Head of DC school council says fired teachers were "miscreants, abusers, and/or child molesters"

[madfloridian]

Now she is being called on by the Schools Matter blog and by the Washington Post to name names if this be true.

There is to be no secrecy when teachers are accused of being abusers or molesters. There are laws in place for such things. So she must be honest on this issue.

Last summer Rhee told DC Council that economic necessity was behind the firing of 266 experienced teachers and other school personnel. Now she is telling the media that the fired teachers were miscreants, abusers, and/or child molesters. If they were child molesters or abusers, why have no police reports been filed? If they were not child molesters, why is Rhee lying to the media and slandering the 266 fired DC teachers? Is she desperate to shift the focus from her own role of damage controller for her beloved, Kevin Johnson, who stands accused by the Inspector General of Americorps of sexual misconduct with students of his St. Hope School in Sacramento?

There is much more from the Washington Post today.

Gray: Rhee needs to name names

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray called on Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee Monday to provide the names of teachers who sexually assaulted or hit children before they were laid off in the October budget cuts. Failure to do so, he said, unfairly taints all 266 teachers who were dismissed.

"The names of the people who did this need to be made public in deference to the others who had absolutely nothing to do with this," Gray told WTOP's Mark Segraves.

Gray's demand was part of the rapidly mounting pressure for Rhee to explain remarks attributed to her in the February Fast Company magazine. She said that some of the 266 teachers laid off in October budget cuts had sex with students, hit them or were persistently absent without authorization.

More from the WP:

Shortly before going on the air, Gray said he was stunned by Rhee's disclosure about sexual assaults, because she mentioned nothing about it in the October hearing on teacher layoffs, or in the course of a one-hour meeting he had with her last week.

"Educators are mandatory reporters of incidents like this," Gray said. "What she needs to do is very quickly corroborate this." If there is proof, it raises another question, he said: "Why was an alleged budget problem used as a basis for dismissing people who, according to her, engaged in abuse and sexual molestation of children?"

Gray was joined in his demand by Council member Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), who said he was "outraged" by Rhee's comments. "I want to know who these teachers are," Brown said in a phone interview

IF there were teachers who did such things, why were they still teaching? Why would Rhee be so casual in throwing out a statement like that?

Glad to see this is being picked up on by bloggers and media. It's an outrageous thing to say publicly, and it's even more outrageous if those teachers were abusers and not fired at once.

She MUST clarify this for the sake and reputation of the others.

[GodlessBiker]

1. His statements better be true because they are actionable in court.

[ElmoBlatz]

2. He is a she

[rucky]

3. Even if they are true, they're still actionable...

under mandatory reporting laws.

[GodlessBiker]

5. So she either gets sued for slander or for failing to report.

[rucky]

7. she pretty much screwed the pooch.

and that council member zeroed right in on it.

[madfloridian]

15. Good point.

One way or the other. It's like she tried to make those teachers look bad. Kind of sad.

[MineralMan]

4. Oh, I see a class action suit in the making, with

266 members of the class. This will not end well for Rhee and the school system.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Has a huge crnge factor, doesn't it?

Maybe if there are enough lawsuits against slander, some of the lies and name calling will stop.

[alp227]

8. This beeyotch will see her day in court

and will settle for slander. She just needed a quick answer to a tough question. Oh wait, Fox News wants to hire another hot female newsreader!

[Divine Discontent]

9. she's screwed! that's a pretty bold statement that doesn't clarify who did what & groups everyone

who was fired as being illicit!

[LiberalFighter]

10. I would suggest that Rhee is incompetent and lazy.

I hope she is black balled from ever teaching or administering at a legitimate school system.

There is no excuse for her accusations. If they were justified the teachers/employees should had been charged and prosecuted instead of using the ploy the Catholic Church used.

And her boyfriend is a sexual deviant?

[Neurotica]

11. For a somewhat different perspective on the issue, read today's WaPo editorial:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012503736.html

(BTW, as a longtime DC area resident, I don't agree with the way that Rhee publicly stated her concerns, but I don't think the issue is as simple as it may seem)

[madfloridian]

12. No, not really different from what I posted in the OP.

The words she used were libelous and could not have been true.

Think about the implications of what she said. These teachers should have been more than laid off....some of these are criminal acts. She used very careless speech.

