talking points - accountability for madison county schools

8/10/2019 Talking Points - Accountability for Madison County Schools

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As a parent, my childs safety and growth are paramount. We nurture our

children, watch over them, guide them, and tend to any hurts as best as we can.

At some point, the time comes for parents to step back and let other adults care

for our children. When we step back, our deepest hope is that this truly benefits

our child, helps them to learn the skills necessary to be good and productive

citizens without Mommy and Daddy hovering. There is an inherent trust that a

parent must have with the school teachers and staff that a child is cared for by

adults as much as if Mom and Dad were doing it themselves. We know from our

own experiences that sometimes learning to be independent and learning how to

interact with others can be tough, and we hope that adults are there to help

when needed. We hope that adults care because they tell us they care. As

parents, we tell our children to seek out the teacher, the police man, and other

secure figures when our children are lost, scared, hurt.

Clearly with the case of Sparkman Middle School, our trust as parents in the

school administration and the Board of Education has been severely damaged, if

not destroyed. It took the intervention of the Department of Justice to even make

us aware that willful negligence occurred at this schoolfour years ago. Regardless


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of the allegations and accusations of bias and distortions, all we as parents have

to look at is ensuing reactions of our administrators when the news was released

to the community. What was that reaction? To hide behind a lawyer who was

both condescending and petulant, to call a community meeting without any

appropriate notification to the public and at a purposefully difficult time of day, to

refuse to answer any questions or concerns, and to point fingers. When a person

stands up in front of the news and says, Parents, dont worry because we say so

and then ducks behind the smirking lawyer, we tend not to believe. THIS IS CAUSE

FOR WORRY.

A special-needs child was convinced to act in a way that she knew to be

potentially unsafe, in a situation she did not want to participate in, because at

least one, if not more, adults acted in ways that made her believe this was

necessary. They told her she was safe. They told her that they would keep her

from being hurt.

Another role as parents that we have is to teach our children body safety,

how to say no to unwelcome advances, and how to seek an adult for help. We ask


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our children to advocate for themselves and to trust their gut instincts when

situations feel wrong. How can we teach our children to do this and to trust the

caretakers when these are the ones who pushed and cajoled and paraded

authority around to do otherwise, to act in an unsafe manner?And how can we

ask this young lady to disclose what happened to her when she was told after she

had been sodomized that she was the one who would be suspended and possibly

sent to an alternative school?

According to the Justice Departments National Crime Victimization Survey

from 2008-2012, sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes, with

60% still being unreported. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National

Network, 1 out of every 6 women has been the victim of an attempted or

completed rape in her lifetime. 15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under

the age of 12. Girls ages 16-19 are four times more likely than the general

population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. Victims of

sexual assault are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression, 6 times more

likely to suffer from PTSD, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more


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likely to abuse drugs, and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide. To cover up

this offense is unspeakable and reprehensible.

In regards to this particular case, administrators were deliberately

indifferent to the dangerous environment created by the young man in question.

Administrators shredded his previous discipline records and disregarded repeated

allegations that he was soliciting students for sex. To quote the DOJ brief,

to conclude otherwise [that the school was not deliberately indifferent]

would allow, or worse still, encourage a school district to avoid Title IX

liability by destroying all records of an offenders misconduct and then

claiming that no one has a recollection of the offenders history. It would

also wrongly suggest that school officials have no obligation under Title IX

to make an informed decision as to appropriate cautionary measures

when they know, as here, than an offender has committed or been accused

of multiple acts of sexual and violent misconduct.

What has been documented by the school of this young mans discipline records

still show 15 proven infractions, which include sexual and violent misbehavior.

Also according to the DOJ brief,


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even though all three administrators insisted that they could not recall

details of [a previous January 13] accusation but were certain that [the

young man] was not involved in any wrongdoing, they imposed a penalty

that was nearly seven times longer than any previously ordered for [his] 14

prior, proven infractions. This punishment strongly suggests that they knew

that [he] was dangerous, needed to be separated from other students, and

constantly supervised.

Yet this suspension still allowed this young man access to the general student

population via janitorial work around the school, and it enabled him to have

access to the restroom where he would later sodomize a child.

Today, the community wants to make clear that we will not forget this

negligence, that we will not simply place blind faith in adults whose job it is to

protect and care for our children and who instead allow a child to be abused

because of the dangerous environment that they created through negligence. We

will not forget that these adults kept their jobs or were promoted. We will not

forget that the Board was surprised to hear that this was still an issue because

simply allowing the teachers aide to resign was sufficient to them. We will not


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forget that the Boards reaction to the community has lacked all compassion,

care, and concern not just for the children involved in the incident but for our

children now. THIS WILL NOT GO AWAY. The pursuit of personal reputation that

took precedence over the violent abuse of a child is not acceptableand will not

be covered up.

It is the dearest wish of the community gathered here to join our voices to

the 100,000 people who signed a petition demanding the firing of the staff

involved. And it is our hope that the appeals process, aided by the Department of

Justice and 33 other national organizations, will be successful in holding

accountable the men and women who were callously, grossly, and

unconscionably negligent. Thank you.

talking points - accountability for madison county schools

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