skool
CHICAGO (CBS) If your child feels unsafe at school, and you want them transferred to a new school, what do you think would happen?
Families say officials with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) drag their heels and even prevent transfers, further endangering their kids. 2 Investigator Dave Savini found the district has been lacking a policy to deal with this safety concern.
Since 2008-2009 school year, Edwina Meyer has been trying to get a transfer out of Scammon Elementary School, 4201 W. Henderson St. She says she feels unsafe.
“It’s terrible,” Meyer says. “It’s like so much happened in that classroom.”
She says she has witnessed multiple X-rated acts while in class.
Meyer was reportedly not alone in witnessing this behavior. Laura Flores says her daughter also witnessed the sex acts.
“My daughter was psychologically damaged by it, in the way she had nightmares, she fretted about going to school,” Flores said. “She was afraid.”
EMAIL A TIP TO 2 INVESTIGATOR DAVE SAVINI
Flores and Susan Meyer, Edwina’s mother, both say that during the past two years, they wanted their daughters transferred to different schools for safety reasons. But they say school officials fought them, even though they acknowledge the sex acts occurred and fired the teacher.
Edwina Meyer says even after the teacher was fired, problems persisted. She says she was bit, inappropriately touched and she says denied access to the bathroom. Meyer says she wet herself and was forced to sit in her own urine.
“I don’t have an explanation from anybody why it’s happening,” Susan Meyer said.
She removed her daughter from Scammon and has been trying to have her placed in a new school.
The problem is there have been no official CPS policies to help students transfer when they felt unsafe.
Meyer wanted her daughter, who has special education needs, to go to a new school, Lorca, which opened just blocks from her home. She says CPS officials refused.
Finally, they were told Edwina Meyer could switch, but to a school five miles away without bus transportation. That is impossible, says her mother, who has no car. That left Edwina sitting at home.
“She doesn’t deserve this,” Susan Meyer said.
After CBS 2 contacted Chicago Public School officials, they agreed to provide Edwina bus transportation to a new school.
For other students, there also is help. This year, a new CPS policy allows students to transfer for safety reasons, but applying for a move does not guarantee you will get one. District-wide, 17 students have applied for safety transfers citywide this year, and five were denied.
“The district makes every effort to accommodate all of its students and their individual needs equitably and fairly, and we will review and monitor our internal procedures,” a schools spokesman says.
Click here to review the new policy.
Families say officials with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) drag their heels and even prevent transfers, further endangering their kids. 2 Investigator Dave Savini found the district has been lacking a policy to deal with this safety concern.
Since 2008-2009 school year, Edwina Meyer has been trying to get a transfer out of Scammon Elementary School, 4201 W. Henderson St. She says she feels unsafe.
“It’s terrible,” Meyer says. “It’s like so much happened in that classroom.”
She says she has witnessed multiple X-rated acts while in class.
Meyer was reportedly not alone in witnessing this behavior. Laura Flores says her daughter also witnessed the sex acts.
“My daughter was psychologically damaged by it, in the way she had nightmares, she fretted about going to school,” Flores said. “She was afraid.”
EMAIL A TIP TO 2 INVESTIGATOR DAVE SAVINI
Flores and Susan Meyer, Edwina’s mother, both say that during the past two years, they wanted their daughters transferred to different schools for safety reasons. But they say school officials fought them, even though they acknowledge the sex acts occurred and fired the teacher.
Edwina Meyer says even after the teacher was fired, problems persisted. She says she was bit, inappropriately touched and she says denied access to the bathroom. Meyer says she wet herself and was forced to sit in her own urine.
“I don’t have an explanation from anybody why it’s happening,” Susan Meyer said.
The problem is there have been no official CPS policies to help students transfer when they felt unsafe.
Meyer wanted her daughter, who has special education needs, to go to a new school, Lorca, which opened just blocks from her home. She says CPS officials refused.
Finally, they were told Edwina Meyer could switch, but to a school five miles away without bus transportation. That is impossible, says her mother, who has no car. That left Edwina sitting at home.
“She doesn’t deserve this,” Susan Meyer said.
After CBS 2 contacted Chicago Public School officials, they agreed to provide Edwina bus transportation to a new school.
For other students, there also is help. This year, a new CPS policy allows students to transfer for safety reasons, but applying for a move does not guarantee you will get one. District-wide, 17 students have applied for safety transfers citywide this year, and five were denied.
“The district makes every effort to accommodate all of its students and their individual needs equitably and fairly, and we will review and monitor our internal procedures,” a schools spokesman says.
