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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 10/10/2003 4:08:07 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A Coral Gables Elementary School teacher and her volunteer aide were charged Thursday with binding and gagging 6-year-olds with heavy tape as punishment for misbehaving.
The aide is a felon on probation for armed burglary with a knife, cocaine possession and grand theft. Miami-Dade County school administrators said they never knew because they do not conduct background checks on school volunteers.
''If this is not a critical problem but is deemed an anomaly -- which it appears to be -- how many hairs are we going to split?'' asked Superintendent Merrett Stierheim, saying the $70-per-person fee for fingerprint checks on the district's 21,400 volunteers is prohibitive.
``Where do we get to a point of diminishing returns?''
Charged Thursday were veteran first-grade teacher Vonda Christie and her close friend, volunteer Ivonne Nieves. Christie reportedly did nothing to intervene when Nieves disciplined at least five students by taping their hands, ankles, heads and mouths, police said. The alleged incidents occurred between late August and Sept. 11.
Christie, who has been raising Nieves' son since 2000, brought her into the classroom despite knowing her history of arrests and drug use.
''I cannot understand how the school system would allow my precious angel of 6 years old in that person's hand,'' said Pedro Hereu, whose son Peter-Anthony said he was taped by Nieves. ``If [Stierheim] had a 6-year-old and this happened to him, I think he would change immediately.''
Both women were charged with five counts of child abuse; Nieves also faces five counts of false imprisonment. They were both in jail Thursday night.
Both women's lawyers denied the charges but neither would comment on Nieves' criminal history. Christie's lawyer, Kristi Kassebaum, said police were determined to make an arrest even before interviewing the pair.
''Obviously these allegations are simply untrue,'' said Yery Marrero, attorney for Nieves. ``They are motivated by individuals with a financial interest and financial motive.''
Hereu and three other families whose children said they were abused have retained Coral Gables attorney Carlos Silva.
'Somebody has to compensate these families for their childrens' nightmares,'' he said.
SEVEN ARRESTS
Nieves, whose full name is Ivon Nieves Marrero but who is not related to her lawyer, has been arrested seven times since late 2001 on charges ranging from driving with a suspended license to armed robbery.
On Feb. 11, she was sentenced to a year of probation for a trio of 2002 charges, including a burglary in which she broke into an apartment and held her victim at knife point while an accomplice stole his television.
''Ivonne Nieves needs the maximum sentence allowed for abusers,'' Christie wrote in a November 2002 e-mail to the judge presiding over one of Nieves' cases.
Christie, however, still allowed Nieves -- whom she called a ''severe substance abuser'' in her message to the judge -- to volunteer in her class. The two were across-the-street neighbors in Coconut Grove and live in houses owned by the same person.
Christie has been a Miami-Dade teacher since 1988, according to school records. Some parents defended her reputation.
''I've helped her, and I've been shocked and surprised over all the allegations, and I've never, ever heard of incidents where there was any kind of abuse,'' said Desireé Anthony, mother of a Coral Gables fifth-grader and a volunteer at the school. ``If we lose her, it will be a great loss.''
Coral Gables Elementary principal Graciela ''Cheli'' Cerra did not respond to messages left at the school Thursday. Former principal Melanie Fox, who is now a regional administrator but supervised Christie last year, also did not return calls.
A letter sent home with Coral Gables students Thursday detailed the complaint and arrests, but made no mention of Nieves' probation or criminal record.
According to the school's mission statement on its Internet site, it ``seek[s] to provide a nurturing and secure learning environment.''
APPLICATION QUESTION
The only district check done on most school volunteers is a one-page application on which they are asked whether they have ever been ``convicted of a crime, found guilty or entered a plea of nolo contendere [no contest] even if adjudication was withheld or if records were sealed or expunged?''
Nieves checked ''no'' on hers.
''This is an anomaly, an aberration,'' Stierheim said, admitting he does not know whether any other felons are volunteering in schools. ``I don't think the system is broken.''
Hereu said background checks should be made mandatory or the district should disband the 30-year-old volunteer program.
''If there is one person that he can save from child abuse, that would be well worth it,'' Hereu said.
In the past few months, Stierheim asked Schools Police Chief Pete Cuccaro to examine the background-check policy. He expects a recommendation within a few weeks.
''Although we wish this hadn't happened, are we ready to change the way we do business for one out of 21,400?'' Cuccaro said.
State law requires school districts to fingerprint and run background checks on all employees, who must pay the state-set $70 fee when they apply for a job. The district has balked at extending that policy to volunteers -- the district's budget is tight, and administrators fear volunteers would quit rather than pay the fee themselves.
''These people perform an invaluable service for the school district,'' said Stierheim, who said no volunteer has been accused of a crime in school for at least 22 years.
One alternative the superintendent is considering is using a $23-per-person check, which searches criminal histories based on a name and Social Security number, not fingerprints.
He did not say who would pick up that cost, but the School Board member who represents Coral Gables said the district should pay.
''Anomalies can be repeated,'' board member Agustín Barrera said. ``I put the safety of the children first.''
If Stierheim does not present a proposal recommending full background checks at the board's Oct. 22 meeting, Barrera said he will ask for a cost analysis and may bring his own proposal directly to the board.
Starting searches would also force the district to set rules about what crimes would disqualify a potential volunteer.
''Let's assume that someone had a DUI or a resisting arrest or any one of 500 misdemeanors 15 or 20 years ago and clean since then,'' Stierheim said. ``What kind of criteria do you come up with?''
The Broward County school system only runs background checks on volunteers if they will be alone with children, said Joe Melita, the district's chief investigator. The rest of the 12,000 volunteers are treated the same as Miami-Dade's -- simply asked to disclose any arrests. No Miami-Dade volunteers are permitted to be alone with students, nor are they allowed to handle discipline.
''That is really disturbing -- oh my gosh,'' said Shelley Paschal, whose 11-year-old son, Taylor, is in fifth grade at Coral Gables, where she was interviewed Thursday. ``I will definitely inquire with my son's class to see if they have a volunteer and what kind of background check is done.''
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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Obviously he has never heard that pedophiles seek out jobs that involve contact with children.
All adults in the school system who are entrusted with children should have background checks.
Bump!
I just wanted to let everyone who cared about this story know that it hasn’t been forgotten. It is cited in a report on a recent investigation by the Government Office of Accountability. You can read more here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-9926-Chicago-Special-Education-Examiner~y2009m5d20-Study-on-restraint-and-seclusion-of-special-education-students-frightening
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