Showing posts with label sexual misconduct. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sexual misconduct. Show all posts
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Monday, February 25, 2019
Breaking: Former MCPS Substitute Teacher Jose Pineda Deported. Did not Serve Out Term. Not Registered as Sex Offender.
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."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.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Former-Substitute-Teacher-Gets-Five-Year-Sentence-for-Sex-Abuse-of-Students-305515331.html
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...
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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
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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.
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/#ixzz3IcP7Vw8mFriday, 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...
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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...
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...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...
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Thursday, December 4, 2014
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 operator2003-2006 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
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Investigations into teacher misconduct can take more than a year
By Baltimore Sun reporter Liz Bowie. Read the full story here.
Many area school systems send those teachers to warehouses during the investigation.
Williams, who had been accused of touching a girl on the cheek with a yardstick, was paid his full salary plus benefits for more than a year to show up at the warehouse when school was in session. At his school, Woodlawn Middle, a substitute was hired to teach his class.
"The county doesn't move on anything quickly. They let people sit there and rot," said Williams, who denies having touched the girl. He made $67,000 a year as a teacher.
Every year, hundreds of school system employees are immediately escorted out of Baltimore-area schools when they are accused of misconduct and are told they can't return to the school until an investigation is completed. Those investigations can take more than a year to be concluded, and in the meantime taxpayers pay the bill for both their salaries and the substitute teachers'.
Many area school systems send those teachers to warehouses during the investigation.
While Baltimore County officials were deciding whether Michael Williams was fit to continue teaching, he was assigned to a dusty, windowless room at a Pulaski Highway warehouse that held old textbooks, surplus computers and other materials. He, along with a dozen or so employees, sat at a long table reading detective novels and playing Trivial Pursuit.
Sometimes they would fall asleep until supervisors, watching from a security camera, came in to wake them up.
Williams, who had been accused of touching a girl on the cheek with a yardstick, was paid his full salary plus benefits for more than a year to show up at the warehouse when school was in session. At his school, Woodlawn Middle, a substitute was hired to teach his class.
"The county doesn't move on anything quickly. They let people sit there and rot," said Williams, who denies having touched the girl. He made $67,000 a year as a teacher.
Every year, hundreds of school system employees are immediately escorted out of Baltimore-area schools when they are accused of misconduct and are told they can't return to the school until an investigation is completed. Those investigations can take more than a year to be concluded, and in the meantime taxpayers pay the bill for both their salaries and the substitute teachers'.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
School Design Flaws Indicative of MCPS’s Predator Problem
When a building maintenance worker at Hoover Middle School was arrested on Thursday after allegedly watching female students undressing in their locker room, it became apparent that the school’s layout shows a fundamental design flaw may be responsible in part for placing the young girls at risk.
NBC Washington reported that Maintenance worker Josh Greenberg, 28, used a Herbert Hoover Middle School staff office to look into the girls’ locker room on two different days, police said.
As NBC Washington reported, the layout of the Rockville/Potomac middle school allowed passersby to peer into the locker room through a window shrouded with blinds located in a staff office - an area possibly accessible by almost anyone. Greenberg reportedly admitted what he had done and was placed on administrative leave, NBC Washington reported.
The architectural blueprint of the school showing the locker room window and its position is located here. And it is that blueprint that would have likely been approved by the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Director of Facilities Management James Song.
Hoover Principal Yom Mi Kim wrote to parents after the Nov. 7 arrest: “After these allegations were brought to our attention by the students, we immediately contacted the police, MCPS and the parents of the students involved. The employee has been placed on administrative leave, and an investigation by the MCPS Office of Human Resources and Development is being conducted.”
Then came the MCPS commercial.
“At Hoover, we take pride in ensuring the safety and wellness of all our students. We are proud that students had the courage to come forward and share this information with the staff who they have come to trust and respect.”
It is one more incident in a long line of MCPS staff and teachers who have been arrested and charged with sexual misconduct. In 2013 alone, according to Parents Coalition records, there have been five MCPS workers who have been arrested on sexual misconduct charges.
It is indicative of a systemic problem within the county school system that these alleged predators are able to operate and sometimes thrive around the county’s most vulnerable population.
