Daily Journal Article 9/7/2017
So here we are again. There’s the mug shot. There are the allegations. There is a lot of detail here. This is a lot more than I have seen in the past. So much information. Time to reopen wounds and maybe pour a little vinegar on them. Now for the opinions that matter. I am not talking about the ones rendered by a jury or a judge. It’s us. All of us. All of us that are so easily influenced by what we read and see in the news for headlines sake will now be rendering judgement on individuals and institutions based on inflammatory headlines and half truths. So from my own experiences with this institution and the players here, I would like to give some perspective.
- The person pictured has already plead guilty to a crime. This crime has elements that are not being contested and has been accepted by prosecutors and he is awaiting the sentencing on these crimes.
- The rest of the article deals with allegations that are pursuant to a civil matter. The person filing the complaint is looking for monetary damages…as if you can truly quantify those damages. Those monetary damages come in the form of compensatory and punitive damages. Often the punitive damages run very high as to send a message. You can’t collect high damages from a teacher, so go ahead and name everyone you can think of at the school. On the surface you would think that the victim is justified to seek the highest damages available, but consider this.
- The victim is not filing suit. It is the parent who “loves” them. Part of that love includes publicly stating all of the things that they say happened to them. The attempt to protect her identity includes the use of initials which don’t protect the identity in the least, but instead, reinforce the identity. Any pain and suffering experienced up to this point will now be multiplied as the entire world will enter the “opinion market”. Also remember that these are still only allegations.
- Punitive damages means making the institution responsible for what took place. That means that everyone who was involved in the process has to be listed individually so that they, the loving parents, can extract their pound of flesh. Don’t get me wrong…I absolutely believe that there are individuals who deserve blame…lots of blame, but there are others who did the best that they could in a situation that can present itself without warning despite what you hear in assemblies and meetings.
- The guild by association deal. If you are seen as a friend of an individual and they do something wrong, then it is so easy to attribute statements made by them particularly when you are “fanning the flames”.
I have had far too much experience with bad decisions made by stupid administrators and to this date I have not extracted my “pound of flesh”. I can honestly say that it is because I can’t blame children for acting like children and if they are to remain innocent as they should, then I shouldn’t proceed. They were not even my children.
Still, today, those persons still exist at the school in their administrative capacities. Maybe I should’ve been like this loving parent and pushed a lot harder. Do I think it could’ve prevented irresponsible actions of a teacher? Nah. I am not that important…but the leadership is and the school and the district have been suffering for years from lack of leadership.
Enough said. I gotta go and contact my attorney.
~Peace