"FOR THE CHILDREN" SLOGANS AND PINS ARE A CRUEL HOAX -
LOOK AT THE ACTIONS OF THOSE RUNNING OUR SCHOOLS
BY a distraught but courageous parent in California
The following has been cleaned up to remove personally identifiable information. We have sent this via FAX and email to the entire US Senate, the CA Senate, The Board of Education in San Diego, Our Mayor, Our Governor, the US Congress with the front cover I COULD NOT BREATHE. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE! in 1" tall bold text. We cannot even get a police report filed such is the level of corruption in our city. We are certain however that our letter writing effort has MADE A DIFFERENCE and I encourage you all to write if you know of abuse!
These people hide behind a system which hides abuse by teachers under child privacy law and teacher confidentiality law. We are sickened by what happened to our autistic son here in San Diego 60 years after Adolph Hitler!
We have documentation to support much of our son's testimony but are unable to find an attorney who is willing to take the case on contingency. We are going to be publishing a website - hosted, most likely in France, where French judges are unlikely to disbelieve American Government officials are capable of what we describe below. Here in our FREE nation, speaking out against our government is apparently illegal!
This is what our son told us after attacks by what we thought was a trusted special Ed teacher - Abusive Teacher - Challenger Middle School - San Diego.
Gordon Victim's Parent
San Diego, CA
December 1, 2004
Dear Concerned Citizen,
During the course of 5th grade, our son Cody had been doing so well under the loving and nurturing care of Excellent Caring Teacher. Cody asked us once if she knew what had happened to him at Challenger. I was immediately filled with the deepest sadness.
Upon entering 6th Grade, Cody was filled with excitement. He was so excited he would be in 6th grade at last. His first day, he returned home from school very upset, and told us he had been thrown in a trash can and called fagot and retard by some youths. We immediately moved to report this matter, and met with Vice Principal, who to our astonishment admonished us that "Well Cody asked to be thrown in the trash." We were very shocked at this stance, and to say the least confused. We later learned NO action was taken against Cody's attackers.
In following months, Cody was thrown in the trash at least two more times. He was continuously called fagot and retard, and threatened and beaten. School Principal was personally aware of this and despite this took no action. Repeated attempts known to School Principal and Vice Principal were made to extort the sum of $300.00 from Cody, under threat of physical violence, beating or death. Further the hostile person who had made these threats produced a picture of a mutilated woman expressing this would be his mother if he did not get the money. Again, staff failed to take any action to mitigate the hostility, indeed telling the attackers that Cody had reported these incidents and accusing him of lying. This severely escalated the bullying events. Cody reports having his head flushed in the toilet by the same, and was pushed into a concrete pillar and into the ground with such force as to leave permanent scaring on his person, and a massive defensive bruise (wound) on his forearm, where he had raised his arm just in time to prevent potentially lethal contact with the hard concrete on his head. Wong expressed when we confronted him this was a very deep bruise, and he would immediately investigate. He did not and later admit the incident was handled "verbally." During another incident, the same person threatened Cody again with beating or death. After this incident, he was taken by Speer and interrogated with not inconsiderable verbal violence for well over an hour. You can imagine the effect this would have on any child, much less one with an Autistic disorder. We were told by Moran they had to do this do document they could not meet his needs. (Cheaper than FAPE) She did suggest we meet with the County, and we did meet with Floyd Sellars, who expressed his concern about Cody's mistreatment. He further made several recommendations as to potential alternative placements, but when we approached Moran with these suggestions from the County, we were told we had not been offered those placements. She further indicated they would not accept the recommendations of our own medical team from Kaiser Center for school problems. The bullying worsened, and we began to suspect worse.
Several months after Cody's last day, during the course of which it is our belief Cody was suffocated and caused to lose consciousness, Cody did report being tied to a chair by Abusive Teacher. He went on to say it had caused him considerable pain, and had inhibited his ability to breathe. He told us he was very frightened, he could not breathe and believed he was going to die. He said her eyes got really big and she was very angry. No doubt he was laughing with intense nervous anxiety at this point. He additionally testified he had been sat on by the same, and that these incidents also predictably caused him difficulty breathing, fear and anxiety. One day, during the course of one of her rages, Cody hid under a desk. Abusive Teacher violently pulled him from under the desk. Photographic evidence shows his strong Nylon jacket severely torn. I tried the other side, and could not tear it with all my strength. I figure at least 75 to 125 pounds of force were required and very likely adrenal strength that comes from great anger. All this in conjunction with multiple statements of a vulgar sexually abusive nature, designed to cause emotional hurt, embarrassment and humiliation.
During another serious incident, Cody's pants were pulled down by some of the same youths; we again complained and met with several staff members. During this meeting, Moran stated to our further horror: "MR. AND MRS. VICTIM'S PARENT. I AM AWARE OF THE BULLYING. I AM NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT." She proceeded as though this was quite normal to tell us that they simply lacked the budget for THAT, and if we did not like it we should take him elsewhere. My wife and I were shocked and appalled, and immediately filed complaints with the OCR and California Department of Education. The OCR warned us of potential retaliation but we did not fully understand what this meant unfortunately.