"I got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had had sex with children, who had missed 78 days of schools," she said in the article. "Why wouldn't we take those things into consideration?" Except for the allegation about sexual relations, Ms. Rhee said pretty much the same thing at the stormy Oct. 29 council hearing."

She should exactly name the ones who had "sex with children." In our area they are jailed and fired.

No excuses for what she said.

[madfloridian]

13. I just realized that WP editorial tries to blame the unions...

I find that totally insulting. No teachers' union would ever condone conduct like that.

Just another slam at unions.

[tonysam]

34. Uh, you don't RIF sexual abusers. The 266 teachers were RIF'd

and ONLY because of cost reasons.

[amandabeech]

36. There have been accusations of age discrimination.

More senior teachers make more money.

Just bring in some inexperienced folk and don't pay them much.

It's a class MBA move.

Don't even think about the customer, which is the kid in the classroom and the parents.

[tonysam]

38. Yep, I was a victim of age discrimination, but of course it's hard to prove

Wrongful termination, far easier to prove in my case. It wasn't D.C. but Nevada.

[amandabeech]

45. Yes, it is.

And Scotus has made it harder.

I doubt that this administration will do anything about it.

[Hannah Bell]

40. lol.

[slampoet]

14. She doesn't identify them she's harboring molesters a Felony. If lying she just slandered 266 times.

Either way she has committed felonies or high misdemeanors and needs to be fired and in jail as well as possible civil damages against people who have the resources of a national union to sue her.

She is BEYOND SCREWED.

[madfloridian]

16. She did slander a whole group with careless words.

It makes all of them suspect, and she needs to straighten it out right away.

[winyanstaz]

17. There had best be some proof of these aligations...

because someone is going to get their pants sued off if they are not true.
Yes the names must be public because it is simply NOT fair to either the accused or the innocent teachers in the area.

[mbperrin]

18. Typical school administrator stuff. They're too lazy to actually do anything,

so accuse their teachers and students of everything in the book.

Shame, and hopefully, huge losses in court.

[LWolf]

19. That is beyond outrageous.

Either way.

I hope she goes down.

[rasputin1952]

20. K&R...another individual that is making outrageous statements w/o

proof or attending documentation that even alludes to such acts.

These are statements that assassinate a person's character, and are punishable under slander laws. Even if true, (which I find highly improbable due to the number involved), there are specific procedures that need to be followed after allegations are made.

I think the School District is in for a law suit. This reminds me of an old adage, "even a fool can seem wise, when he keeps his mouth closed".

[Karmadillo]

21. Let's see if accountability extends to administrators.

nt

[madfloridian]

22. I doubt it will.

Especially not for those administrators who are supporting the Duncan agenda of letting private corporations run the public schools.

[TZ]

23. She might be right though

I have personal knowledge of a school system in the area that has teachers that behave in the ways she's talking about. And they didn't get fired, just moved to another school. That seems to be SOP in some school systems.
Was she wrong to bring it out publically like that, yes. But did she fire misbehaving teachers? I have no doubt. Tenured teachers are hard to get rid of, even if they act in scummy behavior.
And before any one accuses me of being anti-teacher, let me say that my mother was a long time public school teacher and I have much sympathy for what they have to deal with. But if anybody doesn't think that its so hard to keep teachers on in certain places/situations that bad behavior is often overlooked, has no grasp of reality.
Otherwise please explain how a teacher that slept with multiple students is still in a school district 20 years later?

[madfloridian]

25. Your statement shows you don't understand the full impact of what she said

"misbehaving" teachers??? Really? Having sex with students and hitting them is not "misbehaving"....it is supposed to be reported to the police at once.

You are dead wrong. If a tenured teacher does those things she/he will go to jail. Period, bottom line.

You are really off base here trying to defend her actions in any way.

[wolfgangmo]

29. Er, how do I explain it?

How about this. Someone didn't call the cops.

By someone I mean student, other teacher, paraprofessional, janitor, lunch lady, principal, or civilian. For almost all that list it is called mandated reporter status. If your mom is a teacher and knew of another teacher who had slept with students and didn't report it then she is breaking the law and could go to jail.

If you know about it, you should report it. Why haven't you?

[Hannah Bell]

43. i think it's aiding & abetting when one has knowledge of a felony crime (adult teacher sleeping

with multiple minor students).

