After a flood of alleged sexual abuse in New York City Public Schools (see here, here and here) Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is working fast to try and control the damage. Earlier this week he promised parents at P.S. 87 that he would be reviewing screening procedures for school employees and today he is sending out a letter to parents announcing just that.
From now on the DoE is instituting a policy that will make it easier to see if potential hires have ever previously behaved inappropriately at other schools. Especially useful, as it turns out two of the men arrested in the last few weeks have had complaints made against them in the past.
The information that will be made available won't just be about sex abuse, it will also include "the results of any substantiated inquiry conducted by either office that investigates allegations of misconduct by school workers." In addition, Walcott says that "my staff will look back at substantiated cases of misconduct and take appropriate action to ensure the safety of our students." Because, "while these three separate incidents were alleged to occur in just three of our 1,700 schools, that is three incidents too many."
"I want to reassure you that our schools have supports in place to promote a safe and secure learning environment in every one of our schools, including age-appropriate curricula around social and emotional health as well as school staff trained to address these needs," Walcott goes on. "We will continue to look for additional ways to support our schools in this effort."
Parents, though, are highly skeptical. "They knew for 12 years and he was allowed to teach in the basement with these kids," one parent whose child was in the class of the most recently accused teacher told the News today. "It’s unacceptable. All they are trying to do is keep everyone calm."