Click here to review the new policy.
posted by Bagack at
8:50 AM
88 Comments
I was extremely disappointed in your story last night. You missed the bigger more important picture. I would have suggested that your focus not be the right to request a transfer, but the right to have your special needs child protected as they attend a CPS. You failed to mention the acts these young girls witnessed occurred while there were only 7 other children and a teacher in the class. Where were the educators? Where was the principal? I might suggest that you report on how this school refused to provide basic safety measures for these children on a regular basis, how 1 of these girls was found wondering the streets around school because the school failed to provide an aid to meet the at the bus. Again these are special needs students who require special accommodations that obviously this school disregarded. Parents of these children have to fight every day for basic necessities. You have just touched the tip of the iceberg!
These issues are exactly why special needs students are totally inappropriate for mainstream public schools. They deserve schools tailored to their special needs where the special needs funding gets to them. As it is they are swept under the carpet and the majority of funds earmarked for special ed is covertly, or not so covertly, used on other pet projects and mainstream students.
Unbelievable, but so common all over America. Why not let the parents and child opt out of the school? Give them a voucher to use at the school of their choice. Give all the parents that choice. You know, freedom? Choice? Then bone heads like those in that school go away. Either that or they become obama campaign workers. Probably the latter.
Our government canceled the voucher program! He believes it is NOT fair to students!
That would anger the teachers’union and dilute their power. The Obama administration doesn’t want that to happen. They might lose some of the money they get from that union. They OWE the teachers’ unions.
Ah public school education…sounds wonderful….
Sincerely,
One of those dumb backwards homeschoolers
Love it!!
Home Schooling ALL the way here in TEXAS!
Obama Sucks!
But teachers and principles are protected by unions. We love unions, don’t we?
Your tax dollars at work. Personally, I think we should dismantle the whole public school system nationwide and put the bloodsucking bureaucrats, administrators and union thugs in jail.
When do we start?
Remember to VOTE DEMOCRATIC in a few weeks for yet continued bureaucraticlunacy!!!
AMEN!!!
yet another reason vouchers should be the LAW and competition should be in place – there should be no UNIONS in public schools at all. Give the parents some choice. But I guess demonratz only believe in choice when it has to do with killing someone
Everyday I read horror stories coming from Chicago on various issues. Guess who is running America? Same people who failed in Chicago.
Must be a city of freakin animals. With pants on the ground no doubt….
There will be no solution as long as you vote for Democrats.
Dummies!
But the people of Chicago WILL vote for all DumbocRATs in November!! You know that!!! Alexi ALL THE WAY!!!!
End the government school monopoly. Every schoolchild deserves the same amount of public support regardless of which schools his parents choose. Real school choice means vouchers.
Our president discontinued vouchers feeling they are against the students (real reason, they are against teachers unions which he supports and they support him)
Go Obama!!
I guess nobody noticed that this article stated that they get requests to move children all year long for safety issues…So if there are a lot of requests from different schools requesting to move for safety issues, then that means there are a lot of safety issues at a lot of different schools. So in a sense, you are simply transferring your child from one bad situation, into another.
Solution? Homeschool, period. It is not the responsibility of the state to educate your children with their slanted opinions, and points of view on every subject from history, to science, to religion. If you want to provide a good education, and good environment, then as a parent, that is YOUR responsibility, NOT the state.
There are plenty of good homeschooling organizations out there now, and much of it can be done online just like many online colleges these days. Otherwise our kids are just going to keep on going down the drain along with the rest of our society, as can be seen in many public schools across our nation.
Schools teach far more bad things than good things. Take your children out of school for their sake, your sake, and all our sakes!
No doubt that these conditions existed during Arnie Duncan’s stewardship of the Chicago School system.
Fortunately forl the rest of us, he received a promotion to Federal Secretary of Education, so now he’s in charge of the whole country’s educational policy.
Tthe bottom line of all these issues is as tax-payers, can we afford the high cost of running excellent schools? For most of us, the answer is no.. but
what’s the alternative? Our taxes will still go up to deal with the rising costs of high unemployment, universal lack of health care, expansion of the criminal justice system, and an ever-growing military industry which will provide employment for all the students and drop-outs that fall through the cracks of the dysfunctional education system.
The city of Chicago spends, on average, $15,800 per student. Surely that type of money should buy SOME type of quality education, wouldn’t you agree?
The problem IS government take over of our educational system. You can look at statistics from here to kingdom come that will show you that our outcomes have been on a decline for the past 30 years (correlates to our federal government takeover). So, you see, no matter how much $$$$ we dump into our educational system, the outcome will remain the same!!!
But hey, that’s government and that is what they do, right? LOL
Examples: US Post Office, Amtrak, Medicare/Medicaid, and yes, now healthcare!!! WHOOPEE!!!!
So, remember this next time you vote!!!
Welcome to OBAMAVILLE!
not that I disagree with the comments dismissing the horrors of this system and personnel, but what is with the girl wearing a top that would be considered underwear up until recent times?
