Posted on 10/17/2002 4:23:24 AM PDT by fone
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One day after school, she later recalled, the boy came home with a broken belt. Another time, his underpants were on backward and soiled.
On April 21, the grandmother said, she overheard the boy ask his 8-year-old brother to "get the two fifth-graders that are hurting me." When she questioned the boy, he told a horrific story.
Over the previous month, two older classmates - one 10, the other 11 - repeatedly raped him in the school lavatory. They yanked down his pants and, as one boy held him, the other sodomized him, the little boy said.
The boy later told police that the two older boys raped him about 10 times. When he tried to tell a teacher about the attacks, she rebuffed him: "No tattle-tales," she said, according to the police report.
Yesterday, the boy and his mother filed a $2 million lawsuit against the Cleveland Board of Education, accusing school administrators of negligence for failing to provide security adequate to prevent the rapes.
"To think that this sort of thing could go on in a school is unbelievable," said Maple Heights attorney David Pomerantz, who represents the boy and his mother. "It's unconscionable that this happened to him, but it's equally unconscionable that a school would allow it to happen. Obviously, they should be supervising kids better in bathrooms."
Reports of the sexual attacks first came to light on April 22, when the boy's grandmother took him to Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and a doctor there called police.
Detectives from the police Sex Crimes Unit investigated, and the boy's accused attackers were charged with rape in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. They are awaiting trial.
Pomerantz said a case worker from Children and Family Services substantiated the boy's allegations. An agency spokesman, however, said there was no record of the case being investigated or reported.
Schools spokesman Dan Minnich said neither of the boys accused in the case currently attends Cleveland schools. One has been placed at the Berea Children's Home; Minnich didn't know the other's whereabouts. As soon as the allegations were raised, he said, the district launched an internal investigation with Cleveland police, and the boys were removed from Charles Dickens.
Ward 3 City Councilman Zachary Reed, who represents the Mount Pleasant neighborhood around the school, said the allegations are shocking, but shouldn't detract from the area's revitalization.
"Anything can happen in a big-league city," he said. "We need to ensure that nothing like this ever happens in a school here ever again."
Not on the that, the school's name is "Charles DICKENS" ( Dick-ins) !
You're one sick puppy.
Yep.
Yeah, there's no reason to punish her. It's not as if she did anything really bad, such as teaching the kids what the word "niggardly" means. [ /sarcasm]
Thank you for the update.
What a house of horrors. God help these children.
And if I hear the word "inappropriate" one more time from another school employee or psychologist I'm going to scream.
Early 70s in an upper middle class suburb in the Boston area with "great schools." The inmates ran the asylum.
I have not once said that these children should not be punished. Not once. Maybe the parents of these children should be held to some level of accountability as well.
If showing mercy to children ( and yes, these are children ) and wanting to see them get the help they obviously need makes me a liberal then God help the conservatives.
I don't know. John Stossel did an hour-long report on school bullying last year and his report corresponded with what I experienced in jr. high back in the early 70s. One girl was hounded so mercilessly that she killed herself. Her parents were so obtuse that even after a suicide attempt they put their daughter back in school with the assurance from the school personnel that they would "handle the problem." In her suicide note she said that she couldn't take the bullying any longer. The parents are now suing the school.
Interspersed with this heart-rending story were interviews with self-proclaimed bullies of various ages. All of them said they "liked to see them cry" when speaking of their victims. The motivation was similar for all of them. They were "nothings" in school but being the bully made them something. Their cockiness spoke volumes about how (little) they are disciplined.
There was a lot of hidden camera video shown in the special. The bullying starts early and, in a way, the most horrible bullying was the relatively "mild" bullying of elementary school. In one scene a boy is shown walking around by himself at recess. The only time any kids would interact with him would be to make fun of him or punch him. After being kicked and punched by one group of kids he ran to the other side of the playground. After 10 minutes he came back to be abused again. Why? A psychologist said that it's worse to be alone than to be an abused member of "the pack."
I used to call school (especially middle school) "The Lord of the Flies." I have seen nothing to change that judgement.
It's just a cultural thing, ya know.
I can go with the snake, but I'd hate to waste a weasel and couldn't stand to sacrifice a dog that way.
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