Today at Noon: Kojo Show to Discuss Damascus HS Lawsuits. Board of Ed and Jack Smith Won't Show Up to Discuss #sexabuse #failuretoreport

Board of Education, Superintendent and all other top MCPS administrators will not appear on Kojo Nnamdi show today to discuss sexual abuse of students in schools.

The failure of MCPS staff to report the sexual abuse of students is a decades old problems and extends far beyond the athletics program.


https://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2020-02-10/montgomery-county-public-schools-faces-lawsuit-alleging-negligence-at-damascus-high

.@SenatorSusanLee "This bill’s use of actual knowledge as well as not including mandated reports of victims after they turn 18, will set safety for our children back, instead of moving it forward. This bill (contrary to proponents’ statements) would not in fact give justice to the [MCPS] children victimized by Lawrence Joynes, Jose Pineda, John Vigna, Mark Yantos or Daniel Picca. All MCPS teachers, all left in the classroom by MCPS officials who knew for a fact they were dangerous and had them on written “restrictions” to stop touching children."

Oppose

HB 787 / SB 568

Crimes - Child Abuse and Neglect - Failure to Report

April 2019

Written testimony respectfully submitted by

Jennifer Alvaro

Licensed Certified Social Worker – Clinical, MD

Licensed Clinical Social Worker, VA

Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider, VA

Clinical Member, ATSA

For the past several years, I have been advocating for Maryland to fulfill its duty to protect our children, the most vulnerable among us. Having lived in Maryland my entire life, having been a social worker for 25 years, I was deeply disturbed to discover Maryland isone of only two states in the nation without a criminal penalty forfailure to report.

While always hoping professionals will act morally, ethically and legally, it has been a rude awakening to have learned this is not the case many times for those to whom we entrust our children. As a resident of Montgomery County, what I have learned in the past seven years is for decades many mandated reporters in the Montgomery County Public School system and other systems across the state have violated the law by failing to report their suspicions of child abuse. This is not a baseless accusation or unfounded speculation. I say this because advocates and news media have documented proof via court testimony, MPIA requests, interviews and admissions in public meetings. Admissions made by mandated reporters they knowingly chose not to report suspicions of severe cases of abuse to authorities. Their choice not to follow the law by reporting led to the abuse of more children.

Time after time we see systems protecting themselves instead of children because in Maryland mandated reporters have no fear of being held accountable for breaking the law. That is why, as a mandated reporter myself, I have advocated strongly for adding criminal penalties for the egregious cases of failure to report we have seen far too often in our youth serving organizations in Maryland.

Heartbreakingly, I am submitting this testimony to OPPOSE this bill. This bill, though desperately needed, is dangerous as currently written, this bill will not only fail to right a wrong, it will make things worse for children in Maryland.

This bill’s use of actual knowledge as well as not including mandated reports of victims after they turn 18, will set safety for our children back, instead of moving it forward. This bill (contrary to proponents’ statements) would not in fact give justice to the children victimized by Lawrence Joynes, Jose Pineda, John Vigna, Mark Yantos or Daniel Picca. All MCPS teachers, all left in the classroom by MCPS officials who knew for a fact they were dangerous and had them on written “restrictions” to stop touching children.

For those reasons, I am dismayed be forced to oppose this bill and urge you to issue an unfavorable report.   

HB 787 and SB 568 Alvaro by on Scribd

.@SenatorSusanLee Comment on Your Bill: "psychiatrists who treat pedophiles have looked for a backdoor way to reinstate it. They have found it in SB 568/HB 787 (your bill).

Oppose SB 568/HB 787 Crimes - Child Abuse and Neglect - Failure to Report

Submitted by Ellen Mugmon

March 27, 2019

Former Legislative Chair of the State Council on Child Abuse and Neglect

No State or the Federal Government Has a Law Like This

The purpose of SB 568/HB 787, as amended, is to take the child abuse reporting penalty issue off everyone’s plate and at the same time protect from accountability powerful professional groups and institutions by establishing an impossible evidentiary standard under Maryland law, ”actual knowledge,” and secondly, by overruling a significant 1993 Attorney General’s opinion that requires the reporting of child abuse after the victim turns eighteen. See Md. Op. Atty. Gen. 189 (Dec. 3, 1993). The bills also have a one year statute of limitations, which means that if the failure to report is not found out by authorities within a year, there could not be a prosecution.

