From the "Less Redacted" Report Released Today: "Employee 25 utilized an improper restraint technique on a student"

Why was this redacted the first time the report was made public?  

From Page 8 of the "less redacted" Jackson Lewis LLC report released today:

ii. Student Complaints Since arriving to in 2013, there were three complaints against Employee 25 involving sexual harassment and/or bullying behavior towards students, including 

(1) a July 2017 complaint that Employee 25 referred to a student as a “whore,” 

(2) an October 2017 complaint that Employee 25 utilized an improper restraint technique on a student, and 

(3) complaints that Employee 25 made a reference to “hoes and thots” during a January 2018 student assembly. All of these complaints involving students were investigated and resolved by Employee 25’s supervisors.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/boe/boe-news/2024.02.08-jackson-lewis-report-redacted_redacted.pdf

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined

For the first time in years, federal education officials are releasing data showing how the experiences of students with disabilities in the nation’s schools vary from others and the picture is stark.

Students with disabilities account for a larger percentage of those attending public schools than just a few years ago, according to findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s latest civil rights data collection. At the same time, these children are far more likely than others to be subject to restraint and seclusion, be suspended or expelled or referred to law enforcement.

The information offers a look at the situation across more than 17,000 school districts and over 97,000 public schools during the 2020–2021 school year...

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined - Disability Scoop

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined

For the first time in years, federal education officials are releasing data showing how the experiences of students with disabilities in the nation’s schools vary from others and the picture is stark.

Students with disabilities account for a larger percentage of those attending public schools than just a few years ago, according to findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s latest civil rights data collection. At the same time, these children are far more likely than others to be subject to restraint and seclusion, be suspended or expelled or referred to law enforcement.

The information offers a look at the situation across more than 17,000 school districts and over 97,000 public schools during the 2020–2021 school year...

Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined - Disability Scoop

Maryland curbs use of seclusion, restraint for misbehaving students

Every day, Maryland schools lock up students for misbehaving, often keeping them in closet-sized, padded rooms monitored by an adult watching through a small window or by video camera.

Sometimes they lock up children as little as kindergarteners. And sometimes, those children, desperate and scared, try to harm themselves inside.

This long-standing practice of seclusion will be banned in the state’s public schools when a new state law takes effect on Friday. The practice will still be allowed in private schools funded with public tax dollars...

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/maryland-curbs-use-of-seclusion-restraint-for-misbehaving-students-RSOSMM3FQFENRPUB3AZ25CWDV4/?tag1=facebook&tag2=socialnewsdesk&fbclid=IwAR18Slu31mQWI17l2wqEdI4sZFIkyo7YhrP9I0oIlD__aGZtRRzEcSbcp8U

Maryland passes bill that bans seclusion in public schools. It takes effect July 1

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (7News) — Sebastian Hancock was just 8 years old and suffering from ADHD when his mother said educators at his Maryland school used seclusion to control his behavior.

"He was secluded four times in the span of two hours and each time he was secluded, his behavior in seclusion escalated," Beth Ann Hancock told 7News.

The practice of restraining special education students or isolating them in a closed room happens in school districts across the country...

https://wjla.com/news/crisis-in-the-classrooms/maryland-bill-legislation-seclusion-special-needs-adhd-schools-governor-larry-hogan-ban-july-1?fbclid=IwAR2hwUSjZiOcDZTLjmL5rIwB2t1arier2_0--8L4uSU66eYoVn9Hhe6s6ZE

Kids locked away, held down: It was surveillance video that revealed the horrifying truth about what a Maryland boy experienced within the walls of a place he should feel safe: his school.

Kids locked away, held down: Investigating 'seclusion & restraint' practices at schools

BALTIMORE (TND) — Across the United States, thousands of students are subjected to a set of controversial practices known as seclusion and restraint at school. It can involve young children locked in dark rooms, or pinned down by adults.

Generally, seclusion and restraint are supposed to be safety measures reserved for very specific scenarios but a Spotlight on America investigation found the practices being used for discipline of minor behavior problems, sometimes leading to injury and even death. The overwhelming majority of incidents involve students with disabilities.

It was surveillance video that revealed the horrifying truth about what a Maryland boy experienced within the walls of a place he should feel safe: his school. The 2015 video shows the 8-year old being dragged down a hallway by three school employees and dropped into a windowless room.

