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.
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.