Then Attorney General Curran stated the following: “If we accept the proposition that no reporting were required if the victim is now an adult, we would be saying that there would be no duty to report if an eighteen year old had been subject to recent abuse and had younger siblings at home in the care of the abuser. That would be an untenable construction of the statute, one that we cannot imagine the General Assembly intended.”

As the Baltimore City State’s Attorney noted in her written testimony in 2018 on SB 132/ HB 500, the same bill as SB 568/HB 787, except for the penalty: “It is nearly impossible from a legal perspective to prove that an individual had “actual knowledge” of abuse, especially if the mandatory reporter contends that they did not see the abuse occur and did not believe the child’s disclosure.”

Requiring “actual knowledge” of the abuse before a mandatory reporter could be prosecuted for failure to report it is a higher standard of knowledge than beyond a reasonable doubt. Jurors do not need to witness a crime as it is occuring in order convict an individual for committing it.

Thus, this bill is NOT a compromise as proponents claim. It is NOT a small step forward either. Rather, it is a complete and harmful capitulation to the Maryland Catholic Conference and powerful professional groups which once and for all want to end the pressure to bring Maryland law into the mainstream with legislation that that could actually result in convictions.

To argue about the differences in a penalty that will never be applied egregiously misses the point. The Committee has a moral obligation to acknowledge all the defects in this bill and then reject it.

Those Who Don’t Know History Are Doomed To Repeat It.

The Maryland Catholic Conference has for 26 years attempted, whenever the opportunity arose, to get out from under 78Md. Op. Atty. Gen. 189 (Dec. 3, 1993). In the face of this third explosion of the horrific clergy abuse scandal, it would be unconscionable for the Committee to agree to the restrictions in this bill, which would be unique to Maryland.

While the Committee should be commended for voting favorably on HB 687, which remediates a statute which was supposed to remediate the previous statute of limitations law, it is understood that it is not likely to make it out of the Senate. The passage of SB 568/HB 787 will be another slap in the face to the survivors who supported that bill and equally oppose this one.

After the SOL bill was enacted during the 2017 session, the press, advocates and survivors mistakenly hailed its passage. They did not realize that the extension of the time period to allow a suit to be filed was meaningless because the bill had been drafted behind the scenes to make it impossible for survivors to prevail.

It would be wrong for any legislator to claim a so called victory for child protection, should this bill pass, knowing full well that it is unworkable and that the “[i]nclusion of subsection (c) in proposed Crim. L. 3-602.2 could well be read by the courts to mean that the General Assembly has now taken a policy view counter to that of the of the A.G.’s Opinion-- that reporting when an identified victim has reached the age of majority is unimportant. Such a reading would leave at risk innumerable children in an abusers sphere.” (Professor Lynn Mclain, February 26, 2018)

Since the notorious Berlin pedophile exemption (unique to Maryland) was repealed in 1989, psychiatrists who treat pedophiles have looked for a backdoor way to reinstate it. They have found it in SB 568/HB 787. Disclosures by pedophiles do not meet the “actual knowledge” standard, the highest form of knowledge in law. Pedophiles do not rape children in front of those providing treatment to them. In the pre-1993 handling of his cases, Dr. Berlin refused to report when a relative molested his niece because she was nineteen even though she had a younger sister at risk. This bill would not penalize him if he did so again

Attorney General Frosh is currently investigating the Catholic Church in Maryland. Why is this Committee jumping the gun to provide new protections from accountability for the hierarchy when it fails to report? The Committee should not rely on Bishop Lori’s reforms, which call for parishioners to report child sexual abuse to the Church, first and foremost, rather than to the authorities. Setting up internal investigations prior to reporting to determine credibility by the Church’s own standards, thereby compromising police and social services investigations, is a self serving procedure which will not lead to the truth. Bishop Lori, while usurping governmental functions in plain sight, is supporting these bills.