More than 10 minutes later, when the door was reopened, the little boy is seen face down, limp and lying in his own blood. His mother, Linda, who asked us not to use her last name or show her face on camera, says she learned he'd been hurt from a phone call...

https://wjla.com/news/spotlight-on-america/kids-locked-away-held-down-investigating-seclusion-restraint-practices-in-us-schools-special-education-needs-disabilities-maryland-disability-locking-children-away-at-school-rooms-dragged-child

'SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT' Trauma lingers for FCPS students who experienced repeated seclusion and restraint

 

It was the first day of third grade, and James had been in school for 19 minutes.

By 9:20 a.m., the 8-year-old was locked in a padded, closet-sized room. He’d remain there, alone, for nearly three hours.

Though Maryland law is clear that no child may be kept in seclusion for more than 30 minutes, Frederick County Public Schools seemed to have found a loophole. In their logbook, staff recorded James’ seclusion time that day in half-hour chunks, according to discipline records provided by his mother and examined by The Frederick News-Post: 9:20 to 9:50. Then 9:51 to 10:21. Then 10:22 to 10:52. On and on until 12:08 p.m...

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/continuing_coverage/seclusion_and_restraint_in_fcps/trauma-lingers-for-fcps-students-who-experienced-repeated-seclusion-and-restraint/article_4834bf96-d874-57e1-8793-a34b5a697228.html

Frederick, MD, Schools to Drop Seclusion Room Use Per DOJ Agreement

UPDATE: Justice Department finds FCPS violated federal law in restraining, secluding students with disabilities [Superintendent Terry Alban is former MCPS Administrator]

A Department of Justice investigation and subsequent settlement announced Wednesday found that Frederick County Public Schools “systematically and improperly” secluded and restrained students with disabilities in violation of federal law.

The investigation, opened in October 2020, “revealed thousands of incidents of seclusion and restraint in just two and a half school years,” according to a DOJ news release.

The department focused on school years 2017-18, 2018-19 and the first half of 2019-20. During that period, FCPS performed 7,253 seclusions and restraints on 125 students. Thirty-four individual students were secluded or restrained more than 50 times each.

“Although students with disabilities make up only 10.8% of students enrolled in the district, every single student the district secluded was a student with disabilities, as were 99% — all but one — of the students the district restrained,” the release said.

The district was found to be discriminating against students with disabilities in “pervasive noncompliance” with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition to analyzing system policy and data on behavioral interventions, DOJ investigators conducted interviews with teachers, administrators, support staff and guardians of four affected students...

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/education/doj-fcps-violated-federal-law-in-restraining-secluding-students-with-disabilities/article_9c3ac4db-75fd-5042-b61d-45a3a41f9726.html

After report, Illinois officials vow to stop punishing students with solitary confinement

Listening from outside, school staff reportedly did not intervene as children cried, injured themselves and begged to leave their small timeout rooms. But they did take meticulous notes.

“I’d rather die. You’re torturing me!” one student said, according to records obtained by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune as part of a broad investigation.

“Please someone respond to me,” notes document another child pleading. “I’m sorry I ripped the paper. I overreacted. … Please just let me out. Is anyone out there?”

A first-grader started banging his head against concrete and plywood walls, leading a staffer to write at one point, “Nurse filling out concussion form,” according to the investigation. But a month later, notes indicate, he was back in the room — hurting himself again and so dizzy when he stood up that he “almost fell over.”

These accounts and more, published Tuesday in ProPublica and the Tribune’s exposé of school practices across Illinois, have stirred an outcry from people shocked that a punishment found in prisons would be common in classrooms. Reporters reviewed notes from lockups that were triggered by misbehavior as minor as failing to complete work and using “raised voice tones,” in apparent violation of state law...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/11/20/illinois-officials-vow-stop-putting-students-solitary-confinement-after-damning-report/

Parents sue Fairfax schools, allege improper seclusion and restraint of students with disabilities

Parents and disability rights groups are suing the largest school system in Virginia, alleging students with disabilities experience discrimination, trauma and physical harm through the excessive and improper use of seclusion and restraint in Fairfax County Public Schools.

