Woman confronts former teacher about sexual abuse, captures call on video

"All these years I've been waiting to get some justice."

[Maura Larkins' comment: In my personal experience at Chula Vista Elementary School District, powerful cliques protect bad teachers and administrators. School politics helps wrongdoers and the incompetent survive by attacking effective employees who are seen as a threat.]

Woman confronts former teacher about sexual abuse, captures call on video
by Jen Hayden
posted by Scout Finch
Daily Kos
Jan 22, 2014

A 28-year-old woman who identified herself as "Jamie" worked up the courage to call her former teacher and confront her about years of alleged sexual abuse, which she claims began when she was 12 years old and continued until she finished high school. The former teacher and basketball coach had moved onto an assistant vice principal position in another school district.

When Jamie finally worked up the courage to pursue criminal charges, she was disappointed to learn the statute of limitations had expired and she would be unable to pursue criminal charges. Knowing her former teacher was still working with children, she bravely called her abuser, Andrea Cardosa, who was working as Alhambra High School’s vice principal of student services. Jamie recorded the call and posted it on YouTube.

Her call to Andrea Cardosa can be seen here.

Cardosa did not dispute the allegation and almost immediately resigned:

School officials identified the accused as Andrea Cardosa, a vice principal at Alhambra High School, and said she resigned Friday after an interview with administrators.

The resignation followed the release of a YouTube video made by Jamie Carrillo, 28, of Victorville. The video was posted on Friday. By 4 p.m. Monday, there were about 131,800 views.

Today the video has more than 750,000 views.

As for Jamie's next step, she's considering legal options:

Her attorney, David Ring, said Jamie’s former teacher was previously investigated by both school and law enforcement authorities in 1999 when rumors began to swirl about the alleged abuse. But the investigation resulted in no arrests, charges or disciplinary action, he said.

Ring said the former teacher, who was her basketball coach, was allowed to resign with a positive recommendation.

“They call this 'passing the trash,'” Ring said.

Ring said Jamie is considering a lawsuit alleging misconduct on the part of the school districts that hired the former teacher.

Betancourt shouldn't be going alone

Local school districts have many lawyers, officials and administrators who do their best to ignore the law. Usually the wrondoing gets covered up. But when it can't be covered up, the district suddenly develops a stance of intolerance toward illegal activity.

Betancourt is gone from San Diego Unified because he was in the papers. When will Mr. Cohn and the board start the real house cleaning? When will wrongdoing be a cause for concern even if it isn't in the papers?

It seems that school districts are perfect proving grounds for administrators who might want to go on to work in municipal government. These administrators can wrap themselves in the sacred flag of education while they learn to bamboozle the public. Jo Anne SawyerKnoll, who recently produced a whitewash of the relationship between San Diego city officials and the Sunroad company, came from San Diego Unified School District.

Here's a story about Betancourt's departure:

Betancourt's Replaced
by Vladimir Kogan
Voice of San Diego
August 13, 2007

School District CAO José Betancourt is being replaced, according to a one-line memo delivered to trustees.

A one-line memo delivered to the San Diego Unified School District trustees today announced that the school system's chief financial officer, Bill Kowba, has been named as the acting chief administrative officer, replacing embattled José Betancourt.

Betancourt has spent the last month negotiating with the school district over a severance package that would pave way for his resignation, following a guilty plea on federal conflict-of-interest charges for his work on a defense contract.

District spokesman Jack Brandais said he had not seen the memo, though he confirmed that Betancourt was not at the district this morning...

http://voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/08/13/this_just_in/170replaced081307.txt

Rove resigns--but it doesn't seem to matter anymore

George Bush's pals always wait too long before they resign; they wait so long that it doesn't seem to matter much.

Rumsfeld waited until after his party lost the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Karl Rove waited until it was clear that Bush didn't mean it when he said that anyone who committed a crime regarding the exposure of the identity of a CIA agent would be forced out of the White House.

I assume that talk of impeachment of Alberto Gonzalez, Cheney and Bush is what caused Bush to finally push Rove out. Bush wanted to throw out a sacrificial lamb--or sacrificial boar--to take the heat off himself and his AG and VP.

But I suspect it's too late to change the widespread perception that Bush feels little more than arrogance toward the American people.