None of the Penn State officials convicted of failing to report Sandusky to authorities could have been convicted in Maryland under the “actual knowledge” standard in this bill. None of them had “actual knowledge” of Sandusky’s abuse. That is why this bill is a pretense.

The Congressional bipartisan federal law enacted after the USA Gymnastics scandal states: "When a mandatory reporter learns of facts that give reason to suspect that a child has suffered an incident of child abuse ... and fails to make a timely report as required by subsection(a) of that section, [the mandatory reporter] shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than year or both."

Why should it be that Maryland children in USA Gymnastics programs are better protected than all other Maryland children under SB 568/HB 787?

Without the 1993 opinion, the shocking disclosures of the notorious Maskell Case would never have come to light, as chronicled in the Netflix series, The Keepers. The Baltimore Archdiocese concedes this point in its response to the Keepers on its website. (See also in this regard: “Catholic Officials Knew of Teacher’s Abuse, Court Files Indicate,” by Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun, November, 25, 2012 and“U-Md. Lawyers Didn’t Tell Police That Swim Coach Rick Curl Had Abused a Teen Girl,” by Amy Brittain, The Baltimore Sun, May 29, 2013.

Scandals in Maryland now include the cover-ups and failure to report by the Catholic Church, the ongoing scandals in the Montgomery County Schools, the Ron Price scandal in Anne Arundel County, the Deonte Carraway scandal in Prince George’s County, and more recently the scandal in the Baltimore Orthodox Jewish Community. These scandals will continue until there are successful prosecutions for failure to report, which cannot happen under this legislation.

Do Not invoke the #MeToo Movement in Support of This Bill

Proponents claim that SB 568/HB 787 is in line with the goals of #MeToo which are to increase the power of victims to be believed, to increase the protection of women and children, and to expand the possibility of justice. But this legislation is actually antithetical to the movement because it would automatically discount disclosures of abuse by child and adult victims alike, since these disclosures most assuredly would not meet the “actual knowledge” standard.

Absolutely no one, especially Rachael Denhollander, an activist and survivor of Larry Nassar’s whom proponents invoke, nor any other of the more than 250 victims of the USA Gymnastics scandal, would ever consider coming to Maryland to testify for such a backward bill. Ms. Denhollander was the first victim to come forward publicly. She was 31-years-old when she disclosed her victimization when she was 15-years-old. A mandated reporter under this bill could say that she was too old to require a report and that her disclosure did not provide the requisite “actual knowledge,” either.

It is appalling that SB 568/HB 787 mirrors provisions in the USA Gymnastics’ policy which caused the decades long cover-up of a terrible scandal. Steve Penny, the former director of USA Gymnastics, did not report the abuse because he deemed disclosures by victims and even allegations by other coaches as second or third hand information which did not prove to him that the abuse actually occurred. Moreover, his investigator stated that she did not report complaints by gymnasts who had turned eighteen because they were no longer children. It did not matter that they were children when they were abused or that other children were in the hands of a prolific 54-year-old pedophile. What mattered was the policy which protected the reputation of the organization.

Sending The Wrong Message - Undermining Maryland’s Reporting Law

Proponents insist that the bill would not undermine the underlying civil reporting law since the language of the civil reporting law would not be changed. This is false. Two reporting standards muddy the obligation to report suspected abuse and complicate and confuse training. Because there would be no criminal penalty based on the "reason to believe" standard, why would mandatory reporters follow the civil law, especially those not subject to professional penalties? Consequently, this bill would delay or have an overall chilling effect on reporting. It would encourage reporters to wait until they knew for sure that abuse has occurred or eventually fail to report at all. It would also encourage administrators such as those in Montgomery County continue to keep secret lists of possible perpetrators and perform internal investigations prior to reporting instead of reporting immediately. This endangers children.