The parents, Jennifer Tidd, Pamela Ononiwu and Ashley Thomas, are accusing the 189,000-student school system of using the practices to “silence, detain, segregate, and punish students with disabilities,” according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Fairfax school officials said they have completed a thorough and independent review of seclusion and restraint guidelines, and added staff, increased training and appointed an ombudsman for special education. The school system also created a task force to look at best practices for restraint and seclusion. The parents who filed the lawsuit lambasted that task force as a “public relations ploy.”

"We acknowledge that the use of restraint and seclusion is an especially sensitive and challenging issue and is appropriate only when less restrictive alternatives fail," Superintendent Scott Brabrand said in statement released late Tuesday. "We will continue to base our procedures and practices on that guiding principle."

Tidd’s son was secluded on at least 745 occasions and excluded from class several hundred more times over seven years, according to court papers. Tidd said she did not receive notice or documentation of the instances of seclusion within 24 hours, despite school system guidelines that say she should have been notified in that time frame.

“We have really no way of knowing what the total is,” Tidd said. “Our trust has been breached.”

The parents, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of four students, are asking the federal court to bar the school system from using either of the closely related practices on students with disabilities until an alternative system is implemented...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/parents-sue-fairfax-schools-allege-improper-seclusion-and-restraint-of-students-with-disabilities/2019/10/08/066166dc-e9f8-11e9-85c0-85a098e47b37_story.html?fbclid=IwAR2jBM7dYNR7fZZwflf3IaCf6xormBz2_s7KU7CkcsyAV_ekV1gNcbbbwC8

94% of the students #MCPS reports to have been subject to seclusion in 2017-18 were special education students, and most were between 5 and 10 years old. More than 450 of the reported seclusion incidents were black students and about 150 where white.

Among the nation’s 30 largest school districts, Montgomery County schools report the second-highest number of incidents where students are placed in isolation rooms for behavior problems, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The report, examining the quality of the data the U.S. Department of Education collects on school systems’ use of seclusion and physical restraint, showed the Montgomery school system reported 120 incidents of seclusion in the 2015-2016 school year and 332 cases of physical restraint, both among largest totals reported by school systems with more than 100,000 students.

Baltimore County Public Schools, with about 45,000 fewer students than Montgomery’s, reported the largest number of seclusion incidents with 157.

The practice of isolating a student to a confined area has come under fire from education activists who say doing so impedes a student’s education and can pose physical and mental health dangers. School system leaders across the country argue seclusion is a last resort intervention reserved for situations where children pose serious safety threats to themselves or others.

The GAO report was prompted by concerns that school districts have been underreporting incidents of seclusion. The most recent data showed 70% of the more than 17,000 school districts nationwide reported zero incidents of restraint and seclusion, according to the report from the congressional watchdog office, but its analysis found the data does not “accurately capture all incidents of restraint and seclusion in schools.”

Nine of the 10 school districts with more than 100,000 students that reported zero incidents of restraint and seclusion in the 2015-2016 school year later confirmed they either did not collect the data or did not correctly report their totals. It is unclear how many instances of restraint or seclusion those schools had...

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-student-seclusion-incidents-among-the-highest-in-the-nation-federal-watchdog-finds/

‘Excessive force’: Judge rules in favor of children who were handcuffed at school

A Kentucky sheriff’s deputy who handcuffed an 8-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl at school violated the children’s constitutional rights, a federal judge ruled, labeling the move “excessive force” and an unnecessary reaction to their misbehavior.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on the children’s behalf, said last week’s ruling vindicates its position that schools should not use police officers to deal with misbehaving students, particularly children with disabilities. The children who were handcuffed had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a condition that made it difficult for them to focus and follow instructions.

“This judge drew a line in the sand and said this conduct is unconstitutional, and we think that this is helpful in our efforts to advocate against the criminalization of children,” said Claudia Center, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU. “It’s a terrible policy from our view, particularly in elementary schools.”...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/10/17/excessive-force-judge-rules-in-favor-of-children-who-were-handcuffed-at-school/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.e4248e37918a

FYI: Statement of Dr. Ursula A. Hermann, Director, Department of Student Services Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland NASP Briefing: Effective Discipline Policies and Practices Thursday, April 18, 2013

Presentation given to National Association of School Psychologists
by MCPS administrator on MCPS discipline policies. 

