Mario Koran gets to the heart of the punitive culture at poor schools

Voice of San Diego's Mario Koran wrote yesterday in Oops: San Diego Unified Might Have Just Unwittingly Validated ‘Vergara’ that blacks and Latinos at poor schools in San Diego are disproportionately suspended and expelled.

This jibes with my experience. I remember how the teacher clique leaders at Castle Park Elementary used to go nuts because Superintendent Libby Gil wouldn't let them suspend students. I, on the other hand, thought that this was the best policy Libia Gil ever instituted. It may have been the only good policy that Gil ever instituted.

One day our special education teacher ran into the lounge, speechless with fury at the principal. The teacher leaned against a wall, fuming, as her loyal brigade of teacher followers fluttered around her asking questions.

It turned out that one of her students had run away from school. Apparently, he just couldn't bear it any more.

She was mad at the kid for leaving, but she was even madder that the principal was going to let him come back.

Ironic, right? She didn't want the kid in her class, but she didn't want him to leave--at least, not voluntarily. She was basically saying, "He can't quit! He has to be fired!"

But here's my larger point: it's not necessarily the least experienced teachers at poor schools who are most responsible for the suspensions and expulsions. There seems to be a culture among many veteran teachers that holds that teachers don't have to do their jobs for students who do not meet all their requirements.

In general, kids are given more chances to measure up if the teacher holds them in high regard. They are allowed more mistakes.

Kids who are disliked by a teacher are behind the figurative eight ball. There's very little chance that they will be able to become one of the fair-haired children, no matter how hard they try.

I taught a bilingual class at Castle Park Elementary, and year after year, my class was assigned to sit in the very back of the auditorium during assemblies. I asked the principal if we could rotate positions. It was starting to feel strange having the brown kids always in the last row. I told the principal that my kids had a greater need to be closer to the front because it was already hard for them to understand English, and it was even harder when they couldn't hear well. But the principal refused to make any changes in our assignment.

I campaigned long and hard to have my students mix with all-English classes for some small part of the day. Finally the other third-grade teachers allowed me to send a few kids to each of their classes for sharing time each morning. "But I don't want them to share, they should just listen," said Teacher A. It's possible that this did them more harm than good. I pointed out, during a grade-level meeting with the principal, that the Civil Rights Act forbids segregation and discrimination. Teacher A laughed out loud. Teacher B bellowed. And the principal let them get away with it. And when Rae Correira came from the district to try to solve the problem, Libby' Gil's right-hand man Richard Werlin transferred Rae to another position and the investigation was dropped. It's ironic that Libia Gil is now in charge of the federal Department of Education's bilingual department.

I think it would be worthwhile for districts to find out which teachers are initiating the suspension process most often, and then to see if those teachers share certain traits, such as being inexperienced.

I suspect that the culture of the school might also have something to do with it.

I know that at some schools teachers spend a lot of time talking about how awful their students are. Other teachers stay away from the lounge so they don’t have to listen to all the complaining by their colleagues about administrators who don’t suspend kids when the teachers demand it.

I think inexperienced teachers might behave very differently depending on the influence of the veteran teachers in their schools. Wouldn’t it be fascinating if it turned out that poor schools not only have the least experienced teachers, but they also have the crankiest veteran teachers? Maybe there’s a perfect storm at poor schools.

I hope you’ll follow up on this, Mario.

The Vergara decision is just a scratch on the surface of what is wrong in poor schools.

But maybe it will help raise the quality of education in poor schools.

COMMENTS FROM VOICE OF SAN DIEGO

Kathy S

"Vergara" or "We can call it structural inequity or we can call it institutional racism."

Fifty years after federal troops escorted nine black students through the doors of an all-white high school in Little Rock, Ark., in a landmark school integration struggle, America's public schools remain as unequal as they have ever been when measured in terms of disciplinary sanctions such as suspensions and expulsions, according to little-noticed data collected by the U.S. Department of Education for the 2004-2005 school year.

