your travels, or any type of report of what occurred when you meet with folks, both in MoCo and outside of Maryland.  Can we get some information about common core and math standards? Many of us feel like cybersleuths trying to track down how you spend our money.  

2.  Turn off your device.  Do not use it in meetings, especially MoCo Board of Education meetings and other meetings with county officials.  This is simply rude, and shows you are not paying attention. 

3.  Be realistic about kids using technology.   Yes, parents and teachers will have discussions about the proper use of technology, but saying that younger kids will not use twitter just because their parents don't allow it in their homes is unrealistic.  I bet your kids know more about tech than you do, I know my children did when they were very young.  Asking parents to know their kids passwords and keep the computer in a public place in the home doesn't insure that everything will be parent approved and safe.  Parents need to work continuously to instill their values in their children - and these values may not always be yours.  Banning something at home doesn't mean that they won't see it elsewhere - at school or at friends homes.  Some elementary schools and teachers use twitter as a classroom add on.  Really? 

4.  Be the grownup here.  Did you really feel threatened by these kids with twitter messages?  We have bigger problems in MoCo, and need better solutions.  How many teachers in the past few weeks have been subject to charges of molesting minors?  What about Rock Terrace and the theft of moneys from special ed kids?  Those are real problems in need of real solutions. 

and finally.

5.  Use taxpayer resources wisely.  I admit that I sometimes look at twitter, but I don't post or tweet and generally find this particular tool of social media not worth my time.  Is this worth your time personally and professionally?  How much time and money do you spend on Twitter and social media?  How much time and money did you spend on your "investigation" of this one cyberbullying episode?  How much is the task force going to cost?  Is this worthwhile?  Do you think this solved the problem?

Exclusive: Loiederman MS Teacher Plea Agreement on Sex Offense and Assault Charges

On June 12, 2013, Loiederman Middle School science teacher Benjamin Cano was arrested.  The Gazette reported the story:

A science teacher at A. Mario Loiederman Middle School in Silver Spring was arrested Wednesday for several sex offenses that occurred at the school, police said.
Benjamin Robert Cano, 33, of the 200 block of Night Haven Court in Edgewater was arrested and charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a minor and three counts of committing a third-degree sex offense, according to Montgomery County Police.
Cano was released Thursday after posting $50,000 bail...[full story at this link]

On September 30, 2013, a plea agreement was filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.  The Parents' Coalition has obtained the plea agreement filing which states:

"The agreement is that this will be a Not Guilty Agreed Statement of Facts.  The State will read a full proffer into the record after which it is expected the Court will find the Defendant guilty of one count of forth degree sexual offense and one court of second degree assault.  The State and defense would ask the Court to bind itself to no executed incarceration.  The Defendant agrees to complete a full sex offender evaluation prior to Sentencing.  If the evaluation indicates anything more then a low-risk for recidivism or diagnoses the Defendant as a pedophile the agreement is void.  Both sides are free to allocate as to the length of any suspended sentence and all terms of probation."

 

  2013 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Looking for Mr. Trump

Does MCPS need to evaluate its policy on reporting and investigating allegations of child abuse?

Simple answer is NO.  

Maryland laws specify that suspected child abuse is to be reported to the local child protective services.  Educators, like health professionals, are considered mandatory reporters - that means, they are required by state law to report.

Here is the Maryland State Law concerning the obligation of educators to report suspected child abuse in the County.

MARYLAND STATUTES AND CODES

Section 5-704 - Reporting of abuse or neglect - By health practitioner, police officer, educator or human service worker.

§ 5-704. Reporting of abuse or neglect - By health practitioner, police officer, educator or human service worker. 

(a)  In general.- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including any law on privileged communications, each health practitioner, police officer, educator, or human service worker, acting in a professional capacity in this State: 

(1) (i) who has reason to believe that a child has been subjected to abuse, shall notify the local department or the appropriate law enforcement agency; or 

(ii) who has reason to believe that a child has been subjected to neglect, shall notify the local department; and 

(2) if acting as a staff member of a hospital, public health agency, child care institution, juvenile detention center, school, or similar institution, shall immediately notify and give all information required by this section to the head of the institution or the designee of the head. 

(b)  Oral and written reports; cooperation among departments and agencies.-  

(1) An individual who notifies the appropriate authorities under subsection (a) of this section shall make: 

(i) an oral report, by telephone or direct communication, as soon as possible: 

1. to the local department or appropriate law enforcement agency if the person has reason to believe that the child has been subjected to abuse; or 

2. to the local department if the person has reason to believe that the child has been subjected to neglect; and 

(ii) a written report: 

1. to the local department not later than 48 hours after the contact, examination, attention, or treatment that caused the individual to believe that the child had been subjected to abuse or neglect; and 

2. with a copy to the local State's Attorney if the individual has reason to believe that the child has been subjected to abuse. 

(2) (i) An agency to which an oral report of suspected abuse is made under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall immediately notify the other agency. 

(ii) This paragraph does not prohibit a local department and an appropriate law enforcement agency from agreeing to cooperative arrangements. 