I too wonder why the posters' mother hasn't reported this multiple felon who's still teaching.

Or maybe ---

it's a bunch of BS.

[tonysam]

35. No, she isn't. She made it up.

You NEVER RIF sexual abusers or anybody who committed real misconduct. Those teachers are usually fired right on the spot and arrested.

The teachers were RIF'd because they had too many years in and were too expensive. Rhee wanted to replace them with cheapie teachers.

Rhee needs to go.

[Hannah Bell]

44. your mother had knowledge of a repeated felon sex offender teaching in her school & didn't

report it to the police?

Shocking. What was your mother thinking?

Failure to report knowledge of a crime = aiding & abetting.

[madfloridian]

24. Do NOT miss this video by NBC of the topic. They hit the nail on the head.

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0110/699525_video.html?ref=newsstory

The mayor stammers for fear of offending Michelle Rhee. Does she rule the whole DC area?

[Ocracoker16]

30. the mayor was responsible for hiring her so he won't acknowledge how bad she is

He is the one who got rid of the DC school board so he could make Rhee the chancellor of the DC schools. Many people like me were against this, because we thought she lacked the experience to take over the entire DC school system. Furthermore, she was dismissive of these concerns and refused to address them as if they were not fair game. The mayor stood behind her all the way.

I hope that the DC Council will continue to put pressure on her for her comments regarding fired teachers and will demand evidence supporting her claims. I don't think that she is being truthful about why the teachers lost their jobs. She has a history of making large scale changes without justifying them. She just laid these teachers off because she wanted to and now she is defending this move by accusing these teachers of being abusive. That is just inexecusable. She should be fired especially since this is not her first major mistake.

[LeftyMom]

26. The Kevin Johnson story has been kicking around here for years.

Apparently he was a little friendlier with the teenage girls than one would hope.

[madfloridian]

28. If the allegations against him are true, he should be gone from education.

I don't know the story about him.

But that is something there should be no allegations about. In fact most districts way over-react and fire the teacher without much proof...or at lease not let them back in the classroom.

Not familiar with his story.

[LeftyMom]

31. Apparently there was another allegation while he was in Phoenix.

Any truth to it? Hard to say. The teacher the girl at Sac High went to quit over it, which sounds to me like he believed her. OTOH, teachers were leaving Sac High right and left at that point, so who the hell knows. He's a hometown boy, and even before he ran for mayor he had a redevelopment thing and some clout, so I doubt anybody looked into it too hard. The cops here are pretty useless, they don't investigate anything unless you give them every piece of puzzle and hold their hands all through it, and even then it's an uphill battle.

[madfloridian]

32. Also this document about criminal allegations over fraud and public funds.

http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/Other_Documents/20091120docs.pdf

I don't know what the outcome was...hard to find stuff on it.

[tonysam]

41. One of a number of stories, this one in November

Kevin Johnson's accuser says he offered to pay her $1,000 a month

[madfloridian]

27. Video must see: the uproar continues. There is so much anger over this.

http://cfc.news8.net/videoondemand.cfm?id=57486

Yet, I notice that here not surprisingly when education comes up.....that some are basically defending her words.

[tonysam]

33. Rhee has no evidence. She pulled it out of her ass as usual.

Meanwhile her boyfriend has his own sex impropriety issues to deal with.

[amandabeech]

37. I read the Post most days, but missed this.

What gives?

[tonysam]

39. She's claimed to a publication called Fast Company the reason she RIF'd teachers

was that some of them committed real misconduct, such as sexual abuse, abusing sick leave, and other such rot. You never RIF--lay off--teachers for that anyway. Usually seniority or the lack of it is the reason, but Rhee broke the law and laid off people with many years in so she could hire much cheaper teachers.

I hope she pays for her remarks with her job.

[amandabeech]

46. What I'm interested in is her boyfriend's problem.

I saw the Fast Company article in the Post.

I don't follow what happens in the District that much, but she gives me really bad vibes.

The teacher RIF has not been explained to my satisfaction and she seems to go to great lengths to piss off students, parents and the city council. She always knows best, of course.

[tonysam]

47. See above link in post 41. n/t

[amandabeech]

48. Geez. She doesn't exactly know how to pick 'em, does she. n/t

[tonysam]

49. She sure doesn't.

n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. I very deeply despise this woman

:mad: