Chevy Chase Elementary School principal calls for stop to cyberbullying

https://wjla.com/embed/news/local/md-elementary-school-principal-calls-for-stop-to-cyberbullying

*Former Superintendent Joshua Starr put elementary school students on Twitter.  Now, parents are being told to keep their elementary school students off of Twitter.

Families of children victimized by #teachers, #school staff members or contractors, here's my dilemma. Ideas? @wusa9

Andrea McCarren      @AndreaMcCarren

Families of children victimized by #teachers, #school staff members or contractors, here's my dilemma. Ideas? @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/iaTpt9d6Px
— Andrea McCarren (@AndreaMcCarren) February 26, 2015

Letter #4: Starr was upset for one day and an entire webpage was dedicated to his upset. Meanwhile, "Who is Protecting our Children?"

This is the fourth in a series of letters written to Superintendent Joshua Starr, MCPS and Montgomery County officials over the last 15 months concerning the many arrests of MCPS staff, substitutes and contractors on charges of sexually abusing MCPS students.

• February 10, 2014 - Letter #3 is at this link.

• Letter #2 was written one year ago this week and is at this link.

• October 8, 2013 - Letter #1 is at this link.

To: boe@mcpsmd.org; Joshua_Starr@mcpsmd.org; Andrew_Zuckerman@mcpsmd.org; office@mccpta.com 

Cc: Roland_Ikheloa@mcpsmd.org; county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov 

Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2014 12:45 PM
Subject: Sexual abuse in MCPS

June 19, 2014

Dear Dr. Starr, MCPS staff member, Members of the Board of Education and Members of the County Council, 

On one day in December of 2013, Dr. Starr received a series of tweets he found upsetting and offensive. The county’s response to Dr. Starr’s experience, has been swift and comprehensive. Over the past six months, media interviews were conducted, a letter went out to all MCPS parents and schools, a task force was created, in fact, six subcommittees to the task force were formed. The MCPS website has an entire webpage dedicated to this topic. The website lists 3 meetings (including agendas), resources, safety tips for parents, video links and a charge statement. 

I have written to you all before, and write again to ask, don’t the children of our schools who have been sexually abused by MCPS staff (and contract staff) deserve at very least the same response? Dr. Starr was upset for one day. These children, their friends, other students, their families and other staff in MCPS schools have been upset for far, far longer than one day. Don’t they deserve the same time, consideration, resources, commitment and dedication as Dr. Starr? Dr. Starr is an adult who can protect himself. Who is protecting our children?

Over the past two school years 10 MCPS staff members (and 3 contract employees) have been arrested for sexual abuse of children in the schools. One of them tattooed one of his victims name on his body. Doesn’t that child and her family deserve at least the same level of response as Dr. Starr who, on one day, got several tweets that scared him?

I have been attempting to get a response from someone from MCPS / Montgomery County Government since October, 2013. I was cautiously optimistic when I was contacted in February by the school system and asked to take part of a work group that was forming to look at prevention of child sexual abuse in the schools. The first meeting took place in April. There was no agenda. The MCPS staff who were there, while very nice and seemingly committed, had no timeline, no clear commitment from their upper management, no date for a next meeting, no action steps. There is no website, no resources, no safety tips for parents on the MCPS website. When I reached out to the work group a couple weeks ago to see when the next meeting would be, I was told the person running it was retiring and the person taking over would look into it.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, a Whitman football coach was arrested for the sexual abuse of an exchange student he hosted in his home. Has anyone checked the locker rooms at Whitman to see if he put video cameras there to rule out his filming Whitman students as he did his exchange student? Meanwhile, back in the real world, a MCPS teacher pled guilty to sexual abuse and in the trial we learn MCPS allowed him to resign rather than being fired after their investigation. Meanwhile, back in the real world where children don’t have time to wait for committees to form, where parents are unaware of their rights and unaware of the basic steps they can take to protect their children, where MCPS staff are violating the law by not fulfilling their legal obligation as mandated reporters of their suspicions of abuse, children are still being harmed.

As with previous attempts to reach someone who will take action, I will attach my previous letters in case you would like to read them. 

I thank you for your time in reading this and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Alvaro

2 years of arrests of 12 adults for the sexual abuse, accused worked in 40 different MCPS schools

This is the third in a series of letters written to Superintendent Joshua Starr, MCPS and Montgomery County officials over the last 15 months concerning the many arrests of MCPS staff, substitutes and contractors on charges of sexually abusing MCPS students.

• Letter #2 was written exactly one year ago today and is at this link.

• October 8, 2013 - Letter #1 is at this link.

To:  Joshua_Starr@mcpsmd.org

Cc: Andrew_Zuckerman@mcpsmd.org; Roland_Ikheloa@mcpsmd.org; boe@mcpsmd.org; Peter_Park@mcpsmd.org

Date:  Monday, February 10, 2014 5:07 PM

Good Afternoon Dr. Starr,

For the past five months I have been trying to get a response from you regarding the sexual abuse of MCPS students by MCPS staff. In case you did not have a chance to read my letters, I am attaching them here for your review.

In response to two years of arrests of 12 adults for the sexual abuse of children and adults (who worked in 40 different MCPS schools), your response has been silence.

Today, I got an email from the school system which announced the creation of your new Cybercivility Task Force. I find it perplexing that in response to one day of tweets by students to you, your response over the past several weeks has been mulitifold. You have written an open letter to all parents, given media interviews and now you have begun formation of a task force to address the issue.

Dr. Starr, don't our children who are being abused deserve at least the same attention, response and action you do when you are faced with things you find inappropriate and threatening?
As with my past outreach attempts, I await your response.

