WAVE 12-01-17 Volume 4 Issue 12

Band director: “Thanks for the early
Christmas present”

November 14, 2017

Rejecting the appeal of a former band director who
was found guilty of enticing a child for indecent pur-
poses, a Georgia appeals court held the conviction
will stand.

In Dec. 2010, the band director called a 14-year-
old student to the band room saying he needed
help fixing some bass clarinets.

When she arrived, she was the only student there.
The band director pulled her onto his lap, stripped
her and touched her before he had her perform
oral sex on him.

Later that day, he texted, “Thanks for the early
Christmas present.” Afterward, the band director
told the girl not to tell anyone or it would “ruin his
job and his life.”

The girl said she was shocked at what happened.
This behavior continued for two years, until the girl
confided in a social worker at the school.

The teacher was arrested.

A police investigation found the teacher had ex-
changed 5,231 texts with the girl as well as nearly
3,000 additional texts with two other middle school
students. He was found guilty on charges of entic-
ing a child.

On appeal, the teacher argued that the text mes-
sages shouldn’t have been admitted into evidence.
The court was not swayed, and the conviction
stood.

Blevins v. The State, A17AO639, 2017 WL
4875585 (Ga. Ct. App. 10/30/

Force-fed autistic student Separating teens after What happened on the bus?
will get his day in court sexual assault: How far
M.D. was a varsity cheerleader
A New Hampshire federal judge must you go? at her high school. She and her
refused to dismiss claim filed on squad participated in the national
behalf of an eight-year-old who A Kentucky principal aced this cheerleading championship.
was force-fed by his special ed Title IX response, a federal ap-
teacher. peals court recently held. Here’s On the drive home from the com-
why the court backed the school: petition, M.D. wanted to get
The child was diagnosed as some sleep. She curled up near
being on the autism spectrum. A Kentucky school didn’t violate the back of the charter bus and
Title IX, so the Sixth Circuit af- dozed.
His IEP outlined that he had trou- firmed a ruling to dismiss a suit
ble chewing and swallowing, so filed by a cheerleader who was M.D. woke up to find fellow
he was at risk of choking and as- sexually assaulted on a team cheerleader R.M. with a hand
piration. bus. down her shorts and the other in-
side her bra. She pushed him
The special ed teacher used so- Expressing sympathy for the away and changed seats.
called “tough love” to get the boy girl’s situation, the court said an
to eat, including: Instagram follow request and two Back at school, M.D. told a friend
random run-ins didn’t mean the what happened. That friend in-
force-feeding him, taking his school was deliberately indiffer- formed the cheer coaches, who
chair away at mealtimes, pinch- ent to her rights. reported the incident to the
ing his mouth open and shoving school principal.
food into it, covering his mouth
with her hand until he swallowed
and yelling at him.

Many co-workers complained
about the teacher. She ended up
resigning.

The mother sued, alleging a sub-
stantive due process claim. She
said the district was deliberately
indifferent in the need to train
and supervise its workers.

There was evidence that co-
workers complained about the
special ed teacher’s conduct, so
a reasonable jury could conclude
that the district failed to provide
proper training.

The principal questioned R.M., 2. instructed the assistant princi- his senior year.
who confessed. Given the seri- pals and guidance counselors to
ous nature of the incident, the su- monitor R.M.’s compliance, and * R.M. and M.D. shared the
perintendent sent R.M. to an same lunch period.
alternative school – effective im- 3. directed school administrators
mediately – even though he had to review R.M. and M.D.’s sched- * R.M. was assigned to take pho-
no history of disciplinary prob- ules to ensure they didn’t share tos at a sporting event M.D. at-
lems. classes. tended.

While R.M. attended the alterna- In spite of the plan, the school But the evidence didn’t support
tive school, he was a model stu- couldn’t prevent every encounter the allegation that the school was
dent. deliberately indifferent, the court

He had no further disciplinary in- between the students. M.D.’s held.
cidents, and the alternative parents said R.M.’s presence at
school twice recommended that school: First, R.M. sent the Instagram
he be reinstated to his former follow request before he returned
high school. * caused M.D. to suffer anxiety to the school, and before the
created a hostile environment, school had notified him about the
Both times, the recommendation and condition not to contact her. Fur-
was rejected. ther, M.D. blocked his request,
* caused M.D.’s grades to suffer. and they had no further commu-
When the alternative school filed They filed a Title IX suit that nication on any social media.
a third recommendation to return reached the Sixth Circuit.
R.M. to his school at the start of Second, when the school real-
his senior year, the superinten- A Title IX violation? ized that R.M. and M.D. shared a
dent agreed – with a condition: lunch period, the principal told
R.M. was not permitted to have One crucial element of a valid R.M. that he had to eat in a des-
any contact with M.D. Title IX claim is “deliberate indif- ignated classroom rather than
ference.” the cafeteria.
Principal’s detailed plan
M.D.’s parents claimed the Third, when the school learned
At the high school, the principal: school was deliberately indiffer- R.M. had been assigned to take
ent to the ongoing trauma M.D. photos of a sporting event at-
1. warned R.M. that even a sin- endured after R.M. returned to tended by M.D., the yearbook
gle campus incident between school. They said: staff was instructed to reassign
him and M.D. would land him R.M. to a different photography
back at the alternative school * R.M. sent M.D. a follow request assignment.
until graduation on Instagram the summer before