Academic researchers have been quietly collecting evidence of such race-based disciplinary disparities for more than 25 years. Yet the phenomenon remains largely obscured from public view by the popular emphasis on "zero tolerance" crackdowns, which are supposed to deliver equally harsh punishments based on a student's infraction, not skin color.

........Race , Class and Gender......

Socioeconomic factors are certainly at play, researchers believe.

"Studies of school suspension have consistently documented disproportionality by socioeconomic status. Students who receive free school lunch are at increased risk for school suspension," according to "The Color of Discipline," a 2000 study by Skiba and other researchers in Indiana and Nebraska. Another study concluded that "students whose fathers did not have a full-time job were significantly more likely to be suspended than students whose fathers were employed full time."

But those studies and others have repeatedly found that racial factors are even more important.

"Poor home environment does carry over into the school environment," said Skiba, who is widely regarded as the nation's foremost authority on school discipline and race. ......."But middle-class and upper-class black students are also being disciplined more often than their white peers. Skin color in itself is a part of this function."....

Maura Larkins

Excellent point, Kathy S. Here's a thought that is chilling, but I have a hunch that it might be true: maybe the cranky veteran teachers who habitually suspend kids of color in poor schools are actually LESS racist than the veteran teachers who have skedaddled to middle and upper class schools. In other words, maybe the horrible situation that we have now, a system that consigns thousand of kids every year to lifelong economic failure, is actually not the worst possible situation. Maybe those cranky teachers just need a little support and guidance to help them cope with difficult students.

I really hope that Mario will keep an eye on how schools handle this issue in the future.

Kathy S

@Maura Larkins  I don't think structural inequity or institutional racism is a "cranky veteran teacher" thing....

Maura Larkins

Of course, you're right.  At heart, structural inequity goes much deeper than crankiness. 

Where exactly does it come from?  It comes from the human instinct to advance ourselves by putting our neighbors at a disadvantage.  And it is maintained by the human instinct to resist change.  Once a group of people gets themselves into a privileged position, they resist giving up that position.  At that point, it isn't necessarily racism that protects the system.  It's the fear of change.

Some very nice people work hard to maintain structural inequity.  That's the beauty of the system, from the point of view of those who think they benefit from it.The people who enforce it don’t even think they’re doing anything wrong.

Of course, I question whether people are really acting in their own best interest when they grab an obscenely large slice of the pie while their neighbors get crumbs.  Everyone would be safer if our society didn’t generate legions of citizens who have nothing to lose.

My point is this: very few teachers in the classroom actually intend to dispense structural injustice.

The system has left these teachers with inadequate resources to deal with children who have been set up to fail by poverty and past and present inequality.

It’s not accidental that these teachers have inadequate resources.Society intends this to be the case. If we wanted good schools for all kids, we would have them.

So what I’m saying is that at the level of the classroom, the institutional racism is applied to individual children by teachers who are socialized into a culture of crankiness.

They don’t sit around the teacher lounge saying racist things.They rant about specific kids who did specific things.

The teachers have no idea that they are failing to give the kids the chances that they deserve.The teachers really believe they are doing the right thing.

Teachers tend to give white and Asian children more chances because they believe that those kids are more likely to succeed.  This belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because the teachers undermine the black and brown students by too-readily consigning them to failure.
Learning is all about making mistakes and then improving.  Good teaching means deftly guiding a child from ignorance to knowledge.  Instead, lazy teachers just excuse themselves from their obligations by deciding that there's no point in helping some children.
Of course, many white children are also undermined by the rigidity and laziness of their teachers.
It isn't just about race.
The teachers themselves are not receiving adequate training and supervision.
After all, who do you think is supervising them?  Teachers just like themselves who probably got promoted for reasons other than teaching excellence.

