more than a little sick and pissed off about Beach K-8 School
A young girl was allegedly raped at Beach K-8 school on May 15 and no one reported it. Except, thank God, the parents of a witness, and it sounds like that’s the only reason anyone in my neighborhood and city is hearing about the alleged attack.
You can read about it on the Fox 12 site, on the KXL Radio site and on Victoria Taft’s blog. Steve also put up a post, so people might be leaving comments.
I could throw up about this. A girl, crying and hurt; a nine-year-old being called a liar, when he’s trying to rescue someone and stop an alleged crime; a boy who is allegedly a perpetrator and most likely not getting the help he needs. Alternately, this may mean there is an alleged witness who may need assistance.
I would like to give the principal, the school staff, everyone involved, the benefit of the doubt. But they have a history of doing some messed-up stuff at that school, and not handling things appropriately.
I wasn’t there.
I don’t know.
But I do know that something ain’t right.
Edited 6/18/09 to say the following: I’ve gotten some e-mails and calls on this one, and have also sent some e-mails and made some calls. I’m not an investigative reporter here. Have heard: that the administration at the school “mishandled” the situation; that they have been “dealt with”; that things have been “handled”; and, who cares, anyway? cuz the principal at the school is leaving the school (district, city, state) and won’t be “a problem” anymore; and “Somewhere a police detective is holding his head in his hands and quietly weeping.”
That’s all.
Sending out a wish for peace and safety for our kids and community.
, 
.
=(
I don’t know what to say. But I really hate when I hear this stuff. There’s definitely something wrong.
June 11th, 2009 | #
As a former middleschooler back in the 80’s I can tell you that kids are having consensual and non-consensual sex in the bathrooms and various other places in the school. I am just sick about this on so many levels. For the child who is called a liar and the girl who will probably never come forward who may have been assaulted. Kids lie about other kids but you always have to take the steps to investigate no matter what. I work with kids with reactive attachment disorder that will throw themselves out of two story windows, run to the police station and say, “Look at what my parents did to me.” I have seen foster providers go down because of lies that these kids will tell….and they are good liars. What I have also seen though is the adults moving away from believing children when they report abuse, crimes, etc. You must ALWAYS investigate and you can do this without validating a lie that is perhaps being told and if it is a lie deal with that later. As a young woman who had almost zero self esteem in middle school I just wish that they would address sexuality and self esteem in more concrete and assertive ways in middle school. Middle school sucks and I don’t talk to many people that enjoyed it unless they were in some kind of special program that was not in a school building. Puberty, self-esteem, brain changes, stinkiness, changing in gym class, it is just a terrible time to be a human….ok I majorly digressed there.
June 11th, 2009 | #
I just read the story and i am experiencing some really strong emotions right now, none of which are positive. Anger, disbelief, nausea (ok that’s not an emotion…) etc. WHA??? What kind of idiot says, ‘That doesn’t happen here so you’re lying.” Wow, that was logical, clear thinking. I’m so outraged!
June 12th, 2009 | #
I am leaving this in a separate comment since it has nothing to do with this post, but I love the new look!
June 12th, 2009 | #
I have a hard time believing that children of that age really know what consensual sex means, just sayin.
Something similar happened to my daughter. She was one of 5 children in her 5th grade class that observed a classmate sexually assault the teachers son in the back of the room. (She used to allow her son to do story circle towards the end of the day with the class)
The children immediately reported what they saw to the teacher. The teacher had the class watch her child while taking the 5th grade boy to the principals office. The only reason I found out about it was because my daughter came running out of school completely scared, confused and crying. Not until I pulled away from school did I finally find out what had happened. So I immediately called the principal and was told it was “being handled.” I tried talking with the teacher and some of the other parents whose children witnessed the assault. No one would discuss it saying it was a private matter. I finally received a call from the principal 3 days later, saying the situation was under control. Their idea of taking care of the problem was to kick the child out of the school. He eventually was admitted to another school without anyone informing them at his new school what he had done at our school. Come to find out he had done a similar act at his previous school before entering my daughter’s class. This boy never got the help he needed and was shoved to and fro under the radar. In the meantime, all the adults involved felt nothing about sending this kid on to continue to act out upon innocent children. I filed a police report, and after doing so, was labled a “trouble maker” by the parents and teachers of my daughter’s school. It sickens me to think that this boy is now in his early 20’s and has probably left a path of destruction, thanks to the adults (and his parents) that refused to believe that is was vital to get this boy some help when he needed it most.
June 12th, 2009 | #