Child Protection Lip Service

Supporters of this bill are up front. They admit that the bill is intended to protect mandatory reporters. They state that the bill “would be the most lenient toward adults, i.e. mandatory reporters, than any other law in the entire United States or its territories.” During a meeting prior to the session, it was stated that the Committee in 2018 had concerns about the “actual knowledge” language and it was out for this session. Why must we now accept the nonsensical mantra from proponents that something is better than nothing, when this legislation is worse than nothing?

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect is the very foundation of the child protection system. But this bill is so flawed that if it were enacted, the safety and protection of children would be compromised far more than it is under current law. For these reasons, I request 568/HB 787 be given an unfavorable report. 

Oppose SB 568 HB 787 Ellen ... by on Scribd

MCPS Board of Education Looks to Lower Requirements for Substitute Teachers #Unlicensed #expungement #sexoffenders #backdoor

...The school system’s policy for hiring substitutes, policy GEF, requires an applicant to have at least a bachelor’s degree or certification, and people applying to substitute in vocational programs can be considered without a college degree, but must have at least two years of experience in a related area.

School board members said they hope applicants with associate’s degrees or students at Montgomery College who need student teaching experience to graduate will be allowed to substitute. The only statewide requirement for becoming a substitute teacher in Maryland is a high school diploma.

“The Montgomery Board of Education is committed to being agile and innovative in finding solutions to evolving needs,” according to a resolution introduced by the school board this week.

Superintendent Jack Smith called the proposal a “great idea” and will present recommendations in July...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/montgomery-schools-looks-to-lower-requirements-for-substitute-teachers/

Breaking: Former MCPS Substitute Teacher Jose Pineda Deported. Did not Serve Out Term. Not Registered as Sex Offender.

Former MCPS substitute teacher and bus driver Jose Pineda, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison, 5 years of probation, and the requirement to register as a sex offender in 2015 for the sexual abuse of MCPS students, did not serve out that sentence.


As of today, Jose Pineda is shown in Maryland Judiciary Case Search as having been deported.

Why was he deported? What was his status when he was working for MCPS as a bus driver and as a substitute teacher? 


Jose Pineda did not serve his 5 year prison sentence, is not on 5 years of probation, and is not a registered sex offender.  He is somewhere in the world free of the constraints of his sentence.  He is not being monitored by a probation officer.  Have the officials in the country he was deported to been notified of his conviction?  Is he again working with children? 

Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy spoke about the possibility of Jose Pineda being deported after his sentencing in May of 2015.  State's Attorney McCarthy said:

"He should serve his time before he is deported because unfortunately what we have seen in the past is individuals who have been summarily deported, gone back to their home country, and then simply snuck back in to the United States... More importantly, he'll be put on the Sex Offender Registry for the remainder of his life."  
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Former-Substitute-Teacher-Gets-Five-Year-Sentence-for-Sex-Abuse-of-Students-305515331.html

Below are some articles to remind readers about Jose Pineda's arrest and conviction.  Remember that Jose Pineda was one of the MCPS employees who was known to have misconduct incidents involving inapproriate touching of children, but was allowed to continue working in MCPS classrooms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Former substitute teacher sentenced for sex offenses
May 29, 2015

WASHINGTON — A former Montgomery County substitute teacher will go to prison and will have to register as a sex offender for abuse that one victim says began back as far as 2004.

Jose Pineda, a Gaithersburg 50-year-old, pleaded guilty to two counts — one count of sex abuse of a minor and one count of a 3rd degree sex offense. On Friday, a judge sentenced him to 10 years on each count with all but five years suspended. 

Judge Joseph Dugan explained the sentences would be concurrent, meaning that Pineda will spend a total of five years in prison, and then will face supervised probation with a number of conditions including having to register as a sex offender every three months for the rest of his life...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2015/05/former-substitute-teacher-sentenced-for-sex-offenses/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, June 1, 2015

...But Assistant State’s Attorney Timothy Hagan said Pineda violated the trust students put in their teachers. He said Pineda had been reprimanded by administrators at two schools for inappropriate sexual conduct...