   MCPS District Overview Testimony by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

VA Gov. signed new law that reins in the use of seclusion and restraint as methods of controlling children in public schools.

...The measure was prompted by complaints from parents about their disabled children being restrained by several adults, strapped into chairs and locked away in segregated rooms, sometimes emerging with bruises and broken bones...

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/governor-oks-regulating-seclusion-restraint-in-va-schools/2015/03/16/6858a4a2-cc27-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html

Podcast: Restraints and Seclusion in Public Schools

by Minhee Cho
ProPublica, June 23, 2014, 12:21 p.m.
Full story and podcast here.

In public schools across the country, it’s perfectly legal to take students who act out and isolate them in confined spaces against their will or even physically pin them down, ProPublica’s Heather Vogell reports.

The little-known practice – which was used at least 267,000 times in the 2012 school year alone – has largely escaped federal regulation, even as other government-funded institutions like hospitals and psychiatric centers have faced increasing restrictions on using restraints and seclusion on children over the last decade.

“This has been left up to the states and the school districts themselves to regulate,” Vogell tells assistant managing editor Eric Umansky. “And although advocates have been pushing for more restrictions on the practices for the last few years, it’s still legal in most states to restrain kids for reasons other than an emergency where they’re going to hurt themselves or hurt someone else.”

In a recent survey, 1 in 5 superintendents and other school district leaders approved of using restraints or seclusion as a means of punishment for children, not to protect them, Vogell notes. And a majority of these kids have physical, emotional or intellectual disabilities – some are even nonverbal – yet many states don’t require parents to be notified when their child has been restrained or put in isolation.

Listen to the podcast:  https://soundcloud.com/propublica/podcast-restraints-and-seclusion

Violent and Legal: The Shocking Ways School Kids are Being Pinned Down, Isolated Against Their Will

Carson Luke, a young boy with autism, shattered bones in his hand and foot after educators grabbed him and tried to shut him into a “scream room.” Kids across the country risked similar harm at least 267,000 times in just one school year.

by Heather Vogell
ProPublica, June 19, 2014, 5 a.m.

To read the full story go here.  To send a tip to ProPublica for this investigation, go here.

This story was co-published with NPR.

The room where they locked up Heather Luke's 10-year-old son had cinder block walls, a dim light and a fan in the ceiling that rattled so insistently her son would beg them to silence it.

Sometimes, Carson later told his mother, workers would run the fan to make him stop yelling. A thick metal door with locks—which they threw, clank-clank-clank—separated the autistic boy from the rest of the decrepit building in Chesapeake, Virginia, just south of Norfolk.

The room that officials benignly called the "quiet area" so agitated the tall and lanky blond boy that one day in March 2011, his mother said, Carson flew into a panic at the mere suggestion of being confined there after an outburst. He had lashed out, hitting, scratching and hurling his shoes. Staff members held him down, then muscled him through the hallway and attempted to lock him in, yet again.

But this time, the effort went awry. Staffers crushed Carson's hand while trying to slam the door. A surgeon later needed to operate to close the bleeding half-moon a bolt had punched into his left palm. The wound was so deep it exposed bone.

Carson's ordeal didn't take place in a psychiatric facility or juvenile jail. It happened at a public school.

For more than a decade, mental-health facilities and other institutions have worked to curtail the practice of physically restraining children or isolating them in rooms against their will. Indeed, federal rules restrict those practices in nearly all institutions that receive money from Washington to help the young—including hospitals, nursing homes and psychiatric centers.

 But such limits don't apply to public schools.

Breaking News: Harkin Unveils Report and Bill Addressing Dangerous Use of Seclusion & Restraints in Schools

February 12, 2014
Today, Senator Tom Harkin—Chairman of the Senate Education Committee—unveiled new legislation calling for an end to the use of dangerous seclusion & restraints on students in schools. His investigation found that under current law, a family whose child has been injured, experienced trauma, or died as a result of the use of seclusion or restraints in school has little or no recourse through school procedures or the courts. To address the issue, Senator Harkin introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act, which would prohibit these outdated practices and support positive behavioral interventions in our nation’s schools. The bill would help to create positive learning environments to ensure every classroom is a safe and supportive place for students and teachers alike. Read more about Senator Harkin’s investigation and the bill here.