On his last day, Cody returned home visibly shaken and horribly regressed. Old Picacho toys were bought out which we had not seen in years. Cody was barely able to speak as thought he were 5 all over, repeating Picacho Picacho Picacho over and over and muttering Nervous Cody Nervous Cody Nervous Cody. My wife and I were in shock, and wept. To this day, I cannot say for sure what was done to Cody, I only know from what little he can tell us that Abusive Teacher was behind the acts, and he reports: "I cannot talk about that. I have to forget." Even mention of this time causes to this day considerable agitation and anxiety for Cody, and my wife and I fear something absolutely terrible happened to our son. He began reporting whiteouts shortly after this, and still sometimes experiences these to this day.
Great concern has been given to the many instances of lewd and sexually vulgar statements made by Abusive Teacher to and about Cody, many of them so crude and sexually explicit as to be truly shocking. We believe it is this sexual abuse and harassment combined with the extreme real danger facing our son which precipitated his breakdown. A teacher should NEVER be permitted to sexually and physically violate a student, much less do so out of retaliation and rage. Since the school district has been successful in restricting our ability to view our son's school records, while we suspect something absolutely terrible happened to our son, and we suspect sexually inappropriate behavior by one or more staff, we fear those who violated our son will escape justice and may have already violated other students. Certainly, we learned from Joan Landguth, a well respected advocate referred by State Senator Dede Alpert's office, that shortly after Cody's breakdown, another child had suffered similar violations, and had been thrown in the trash like so much garbage to School Principal.
I had expected an investigation by the district would be launched given the severity of the reports, and was recently shocked to learn the district reported to the State of California it has no records of any nature which relate to any of these matters. Further attempts to report the crimes to School Police have been ignored. To date, NO investigation into the sexual abuse and violations by Abusive Teacher has ever been conducted to our knowledge. We have been allowed to review ZERO school records pertaining to the abuse, despite the fact it is now the most pressing issue facing Cody, and the fact we need these records to help treat our son.
Some events we are aware of -
Students:
1. Thrown in the trash at Challenger Middle School 3 times. School staff took NO action.
2. Routinely called fagot, retard etc. School staff took NO action.
3. Demand for $300 or he would be beaten or killed. School staff took NO action.
4. Threats of physical violence and even death. School staff took NO action.
5. Head flushed in toilet while Abusive Teacher waited outside bathroom. School staff punished Cody for getting sewage in his hair.
6. Pants pulled down in front of class while being called a skinny retard and a fagot etc. School staff took NO action.
7. Shown a picture of a mutilated woman and told this was his mother if he did not bring the money. School staff took NO action.
8. Pushed into ground and pillars causing considerable bruising - School staff took NO action.
9. Suffered continuous unhandled incidents of harassment, both sexual and based on his disability. School staff took NO action.
10. Many other incidents, which when added up form a horrible and threatening environment in which to attend school.
11. School Principal indicated MANY incidents had occurred.
Staff:
1. Told us Cody "ASKED TO BE THROWN IN THE TRASH" (Vice Principal)
2. Told us "MR. AND MRS. VICTIM'S PARENT. I AM AWARE OF THE BULLYING. I AM NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT."
3. Acted on the above statement in every case of hate violence our son endured.
4. Threatened us under truancy laws if we tried to remove Cody from school to protect him.
5. Refused to take action against any of the bullies citing "budgetary concerns".
6. Told us falsely Challenger School had received NO State or Federal Funds. We later learned they had received funds but had spent them elsewhere.
7. Refused to review our son's medical records citing they did not have to take them into account as they were from private doctors.
8. Refused to give us the contact information for the Dana Center (Special Ed Office) so we could get a more workable placement for Cody.
9. Subjected Cody to numerous sexually vulgar remarks and threats.
10. Abusive Teacher told Cody "I'M GOING TO SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE EXPELLED FOR MASTURBATING" amongst other vulgarities.
11. We heard and witnessed on two occasions Abusive Teacher making Vulgar Sexually threatening and humiliating remarks regarding Cody.
12. Cody was taken into a small room by the school's councilor School Counselor and subjected to over an hour of Nazi style interrogation and forced to confess under extreme brutality and coercion to a sexually inappropriate incident which was later determined by the OCR and the Vice Principal to have never occurred. Cody suffered greatly during this incident reminiscent of recent Iraqi abuse story.
13. School officials told us it was necessary for them to make these false sexually accusations against Cody so they "could document they were not meeting his needs," This despite ignoring our many requests for alternative placement.
14. We later learned that by falsifying these records School officials could shift budgetary responsibility to other agencies such as the department of justice etc.
15. School officials have refused to grant us access to our son's school records which pertain to the abuse, citing they are ALL protected under attorney client privilege. This raises real concern that the district is willfully hiding sexual abuse.