Jennifer Alvaro

Bullies at the Board Table

Remember a few months ago when our own Joshua Starr invented the word "cyberbullying" to describe Twitter feeds about his decision to close schools?  Remember Dr. Starr's memo to parents?  His committee to evaluate cyberbullying?

Dr. Starr doesn't like being the target, but he is just fine when his staff does the bullying.

Recently, I learned of two instances where BOE staff pulled out cameras and took pictures of individuals attending Board of Education meetings.  One was a committee meeting concerning staff use of credit cards. Both meetings are subject to the Open Meetings Act and the public is invited.  Or maybe not.

I couldn't believe that staff actually took pictures, so I filed a request under the Maryland Public Information Act.  

Sad, but true.  Here is the response I received from MCPS:

. . . As for Ms. Steinberg, she did take a photo during the Board of Education retreat and it is attached. 

Regarding your question about policies: There are no policies that would limit the right of anyone to take a photo or video during a public meeting or in a public space under these circumstances.  

Ms. Steinberg is the Board of Education's Staff Assistant for Legislative and Intergovernmental Relations.  Before she snapped the picture she said she needed to "document this."

Why take a picture of only one member of the public?  Would a sign-in sheet satisfy who attends a meeting?  Everyone signs, or everyone doesn't.  But a picture of only one person?

I am extremely concerned about the chilling effects of the actions of Ms. Steinberg or other individuals employed by the Board of Education on community involvement.  You've got to be a pretty tough individual to participate in BOE meetings when you are bullied by the staff.  In view of the the school system's concern as voiced in the press and at Board meetings issues with stakeholder engagement, actions by these individuals may in fact discourage public participation. 

April 3rd: Cybercivility Task force meetings are open to the public

The new Cybercivility Task Force will meet for the first time to help MCPS develop strategies, identify resources and develop tools for schools, parents and community members that encourage conversations about cybercivility.  

The task force consists of 40 students, parents, staff and community members. Its members represent a wide range of expertise and interests and reflect the diversity of the MCPS community. MCPS received more than 220 applications. 

The first meeting will take place on Thursday, April 3, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the media center of Richard Montgomery High School. The task force meetings are open to the public and regular updates will be posted on the Cybercivility webpage. 

My Two Cents: Leave Cybercivility To School Administrators

“ … Our approach has been more to educate our students as responsible and ethical digital citizens.” Marco Clark, President of Bishop McNamara High School
Public school students behaving poorly in cyberspace resulted in the Montgomery County Public Schools creating a Cybercivility Task Force. Do we really need a task force? Is a task force really the best way to develop respectful digital citizens?
Having served on three MCPS task forces, I know the drill — lots of meetings, a report, a presentation to the Board of Education, and maybe two years down the road new policies and procedures emerge.
And so to save time, I was wondering: Why not just kick this problem down the food chain.

http://www.bethesdanow.com/2014/03/05/my-two-cents-leave-cybercivility-to-school-administrators/

.@mcpssuper Needs New Task Force

 Seeking privacy, teens turn to anonymous-messaging apps

...Anonymous and ephemeral, apps such as Whisper, Secret, Ask.fm and Snapchat fill a growing demand among teens for more fun, less accountability and more privacy online.
But the boom is opening secret new corners of the Internet at a time when educators and law enforcement officials are worried about the safety of youth online. As teens look increasingly for alternatives to the social giants Facebook and Twitter, the anonymous apps create the opportunity for bullying and cruelty in a forum where they cannot be tracked...

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/seeking-privacy-teens-turn-to-anonymous-messaging-apps/2014/02/16/1ffa583a-9362-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html

Starr seeking Task Force members for Urgent MCPS Issue

What's the urgent MCPS issue that requires a task force?  

It's not the sexual abuse of public school students...

Note the Board of Education only spent 2 meetings on the FY 2015 $2.3 BILLION budget.  Yet, this task force requires 4 meetings.  

------------------------------------------

MCPS Cybercivility Task Force Application

The Cybercivility Task Force will develop strategies to raise awareness of the need for cybercivility in how our students and adults communicate online and guide the creation of tools for schools, parents and community members that encourage conversations about cybercivility.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/cybercivility/application.aspx

Churchill Observer: "Starr’s campaign against cyberbullying...is completely selfish and immature"

Superintendent responds to cyberbullying

...Starr should not have reacted as he did towards what he saw on Twitter. He is older than the students he is accusing of bullying, and that means he should act more maturely. Starr should not dwell on meaningless tweets that students post. It is very unlikely that a student would tease Starr to a point where he would consider suicide, none the less carry out a post that claims they will harm Starr if there is school the next morning. While it is upsetting that Starr had to experience cyberbullying, it is even more unsettling that he had to see cyberbullying happen to him before he started a campaign. Some students have committed suicide, and it is too late for them for anybody to help since Starr waited until he was bullied to take action. Starr’s campaign against cyberbullying, which he has called “Cyber Civility,” is completely selfish and immature, since he did it to protect himself from cyberbullies instead of focusing on the real victims: the students who could be bullied anywhere at any time. - See more at: http://www.thechurchillobserver.com/opinions/2014/01/08/superintendent-responds-to-cyberbullying/#sthash.88bSg2eY.dpuf

Twittering Sup Just Doesn't Get it

This weekend's twitter advice from Josh?  Only happy posts, please.  Post all you want, just be sure a happy face comes with the post.

More of the same old MCPS mantra - good news only.  Even if its not from our school system.

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2. Joshua Starr ‏@mcpssuper14 Dec

   High School Football Captain Fights Cyberbullying With A Super Nice Twitter Account http://huff.to/RXjR0o  via @HPGoodNews. #cyberccivility

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