Inside MCPS: The Cover Up - Confidential Memo from Investigation of Principal

This MCPS Confidential Memorandum is also part of the public file from the recent litigation by former teachers at Kemp Mill Elementary School versus the Montgomery County Board of Education.  

In this Confidential Memorandum we can see how MCPS covered up that students were being taken into a closet for periods of up to 30 minutes by administrators. This report came 10 days after the July 20, 2010 e-mail that we have posted.  

Why did the writer (Ann L. Bauman Kamenstein) of this Confidential Memorandum neglect to include the facts that had already been revealed to her in the July 20, 2010 e-mail?  In the July 20th e-mail the Principal had already admitted that there were two times when it "may have taken 30 minutes" for a student to be released from the closet.  Yet, that specific information did not make it in to the final report shown below. 

The recommendation of this Confidential Memorandum is that the Community Superintendent make regular visits to the school. But, there is no recommendation with regard to the fact that students are taken into a closet for periods of up to 30 minutes at a time by this school's administrators.  Is putting students for up to "30 minutes in a closet" standard MCPS practice? 

The document is very hard to read so we have typed most of the contents of this memo below.  Omitted from this text are the lists of names of interviewees.  The complete 4 page document is at the bottom of this post on SCRIBD.

~~~~~~~~~~
Office of Human Resources and Development
Montgomery County Public Schools
Rockville, Maryland

July 30, 2010

CONFIDENTIAL

MEMORANDUM

To:          Ms. Carole Goodman, Associate Superintendent

Through:  Raymone L. Frappolli, Director, Performance Evaluation

From:      Ann L. Bauman Kamenstein, Coordinator

Subject:   Floyd Starnes, Principal

               Kemp Mill Elementary School

On May 9, 2010, Dr. Frieda Lacey, Deputy Superintendent of Schools, sent a letter to the Office of Human Resources (OHR) signed by three teachers at Kemp Mill Elementary School (KMES) in support of Mr. Dan Picca, teacher, alleging sexual harassment and hostile work environment against Mr. Floyd Starnes, principal.  In addition, the letter alleges there are make staff in the building who have experienced unwelcome advances of touching and name calling by Mr. Starnes.  During the work day Mr. Starnes allegedly has referred to staff as:  "honey, sweetie, and babe," and therefore teachers have left the building due to his behavior.  The letter states that three different teachers have witnessed Mr. Starnes taking male students into different closed areas for as long as 30 minutes.  The OHRD conducted an investigation by interviewing current and former KMES staff and reviewing documentation submitted to and requested by OHRD.  Mr. Starnes came to OHRD and responded to the allegations (Attachment 1).

From May 14, 2010 through June 16, 2010, the following were spoken to:

[...list of teachers, building services manager,] Ms. Bronda Mills, Community Superintendent, and Ms. Kim Shawn Gary, MCEA Uniserv representative

All of the above admitted to hearing Mr. Starnes use the words such as "sweetie, honey, and babe."  None of the above claimed to ever being touched by Mr. Starnes.  One employee asked not to be involved and refused to be interviewed.  Mr. Starnes admitted

-page 2-

using these words, and in a memorandum sent by Mr. Raymond Frappoli, he was directed to cease using inappropriate unprofessional language when addressing staff (Attachment 2).  [...teachers...] were sent letters of response (Attachment 3).

On June 15, 2010, Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) advised this office that they obtained additional information and requested further inquiry into areas of concern (Attachment 4).

From June 22, 2010 until present, the following were contacted:  (some staff were contacted 2nd and 3rd time)

[...teachers, guidance counselor, building service manager, ITS' from Central Services, former assistant principal, speech pathologist, media specialist,  former teachers...]

Regarding issue 1:  Mr. Gupta alleges that OHRD had received a number of letters prior to May. The letters this office addressed were written on May 9, 2010 and an email recevied on May 14, 2010 that began the OHRD investigation.

Regarding issue 2:  Two male teachers left Kemp Mill because they were too uncomfortable with Mr. Starnes's inappropriate verbiage and physical advances.  Two male staff did leave KMES.  First, a music teacher who related that Mr. Starnes called him "babe, honey, and doll" and had pinched him and touched him on the shoulder in 2008.  He allegedly left KMES because of the harassment.  He alleges that the following year, his classroom was removed and he was assigned to the cafeteria.  The music teacher did teach a .3 pposition at KMES and due to the increased enrollment he was assigned to teach in the cafeteria.  He informed OHRD that the left the school because he lost his .3 position and that he was getting involved now, after two years, because of what was happening to Mr. Picca.  Ms. Kamenstein did speak to him and sent a letter asking for additional information (Attachment 5).  To date, he has not provided any additional written information other than what we previously in Mr. Gupta's letter.

