Potomac Almanac Letter: Is This Involvement?

Is This Involvement?

By Janis Sartucci, Cluster coordinator, Churchill Cluster PTA Wednesday, July 14, 2004

The following letter to The Board of Education and Superintendent Jerry Weast is shared with the Almanac

On Tuesday, July 6, 2004, I testified with regard to Agenda Item 4.2.8 that to date there has been no PTA or community input with regard to the Site Selection, Feasibility Study (including Educational Specifications) and Architect Selection with respect to the construction of an elementary school on the Kendale Elementary School site. I stand by that statement and would be willing to sign a sworn affidavit to those facts if you so desire.

It is disheartening that the statements of four PTA and community members were so easily dismissed during that meeting.

Later that same day Mr. [Joe] Lavorgna [director, MCPS Department of Planning and Capital programs] and Mr. [Dick] Hawes [director MCPS Department of Facilities Management] made the following statements:

1. I asked Mr. Lavorgna if a feasibility study would be produced for the Kendale site, similar to the one prepared for the Potomac Elementary School addition. His answer was no.

2. When told that no PTA members were contacted with regard to the selection of an architect for the Kendale Elementary School site, Mr. Hawes said that the PTA vote on that matter was of no consequence, as the PTA was just one vote on a committee of seven.

In [Superintendent Jerry] Weast's recommendation of Feb. 23, 2004, he requested a feasibility study for the Kendale Elementary School site. I am not aware of any other school construction project that has been done without a feasibility study and community and PTA input. I trust you will supply me with the names and locations of the county schools that have been constructed without feasibility studies and community and PTA input.

I renew the request made in my testimony on July 6, 2004. I would ask that the Board of Education remand this issue back to MCPS staff for the formation of a committee as described in Policy FAA to consider and present back to the Board of Education a report on site selection. If the site is approved, I would request that the process proceed according to Board of Education policy and procedures.

Officials are investigating reporting failure

Magruder High School teacher accused of child abuse

Mar. 7, 2001

Effie Bathen Staff Writer

The county school system has launched a secondary investigation in connection with charges that a Col. Zadok A. Magruder High School art teacher made sexual contact with a female student, according to a school spokesman.

The school system is investigating the method by which the alleged incident was reported, according to Montgomery County Public Schools spokesman Brian J. Porter.

Porter refused to give any more details.

Tim Delaney, director of the Montgomery County Police Family Services Division, said his office received the complaint of alleged sexual abuse from the school principal and arrested Magruder teacher Donald Gooden, 56, on Feb. 28.

Gooden, of the 5100 block of Church Road in Mitchellville, is charged with one count of child abuse and one count of fourth-degree sex offence. He was released on $15,000 bond the day of his arrest, police said.

"The young lady came forward with a complaint of sexual contact," Delaney said.

After talking with her parents, the teen told investigators that she had reported the alleged sexual abuse to a female teacher about two weeks earlier, he added.

"That teacher didn't notify anyone," Delaney said.

The female student complained of "a continuum of incidents" that occurred in the classroom between Jan. 22 and Feb. 15, according to police spokesman Officer Derek Baliles.

According to charging documents in Montgomery County District Court, Gooden asked the teen if she would pose nude so he could make a painting of her. The art teacher said he could get $600 for a painting and would pay her $75 for posing.

According to the charging documents, the teen also complained that Gooden once touched her breast, slapped her rear end, and twice made inappropriate sexual comments to her.

The charging documents also said that Gooden, a 30-year veteran teacher, denied any wrongdoing when the police questioned him.

Thomas Morrow, attorney for Gooden, said his client would "vigorously defend the charges."

Porter said the school system was conducting a separate investigation looking into how the student's complaints were handled.

He said that school policy encourages students to report any incident of sexual misconduct by a student or staff member, and that state law requires education employees to report any such incidents they hear about.

In comments to the County Council's Public Safety Committee March 1, Kristen Bender, field community prosecutor for the Wheaton-Glenmont District, also said it was important for teachers to report cases of sexual misconduct with a student when they hear of any.

She said it is a misdemeanor if a teacher fails to report a student's complaint of that nature.

Gooden is the second public high school teacher in Rockville within the last several months to be charged with child abuse linked to alleged sexual misconduct.

The other is Rockville High School teacher Adolfo I. Wittgreen, 31, of Oakview Drive in Mt. Airy.

His trial is scheduled for April 23, when he will face 12 counts ranging from child abuse to fourth-degree sex offenses. Prosecutors say he groped and kissed two students.

Wittgreen and Gooden could face 15 years in prison per victim for the child abuse charges, police have said.

Porter said both Wittgreen and Gooden also could face dismissal because the school system considers sexual activity between its teachers and any students inappropriate to the student-teacher relationship.

Despite what happens in court, the school system could dismiss a teacher accused of serious misconduct based up "a preponderance of evidence," a school personnel officer has said.

The State of Maryland also has laws against "moral turpitude," Porter explained. "Certainly any violation would constitute grounds for dismissal."

http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archive/2001/200110/olney/news/46436-1.html

1999: Teacher began relationship during investigation, police say

by Daryl Khan
Staff Writer
March 10, 1999
By the time Winston Churchill High School music teacher James Misenheimer allegedly leaned over in the darkness of his office to kiss a 15-year-old student, school officials and police were nine days into an investigation of sexual misconduct, according to court documents.
On Jan. 22, the night of their alleged first kiss, Misenheimer treated the girl, a Churchill sophomore, to dinner and video games at Dave & Busters where she was allowed in only because she was with Misenheimer, an adult at least 25 years old. After dinner and games, they returned to his Churchill office, according to court documents.
That first night was followed by several more as the relationship "escalated over the next several weeks," according to court documents, and eventually they were allegedly looking at graphic sexual books, and engaging in sexual relations.
While officials from Montgomery County Public Schools and Police Youth Services Division began on Jan. 13 looking into allegations that Misenheimer had been exchanging sexually explicit e-mails with his students, he allegedly began the relationship with the 15-year-old whom he befriended on school-related trips.
Montgomery County Public Schools placed Misenheimer was placed on administrative leave with pay on Feb. 12 after a social worker contacted police and told them of allegations that Misenheimer was engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct over the Internet with a 14-year-old Churchill freshman.
Police charged Misenheimer Feb. 24 with two misdemeanor counts of stalking and contributing to the condition of a child for engaging in sexual e-mail conversations with the 14-year-old.
But now he faces additional charges -- one felony count of child abuse and two felony counts of third-degree sexual offense -- after the 15-year-old student told school officials March 1 that she had sexual contact after hours with Misenheimer in his school office.
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http://ww2.gazette.net/gazette_archive/1999/199911/potomac/news/a44117-1.html