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Post by wvhsparent on Feb 4, 2009 12:49:40 GMT -5
CBS 2 Most Popular Pages cbs2chicago.com/local/11.Year.Old.2.926217.html11-Year-Old Boy Assaulted; Classmates Charged Feb 3, 2009 10:55 pm US/Central 11-Year-Old Boy Assaulted; Classmates Charged Accused Attackers Still In Same School With Victim Reporting Dana Kozlov NAPERVILLE, Ill. (CBS) ¯ An 11-year-old Naperville boy says he was sexually assaulted by two of his classmates. The classmates are now facing felony charges. But they are still attending school with the alleged victim. CBS 2's Dana Kozlov has the exclusive story. "He has to face every day the people that violently sexually assaulted him," the victim's father said. "It's kind of like we're grieving. We're grieving for his innocence," the victim's mother said. There is no hiding this couple's outrage. In November, their son was at a friend's house when he says two of his classmates - just 11 and 12 years old themselves - stripped him of his clothes, tied him up and attacked him. "Evil is among you," the father said. "And what's most shocking is when it's not some dirty, old man - it's his classmates." All three boys are students at Gregory Middle School in Naperville, and despite being charged with criminal sexual assault and abuse, the alleged offenders still go to school every day with this couple's son. When asked why they are so angry, the boy's father said, "Because I think there's an expectation that when your children go to school, that every effort will be made to protect them from sex offenders. And I think it's clear that that's not the case." The boy's parents say they've repeatedly brought their concerns about the potentially hostile learning environment to Indian Prairie District 204 officials, but the only thing they've done is place the boys in separate classrooms. They say school officials tell them there's no district policy allowing for any further action because the alleged attack didn't happen at school. But according to District 204's rules, there is a policy for threatening or intimidating a staff member off school grounds - and it could result in expulsion. A District 204 spokesperson wouldn't talk directly to CBS 2, but said in a statement that this is a police matter and they cannot discuss student discipline. But she did say in this matter that all the families involved were contacted and the appropriate action was taken to address and prioritize student safety. But the boy's parents see nothing appropriate about this. "The message that's being sent is do what you wish off school grounds, there'll be no penalties or punishments to you," the victim's mother said. Mark Metzger, District 204's school board president, couldn't talk specifics but said student discipline and actions depend on what the law allows. Metzger says in a matter like this, officials aren't permitted to do anything until the legal proceedings are over. The victim's parents, though, plan to address a school board meeting on Monday.
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Post by wvhsparent on Feb 4, 2009 12:54:38 GMT -5
While Tragic I totally agree.
What do you think the SD should do?
The SD should offer to move the victim child to a different school, and it's unclear from the report if they offered. If the parents demand the suspect kids be moved, I am not sure that would be legally allowed. The key point here is it did not happen on school grounds or during any school sanctioned event.
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Post by steckdad on Feb 4, 2009 13:07:59 GMT -5
While Tragic I totally agree. What do you think the SD should do? The SD should offer to move the victim child to a different school, and it's unclear from the report if they offered. If the parents demand the suspect kids be moved, I am not sure that would be legally allowed. The key point here is it did not happen on school grounds or during any school sanctioned event. innocent until proven guilty kinda comes into play here too huh?
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Post by wvhsparent on Feb 4, 2009 13:16:35 GMT -5
While Tragic I totally agree. What do you think the SD should do? The SD should offer to move the victim child to a different school, and it's unclear from the report if they offered. If the parents demand the suspect kids be moved, I am not sure that would be legally allowed. The key point here is it did not happen on school grounds or during any school sanctioned event. innocent until proven guilty kinda comes into play here too huh? I suppose it would not be a bad idea to come up with a policy the adress the movement of victim children out of the affected school. A lot of things may have been compassionately offered to the victim family, such as moving to a different school, and they could have refused. If so then the onus shifts to the parents.
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Post by WeNeed3 on Feb 4, 2009 13:29:36 GMT -5
I agree you really have to have the mentality of innocent until proven guilty. What is the district policy if a student accuses a teacher of sexual misconduct? That happens off property usually. Do they remove the teacher from teaching totally or give him/her a desk job until the legal proceedings are over? I understand the situations are not the same since the teacher is a district employee while the students are not.
Hopefully this is resolved soon as my heart goes out to this boy. I can't imagine what he must be going through at lunch and passing periods if he has to face these other boys.
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Post by wvhsparent on Feb 4, 2009 13:35:57 GMT -5
Just so everyone is Clear........ I despise sex offenders of any age. I have to deal with them on a daily basis. I also have to deal with Juvenile offenders regularly. Juvenile laws are very specific on how offenders are to be handled, and as much as I also feel pain for the victim and his family, there is not much the SD can do. It is as they stated, a Police matter.