Yes. And you can thank the liberalization of America for that, too. There are no standards or morals anymore. Bill Clinton officially ushered in the age of “what’s good for me is good”.
One word: Homeschool.
BRAVO!!!
This doesn’t surprise me one bit, in fact I’d go further and say these same teachers probably get drugs from these kids, and all kinds of unsavory activity going on in these ‘ghetto day care’ centers.
This is what decades of democratic liberal policies have led to and again again the same phrase from our past comes to mind:
Doing the same things over and over while expecting different results is THE definition of insanity. Einstein…..
but then again what would he have known that the Ghetto Messiah GhettObama wouldn’t…..try everything
What is wrong with the Chicago area media and the local authorities for tolleratiing this? Sex acts in the classroom? Are you kidding? This is
outrageous. Anyone who tollerated this in authority at that school should be immediately FIRED !!!
Robert is right. Name names. If the stories are true, it’s time the heads of the school be put in the spotlight.
Sailordude,you poor, poor hermit. Typical big cities have a vast amount of public transportation. I worked with a woman from South Boston who didn’t get her license until she was 30. Didn’t need to with 3 bus lines a block from her house. When I got to work in downtown Boston by subway, I put 1500 miles on my car…in 18 months.
Rahm be fixin’ this. Oh yeah
LOL!!! You are SO right!! Can’t wait for the scheeple in Chi town to turn out in droves for Rahmbo!!!
Suggestion to some mothers: if your daughters are not dressed like porno stars the atmosphere in the classroom might be more conducive to learning.
VOUCHERS! We need to DEFUND the Dept. of Education. Ban all Unions from Govt agencies including schools. Allow anyone to be a teacher even if they don’t have a teaching degree or license. I have 20 years of IT experience and I could teach technology better than some moron sitting in a classroom all day. Hire PT teachers that are experts in their fields and starting teaching valuable skills. Welding, Auto Repair, PC Repair, Programming, Networking, Accounting…
Viva La revolucion!!!
Being knowledgable about a subject does not mean you can teach it well. Teaching is a complicated art/science. It is not for any person with intellect.
I agree 100% with the remarks of BeeGee.
My God, Chicago really does bite.
Once again the importance of voting and attending school functions like the PTA. If the school is bad, it is the community that should fix it in the end. Start calling the principle in mass numbers. If he won’t fix it call the super-superintendent, etc. If all else fails protest in front of the school.
If your waiting on the media to break the story and get it fixed or the government to fix the problem they created …. good luck it will never happen!
We are all Americans, start acting like we own the government instead of the government owning us!
“…calling the principle” He’s UNION! All he has to do is not take your call. These people need to be neutered of power.
Principals are not part of the teacher’s union. Get your facts straight.
There is no PTA at Scammon.
Maybe our Secretary of Education or Bill Eyres can get involved since they probably know all the folks involved and have been instrumental in shaping the Chicago school system into the efficient, well oiled machine it is.
Maybe “well greased” machine would have been more accurate.
This is all George Bush’s Fault
Homeschool!
Now we all know the reason the idiots who run the school system (and those in the Democratic party who also wanted it) want condoms given out in class.
What do you expect with Democrats running the show?
I’ve seen a few comments requesting folks to name names. I’m not from Chicago, so I don’t have any dogs in this fight, but I do know how to use Google. According to the CPS website the Principal for Jonathan Y Scammon Elementary School is Mary Therese Weaver.
It’s enough to make Barney Frank gag…were that possible.
Some people didn’t know that you have to pay for a parking space in a bigger city. I get it however then you go on to insult them, deride them.
Further you live in a place where a parking space costs almost as much as rent. You have twice the crime rates, twice the taxes, and educational systems that aren’t a quarter as effective as rural areas. And you call us people in the flyover states the morons. Do you know the definition of irony?
P.S. I grew up in one of the 5 largest cities in America… and now happily live next to a corn field
We all know the real reason – too many negroids in one location is just asking for trouble. How can anyone expect them to behave like humans?
Google “Chimpout”
Are you eight years old? Seriously, who says that?
HA ha ha ha!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! Speaks the truth on so many levels.
and by human you mean what? enslave a race of people for hundreds of years, conduct surreptitious deadly experiments on people, drop H bombs, legalize abortion on demand, breed mass murderers, and a host of other atrocities plaguing this society? how long will u be stuck on stupidity?
Obama and Bill Ayers destroyed Chicago schools with their Annenberg Challenge disaster. Read about the Annenberg Challenge and look up Milt Rosenberg Show podcast to learn about the travesty. The Obama zealots and the University of Chicago tried to deny the truth. The Annenberg Challenge was the only thing Obama ran prior to winning the presidential election — and he destroyed it. Just like he is doing in America. This was a preview of comming attractions. The Rev. Wright was right — God has damned America — with Barack Hussein Obama.
