Where Your Children Are illinois

Grade school bully leaves 13-year-old with broken teeth, bruises

An Illinois student is recovering after a bully took things too far when the taunts became physical last week, knocking out Charlee Funes’s tooth and leaving her bruised and bloody.

Funes, by all accounts a sweet and well-adjusted girl, was being bullied by a classmate at Gardner Grade School in Gardner, Illinois, apparently since the FOURTH GRADE (these girls are now in seventh), but prior to the May 14 incident the threats had all been verbal. Not so during P.E., when her attacker decided to up the ante and slam Funes into the ground, face-first. Her facial injuries are extensive.

In response, the attacker’s mother insists the “little girl” was mouthing words to her and apparently deserved what she got.

Funes’s attacker (who seemingly had prior issues at other schools) was given 2 days’ suspension from school; administrators neglected to involve the police or even discuss the matter further with the victim’s family without an attorney present. Her family took to social media to decry the treatment they’ve thus far received.

Still sensing a P.R. disaster, the Gardner Community Consolidated School District 72 released a full statement to the community at large:

“I am writing to inform our community of an incident of student misconduct that occurred last Thursday during a physical education class that resulted in injuries to one of our students.

In response to the incident, the District immediately began an investigation. Throughout the investigation, the District worked collaboratively with law enforcement, and took immediate action in response to the student who committed the misconduct.

While the District is unable to share the details of the investigation and the actions taken to respond to the misconduct due to student confidentiality and privacy laws, the District takes all incidents of misconduct seriously and our student’s safety is always our first priority.“

— Michael Merritt, Gardner Community Consolidated School District 72 Superintendent

The above statement was gleaned from news organizations who seemingly obtained it from families of children attending the school; it is virtually absent from their website, though it can still be viewed via Twitter. Speaking of social media: they have apparently deleted their facebook page amid the backlash from the Funes’s supporters.

The family has elected to start a GoFundMe to help raise money for Charlee’s legal and medical bills.

Gardner Grade School serves about 200 students in grades K-8 in Gardner, IL. Ninety-two percent of students are white, and the school outperforms the state average on standardized tests. About a third of the student body classifies as low-income.

Girl, 13, says she was bullied then beaten at school in Gardner, Illinois

Bullying Incident Lands Suburban 7th Grader In Hospital, Parents Say
https://www.gofundme.com/f/justiceforcharlee?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR1M4Tee50pp-928vSNBt3nPTBPxPpoNWrv_57bOJMH0dcr_3FFiMe68p5w
#justiceforcharlee

Gardner Elementary School (GreatSchools)

Gardner Grade School official website

Where Your Children Are louisiana

Cafeteria worker arrested after inappropriate behavior with students

image courtesy Terrebonne Parish Police Department

Most every student or former student can look back and remember fondly their time in the lunch room, where (usually – silent lunch periods do exist, after all) they can talk with friends, eat borderline-inedible reheated food on styrofoam trays, and con the sweet lunch lady for an extra cookie or chocolate milk carton. “We love our lunch ladies!” school PTA organizations often gush. Well, this lunch lady loved her students, too – a little too much, in fact.

Dawn Marie Baye, 38, a cafeteria worker at Lacache Middle School in Chauvin, LA, is accused of grooming and “behaving inappropriately” around a group of boys ages 13 to 16. Ms. Baye plied the boys with alcohol and pornography at her home before engaging in some sort of sexual encounter with at least one of them. She is charged with eight counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile and 10 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, stemming from an April 21 complaint first filed by a parent of one of the boys. Information found on social media (because, gosh darn it, boys love to brag, don’t they?) corroborated the story and led police to take Baye into custody on April 30, and for her to lose her job (because unlike teachers, lunch ladies don’t have tenure).

Prior to her arrest it is alleged that Baye also worked at other schools in the area, possibly having contact with children as young as 8 years old.

Lacache Middle School in Chauvin, Louisiana serves approximately 365 students in grades 5 through 8 and boasts decent tests scores. Whites make up about 75% of the student body, and 40% of the students qualify as low income. Students and parents don’t have much to report as far as positive comments, instead insisting that the school cares more about test scores than anything else, and also citing poor communication on the part of school officials.

The school has been suspiciously quiet about the whole incident, preferring that parents and students learn about it through news outlets rather than their school webpages. Their Facebook page describes itself as “a family-oriented school with a staff who loves to work with, learn with, and teach children.” There are certainly a few boys at the school who received an education they’re likely to never forget.