...The victim who was molested in 2004 said she and her mother had reported the incident to school officials, but Pineda was allowed to continue teaching...

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-victim-who-was-molested-in-2004.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

November 8, 2014

Montgomery County school officials are reviewing their parental
notification procedures after conceding that a mistake was made at Roberto
Clemente Middle School in Germantown.

The school’s principal, Khadija Barkley, sent a letter home to parents on
Friday, informing them that a substitute teacher was accused of having
inappropriate contact with a student September 30. The principal apologized for
not telling parents sooner...

https://wtop.com/news/2014/11/after-principals-apology-a-push-to-keep-parents-informed/#ixzz3IcP7Vw8m

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, November 14, 2014

WPost: Montgomery County police said Friday that between five and 10 other students have come forward following recent school system notifications...

...The latest case involved a substitute teacher, Jose Pineda, 50, at Roberto Clemente Middle School who is accused of inappropriately touching a 12-year-old girl. Pineda was arrested Oct. 14, on a charge of child abuse, and the Germantown school’s parents learned about it on Nov. 7.
Montgomery County police said Friday that between five and 10 other students have come forward following recent school system notifications about Pineda’s arrest. Police said that the investigation is ongoing and that they could not provide details about any of the students’ accounts.
The case at Clemente Middle comes amid an uproar at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus, Md., where parents were angered that almost a month passed before they were notified that a contractor, John E. Epps Jr., was arrested for allegedly touching a 12-year-old girl inappropriately in a school hallway...

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/parents-concerned-about-handling-of-inappropriate-contact-with-students/2014/11/14/25ce465c-6852-11e4-b053-65cea7903f2e_story.html 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Police Press Conference: 9 more students came forward

Montgomery County Police held a press conference at 11 AM on Thursday, December 4, 2014, regarding the arrest of MCPS substitute teacher Jose Pineda.

The press conference video is in two parts. The first part is just about 2 minutes in length. The second video is 30 minutes.

Jose Pineda employment history:

2000-2003 MCPS school bus operator
2003-2006 MCPS substitute teacher

2006-2013 not employed by MCPS

2013-2014 MCPS substitute teacher - worked 111 times in 20 different schools

• Police want any one with information to contact them at this number: 240-773-5400.
• Where did Mr. Pineda work during the years when he was not with MCPS? If anyone in the community knows, please contact the Montgomery County Police.
• If any doubt that a law has been broken, police should be called.
• If parents think that a child has been victimized and a law has been broken they should call the police.
• There was somewhat of a delay in getting information to the police. (September 30th incident.)
• If anyone believes there has been a criminal offense the police should be called right away. 
• MCPS was notified of today's press conference, but did not participate

http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2014/12/police-press-conference-9-more-students.html

"Predators aren't just strangers. They can be highly educated. They can be very well-respected in the community. It could be a family member, it could be a family friend." @Aly_Raisman via @60Minutes

"Predators aren't just strangers. They can be highly educated. They can be very well-respected in the community. It could be a family member, it could be a family friend." @Aly_Raisman via @60Minutes https://t.co/dLINNL4SKU

— Darkness to Light (@Darkness2Light) September 10, 2018

Stop the Silence in Montgomery County

MCPS: A Public Nuisance

The Diocese of Rockville Centre is being sued for creating a public nuisance. Not because they let their grass grow too long, played loud organ music late at night, or let dogs run off-leash. They are being sued because they never publicly disclosed the names of 66 priests who were “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children, and one of them allegedly harmed another child.

The term “credibly accused” is a church insider term, it means internal church personnel believe the abuse actually happened.

For the last twelve years, the Diocese has been basically above the law when it comes to keeping their secrets about sexually abusive priests...

https://stopabusecampaign.org/2017/05/19/a-public-nuisance/

Like the Diocese mentioned in the above article, Montgomery County Public Schools has been keeping a list of staff who are found to have had inappropriate behavior with students.  That list has never been made public.  