 

Little boy draws a soldier, ninja and Star Wars character, each holding a knife or gun; Arizona school freaks out

Obviously, this school, like so many other schools, is run by geniuses.

Arizona Student's Halloween Costume Drawings Cause Firestorm At School
The Huffington Post
By Rebecca Klein
11/04/2013

Where one pair of parents saw innocent drawings of ninjas and soldiers, school administrators reportedly saw disturbing and threatening images.

Last week, the parents pulled their sons out of Scottsdale Country Day School in Arizona after the school’s headmaster reportedly threatened to expel their 8-year-old over a set of drawings. According to the child’s father, the drawings of a soldier, ninja and Star Wars character were meant to depict Halloween costumes. However, school administrators were upset that the drawings showed each character holding either a knife or a gun, according to CBS local affiliate KPHO-TV.

The school’s headmaster was also reportedly upset about what he saw as violent passages from the child’s journal, including ones about scenarios with killer zombies. The child’s father, Jeff, whose last name was omitted from the report, told KPHO that the journal contained other passages about saving the world and that his son has no history of violence.

Kathy Prahcharov, the school’s director of operations, told The Huffington Post that reports of the incident have been inaccurate. While she could not elaborate on what happened for confidentiality reasons, she said the student “was not threatened or expelled from the school.”

[Maura Larkins comment: Obviously the school made a stink about the pictures, or we wouldn't be hearing about it on national news. I think we're looking at some pathologically paranoid individuals who can't get a grip on the real world. How can we expect people with this mentality to recognize real problems?]

The charter school’s handbook states that “[a]ny behavior that is deemed threatening such as violent behavior, drawings depicting weapons, blood, or aggression” can be grounds for expulsion.

A number of schools across the country appear to have cracked down on students who use drawings, food or toys to depict guns and violence. In recent months, students have been suspended for actions such as chewing pastries into the shapes of guns or having gun key chains.

Update: Autistic girl makes ‘miracle’ recovery after alleged murder-suicide attempt by mom

See original post HERE.

What a relief for everybody involved--including the justice system in Michigan--that Issy didn't die. It's quite possible that jail is actually easier for Kelli Stapleton than dealing with her violent daughter. Kelli was twice hospitalized after being beaten by Issy. I can understand that Kelli may have felt that life was impossible for herself and her daughter. Also, we now know that the local school had refused to allow Issy to attend at all. Kelli might not be the only person facing legal consequences in this case.

Autistic girl makes ‘miracle’ recovery after alleged murder-suicide attempt by mom
Issy Stapleton, 14, is up and about after being unresponsive and removed from life support. Charged with attempted murder, mom Kelli Stapleton remains behind bars in northern Michigan.
By Deborah Hastings
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS September 9, 2013

Fourteen-year-old Issy Stapleton, a violently autistic child whose mother allegedly tried to kill her in a botched murder-suicide attempt, is now walking, talking and smiling.

According to a family Facebook post, the girl’s recovery “is nothing short of a miracle,” her father, Matt, wrote Monday.

She was removed from life support Friday in the intensive care unit of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich., where doctors concluded she had suffered brain damage and was unable to breathe on her own.

After her ventilator was turned off, Issy began breathing. By Saturday, she was awake, asking questions and “showing signs of the incredible young woman she is,” her dad wrote.

Mom Kelli Stapleton, 45, has been charged with attempted murder. The mother and daughter were found unconscious last Tuesday inside the family van, in which authorities say two charcoal grills had been lit and the windows rolled up.

Both were rushed to the hospital for treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Kelli Stapleton is currently jailed without bail in northern Michigan, according to state police Lt. Kip Belcher. Her family has declined comment.

"We ask that you continue to keep the focus on Isabelle's recovery and not necessarily on the events that have brought us to this unfortunate fight for her life," the family posted on its Facebook site "Team Issy."

"We ask that people don't judge, but instead direct their positive energies on the recovery of this beautiful young lady."