What a messed up City Chicago is. First Obammie now this. Thank God I don’t ever have to go to Chicago.
FACT!!
check out the school’s web page: http://www.scammon.cps.k12.il.us/
looks more like the 30th ward political organization
typical Dem machine operation
And yet everyone mentioned in this article will probably continue to vote Democrat.
Principal Mary T. Weaver
http://www.scammon.cps.k12.il.us/Scammon%20Organization%20Chart%202006-2007.html
I have a radical idea. Leave the urban cesspool, and empower yourself. Stop relying on someone else to fix your problems. You can’t fix the corruption by complaining. Vote with your feet and move somewhere worth a damn. Try someplace where people need to have a car and dont rely on the government for everything. Take control of your life and stop being dependant on the government.
I’m with you Meester, that kid is wearing underwear – while sitting next to her mother, being interviewed on television! What an ignorant woman – for any confused single mothers out there, you can’t let your daughters wear anything they want!
Public Schools + Teachers Union = NO ACCOUNTABILITY
Don’t worry…rhm will clean it up.. BLAHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHHA
Don’t worry…Rhm will clean it all up!!!
BLAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Look for the Union Label..
Plus one vote for alternative schooling, such as voucher funded/derived choice, private school, or home-schooling. Either one of the parents makes the ultimate sacrifice and stays home to educate (and parent) their children, which is absolutely feasible with the available curriculum and area Co-Op support groups; or, both parents divert somewhere between $300 and $800 per month (per child) of their income to pay for a private school. Unfortunately a significant portion of your income will continue to be taxed to fund the welfare public parenting/schooling/daycare system, but this can’t change until the next step (vouchers) are made available within a significant number of states. As earlier posts have suggested, if we just sit here and complain about what others are doing (or not doing), then we’re just falling into their category of “it’s not my fault, you fix it” attitudes. We each must make significant sacrifices and take complete responsibility for raising our children.
Maybe “crisis” Rahm will fix ALL this.
http://www.cps.edu/Schools/Pages/school.aspx?unit=5730
Principal – Mary Therese Weaver
Try google.
I home school, and offer must field the question of “socialization.”
“But your kids won’t be SOCIALIZED like everyone else!”
Um… yeah… that’s the idea.
we obviously need more community organizing…. the backward slide of this nation continues.
And people wonder why we homeschool.
And what is the name of this principal? The very next thing to be done is to start a strong campaign to have this low-life individual fired. Grow a pair and start naming names.
Lots of people in bug cities do not own cars. Parking spots often cost the same amount as rent. So if you have never left your little world, I would reccomend educating yourself before posting ignorant comments.
Chicago has a very good bus system. You can live very easily without a car and get everywhere you need to go.
It is third world thanks to sanctuary policies and race baiting extraordinaire’s galore who use the children as pawns to keep their liberal power over these people, otherwise the democrats have no voter base and disappear. They prey on the uneducated and indoctrinate them with their anti American destructive world view that America is THE problem in the world.
The primary and most oft used third world excuse for all their self created failures.
Are you for real? Ask the countless people in NYC how/why they don’t have cars. It’s not necessary to own a car in a major metropolitan area. What kind of world do you live in? An egg shell?
This is probably the most ignorant comment I’ve read on this comment thread so far. Even the wealthiest of people often do not own, or drive cars when living in city limits. Public transportation is often the quickest way to get to your destination due to traffic in most major cities. Take NYC for instance. The subway, buses, and walking are the quickest ways to get anywhere.
You have obviously never lived inside city limits. Classic display of ignorance from someone who has no clue about the real world, but rather is stuck in their little town out in the middle of nowhere, working your 9 – 5 job, getting that steady paycheck every two weeks, livin’ in your little box. Good job =)
So the suburban person did not understand the city person might not really need a car. Ha, just the reverse of all those city people who didn’t understand the lack of fire department coverage in the country in the TN fire story.
What is this ‘bug’ city you speak of oh educated one? LOL
I’m glad I don’t live in a “bug” city.
Bob, dude…I agree with you but there’s no reason to bring a race thing into it. We Americans are not about his race – it’s about he’s a wannabe 3rd world socialist dictator.
As a parent if my child was abused I would take a baseball bat to everyone that harmed my child. When abuse of this nature take place the public has every right to take the law into their own hands.
This is so wrong – this is why people do not trust our government.
Principal’s name is Mary Therese Weaver
Actually race has almost everything to with it. Dollars to doughnuts who do you think was having sex in the class? What race prevented her from going to the bathroom? What race is the principle? Ask anyone whose children had to be schooled with blacks and they all have the same story to tell. Not liking the truth doesn’t make it go away.
Ed,
look up the demographics of the school. You are ignorant.