Terrebonne Parish school cafeteria worker arrested for sexual contact with minors, sheriff says

Sheriff: Cafeteria worker hosted sleepover with teens with sex, porn & alcohol

Chauvin middle school cafeteria worker accused of indecent behavior with teens

Lacache-Middle-School (GreatSchools)

LacacheMiddleSchool (Facebook)

Lacache Middle School (Official Website)

Where Your Children Are indiana, Miscellaneous

Student tests positive for COVID-19 on first day of school; school open for business by Monday

greenfieldcentraljh

A junior high in Indiana is under scrutiny as the family of one of its students sent their child to school on its first day of the Fall term even though the results of a COVID-19 screening were still pending.

The student indeed received a positive result sometime Thursday, and the health department notified Greenfield-Central Junior High in Greenfield, Indiana, which in turn notified students and faculty that afternoon in an email. As part of the district’s “Positive COVID-19 Test Protocol,” the school quickly isolated the student, and extra care was taken to disinfect rooms he or she may have been in. The student’s schedule was examined and everyone seated within 6 feet of the student is now required to quarantine for 14 days before returning to school. (Because you know children always sit still in exactly the place they were assigned – I’m sure the rest of the class is fine.)

When interviewed Thursday evening, Harold Olin, superintendent of Greenfield-Central Schools, said, “Tomorrow we will carry on. Obviously we will have fewer students with us, but we’ll continue with what we’re doing.”  Students did return to school Friday, and all systems were a go by Monday morning, when all but the aforementioned students returned to their regularly scheduled classes. 

Greenfield-Central Junior High is located in Greenfield, Indiana, about 30 minutes east of Indianapolis. It serves about 750 students in grades 7 and 8. It has an impressive rating on Greatschools.com overall, citing average or above-average standardized test scores. Approximately 95% of the student body is white.

The school’s website makes no mention of the exposure.

Students at Indiana school back on campus after classmate sent home with positive Covid-19 test

Indiana student tests positive for Covid-19 on first day of school

Greenfield Central Junior High student tests positive for COVID-19

Greenfield-Central student tests positive for COVID-19 on first day back to school

GC Junior High

Greenfield-Central Junior High – GreatSchools

Where Your Children Are michigan

Lawsuit alleges school district knew about and ignored sexual assault

image courtesy Ingham County Jail

While if you’ve read a few of these posts (or just haven’t lived under a rock) it’s easy to see all teachers don’t have children’s best interests at heart, some legitimately try to help their charges – only to be thwarted by school administration.

Patrick Daley, 36, of Lansing, Michigan, was convicted last October of 18 counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct, citing the molestation of many young boys (8 of whom testified at the trial) at Washington Woods Middle School, where he taught fifth grade. He was sentenced to between 7 and 15 years in prison. Since then, parents have alleged, in a lawsuit filed by the family of one of the victims, that the school had prior knowledge of Daley’s crimes for a period of at least three years and did nothing other than essentially asking him to tone it down a little.

Daley, who never admitted to his crimes, even at sentencing when begged to do so by mothers of his victims, was never formally investigated by Holt School District, and he was never reported to police. Teachers, staff members, volunteers and students made at least 8 separate reports to the district about Daley’s actions between the 2016-2017 school year and May 2018 (when Daley was finally investigated by Ingham County Sheriff’s Office), according the lawsuit . At least two administrators had conversations with Daley about how he interacted with young boys, the earliest in 2015. In one such conversation, the district’s human resources director told him his actions were very “dangerous and concerning,” but nothing was done other than warn him to maybe stop doing it.

Coworkers and former students of Daley’s admitted that the teacher was known for touching his students, from high-fives to hugs, and that many either didn’t realize or weren’t aware that his behavior had turned inappropriate. Grazing his hand over a male child’s groin, or letting his hand rest on their buttocks for extended periods of time were apparently regular occurrences for Mr. Daley, who preyed on his students’ trust and familiarity with him.

Washington Woods Middle School, in Delhi Charter Township, Michigan, serves approximately 450 students in grades 5 and 6. It has test scores average with the state, and has no other exceptional information – good or bad – to report regarding its makeup or achievements. In other words, it’s just your average middle school.

Prior to molesting children at Washington Woods, Daley worked at Cole Academy in Lansing, a small elementary charter school with about 200 students in grades K-6. Though more diverse than Washington Woods, it still has nothing to set it apart from hundreds of other schools in the country. Daley was let go from Cole as early as 2013 after he was caught sexually harassing male students and watching them shower while on field trips, according to the lawsuit that was filed against the district. No apparent reports were made to police. Daley just found himself another job, and another opportunity to harm innocent children.

In addition to his job diddling young boys, Daley also worked as a high school hockey coach.

Lawsuit: Holt Public Schools ignored multiple reports of sexual abuse by 5th grade teacher

Ex-Holt teacher sentenced to prison for sex assault of fifth-grade students

More students testify in alleged sexual abuse case against former teacher, Patrick Daley

More we know about Patrick Daley

Washington Woods Middle School – GreatSchools

Cole Academy – GreatSchools