SCHOOL DISTRICT STORY OF THE DAY
Such districts are poverty traps.
March 29, 2008 - Police are asking why they were not notified by the school when a 12-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a classmate. Police only learned of the assault five days later when the father brought his daughter to the police.
The state's mandatory reporting law requires that teachers and school officials report possible abuse of children. Assistant Superintendent Mary Lou Bergeron confirmed that the School Department is conducting its own internal investigation as to why police weren't notified about the incident that happened before the Easter break.
"It was reported by the teacher (to the assistant principal) and some how or another the communication didn't get followed through. ... That's our standing protocol, that we report it immediately. Our initial contact with police is the school resource officer," she said.The school principal did not find out until Monday when the father came to the school. When he asked school officials about what they planned to do, the father said he was told the student would receive a suspension. When he pressed what other action would be taken, he said school officials told him that his daughter could be transferred to another class or to a different school.
The 13-year-old boy reached over to the girl's shirt and pulled the top of it out and then looked down her shirt. The girl told police she heard a the teacher telling him "to stop doing that," police said. The teacher denies that he witnessed the incident.
PREVIOUS INCIDENT
This is the second case in recent weeks of an alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old female student on school grounds.WHAT WE FOUND
Two Frost School students were arrested late last month on charges of pushing a female classmate into a school closet and fondling her. A 12-year-old boy was charged with indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. A 13-year-old boy was charged with assault and battery and battery on a child under 14.
South Lawrence East Middle School Rates a 1 (out of 10) at Greatschools.net The school, like many in Lawrence, is 81% HISPANIC. The district spends $13,190 per student, compared to a state average of $11,642 for test scores results where only 14% of fifth-graders are proficient in math. Statewide is 51%. (Proficiency isn't a whiz bang performance. It means at grade level.) It gets worse by grade 7 and 8, dropping to 12% and 11%. Lawrence Rates 2 overall for their schools.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education information on the school is bleak. The Hispanic school population has risen to 85% in the current school year. Graphs
PAYING MORE FOR LESS The average teacher salary was $56,282 in 2006. (Found at bottom of information page.) A new contract with teachers signed last month granted them an 8% raise.
Under the current contract, teachers in Lawrence earn a basic salary of $37,000 annually. Those with a master's degree and four years of experience earn $46,229. A step 10 teacher with a master's degree makes $63,514, and the salary increases to $70,000 for a teacher with a doctorate.Look at the size of their budget at the story. The school district is " the largest employing agency in the city with just under 2,200." (Found in nepotism story.) Not unsuprisingly, the school does not offer school choice.
SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS Standard & Poors School Matters on the 2007 school demographics indicates that while 86.4% are economically disadvantaged, only 14.6% are classified as language learners. In other words, language or lack of English is not the problem.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE The elected school committee (same as school board elsewhere) has a website that is not current. There are no school agendas or school committee meeting minutes there or at the Lawrence city website.
Lawrence, Massachusetts entry at Wikipedia explains the immigrant population. See Troubles of the 1980s and 1990s.
Category OOI - Our Own Investigation
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MANDATORY REPORTING Readers might recall a 2004 story when two boys in Columbus, Ohio forced a girl, who was developmentally disabled, to perform oral sex in the school's auditorium. The story made national headlines for days. Less well covered was the fact that the school principal was subsequently tried for failing to report a sexual assault and found not guilty, but it took another three years to fire her. TT entry for Regina Crenshaw.
Few teachers or administrators are ever prosecuted for failure to report as required by law. It's hardly worth the effort as it is a misdemeanor and no teacher or administrator that we know of has lost a license for it.
See our links for Mandatory Reporting requirements.