The evidence showed school of- signed since then.
ficials tooks active steps to en-
sure R.M. stayed away from Speaking at a school board
M.D., so it wasn’t deliberately in- meeting Monday evening, first-
different. Thus, the ruling for the grade teacher Amanda Sheaffer
school was affirmed. says she has been hit and kicked
by her students.
M.D. v. Bowling Green Indep.
School Dist., No. 17-5248, 2017 Barksdale says the association
WL 4461055 (6th Cir. 10/6/17). wants a task force comprised of
teachers, administrators and par-
ents to help students who display
violent behaviors.

Teachers in Harrisburg The district claims not all of the BRENTWOOD, Tenn.- Metro Po-
resign over teacher resignations were due to lice said 14 juvenile students
student violence. Still, Superin- were arrested and 2 adult stu-
student violence tendent Sybil Knight-Burney says dents were cited following a large
the district understands that fight at John Overton High
November 22, 2017 there is a “different type of sup- School.
Associated Press port that is needed.”
The fight broke out Tuesday
HARRISBURG — Teachers in morning and prompted a lock-
Pennsylvania’s capital city are down at about 11 a.m., which has
asking for support after a series since been lifted.
of violent altercations with stu-
Metro Schools said the students
arrested were taken to a juvenile
detention center.

Police said the fight appears to
have been between male stu-
dents. Metro's gang unit is inves-
tigating the fight, but it has not
been determined if the fight was
race or gang related.

dents has led to multiple resigna- 14 students arrested, 2 There were no serious injuries
tions. cited following fight at and no one was transported to
the hospital because of the fight.
The Harrisburg Education Asso- John Overton High Metro Schools released the fol-
ciation says at least 45 teachers School lowing official statement regard-
have resigned since July and Oc- ing the fight:
tober. Association President Jody November 21, 2017
Barksdale says more have re- FOX 17 Nashville

There were no serious injuries students may be dealing with in A 25-year-old former soccer
and no one was transported to their communities that would re- coach at Clark High School ar-
the hospital because of the fight. sult in today’s issues. The district rested last week is accused of at-
Metro Schools released the fol- is committed to providing a safe tempting to kiss a 14-year-old
lowing official statement regard- and secure learning environment freshman on the lips before a
ing the fight: for all students through its rela- football game.
tionship with law enforcement
"t is unfortunate such an incident and its various community part-
occurred on the last day prior to ners."
break. Principal Dr. Jill Pittman
and her team will continue to Las Vegas school coach
work with staff to maintain a pos- tried to kiss 14-year-old
itive and safe school environ-
ment at Overton High School girl, police say
when school resumes. All stu-
dents involved will be disciplined November 21, 2017
appropriately. Las Vegas Review-Journal

Next week, MNPS will have
counselors proactively working
with students as well as with
community partners to identify
and understand the challenges

The student reported she was nouncing the arrest last week, passed requiring more-thorough
waiting in the cafeteria before the the district said he was a volun- background checks on all em-
football game with her brother’s teer. ployees and volunteers in the
girlfriend on Oct. 20 when the district.
coach, Juan Alfredo Chavez, ap- Chavez, who had been a coach
proached and told her to come since December 2010, has been Police: Franklin City
with him, according to the arrest removed from the district’s ap- Schools custodian ac-
report. The two exited the school proved coaches list and is no cused of sexual contact
by the baseball field, where longer allowed on school district
Chavez asked the student to give properties across the Las Vegas with student
him a hug, according to the re- Valley, police said. According to
port. the school district, Chavez suc- November 21, 2017
cessfully passed a background
“As they hugged from the side, check in order to be a coach and A custodian at Franklin City
Chavez reached his arm around have contact with students. Schools is under investigation for
her back, grabbing her left shoul- sexual misconduct with a student
der with his hand and pulled her He is the sixth school district em- and has since resigned from the
close to him at which time he ployee to be arrested since July district, officials report.
leaned his head in and tried to 1, the start of the new fiscal year
kiss her on the lips,” the report for the district. His is the second Police said school administrators
quoted the student as saying. district arrest involving lewdness on Monday conducted an inquiry
with a child. into rumors of the misconduct
The student reported Chavez’ and within two hours the student,
lips got about three to four inches During the 2017-18 year, the dis- employee and a parent were in-
away. The student pulled away trict arrested 11 staff members terviewed by school staff.
and left. on allegations of sexual miscon- Franklin police were then called
duct with a child. A Review-Jour- and began investigating.
The student told police she had nal investigative series titled
known Chavez for four years, Broken Trust highlighted some The employee was a female
having met him when he major issues contributing to the cafeteria worker and a night shift
coached older brother at Clark problem, including providing suf- custodian, police said. The un-
High School. ficient training for employees and named worker was placed on
requiring thorough background leave before resigning.
She told police she never com- checks.
municated with him by text or so- Franklin Police Chief Russ Whit-
cial media, but said Chavez had The series found the district’s man said the alleged misconduct
previously asked the student for training was out-of-date with cur- did not take place on school
hugs goodbye. rent laws and didn’t include grounds.
enough concrete examples of
School cameras captured part of what behavior would be inappro- No charges have been filed and
the incident, although the alleged priate. the investigation is ongoing, po-
kissing attempt was outside the lice said.
camera’s view. After the series ran, the district
created and implemented a new
The arrest report categorizes social media policy for employ-
Chavez as a paid coach. In an- ees and a new state law was



pleaded guilty to three felony
counts of lewd acts on a child
aged 14 or 15. She was sen-
tenced to more than four years in
prison.

Bomb threat found in day 8th 2016. Not a joke.” Court documents indicate Lind-
bathroom: Teen arrested gren inappropriately touched the
He handed the photo back to eighth-graders in the classroom
SRO Anthony Wilson knocked on Rich. “I remember that,” he said. and sent sexual text messages.
vice principal Rich Wells’ office “We investigated and narrowed it
door. “Got a minute?” he asked. down to two potential students. All told, the victims’ individual set-
You questioned Derrick, and we tlements total $4.5 million.
“Sure,” Rich said. “What’s up?” decided he was our guy.”
District pays $405K to re-
“Remember that bomb threat in “He confessed,” Rich said. “We solve 2 sex assault claims
the boys’ bathroom?” Anthony expelled him. So why’s he
asked. “The kid who did it, Der- changing his tune now?” The Lansing School District has
rick Johnson, has filed a motion agreed to pay $405,000 to two
to suppress his statements.” “He’s most likely trying to avoid students who said they were sex-
probation,” Anthony said. “He’s ually assaulted at Eastern High
“Seriously?” Rich asked. arguing that his confession has School in Michigan.
to be suppressed because I
“Yeah, so we should review the didn’t read him his Miranda In 2015, a 14-year-old student
details,” Anthony said. rights.” was assaulted by a classmate in
a stairwell. The assault was cap-
Bomb threat includes date Did the court agree to suppress tured on school surveillance
Derrick’s confession? equipment. She will receive
“Well, a teacher notified me $180,000 to resolve her claim.
about a bomb threat written in Molested by teacher,
pink magic marker in the boys’ students will get $4.5M And in 2014, another student
bathroom in the north hallway,” was raped behind a maintenance
Rich recalled as he flipped A former math teacher molested building at the school. She will
through a file and skimmed the five of her students at Nicholas get $225,000 to settle her law-
papers. Junior High School in California. suit.

“Ah, here it is,” he continued as In 2015, Melissa Nicole Lindgren
he handed two photos to An-
thony.

Anthony read the threat: “I will
put a bomb in the school on Mon-

No, the court refused to suppress A Memorandum of Understand-
Derrick’s confession. ing (MOU) between school ad-
ministration and the police
Derrick said the SRO should’ve department can be helpful – as it
read his Miranda rights. The would spell out who does what in
court said an SRO’s presence such a situation.
didn’t automatically mean Mi-
randa warnings were required. Cite: B.A. v. State of Indiana.
The court pointed out that the
vice principal was the one who Dramatized for effect
questioned Derrick. And Miranda Florida district pays to
warnings aren’t necessary when settle 2 injury claims
school officials question stu-
dents. The Palm Beach School District
will pay more than $5 million to
Further, the court looked at two high school students who
whether a reasonable person suffered serious injuries.
would consider himself free to
end the meeting with the police. In 2005, a 14-year-old suffered a
In this case, Derrick was in the broken neck and spinal injuries
office – and questioned by the when the car he was riding in
vice principal. He wasn’t free to was hit by a district school bus.
leave, but “he was detained for He will receive $790,000.
an educational purpose, namely
to make sure the school was In 2013, a Seminole Ridge Com-
safe from explosives,” the court munity High School student suf-
decided. Thus, he wasn’t held by fered severe brain damage when
police. a large truck tire being inflated in
an auto shop class exploded. He
So the evidence didn’t need to will receive $4.7 million.
be suppressed, the court de-
cided.

Analysis: Get on the same page

As this case shows, courts back
schools when things are handled
the right way.

Here, the school administrator
took the lead in questioning a
student.