When staff have been arrested their prior inapproriate behavior with students comes out in court filings or at trial. (See the cases of MCPS teachers Lawrence Joynes, John Vigna, Jose Pineda for just 3 examples)

Gazette article from 2014: 

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.

Joshua Starr and "passing the trash" in Stamford

...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

ABC7: Abuse policy vote at Montgomery County Schools

BOE Staff Withholds Public Comments from Board of Education #coverup

The public was told that they could comment on the draft Board of Education Child Abuse Policy.  But, Board of Education staff is not relaying all of the public comment to the Board of Education. 

Why is staff not passing on public comments to the Board of Education members? 

Below is an e-mail that was sent to the Board of Education, but this comment was not included in the packet of comments that has been submitted to the Board of Education for tonight's meeting.   

How many other comments did not get forwarded to the Board of Education members? 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lyda Astrove
To: boe <boe@mcpsmd.org>
Sent: Mon, Jun 8, 2015 3:45 pm
Subject: Comments on Sex Abuse Policy

I strongly urge you to adopt the recommendations and suggestions outlined by Jennifer Alvaro. I am reproducing her comments below. 

Lyda Astrove

17 Welwyn Way

Rockville MD 20850

******

Comments on proposed policy and protocols regarding child abuse and neglect. 

6/7/15 Submitted to Montgomery County Board of Education

By: Jennifer Alvaro 

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration in this matter. For 3 years I have been engaged with Montgomery County schools and officials to improve their prevention and response to child sexual abuse of its students. As a member of the original MCPS Child Abuse Work group (formed due to my advocacy in April of 2014); and as a member of the current Child Abuse Advisory group I would urge you NOT to implement the current policy as submitted to you by the schools.

The current version of the draft policy appears superficially to be a comprehensive response to the astounding trail of abuse committed over years by dozens of school system employees and contractors against our children. In reality the policy and regulations are so riddled by errors, loopholes and conflicting information they would be a step backwards instead of forward.

I will not waste time here enumerating the legal flaws in the policy or regulations, I would instead refer you to the excellent submission by Ellen Mugmon for that information.

Now is not the time to mince words or spare feelings. Mincing words, sparing feelings and ignoring reality have landed MCPS in the national spotlight for failing in every sense of the word to do what is right to protect our children from those who have roamed freely in our schools and have been allowed to harm them, their friends, their families, other staff and their communities.

This policy and these procedures, even if corrected regarding the legal aspects, will still only be words on paper unless you demand other action be taken as well. This plan is doomed to failure unless there is an infrastructure to implement, maintain and continue its mission. Parceling aspects of the work out among various departments and people (who have no expertise in this field) is planning for failure. This plan is doomed to failure as long as the system continues to operate in secrecy, not only from the public but from its own advisory group members as well. This plan in doomed unless other correlating documents / policies / departments / regulations are brought into line and into compliance with these policies. For example, how long will the board continue to allow MCPS to tell staff and students (regarding sexual harassment):

"Prohibited conduct may include, but is not limited to, unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature. For example: Grabbing, touching, or patting / Sexual propositions / Sexually offensive pictures, magazines, notes, calendars, cartoons, or jokes / Unwanted flirtations or advances / Verbal abuse / Repeated pressure or requests for sexual activities / Rewards for granting sexual favors or the withholding of rewards for refusing to grant sexual favors /Graphic comments about an individual’s body or dress / Sexually degrading names / Such conduct may also constitute sexual harassment. In determining whether prohibited conduct constitutes sexual harassment, consideration will be given to the totality of the circumstances, including the context in which the conduct occurred. Dating or sexual relationships between employees/adult volunteers and students is prohibited.”
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/sexualharassment/ 

Shockingly, students and staff are advised to report the aforementioned behaviors NOT to police or Child Protective Services but rather to school staff and parents. This breach of duty has been brought repeatedly to the attention of your staff over the past year and yet, to this day, remains unedited on your website. When will an employee code of conduct be published? Codes of conduct for staff and volunteers are a critical piece of any response to addressing child abuse & neglect. Why is participation in the drafting of the code being hidden from Advisory group members and limited to
“internal stakeholders” / “superintendent’s cabinet”?