-page 3-

The second teacher was a counselor.  He was contacted by telephone on three different occaisions and he related that the was never unfomfortable, and though they did not always see things the administration, he left to become a pupil personnel worker.  He state there was no harassment of any kind.

In that same issue it was alleged that two female teachers left because they were afraid of becoming one of his targets.  The possibility of having trouble was a reason one teacher informed me she chose to leave KMES.  The other teacher left because she lost her focus teacher status.  She is currently a focus teacher at a different location.

We [sic] regards to issue 3:  The Information Technology Support Specialist did work for Mr. Starnes and was addressed with the word "babe."  He told Mr. Starnes he did not like being called "babe" and he is still assigned to KMES (Attachement 6).  Mr. Starnes has been directed to cease the use of inappropriate terms.

As to issue 4:  Mr. Starnes placed a child in a closet in a teacher's room for 30 minutes.  The classroom teacher who witnessed the event claims the child was unruly.  Mr. Starnes came into her small room with the student and went into the closet for 1-2 minutes (Attachment 7).

The other incidences where a child was placed in a small room in the main office did happen on several occasions.  According to staff, it was a small room in the main office that was well traveled and used for time out.  This procedure was used by the principal, assistant principal, and guidance counselor.  

Regarding issue 5  Concerning a ritual that Mr. Starnes "mooed" over the school intercom system.  Mr. Starnes relates that it only happened one time and it was done as a joke.  This was during the 2008-2009 school year.  Other teachers said it went on for a longer period of time, and then acknowledged that in the winter it had stopped.  Not all teachers were offended nor complained to the administration.  This office confirmes that it occurred more than one time.

Issue 6:  Reference to the building service manager:  When contacted, he requested that the letter he had submitted be removed from consideration (Attachment 8).  He no longer cared to be involved with the group's complaints/accusations.

As to the allged reprimands from Mr. Starnes to the teachers, none have been produced for this office to view.  The other male staff member has asked repeatedly to have the letter he wrote removed, and does not want to be involved with the MSEA attorney or the teachers.

-page 4-

Summary

On May 9, 2010, Dr. Lacey received three letters of concern.  This OHRD met with Ms. Bronda Mills and Mr. Floyd Starnes and gathered information from 25 former and current staff from KMES.  Mr. Starnes has answered all of the questions address to him.  On June 16, 2010, he received a memorandum from Mr. Raymond Frappolli directing him to cease using unprofessional inappropriate language toward staff.  The teachers who sent the original correspondence all received letter dated June 15, 2010.

On June 15, 2010, additional questions were presented by the MSEA attorney.   This summary and attachments outlines our process.

In his responses to the additional questions Mr. Starnes has admitted to the allegation that he used inappropriate, unprofessional terms when speaking to employees.  He has acknowledged that his choice of words was not appropriate.  Mr. Starnes denies sexually harassing any employee.

Recommendation

Investigation into the additional allegations listed in Mr. Gupta's letter has resulted in no further recommendation/directive than that expressed in the June 16, 2010 memorandum to Mr. Starnes.  The community superintendent has related that she will make regular visits to KMES during the 2010-2011 school year to help insure that an atmosphere of learning and professionalism is maintained.

ALBK:slw

Attachments

Copy to:
  Ms. Bresler

  2010 July 30 Memo by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Closer Look: Date of Incident: May 2009 - A Teacher Describes a Student Being Put in a Closet

This e-mail is also from the recent litigation by former teachers at Kemp Mill Elementary School versus the Montgomery County Board of Education.

In this August 6, 2010, e-mail a Kemp Mill ES teacher describes an incident at Kemp Mill ES to a Montgomery County employee.

  2010 August Closet Incidents by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland