Breaking: Urgent Changes Needed regarding MCPS and Child Abuse Detailed in Email from MCPS Parent Advocate Jennifer Alvaro

From: jennifer alvaro 

To: Jack Smith <jack_smith@mcpsmd.org>

Cc: of Education MCPS <boe@mcpsmd.org>; county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov <county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov>; ike.leggett@montgomerycountymd.gov <ike.leggett@montgomerycountymd.gov>; Jill Ortman-fouse <jill_ortman-fouse@mcpsmd.org>

Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2018, 8:18:54 AM EDT

Subject: Urgent Changes Needed regarding MCPS and Child Abuse

Good Morning Dr. Smith, 

In a recent Washington Post article regarding the long standing sexual harassment of students by a math teacher at Blair high school, your spokesperson stated MCPS found the allegations credible. 

He went on to state the following, "One of the things we’re trying to figure out is: How did we get here? Where could we have made a better decision or taken more action?” spokesman Derek Turner said. “We want to know how to prevent this from ever happening again.”

To those of us who have been bringing these issues to your attention and in fact, the attention of the school system for 6 years now, reading that statement was a sad confirmation.   A confirmation the schools are still grossly mishandling this entire issue.  A confirmation you are still leaving children in danger.  This is not an accusation or speculation.  One only has to read recent headlines to see what is occurring.

A couple weeks ago, Jill Ortman-Fouse informed me she spoke to you about my concerns and you had instructed staff to "analyse" what had gone on.   I'm not quite clear on what that means so I took the opportunity to draft some recommendations for what the school system should be doing.

I've attached 10 recommendations for you, the BOE, the county council and Ike Leggett to review.

I would appreciate a timely response.    

As always, please feel free to email or call me should you have any questions. 

Thank you,

Jennifer Alvaro 

   Urgent Changes Needed regarding Montgomery County Public Schools and Child Abuse by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Ex-Leader of Baltimore County Schools, a Tech Booster, Pleads Guilty to Perjury

A former superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, the 25th-largest district in the United States, pleaded guilty on Thursday to four counts of perjury related to payments totaling about $147,000 that he received for consulting and speaking engagements.

The state said the former superintendent, Shaun Dallas Dance, had made false statements on his financial disclosure forms “to conceal the nature and extent of his outside business interests and conflicts of interest.” Among other sources of income, the state said, Mr. Dance received payments from a school leadership training company that he had helped win an $875,000 no-bid contract from his school district.

After his financial relationship with that school vendor became known, the state said, Mr. Dance falsely told a Baltimore County Public Schools ethics panel that he had not been paid by the company while it was doing business with the district. He also provided the ethics panel with what the state described as a “sham” service agreement with the company supporting his false claims...

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/technology/baltimore-county-schools-superintendent.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-4&action=click&contentCollection=Technology&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com

FYI: The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Montgomery County

The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Montgomery County 

Executive Summary of OLO Report Number 2016-6 

March 1, 2016 

Summary: The School-to-Prison Pipeline refers to the increased risk of juvenile delinquency and criminal justice system involvement among children who have been suspended or expelled from school. Nationally, the criminalization of minor school-based infractions and the over-representation of youth of color and students with disabilities are key features of the School-to-Prison Pipeline. This report seeks to improve the County Council’s understanding of the School-to-Prison Pipeline, particularly in Montgomery County. 

Overall, the School-to-Prison Pipeline within the County mirrors national trends in disproportionality by race, ethnicity, gender, and special education status, but the Pipeline is shrinking. OLO also found that while many local agency practices align with best practices for stemming for the Pipeline, opportunities exist for improving local practices that include engaging community stakeholders and improving data systems to track performance outcomes and to support program improvements...

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OLO/Resources/Files/2016%20Reports/School%20to%20Prison%20Pipeline%20with%20CAO%20Response%2020166.pdf

Is The Freshman Dominating MD [Rockville] High School Basketball Actually 20 Years Old?

The Cinderella-est story of the schoolboy hoops season in the Washington, D.C. area came to an end over the weekend. It turns out the year’s most fantastical feel-good tale really was a fantasy after all.

The Rockville Rams, a Montgomery County, Md. public school squad that went2-22 last season, won its district this year. The Rams blew a second-half lead to Governor Thomas Johnson High on Saturday, losing out on a trip to the Final Four of the Maryland state championships...

https://deadspin.com/is-the-freshman-dominating-maryland-high-school-basketb-1823541187

ABC7: Montgomery Blair High School student caught with 15 grams of marijuana, a digital scale + $161 in cash - all stashed in his book bag, police say.

NEW: Montgomery Blair High School student caught with 15 grams of marijuana, a digital scale + $161 in cash - all stashed in his book bag, police say.

19yo Dylan Sheffield allegedly reeked of weed. When cops arrived, teen was "struggling" w/ staff on the counseling office floor. pic.twitter.com/xdUKtfhaA4

— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) March 9, 2018

Police: MCPS 12th grader caught with three knives, school doesn't notify parents

ROCKVILLE, Md. (ABC7) — A 12th grader at Richard Montgomery High School was allegedly caught on campus with three knives, yet administrators chose not to notify the school community about the public safety threat.

On Friday, February 23, an unnamed student spotted a knife sticking out of 18-year-old Carlos Ruben Castillo Junior's front pant pocket. They notified school staff members...

http://wjla.com/news/local/police-mcps-12th-grader-caught-with-three-knives-school-doesnt-notify-parents

“They knew that the strategy they were pursuing was dangerous to young children and they pursued it anyway.”

This Olympian-Turned-Lawyer Is Fighting to Prevent Another Larry Nassar

When Indianapolis Star reporters began to break news that former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar abused more than 150 women, Nancy Hogshead-Makar met with them to explain how oversight of sexual abuse works in club and Olympic sports—basically, she said, there had long been very, very little. “Larry Nassar, or somebody like Larry Nassar, was inevitable,” Hogshead-Makar recently told Mother Jones. “By not imposing any child protection policies on youth sports, it’s inevitable that you’re going to have a monster that’s going to come out.”...

...It also says that people need to report if they suspect child abuse, not if they know there’s child abuse. One of the things that we need to make sure that we educate people on is that they don’t need to do their own investigation. In fact, they shouldn’t do their own investigation. Interviewing a child requires special expertise. You tell the child protective services, the FBI, or the local police and let them take it from there...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/02/this-olympian-turned-lawyer-is-fighting-to-prevent-another-larry-nassar/

Floreen to Berliner: “This is not a game! You cannot have it both ways, my friend. I mean, what are you smoking?”

WASHINGTON — A long-delayed transportation project aimed at relieving traffic congestion in the White Flint area of North Bethesda, Maryland, could face further delays due to a move Thursday by the Montgomery County Council’s transportation committee.

By a 2-to-1 vote, the committee declared that construction work on Montrose Parkway East should be pushed back by three years. The recommendation now heads to the full council...

...The project, which has already been delayed by eight years, would stretch between Rockville Pike and Veirs Mill Road.

Under the plan laid out by “the three amigos,” construction would be moved from 2021 to 2024, freeing up more than $94 million...

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2018/03/montgomery-co-could-further-delay-parkway-project/

MD v. Dallas Dance: Statement in Support of Plea of Guilty

   Maryland v. Dallas Dance - Statement of Facts in Support of Guilty Plea by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

***Former Baltimore County schools leader Dallas Dance pleads guilty to perjury

Former Baltimore County school superintendent Dallas Dance pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of perjury for failing to disclose nearly $147,000 he earned from consulting jobs — including payments from a company he helped win a no-bid contract with the school system.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence of five years and want Dance to serve 18 months in jail. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for April 20, Dance’s 38th birthday.

Maryland State Prosecutor Emmet C. Davitt read a lengthy list of facts that laid out in detail how Dance repeatedly deceived the school board and ethics officials and manipulated the purchasing process to award a contract to a company that was paying him for consulting.

The facts show that Dance began negotiating for private consulting work with executives of the Chicago company, SUPES Academy, shortly after he was hired as Baltimore County schools superintendent in July 2012.

Dance told the executives that he needed to make more money due to a divorce, Davitt said in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

“Keep me as busy as you can,” Dance reportedly told one of the SUPES executives, Davitt said.

Davitt also said Dance vowed to a SUPES official that he would fire a Baltimore County Public Schools employee in order to get a no-bid contract for SUPES, which the school board approved in December 2012.

After his private consulting work with the school contractor became public in media reports, Dance lied to ethics officials about payments from his SUPES job and begged SUPES executives not to provide information to the ethics panel, Davitt said.

He also provided false documents to the school system’s ethics panel that showed any income he had earned was going to the school system’s education foundation. It was not, Davitt said.

Dance told SUPES executives not to worry because the ethics panel has no subpoena power. He also said that if they turned over any documents “he might as well kill himself.”...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-dallas-dance-trial-20180305-story.html

Bill spurred by Nassar scandal concerns Catholic Church

Updated: February 27, 2018 7:41 pm

LANSING, Michigan — A Michigan bill inspired by the Larry Nassar scandal that would retroactively extend the amount of time child victims of sexual abuse have to sue their abusers is drawing concerns from the Catholic Church, which has paid out billions of dollars to settle U.S. clergy abuse cases.

Michigan Catholic Conference spokesman David Maluchnik confirmed Tuesday that extending the statute of limitations is “of concern” to the church’s lobbying arm, but he withheld further comment until the bill’s impact could be fully reviewed. He said the group supports other parts of a 10-bill package introduced Monday, including a measure that would add more people to the list of those who must report suspected abuse to child protective services...

https://bangordailynews.com/2018/02/27/news/nation/bill-spurred-by-nassar-case-concerns-catholic-church/

County Council Looks To Avert Bethesda Building Moratorium Due to School Crowding

County Council Looks To Avert Bethesda Building Moratorium Due to School Crowding: Members add money to capital plan for projects at Bethesda Elementary, Somerset Elementary

Stop the assault on our Maryland Public Infomation Act

Our county delegation to Annapolis is currently working to limit the Maryland Public Information Act. They late-filed a bill, hoping you wouldn't find out about it. Here at Parents' Coalition we rely on this act to get the information the county wants hidden.  Information on dangerous radon in our schools. Information on cover-ups of pedophilia in our schools. Information on cell towers. Dangers of artificial turf.

Here is a draft letter you can send to your delegates. Contact information is here.

Subject line:  OPPOSE HB 677 (Emergency Bill), entitled “Public Information Act – Required Denials – Physical Addresses, E–Mail Addresses, and Telephone Numbers”

Dear Delegate <NAME>,

I urge you to oppose HB 677 (Emergency Bill), entitled “Public Information Act – Required Denials – Physical Addresses, E–Mail Addresses, and Telephone Numbers” -- but which more accurately should be called the “Special Interest and Incumbent Protection Act.”

Here is the bill:  http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/20 18RS/bills/hb/hb0677F.pdf

 

Currently, some Montgomery County elected officials use taxpayer resources to collect email addresses and then send newsletters  via email to many thousands of constituents -- ostensibly to inform constituents, but with the effect of using taxpayer resources to solidify their incumbency.

 

Wealthy special interests can also communicate with voters by paying large sums to data mining companies for contact information lists.  One such wealthy special interest reportedly has contact information for hundreds of thousands of Montgomery County residents.

If the bill is passed, only the following will have the capacity to reach large numbers of potential voters:

• Incumbents using email lists developed with taxpayer funds;
• Wealthy special interests who use their wealth to buy contact information lists from private vendors.

Who is left out: "We, the People” -- whose tax dollars were used by elected officials to create the email lists.

The proposed bill bars voter groups from accessing the email addresses that the voters paid for with their tax dollars.  Given that there is not a single daily newspaper that focuses on Montgomery County and holds elected officials accountable, it is essential for voter groups/constituents to be able to communicate with large numbers of voters/constituents via the same mechanisms as their elected officials -- and to be able to obtain those taxpayer-funded email lists under Maryland’s Public Information Act.

If this bill is passed, only special interests and incumbents -- some of whom take large campaign contributions from special interests -- will have the power to communicate with voters ... and "We, the People" -- voter groups -- will have no power to reach many voters.

 

For these reasons, I urge you to reject HB 677, which we call the “Special Interest and Incumbent Protection Act."

The Isolation Room: Loudoun County parents alarmed at treatment of students with special needs | LoudounTimes.com

The Isolation Room: Loudoun County parents alarmed at treatment of students with special needs | LoudounTimes.com

Maryland General Assembly Leadership Refuses to Let The Repeat Sexual Predator Prevention Act Receive a Vote

Maryland General Assembly Leadership Refuses to Let The Repeat Sexual Predator Prevention Act Receive a Vote

The Repeat Sexual Predator Prevention Act that I introduced with Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary has gained a lot of momentum! Last month, I joined supporters of the bill along with the Women's Legislative Caucus and Black Caucus of Maryland for a press conference. Since then, the bill now has support from many other groups including the Asian-American & Pacific-Islander Caucus and the Legislative Latino Caucus!

Despite the support, leadership refuses to let the Repeat Sexual Predator Prevention Act even be placed on the vote list in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee or the House Judiciary Committee. THE REPEAT SEXUAL PREDATOR PREVENTION NEEDS YOUR HELP! Please CALL AND EMAIL your legislators and ask them to bring SB270/HB301, the Repeat Sexual Predator Prevention Act of 2018 to a vote. Find contact information for your Senator and Delegates here: mdelect.net. Senator Jim Brochin Maryland State Senate, District 42 410-841-3648 jim.brochin@senate.state.md.us

Failure to diagnose dyslexia a problem in Maryland public schools

Some literacy experts believe that more than 60 percent of Maryland public school students are reading below grade level due, in part, to the failure of educators to diagnosis a learning disorder called dyslexia.

It's a message that grassroots organization Decoding Dyslexia Maryland has been trying share for years...

http://www.wbaltv.com/article/failure-to-diagnose-dyslexia-a-problem-in-maryland-public-schools/16768853

CREATING SAFE ENVIRONMENTS TO PROTECT CHILDREN: HB 1072 & HB 1571

   2018 - Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

NBC4 Video: Retired Teacher Eric Walstein denies allegations made by hundreds of former students at Montgomery Blair High School. They claim he sexually harassed and demeaned female students in his Math magnet class

Retired Teacher Eric Walstein denies allegations made by hundreds of former students at Montgomery Blair High School. They claim he sexually harassed and demeaned female students in his Math magnet class. #News4 @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/sOL86p7zqY

— Chris Gordon (@ChrisGordonNews) March 2, 2018

In a prestigious high school math and science program, alumni say #MeToo

Years after they left one of the nation’s premier high school programs in math and science, hundreds of alumni have come forward to support allegations that a celebrated Maryland teacher sexually harassed and demeaned female students.

Many have described sexual comments, suggestive humor and sexist put-downs they said went unchecked for years as Eric Walstein became one of the pillars of a selective magnet program in a suburb outside Washington.

They accuse the nationally recognized teacher at Montgomery Blair High School of giving back rubs, leering at girls, calling them sexy, stroking their hands, and remarking on their bodies and sex lives — one account after another in what has become a #MeToo moment focused on experiences in high school...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-a-prestigious-high-school-math-and-science-program-alumni-say-metoo/2018/03/01/b17f68ac-f1b6-11e7-b390-a36dc3fa2842_story.html?utm_term=.f71f9ff4c630

Breaking News: Another Arrest of a MCPS Staff Member on Sexual Abuse of Minor Charges

From: "NORTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL"
Date: March 2, 2018
Subject: Arrest of Staff Member


A message from NORTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL

Dear Parents and Guardians:



I am writing to inform you of the arrest yesterday of Mauricio Alvarado, an evening building service worker at Northwest High School, on charges of sexual abuse of a minor, second-degree child abuse, second-degree sexual offense, third-degree sexual offense, and fourth-degree sexual offense. The alleged offenses are not related to any Northwest High School students and did not occur on Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) property.



MCPS has just learned of this investigation and is fully cooperating with the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office on this matter.  Mr. Alvarado has been placed on administrative leave.



These charges are deeply disturbing and upsetting. This type of behavior does not reflect the principles of Northwest High School or our community, and it will not be tolerated.  As always, counselors and other staff members are available to talk to students at any time.



The safety and security of our students is our top priority. While these charges are unrelated to Northwest High School, if you believe you or your child has relevant information regarding this case, please contact the Special Victims Investigations Division of the Montgomery County Police Department at (240) 773-5400.



Sincerely,

Jimmy D’Andrea

Principal