These are some of many examples which could be provided to highlight the egregious nature of what is acceptable, condoned and allowed to continue under the guise of protecting our children.

I ask you to demand a full, impartial investigation be conducted (with a public report and accounting) regarding the systemic failure of the schools to protect our children and staff from these abuses over the past decades.

I ask you to reject this policy as currently written and if and when corrected, continue to reject it without reviewing and approving the procedures, regulations, MOUs and other corresponding components (specifically the secret database of suspicious and inappropriate employees and those on restricted plans / instructions) related to this critical work. I ask you to commit to the protection of our children and staff. I ask you to reflect upon the words of Augustine of Hippo, "Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”

Sincerely,

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

Sent from my iPhone. Ad astra per aspera. ⭐️⭐️

Burkinshaw: "I just don't think implementing bad policy is a best practice and expect more from MCPS."

If I were on the Board of Education, I would not yet vote to approve this [Child Abuse] policy.

I do agree they have come very far this year, due in large part because of parent volunteers on the workgroup (which is now an advisory group, whatever that means). It scares me that without parent involvement in this process (which has met with much resistance from school administrators along the way), this process would not have come so far. But we are not there yet.

The same people who have perpetuated the problems within the system over are the years are the ones responsible for making the changes to the policy with no accountability.

The definitions the policy relies on reside in the yet-to-be-approved regulations. What if those definitions are changed before that document is approved? Policy assumptions will be negated. The policy depends on cooperation among county agencies with a yet-to-be-approved memorandum of understanding. Not to mention that at last review the current policy language was in conflict with Maryland State Atty General opinions and state law. 

This policy is just not ready, but I am not advocating to stop moving forward. I just don't think implementing bad policy is a best practice and expect more from MCPS.

My former boss used to say, "If you can't do it right the first time, when will you have time to fix it?"
This is not yet an A paper. I expect MCPS to give our kids their best work.

Susan Burkinshaw
MCPS Parent and Child Safety Advocate

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-schools-abuse-policy-up-for-vote-with-critics-saying-more-work-needed/2015/06/28/2b482abe-141c-11e5-9518-f9e0a8959f32_story.html

MCCPTA Fibs to Membership, Deceives Members about Input into BOE Child Abuse Policy

MCCPTA does not have a representative that has attended any of the MCPS Sexual Abuse of Students Advisory Group meetings to review the draft BOE Child Abuse Policy, but why should they tell their membership that fact?

On Twitter MCCPTA can put out what ever they want and their members are none the wiser.

Actual Advisory Group member Jennifer Alvaro counters MCCPTA's fib Tweet below.

Unbelievable! PTA Silent on Sexual Abuse of Students by MCPS Staff

Montgomery County Public Schools have had almost 20 arrests (that we know about - no count of the number of incidents that have been covered up by allowing the perpetrators to "retire" or "resign") of teachers, staff, substitutes and contractors who have sexually assaulted or had sexual interactions with students in the last 3+ years.

On Monday, June 29, 2015, the Montgomery County Board of Education will finally review their Child Abuse Policy after ignoring the Policy for 26+ years.

What do the 196 PTAs in the county and MCCPTA have to say about this Policy? 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a word. 

Apparently, MCCPTA and all of the local PTAs could not care less about the sexual abuse and sexual interactions of MCPS students by teachers, staff, substitutes and contractors.

Well, PTA is just a dues paying club and, apparently, the members of this club do not consider the safety of public school children a priority. 

Here are the comments that the Board of Education received regarding their upcoming review of this Policy.
No comments in here from any Montgomery County PTA or from MCCPTA.

   JHC Public Comments 1-45 by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Additional comments are at this link.