What’s more damning for MCPS is the emerging evidence that the system moves predators from one school to the next – similar to the actions taken by the Catholic Archdiocese that resulted in millions of dollars in settlements to former abuse victims – and a lifetime of damage to the victims.
It isn’t known how long any of the predators that worked for MCPS were engaged in their appropriate behavior. The school system is more focused on school construction and curriculum secrecy than the safety of the children in their charge.
Despite the recent spate of school shootings, security is not a priority for MCPS. During a recent Parents Day at Bradley Hills Elementary School in Bethesda, the staff piled sign-in sheets and badges on an unmanned table set up in the school entrance way. Anyone could then walk in, sign in and roam freely throughout the school unchallenged.
Slate.com reported that in a 2000 study commissioned by the American Association of University Women, one in 10 students between 8th and 11th grade had reported experiencing inappropriate sexual conduct at school. The news group said that if those number were accurate then nationwide, “4.5 million students currently in grades K-12 have suffered some form of sexual abuse by an educator, and more than 3 million have experienced sexual touching or assault.”
If a culture of safety isn’t coming from Josh Starr, then it likely won’t filter down to the principals under his charge. Then again, he’s likely far too busy being an education rock star delivering his canned and crafted messages in pricey venues like Strathmore Hall, and having photos of himself getting the Miley Cyrus treatment being tweeted by his staff.
NBC Washington reported that Maintenance worker Josh Greenberg, 28, used a Herbert Hoover Middle School staff office to look into the girls’ locker room on two different days, police said.
As NBC Washington reported, the layout of the Rockville/Potomac middle school allowed passersby to peer into the locker room through a window shrouded with blinds located in a staff office - an area possibly accessible by almost anyone. Greenberg reportedly admitted what he had done and was placed on administrative leave, NBC Washington reported.
The architectural blueprint of the school showing the locker room window and its position is located here. And it is that blueprint that would have likely been approved by the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Director of Facilities Management James Song.Hoover Principal Yom Mi Kim wrote to parents after the Nov. 7 arrest: “After these allegations were brought to our attention by the students, we immediately contacted the police, MCPS and the parents of the students involved. The employee has been placed on administrative leave, and an investigation by the MCPS Office of Human Resources and Development is being conducted.”
Then came the MCPS commercial.
“At Hoover, we take pride in ensuring the safety and wellness of all our students. We are proud that students had the courage to come forward and share this information with the staff who they have come to trust and respect.”
It is one more incident in a long line of MCPS staff and teachers who have been arrested and charged with sexual misconduct. In 2013 alone, according to Parents Coalition records, there have been five MCPS workers who have been arrested on sexual misconduct charges.
It is indicative of a systemic problem within the county school system that these alleged predators are able to operate and sometimes thrive around the county’s most vulnerable population.
What’s more damning for MCPS is the emerging evidence that the system moves predators from one school to the next – similar to the actions taken by the Catholic Archdiocese that resulted in millions of dollars in settlements to former abuse victims – and a lifetime of damage to the victims.
It isn’t known how long any of the predators that worked for MCPS were engaged in their appropriate behavior. The school system is more focused on school construction and curriculum secrecy than the safety of the children in their charge.
Despite the recent spate of school shootings, security is not a priority for MCPS. During a recent Parents Day at Bradley Hills Elementary School in Bethesda, the staff piled sign-in sheets and badges on an unmanned table set up in the school entrance way. Anyone could then walk in, sign in and roam freely throughout the school unchallenged.
Slate.com reported that in a 2000 study commissioned by the American Association of University Women, one in 10 students between 8th and 11th grade had reported experiencing inappropriate sexual conduct at school. The news group said that if those number were accurate then nationwide, “4.5 million students currently in grades K-12 have suffered some form of sexual abuse by an educator, and more than 3 million have experienced sexual touching or assault.”
If a culture of safety isn’t coming from Josh Starr, then it likely won’t filter down to the principals under his charge. Then again, he’s likely far too busy being an education rock star delivering his canned and crafted messages in pricey venues like Strathmore Hall, and having photos of himself getting the Miley Cyrus treatment being tweeted by his staff.
Dr. Starr walks out to give his State of the Schools speech #MCPSSOTS @mcpssuper pic.twitter.com/AyMYrt58He
— Dana Tofig (@MCPSPIO) November 11, 2013
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