(c)  Contents of report.- Insofar as is reasonably possible, an individual who makes a report under this section shall include in the report the following information: 

(1) the name, age, and home address of the child; 

(2) the name and home address of the child's parent or other person who is responsible for the child's care; 

(3) the whereabouts of the child; 

(4) the nature and extent of the abuse or neglect of the child, including any evidence or information available to the reporter concerning possible previous instances of abuse or neglect; and 

(5) any other information that would help to determine: 

(i) the cause of the suspected abuse or neglect; and 

(ii) the identity of any individual responsible for the abuse or neglect. 

[1987, ch. 635, § 2; 1989, ch. 730, §§ 1, 2; 1997, chs. 367, 368; 1998, ch. 21, § 1; 2000, ch. 61, § 1; 2003, ch. 308.]  

So why is Mr. Tofig saying MCPS is reviewing their policies?   It's great to review policies, but we have a state law that obviously isn't followed in MCPS land.  This one isn't like the illegal school fees masquerading as school supplies or other laws that MCPS seems to think don't apply in Lake Wobegon on the Potomac.  Kids are getting hurt.  At New Hampshire Estates Elementary, at Kemp Mill, and at other schools throughout the county.  Even in ever-so-green Wootton Cluster, child abuse is a problem, and hiding behind a school system "policy" is bogus.

Here is the phone number for Montgomery County Child Protective Services:

Service(s):Children's Protective ServicesTarget Population:Abused Children
Information Number:240-777-4417Location(s):

• MidCounty DHHS Building
  1301 Piccard Drive, Rockville, MD 20850

News Flash.   We know that Dr. Starr and Mr. Tofig may think that state laws don't apply in Montgomery County.  You should follow the advice of the Donald, and tell your counsel:

YOU'RE FIRED!

Patch: Firing of Former Rachel Carson Teacher Affirmed by Maryland School Board

PATCH article at this link:  Daniel Picca was terminated after 17 years with Montgomery County Public Schools, with officials citing numerous incidents of inappropriate conduct with young male students.

A Stinging Indictment of MCPS

Note that while The Washington Post has written a lengthy Editorial (below) about the recent Maryland State Board of Education (BOE) Opinion on indicated child abusers in classrooms, it was the Parents' Coalition that first broke this story and released the Opinion to the public.  The Washington Post education reporters did not do an investigative piece on this latest development, did not interview MCPS administrators, did not interview parents, and did not make the actual MD BOE OPINION public on their website. 

Where are the Post's Education reporters and why do they ignore a story about indicated child abuse when it happens in Montgomery County? Is Montgomery County Public Schools going to do what the Maryland State BOE asks them to do, or not? Let's not just "hope" MCPS is following the advice, let's find out!  Where is the Post's investigation of this serious issue?

The Washington Post By Editorial Board, Published: September 29

THE MARYLAND State Board of Education has upheld the firing of a Montgomery County teacher who engaged in a pattern of suspect behavior with students. The decision is far from vindication of the county’s handling of the case. Rather it’s a stinging indictment of a school bureaucracy that for almost two decades believed it had a problem but reacted with a seemingly endless flow of ineffective warnings, letters, reprimands and — most appalling — reassignments of the teacher to other schools and other students. Montgomery officials boast about their skill at weeding out troubled and ineffective teachers. This disturbing case should temper the boasts and cause some soul searching.

Daniel J. Picca, most recently a teacher at Kemp Mill Elementary School, also taught at Candlewood, Rachel Carson and Luxmanor elementaries. He was dismissed in 2011 for insubordination and misconduct in office. The proximate cause for his dismissal stemmed from an April 12, 2010, incident in which another teacher at the Silver Spring school reported what she viewed as alarming contact with a male student. Mr. Picca, as was detailed by a hearing examiner who heard the case in 2010 and affirmed by an administrative law judge in July of this year, had been admonished over a 17-year period about his contact with students, mainly young boys. Reported contacts included inappropriate touching, having boys sit on his lap, wrestling and inviting boys to an after-school “Strong Boys Club” in which students said they were encouraged to take off their shirts. One 1995 incident resulted in a finding, upheld in subsequent appeals, by county child protective services that named Mr. Picca responsible for “indicated child abuse.” School officials say that the system’s central personnel office did not become aware of the child abuse findings until June 2010 when information was requested from child protective services as part of its then- ongoing investigation of Mr. Picca.

Mr. Picca, in a telephone conversation with us, labeled as false any allegation that he did anything improper. He noted that — despite investigation by police and the state’s attorney in 1995 — he has never been charged with a crime. He characterized the proceedings against him as a setup, partly in retaliation for his advocacy as a union activist. He noted that the parents of the boy involved in the April 2010 incident said that their son was pressured into making a false statement.

But three principals and two superintendents over many years raised red flags. “The evidence is overwhelming,” Administrative Law Judge David Hofstetter concluded in his July ruling upheld last week by the state board, that Mr. Picca “engaged in a pattern of conduct over many years which was reckless, brazen, unjustified and, most importantly, of grave potential harm to his students.”

How could school officials for so long do no more than put another strongly worded letter into his personnel file and move him to another school? Read the letter then-Superintendent Jerry D. Weast gave to Mr. Picca in February 2000 and consider whether you would entrust your child to such a teacher. The letter instructed Mr. Picca not to engage in any “bodybuilding”-type of activities with students or have contact with them outside the classroom. Shouldn’t the expectation be, as the state board wrote, that “when confronted with such obvious inappropriate behaviors on the part of a teacher toward his students . . . that the teacher will be removed from contact with students with alacrity?”

Mr. Picca was judged to be an effective teacher. He received high ratings on performance standards, but disciplinary proceedings are kept separate from professional evaluations. It’s not clear whether his principals even were aware of all the information that had accumulated in his central office file; as the state board noted, it is as if each reprimand stood alone without reference to past directives. School officials told us that procedures have been tightened, notably better communication between child protective services and the school system. We hope that they are following the advice of the Maryland school board directed to all the state’s systems to scour their personnel files and review policies to ensure “there are no cases, like this one, lurking in their schools.”

...read the rest of the Editorial at this link.

Known Child Abusers in MCPS Classrooms without Detection

Why?

Because MCPS does background checks on new employees, and then, never again. 

Once someone is hired by MCPS, any subsequent findings of child abuse are not discovered. Case in point, the Picca v. Board of Education opinion that was first made public by the Parents' Coalition blog yesterday.

Bottom of Page 26 of Picca Administrative law judge decision: 

"...MCPS continued for fifteen years to employ a teacher who had been found responsible for indicated child abuse."

But, MCPS and the Board of Education are fine with that.  For the MCPS Superintendent and the Board of Education they "acted swiftly". That is their official statement on this matter.  See The Washington Post digest quote from today's paper below.

2012Sept27 MCPS Child Abusers in Schools - No annual checks

[MCPS] Harrison said that the school system conducts its own inquiry when an employee is charged with abusing a student #DoesNotCallCPS

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Gazette:  Bates remained in substitute bus aide pool after he was fired from MCPS
by Meghan Tierney | Staff Writer

A former special education instructional assistant recently charged with sexually abusing a Germantown girl five years ago was fired from a county high school in 2000 after being accused and later acquitted of making sexual advances toward a female student.
Vernon Eugene Bates, now 41, of Washington, D.C., turned himself in on March 24 in the Germantown case involving a then 16-year-old girl.
According to a January 2000 article in The Gazette, he was also arrested on child sex abuse charges on Dec. 15, 1999, after allegedly sexually touching a then-17-year-old girl while giving her a ride to the Wheaton Metro station. Bates was employed as a special education instructional assistant and assistant football coach at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring at the time.
MCPS placed Bates on paid administrative leave the day he was charged, and fired him in January 2000, according to Kate Harrison, a Montgomery County Public Schools spokeswoman.
Bates was found not guilty during a jury trial and the charges were later expunged, according to Cpl. Tracie Copeland, a Montgomery County Police spokeswoman. Police and court records are no longer available because the case was cleared from his criminal record, but according to an article that appeared in The Washington Post at the time, he was found not guilty of second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sexual offense after a three-day jury trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court in 2000.
Despite being fired from his staff job, Bates remained on an MCPS list of substitute bus attendants from August 1999 until February 2002, Harrison said. He was never called to service during the four years he was in the database, she said.
It is unclear why Bates was allowed to be on the substitute driver list given his firing, Harrison said, noting that Bates passed a background check when he was hired as a bus attendant. MCPS also moved to another database system during the years Bates was in the pool, she said.
Bates applied for the bus attendant position before he was hired as an instructional assistant, Harrison said. Names are dropped from the database if they are not called up after a certain period of time, she said.
Harrison did not know if the substitute pool is ever screened after an employee is hired or how the attendants are placed when the need arises.
‘‘This is an unusual situation,” she said. ‘‘I think we can assume his name would have been flagged.”
Bates’ Silver Spring-based attorney, Teresa Whalen, did not return a call for comment.Harrison said that the school system conducts its own inquiry when an employee is charged with abusing a student but did not know if Bates’ case had been investigated. The decision on whether to fire a worker is made on a case-by-case basis, she said.
Harrison declined to provide further information, citing employee confidentiality concerns.
Bates was most recently charged with sexually abusing a minor, second-degree assault and fourth-degree sexual offense after the now-21-year-old daughter of his former girlfriend told police he had sexually touched her when she was 16, according to police. The abuse occurred on two separate occasions in April 2003, according to police charging documents filed in District Court.
Bates, who frequently spent the night at the family’s home, exposed himself on one of the occasions, the documents state. He also told the alleged victim’s mother that he had been ‘‘inappropriate” with the teen after the incidents occurred, according to the documents.
The girl came forward to police in February after a recent telephone conversation with Bates in which he ‘‘took ‘accountability’ for his behavior and [said] ‘it was not your fault, you didn’t deserve it,’” the documents state.
Bates was released on $50,000 bond, police said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled May 2.
Bates was working as a personal trainer at Washington Sports Club, located at 6828 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda, when he turned himself in to police, police reported. He was known to have associations with teenage girls at the club, according to a police statement.