16. Abusive Teacher tied our son to a chair, causing him extreme difficulty breathing.
17. Abusive Teacher Sat on our son, causing him extreme difficulty breathing.
18. Abusive Teacher Assaulted our son, tearing a large hole in his jacket.
19. Cody reports Abusive Teacher's eyes got "really big" She was really mad!
20. Cody reports. I COULD NOT BREATHE. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE.
21. Cody reports regarding Abusive Teacher. "I CANNOT TALK ABOUT THAT. I HAVE TO FORGET".
22. School records denied. We suspect sexual abuse by school staff members including School Principal, Vice Principal, Abusive Teacher and School Counselor.
23. We believe evidence in this case has been tampered with and or destroyed on the advice of San Diego Board of Education attorney School District Attorney.
I'm sorry, but telling a 12 year old autistic boy weighing in at 55 lb. and having a mental age of 8 that "a teacher is going to see to it that he is expelled for masturbating" is sexual abuse, and certainly based on other information, is indicative of far worse. One Doctor told us this is "very bad." We believe something absolutely terrible happened to our son, and despite this matter having been reported to the Board of Education over the past two years by ourselves and numerous persons holding high political office, to date NO investigation known to us has ever occurred, and NO police officer has ever taken a report. One cannot help but wonder how many other abuse and even sexual abuse cases are being hidden and swept under the rug by our Board of Education and officials here in San Diego. Cody suffered terrible nightmares over a year and a half period, but because he was too traumatized to tell us of the assault, battery and sexual abuse, the six month period under which we could have taken legal action against the district had already passed. Six months is not long enough, where sexual and hate based violations against a child are involved, and amongst other things, you must act to pass a law which permits the parents of a child to file suit against a school district in cases where abuse is suspected to 10 years, particularly in a case where numerous sexually vulgar remarks accompany the abuse, intended to demean, embarrass, humiliate and intimidate a child.
Writing of this matter helps me cope with the horror of what has transpired, and the refusal of local authorities to act against my son's aggressors, and I hope may someday turn the terror our son experienced into a set of laws which may help protect other disabled children from similar atrocities, and help bring those responsible for these acts to justice.
Thank you,
Gordon
BELOW IS A NAPTA MEMBER'S RESPONSE TO GORDON:
Gordon, I think you've already got it. Many people here unfortunately playing defense, and assuming that things actually work the way they think that they do.
One of the classic books I recommend any empowered person read - I just recommended it to an 8th grade student of mine today, in fact - is "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. Don't let the name put you off; it's all about strategy, and even includes a healthy dose of moral virtue. But it describes how these power struggles work, and yes there are basic principles that frankly every empowered person should know. Note that this book became required reading in many business schools during the 1980's.
One basic strategic principle is to hit at a weak point, not a strong one. Another principle is to choose the moment of attack yourself. A third is to never move unless it is advantageous to do so. Suing a district after a wrong by the district is often a knee-jerk reaction by people, but it often violates all three of these principles. 'Got unlimited money? Politically connected? Go for it! But mere mortals should think very hard before exhausting their life's savings against Goliath.
Another basic principle is "thoroughly investigate your enemy". The district is unfortunately a pro at their business - and note that the battle is on their turf (the world of "education"). Oftentimes, they are crooks, and they hone their skills 24/7 with all the resources available at the taxpayers' expense. Have most of these victims "thoroughly investigated" their opponent? God bless them, but no - their lives are in chaos. Unfortunately, they are in reactive mode.
Yes, they may by some miracle, be able to seek justice through our courts. Karen Horwitz is one of those individuals with that rare combination of unbelievable tenacity and sheer intelligence that can make it happen. However, many of us might be better advised to simply chill out for a while, heal their wounds, and redirect their anger into another channel, at some point in the future of their own choosing. THEY should design the battle, and plan it out from start to finish.
This is what I did. I initiated the battle, kept ahead of them, and accomplished all my objectives. An abusive principal was demoted back down to classroom teacher as a result, and a cowardly superintendent is also gone. But the best thing? -
I was in control, for the most part! Not being deceived and confused; recognizing what was really going on - I credit this, and my friends at NAPTA, for preserving my mental health.
As soon as my lazy attorney closes things up (my district approached me to settle), I'll post my story.
A DEDICATED NAPTA MEMBER
GORDON IS REPRESENTATIVE OF MOST PARENTS AND TEACHERS TRYING TO EXPOSE THE CORRUPTION IN OUR SCHOOLS. HE WANTS ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE PROMISE OF A DEMOCRACY TO APPLY FOR OUR CHILDREN. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DEMOCRACY AND A TYRANNY IS NOT THAT BAD THINGS DO NOT HAPPEN, BUT THAT WHEN THEY DO THEY ARE INVESTIGATED AND MADE RIGHT. WHAT NAPTA MEMBERS HAVE FOUND IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO GET AN INVESTIGATION STARTED AND NO WAY TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT. SOME CHOOSE HOME SCHOOLING AS A SOLUTION TO THIS LACK OF DEMOCRACY IN OUR SCHOOLS. NAPTA CHOOSES LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD SINCE WE BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY AND WE ARE GOING TO FOLLOW WHAT WE TAUGHT OUR CHILDREN AND WHAT MADE US GREAT TEACHERS - DO YOUR BEST AND NEVER GIVE UP. NAPTA
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