Just hours before the mother allegedly ignited both cooking grills found smoldering inside the family van, she had picked up Issy from a residential care facility where the girl had received nearly two months of intensive therapy for violent outbursts associated with her extreme autism.

Her family had long struggled with Issy’s lashing out. Her mother had been hospitalized twice following beatings by Issy, according to The Status Woe blog site maintained by Kelli Stapleton, whose musings about caring for an autistic child vacillated from despair to hopefulness to just plain fed up.

In June, she posted photos and video of a visit to her daughter at the care facility, showing mother, daughter and two therapists seated together.

RELATED: OREGON FAMILY USES MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO TREAT SON'S AUTISTIC RAGE

The soundless video soon becomes violent as Issy hits her mother and slaps and claws at the three adults.

“I retreated to the corner and refused to look so I wouldn’t reinforce Issy’s aggression,” her mother wrote. “I’m here to tell you that Carly and all of Issy’s workers are superheroes. Honest to God. They were both bleeding before it was over.”

Last week, on the day she picked up Issy to take her home for the first time in months, Kelli Stapleton sounded distraught as she recounted a recent argument with a school teacher who told her Issy could not return.

“So less than a week before school is to start, she is uninvited,” the mother wrote on her blog. “I am devastated. My husband is gutted. I have ruined everything.”

Around 6:30 p.m., officers found Kelli and Issy Stapleton in the family’s van, parked in a rural area near Lake Michigan.

Mother of autistic teen blames herself when daughter is thrown out of school; both rescued from van full of carbon monoxide

See update: Autistic girl makes miracle recovery


Kelli Stapleton and daughter Isabelle (Photo: AP)

I have often wondered why teachers aren't prompted by their supervisors to be understanding of parents with disabled kids. Often, the parent has a milder form of the same condition. I wouldn't be surprised to find social awkwardness in the parent of an autistic child, and I would cut that parent some slack. That doesn't seem to have happened here.

It appears that the teacher in the following story punished a woman and her child for the mother's disagreement with an education plan, and the result was despair on the part of the mother. (I'm guessing that the plan involved very little time in a positive environment.) I have seen unbelievable behavior on the part of teachers trying to get rid of a problem child. Many teachers seem to feel no obligation to the kid, only a desire to make their own job easier.

And the legal system isn't much help, either. This woman should be getting support for severe depression, rather than being charged with attempted murder. Too often we put people in jail when we could have prevented problems by providing adequate mental health care and educational opporunities.


In a photo provided by the Benzie County sheriff, Kelli Stapleton is shown in a booking photo.(Photo: AP)

Autistic teen's mom charged with attempted murder
Tammy Stables Battaglia and Ann Zaniewski
Detroit Free Press
September 6, 2013

DETROIT -- "I have to admit that I'm suffering from a severe case of battle fatigue," Kelli Stapleton wrote Tuesday in a lengthy post on her blog, where she chronicled life with her autistic daughter.

That evening, Stapleton and Isabelle, the 14-year-old daughter she calls Issy in blog posts, were found unconscious from carbon monoxide poisoning in a van. Authorities have accused Stapleton, 45, of trying to kill them both in a murder-suicide, charging the mother with attempted murder on Thursday.

As Isabelle remained hospitalized and unconscious Thursday, investigators were still trying to determine a motive and say it's not yet clear whether Stapleton's challenges with her daughter — written in heartbreaking detail in regular posts on her blog, the Status Woe — were a factor. But mental health experts agree that caring for a relative with special needs can be difficult, leading people to feel overwhelmed and stressed.

Stapleton is jailed without bond in northern Michigan. She was arraigned Thursday in a Benzie County court on one count of attempted murder after being released from the hospital.

Lt. Kip Belcher of the Michigan State Police Cadillac Post said Thursday that Isabelle's condition had improved slightly at DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids. But medical personnel are concerned about the possibility of brain damage, he said.