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Post by wvhsparent on Feb 4, 2009 13:43:23 GMT -5
I agree you really have to have the mentality of innocent until proven guilty. What is the district policy if a student accuses a teacher of sexual misconduct? That happens off property usually. Do they remove the teacher from teaching totally or give him/her a desk job until the legal proceedings are over? I understand the situations are not the same since the teacher is a district employee while the students are not. Hopefully this is resolved soon as my heart goes out to this boy. I can't imagine what he must be going through at lunch and passing periods if he has to face these other boys. IMO a teacher IS "the school" when it comes to any student from the building where that person teaches, as they are considered a person of authority, so location would not matter. In Fact the penalties are much stiffer. Playing devil's advocate - What if said teacher is accused of sexual assault against another person not from the school he/she teaches at, which happened away from school? Let's say it was a Date rape which is reported to have occurred in Florida while on Spring Break......... Now there may be a clause in their employment contract to deal with that, but what if there isn't?
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Post by majorianthrax on Feb 4, 2009 14:01:33 GMT -5
This hits close to home for me. Some on this board know my sixth grader was assulted in the lunchroom at Scullen twice. All that was done was both boys were seperated the first time. When it happened again the next day the offending boy was given an inhouse detention. The school dean (Kristina Figuerres) was very hostile to my wife and I when we expressed our concerns. Since the dean was so indifferent to my sons well being we recieved permission by the SD to transfer him to Still whose staff does not tolorate such behavior. I am sorry what happened at Gregory. I am just happy the SD was sympathetic to my childs situation.
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Post by wvhsparent on Feb 4, 2009 14:05:42 GMT -5
This hits close to home for me. Some on this board know my sixth grader was assulted in the lunchroom at Scullen twice. All that was done was both boys were seperated the first time. When it happened again the next day the offending boy was given an inhouse detention. The school dean (Kristina Figuerres) was very hostile to my wife and I when we expressed our concerns. Since the dean was so indifferent to my sons well being we recieved permission by the SD to transfer him to Still whose staff does not tolorate such behavior. I am sorry what happened at Gregory. I am just happy the SD was sympathetic to my childs situation. I am sorry to hear about this major. The other difference is that your child's event occurred on school grounds, which meant the SD could have taken action against the offender independent of any criminal proceedings. But it shows there is precedence for the moving of the victim, and that should be done IMHO.
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Post by justvote on Feb 4, 2009 14:44:38 GMT -5
Why should the victim have to move?!?! The accused students should be removed from the school. Period. I'm sorry, but I'm not really that interested in the "rights of these kids". I care much more about the rights of the victim. This incident happened last November (not yesterday) and the SD has done everything possible to keep it from the public. The ONLY reason it's becoming very public now, is because the victim's parents have made it so in hopes that something will be done. The safety of ALL Gregory students should take precedence over fear of litigation.
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Post by wvhsparent on Feb 4, 2009 15:18:22 GMT -5
Why should the victim have to move?!?! The accused students should be removed from the school. Period. I'm sorry, but I'm not really that interested in the "rights of these kids". I care much more about the rights of the victim. This incident happened last November (not yesterday) and the SD has done everything possible to keep it from the public. The ONLY reason it's becoming very public now, is because the victim's parents have made it so in hopes that something will be done. The safety of ALL Gregory students should take precedence over fear of litigation. I understand your frustration, and I don't want you to think I am defending the suspects in this. I too detest what they did, if it is proven to have occurred. But at this time the laws on the books as well as mounds of case law restrict what can be done. We have tried and have had small successes in getting some laws changed. Even the Police are limited in what they can do. They arrested the "perps" who now have a court date, which will be juvenile court, not open to the public. Again as this happened off of school grounds and involved juveniles, it's not up to the SD to make this public. In fact like I said before, juvenile laws even prevent their names from being published, or even shared with other local Law enforcement.
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Post by justvote on Feb 4, 2009 16:10:58 GMT -5
I know you are the "voice of reason", but it's very difficult not to be emotional about this situation. It just doesn't seem fair to the victim, but I guess this isn't about what's "fair", it's about what's legal. I also believe it's about the SD covering their proverbial a**es regarding potential litigation if they try to remove these boys. What a horrible tragedy for this poor boy to have to relive what was done to him every time he sees these boys in the halls of Gregory.
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Post by wvhsparent on Feb 4, 2009 17:04:21 GMT -5
In my profession. I leave my emotions in my desk drawer, otherwise I would not be able to do my job. Some days are harder than others
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Arwen
Master Member
Posts: 933
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Post by Arwen on Feb 4, 2009 18:27:27 GMT -5
Parent, when would you expect this to go to trial roughly?
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Post by majorianthrax on Feb 4, 2009 19:28:30 GMT -5
I know you are the "voice of reason", but it's very difficult not to be emotional about this situation. It just doesn't seem fair to the victim, but I guess this isn't about what's "fair", it's about what's legal. I also believe it's about the SD covering their proverbial a**es regarding potential litigation if they try to remove these boys. What a horrible tragedy for this poor boy to have to relive what was done to him every time he sees these boys in the halls of Gregory. I remember some years ago there was an incident involving two NV students. A kid stalked and attacked another boy, (it happened outside of school) and the victim is now paralyzed. However while the victim was hospitalized fighting for his life the assaliant continued to attend school at NV and threatened and intimidated the siblings of the victim. The SD did nothing about it.
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