APS said that three employees were put on administrative leave following an incident with a special education student. According to an allegigator, it turns out that two more employees, witnesses, were told "to keep their mouths shut" and have been transferred to a different location.
In the Journal this morning, link, it is reported;
"The family of a Jimmy Carter Middle School student who was pinned against the wall this week by school employees had warned the district two years ago that the boy was prone to being aggressive and could injure himself or others."APS Rigo Chavez claimed never to have seen the letter and could not comment.
The media are playing this up as an unwarranted assault on the student. APS Superintendent Winston Brooks is feeding the frenzy by chastening the staff members who were involved, apparently without even interviewing them first. The reassignment of witnesses, after telling them not to talk to anyone about it, is troubling.
If you watch the video, link, you will see no evidence of "out of control" staff members; their demeanor is surprisingly calm considering the circumstances.
"Pinning" an out of control person against a building is actually a benign intervention, very unlikely to cause any physical damage. No one is claiming that the student suffered any injury at all, despite Brooks observation that he was surprised "the students arm wasn't broken".
If the Journal chose to dig any deeper, they would find that teachers believe that the district would sell them out in a heart beat to get good press or to avoid bad press.
There is more of the story untold, than told, I think.
In particular, why is a teacher with accusations of sexual assault on two female students, and who had been denied a teaching certificate by the State Dept of Education, being allowed to "finish out the week" in the first place?
4 comments:
This student was not out of control but behaving as he usually does. The teacher and EA's did not have any authority to restrain this child how they did. The lawyer for this child's family, Gail Stewart, had told the school district the child's family wanted any teachers or EA's to be certified to teach a child in this condition.
The 2 security assistants were either fired, or transferred. A witness told me that the boy started to break form the Teacher and EA, and ran towards the security guards. The 2 security approached the boy to stop him from running farther away. The bot was caught by the Teacher and EA, and the 2 security guards were present, but off-camera.
Tuesday morning, during the JCMS staff meeting, several people emerged from the video monitor room, from where they had been for at least 45 minutes.
Among these meetings, the 2 security guards were questioned as to a breach in protocol, as they had gone to the video room to watch the alleged assault. Is that what they were doing, simple curiosity, or is there more to their motivation? These are good guys, I bet they wanted to see if the video matched their memories.
Then came Monica Armenta on her broomstick to JCMS with sever APS tower toadies in her entourage.
Later that day, it was deemed that the 2 security guards were not longer welcome employees at JCMS and were to leave immediately and permanently.
THE RUB: 1) The media never reported their presence (they were misled). 2) They were probably moved (also like the female TA was suspended) so that no witnesses would stand in the way of Emperor Brooke's judgement-decree. 3) JCMS has been swarming with regular APD cops for 2 days now. 4) Emperor Brooke's got a fat new extended contract, w/ guarantee of a juicy separation clause.
APS: You lied! You tainted public reports. You ruined 2-4 people's reputations. You employed a known sex-risk. You threw these people down river so you could collect the political gain. YOU ARE HORRENDOUS CRIMINAL MONSTERS WITH NO HEART! There is a special place in hell for people like you!
When will those who leave comments going to gain the courage to ID themselves? The real punishment is allowing an organization and the lemmings who follow the corrupt administrators to intimidate you into silience. I witnessed a principal assault a seven year one year and a half ago. There were five witnesses. The school nurse, an EA who was with the nurse, me, the clerk and our school counselor. I called CYFD an in the staff lounge in the presence of three teachers. They heard me loud and clear. An ivestigation was conducted and all witnesses were interviewed with a tape recorder. Imagine my surprise weeks later when I called APD Crimes against Children only to discover that the report had been sent back to APS Police! APS was allowed to investigate themselves! I was demoted from Library Aide/Redirector as retaliation and the principal is still employed. I would have sued but I would have lost. I can't fight another coverup even with an attorney. Instead I kept my emails between me and this 'Principal' quite a play on words right? A Principal who has none. We all know the old adage "Those who can't do teach and those who can't teach become administrators" How true ...
I never ID myself. And what did you gain for yourself, or others, by being forward with your identity?
Are you suggesting we are cowardly.
From 1 educational war veteran to another (yourself), they can basically blacklist you and prevent you from teaching ever again by sabotauging your references... and there's nothing to hold them accountable, not even laws.
If you want to put youself on the line, and go home to your kids and explain why it will be hard to eat and pay rent for awhile, more power to you.
Or are you on some kind of ego crusade "Look at me? Look at how great I am!".
Before you criticize us for looking out for our families, why don't you show some of that "brilliant" insight on your own life?
We protest here for our kids: 1) to try to have our voices heard and 2) to do that without being fired or not rehired for some lame, fake excuse.
You sit there high on your horse, proud of yourself, judging us. Who made you king/queen of judgement?
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