"Within the last 12 to 24 hours, there's been some responsive behavior noted," Belcher said. "She hasn't opened her eyes yet or talked or anything like that. But there's some physical movement to indicate responsiveness."

The Stapletons live in Elberta, west of Traverse City. Belcher said Stapleton's husband called authorities around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday after receiving a disturbing phone message from his wife and noticing the family van was missing.

Benzie County sheriff's deputies found the van about 6:30 p.m. in a wooded area not far from their home, Belcher said. Two portable charcoal grills were positioned between the front seats and the first row of bench seats, he said. The windows were rolled up.

Defense attorney Anthony Cicchelli has declined to comment on the case.

Belcher said it's premature to speculate on a motive but noted that coping with a family member with special needs may have "promoted an extreme degree of stress."

Birmingham-based psychiatrist Gerald Shiener said caregiver fatigue can be a difficult problem for those who are in charge of a disabled relative.

"It can be overwhelming," he said. "It can cause severe depressive symptoms and cause a depressive syndrome, with an overwhelming sense of hopelessness."

Caregivers also may struggle with feelings of being ostracized or isolated, said Judy Kotzen, medical social worker for Beaumont Health System.

It's important for caregivers to set aside time for themselves and seek help when needed, Shiener said.

"When a caregiver neglects themselves, that's when they get overwhelmed, that's when they feel guilty, that's then they feel a sense of resentment, that's when they get discouraged ... and that's when something bad happens," he said.

Stapleton's successes and challenges raising Isabelle are chronicled on the Status Woe, where she posted both a hopeful message Tuesday when her daughter came home from treatment and another later in the day expressing her devastation upon learning her daughter wouldn't be able to attend school as planned.

"So much love…" she wrote of picking Issy up from treatment and the joy of her being home.

Later that day, she wrote of a meeting earlier in the week with the special education teacher at the school Issy was to attend, where her father is principal.

Stapleton had a heated argument with the teacher about Issy's school plan, she wrote. A little later, district officials told the family Issy could no longer attend, and she should be homeschooled, according to the post.

"So less than a week before school is to start, she is uninvited," Stapleton wrote. "I am devastated. My husband is gutted. I have ruined everything. I should have stroked egos. … With this teacher, I pushed when I should have pulled, bobbed when I should have weaved, bit when I should have kissed."

She wrote that Issy would attend a different school, pleaded with people to be helpful to parents and asked for insight from other parents.

"There is so much more to say," it reads at the end. "I'm just too tired to write more. All my love, Kelli."



Mom Accused of Murder-Suicide Bid Wrote of Despair
September 6, 2013 (AP)
By COREY WILLIAMS
Associated Press

A Michigan woman accused of trying to kill herself and her severely autistic daughter blogged that day about how desperate she was feeling.

"I have to admit that I'm suffering from a severe case of battle fatigue," Kelli Stapleton wrote Tuesday on her blog, The Status Woe, where she chronicled the challenges of raising her 14-year-old daughter, Isabelle, who sometimes had violent outbursts.

Stapleton, 45, and Isabelle were found unconscious from carbon monoxide poisoning that day in a van in which charcoal was burned with the windows all closed. Isabelle remained in critical condition Friday at a Grand Rapids hospital, her father Matt Stapleton said in an email to news outlets.

Kelli Stapleton appeared in court Thursday, where she was ordered to remain in jail without bail on an attempted murder charge. Her attorney, Anthony Cicchelli, declined to comment.

The family is well-known in their small community of Elberta, which is near Lake Michigan and about 150 miles northwest of Grand Rapids. Matt Stapleton is the principal and football coach at nearby Frankfort High School, and local news outlets have reported about him and his wife's challenges in raising Issy, as Isabelle is called.

"It's really early in the investigation. ... It's safe to call it shocking and tragic, definitely," prosecutor Sara Swanson said Friday. "Everyone is focused on hoping the child does well and pulls out of this. That's where the focus is now."

It was Matt Stapleton who reported he was worried about his wife and daughter after getting a phone message from Kelli and finding their van was gone from their home, authorities said.

On her blog, Kelli Stapleton wrote that Issy had completed an intense program for severely autistic children near Kalamazoo, but her education plan had been abruptly changed by school officials.

San Diego Diocese punishes teacher and her kids for being victims of domestic violence

These parents support the decision to throw out a teacher and her children who were victims of domestic violence from Holy Trinity School.

I understand that the parents at Holy Trinity school might be frightened; school violence in the news in recent years has made a lot of people terrified, if not a bit paranoid. But I think parents and school officials reacted in a mean-spirited and ineffective manner when teacher Carie Charlesworth's husband demonstrated what school officials called "threatening and menacing behavior" at the school.

Perhaps he said something that made people uncomfortable. Or maybe just the fact that he was there was perceived as a threat. So the school fired his wife and expelled his children.

Of course, there's no guarantee that he won't come to the school in the future; he could become angry that his children were expelled and his wife was fired.

I think the Church abandoned its basic principles far too quickly in this case. If there really is a danger from Charlesworth's husband, then why doesn't the Diocese do something about that, rather than force public schools to deal with it?

As a nation, we have always had to balance safety and freedom. We chose to take a different road from Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

I have an answer for a diocese that arrogantly challenges critics with the unspoken question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" The answer is YES.





(Click on image to enlarge.)

Domestic Violence Victim Fired From Teaching Sues Diocese of San Diego (VIDEO)
"They should not treat people like this," said domestic violence victim Carie Charlesworth
By Steven Luke
NBC News
Sep 3, 2013

A domestic violence victim fired from her East County teaching job is now suing her former employer, the Catholic Diocese of San Diego. NBC 7's Steven Luke reports.

A woman who was fired from her teaching job after a domestic violence incident involving her ex-husband has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of San Diego.

Carie Charlesworth was told to leave her second grade teaching position at Holy Trinity Catholic School in El Cajon earlier this year after her husband demonstrated "threatening and menacing behavior” on school grounds. Tuesday afternoon, she filed a lawsuit in San Diego’s downtown superior court.

“I want to accomplish change, I want them to know they should not treat people like this,” Charlesworth said.

The single mother of four children became the source of intense social and moral debate in June when NBC 7 San Diego first reported her situation. Dozens of parents at Holy Trinity School came forward to show their support of the school, which they say put safety as a first priority. Advocates for domestic violence victims said the firing marked a significant step back in the ongoing fight to empower victims to speak up.

The suit names the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego as a defendant along with several people holding prominent positions within the diocese. NBC 7’s phone calls and emails to the defendants were not returned.

Fighting the Catholic Church on employment disputes is historically an uphill battle. As a religious institution they have more legal latitude, discretion and protection in firing employees.

“My contract with the diocese held me to a standard they didn’t uphold themselves” said Charlesworth.

Earlier this year, Charlesworth traveled to Sacramento to fight for Senate Bill 400, which would not only prevent employers from firing victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, but also require companies to make efforts to protect them.

Charlesworth’s attorney says his lawsuit is based on the district’s own contract with teachers, which requires them to follow the precepts of the Catholic Church.

“When there was a speculative danger to the school community, the church’s doctrine says ‘We need to pull together, we need to protect the school and Carie and her children.’” said attorney Ken Hoy. “To do less is to breach some of the most important Catholic principles that exist.”

Charlesworth’s four children are also named as plaintiffs because they were expelled from the school last spring as a result of growing concern about their father’s erratic behavior.

“They still were following the rules of the school, they were good students, good kids, they had no reason to be expelled from a school” said Charlesworth.

The complaint also seeks damages for negligence, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and defamation.

Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Former-Teacher-Sues-Catholic-Diocese-of-San-Diego-222270071.html#ixzz2dxm07WtL




Carie Charlesworth is fired because of “threat” from abusive ex-husband
by adrakontaidis
Real Talk Real Debate
June 15, 2013

Carie Charlesworth, a veteran teacher of 14 years, was fired from Holy Trinity School in El Cajon (a San Diego county) because of her ex-husband’s actions. Carie’s ex-husband, Martin, is currently in jail for violating his restraining order. In January, Martin showed up at the school and was promptly arrested. Shortly thereafter, Carie was placed on “indefinite leave” and her four children were removed from the school. Carie was recently told she was being let go of her job because of the “threat” her ex posed to her and the school children.

The diocese’s director of schools wrote: “Please understand that this was a very difficult decision to make, and we are deeply, deeply sorry about this situation. We will continue to pray for you and your family.” Carie says she and her children are being punished for her ex-husband’s actions. She is unsure of how she will support her children. After all it isn’t all that easy to get a job nowadays.

Martin will be released from jail on June 28th. Carie said she was frightened of his January appearance because they had two prior arguments before that forced meeting. Carie said that Martin has ruined her life. She did everything they tell abuse victims to do. Carie states her situation is exactly why more woman don’t come forward of their abuse.

The diocese thinks they are doing what is in the best interest of the other children attending the school. Their lawyers uncovered a 20+ year history of domestic violence towards others—especially towards women. Furthermore, Holy Trinity teachers are only signed on one-year contracts and can be let go for any reason. The technical terms of her contract allow for the legality of her firing.

I’m outraged that a precedent has been created in which abuse victims are continued to be tortured by their abusers. Why should this man be legally allowed to dictate this woman’s life? At which point did this woman forsake her rights? Her life? At which did her children forsake a normal childhood?

The diocese has every right and responsibility to protect the other students of the school; but doesn’t it also have the responsibility to Carie, a 14-year veteran of the school. I understand this is a precarious situation and a difficult one for the school to handle. However, I feel like they basically have cut all ties to her and have essentially told her “I hope you are okay but we’ve officially stopped caring and by the way good luck out there with your psycho ex-husband.

Another aspect of the story that infuriates me to no end is the fact this “man” somehow can continue to abuse others for over two decades yet gets a “slap of the wrist” in his sentencing. He abuses his wife and gets less than a year in jail. Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich got 14 years for trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat. Explain that one to me.

Couldn’t there be a police presence at the school? If this guy comes again to school he should be arrested indefinitely. Granted I think he should have already been imprisoned indefinitely. As I stated earlier, I think this creates a dangerous precedent that abuse victims will be less forward in revealing their plights. Additionally, the legal system should not allow the abuser to continue to dictate the lives of victims. It’s simply deplorable.

What do you think?

Email: realtalkdebate2012@gmail.com
Twitter: @adrakontaidis & @talkrealdebate




San Diego Domestic Violence Victim Fired From Teaching
Second grade teacher Carie Charlesworth was fired after a domestic violence dispute involving her ex-husband
By Steven Luke
NBC 7
Jun 13, 2013

A San Diego teacher was fired by Holy Trinity School following a domestic violence incident involving her ex-husband.

Second-grade teacher Carie Charlesworth is out of a job, but not for anything she did in the classroom. Her school district considers her a liability and too unsafe to have around following a domestic violence dispute that happened earlier this year.

A letter sent to Charlesworth said that school officials are concerned about her ex-husband's "threatening and menacing behavior," and as a result they "cannot allow" her to continue teaching at the Holy Trinity School.

"They’ve taken away my ability to care for my kids,” said Charlesworth. “It’s not like I can go out and find a teaching job anywhere.”

The mother of four children didn’t think this would ever be her story to tell, but she is using her name and showing her face in hopes of bringing attention to a larger problem.

It’s a story that has domestic violence advocates outraged, fearing it will only reinforce an age-old problem where victims stay silent — but equally concerned are the school's parents, not wanting their kids in the middle of it.

“Basically, we’d had a very bad weekend with him, we’d called the sheriff’s department three times on Sunday with him,” said Charlesworth, referring to an incident in January that put her leave of absence in motion.

She went to her principal at Holy Trinity School in El Cajon the following morning and told the principal to be on the lookout for her ex-husband. As many domestic violence cases go, this one has a trail of restraining orders and 911 calls. When Charlesworth’s ex-husband showed up in the school parking lot, the school went into lockdown.

Charlesworth and her four kids, who also attended Holy Trinity School, have not been back since the January incident. A letter was sent home to parents the following day, explaining the situation and noting Charlesworth and her children were being put "on an indefinite leave.”

While Charlesworth’s husband went to jail on two felony charges, she says she felt like a criminal too.

“And that’s what it felt like, the kids and I were being punished for something we didn’t even do,” she told NBC 7 San Diego.

Three months later, another letter arrived in the mail delivering a crushing blow. Charlesworth was fired for good, and after 14 years in the district not allowed to teach at any other Diocesan school.

The letter stated:

"We know from the most recent incident involving you and Mrs. Wright (the principal) while you were still physically at Holy Trinity School, that the temporary restraining order in effect were not a deterrent to him. Although we understand he is current incarcerated, we have no way of knowing how long or short a time he will actually serve and we understand from court files that he may be released as early as next fall. In the interest of the safety of the students, faculty and parents at Holy Trinity School, we simply cannot allow you to return to work there, or, unfortunately, at any other school in the Diocese."

When asked for a response, Tom Beecher, Director of the San Diego Diocese Office for Schools wrote in an email to NBC 7 San Diego: “The diocese does not make public comment about personnel issues.”

Several parents at Holy Trinity, not disclosing their names out of safety concerns, said the district did the right thing in a no-win situation because they feared for the safety of their own children. Several parents mentioned being part of a movement to “pull kids out of the school” if Charlesworth returned.

“I mean that’s why women of domestic violence don’t come forward, because they’re afraid of the way people are going to see them, view them, perceive them, treat them,” said Charlesworth.

A 2011 study by Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center shows Charlesworth isn’t alone: Nearly 40 percent of survivors in California reported being fired or feared termination because of domestic violence.

Charlesworth’s attorney Kenneth Hoyt, who intends to file a lawsuit on her behalf, said it may be an uphill climb because of something called "Ministerial Exception.” As part of her duties Charlesworth taught religion, and even though it was a small part of her daily lesson plan, there's legal precedence showing she can be fired without cause just like a priest or pastor.

“I have not been back to a Catholic church since this happened” said Charlesworth, who admits her life has been turned upside down because “everything I thought I had, I don’t.”

She is being paid through August, but doesn’t know where she’ll turn next. Her ex-husband is scheduled to be released from Jail at the end of June.

Like the professionals they are, SDUSD administrators fight to pawn misbehaving kids off on each other

San Diego's Expulsion Purgatory
April 11, 2010
Voice of San Diego
By EMILY ALPERT

Thirteen year old Shakaijah Calvin had been out of school for more than a month after O'Farrell Community Charter School kicked her out for a string of problems. Her mother Mavis Thompson rattled off her misdeeds: Not wearing the right uniform. Swiping a cell phone from a classmate.

But when Thompson showed up to enroll her daughter at her neighborhood public school, Bell Middle, the principal turned her away. He gave her a terse, handwritten note to for the O'Farrell school director.

"I will no longer be accepting your students in the middle of the school year," it read.

Shakaijah was smack in the middle of the gap between charter school and school district rules on how to handle misbehaving students. Though O'Farrell kicked Shakaijah out under its own rules, her future was still in the hands of San Diego Unified, which ultimately oversees O'Farrell and other charter schools.

The school district didn't agree Shakaijah should be expelled, because it sets a higher bar for expulsion...