As a parent, my childs safety and growth are paramount.

We nurture our
children, watch over them, guide them, and tend to any hurts as best as we can.
At some point, the time comes for parents to step back and let other adults care
for our children. When we step back, our deepest hope is that this truly benefits
our child, helps them to learn the skills necessary to be good and productive
citizens without Mommy and Daddy hovering. There is an inherent trust that a
parent must have with the school teachers and staff that a child is cared for by
adults as much as if Mom and Dad were doing it themselves. We know from our
own experiences that sometimes learning to be independent and learning how to
interact with others can be tough, and we hope that adults are there to help
when needed. We hope that adults care because they tell us they care. As
parents, we tell our children to seek out the teacher, the police man, and other
secure figures when our children are lost, scared, hurt.

Clearly with the case of Sparkman Middle School, our trust as parents in the
school administration and the Board of Education has been severely damaged, if
not destroyed. It took the intervention of the Department of Justice to even make
us aware that willful negligence occurred at this school four years ago. Regardless
of the allegations and accusations of bias and distortions, all we as parents have
to look at is ensuing reactions of our administrators when the news was released
to the community. What was that reaction? To hide behind a lawyer who was
both condescending and petulant, to call a community meeting without any
appropriate notification to the public and at a purposefully difficult time of day, to
refuse to answer any questions or concerns, and to point fingers. When a person
stands up in front of the news and says, Parents, dont worry because we say so
and then ducks behind the smirking lawyer, we tend not to believe. THIS IS CAUSE
FOR WORRY.

A special-needs child was convinced to act in a way that she knew to be
potentially unsafe, in a situation she did not want to participate in, because at
least one, if not more, adults acted in ways that made her believe this was
necessary. They told her she was safe. They told her that they would keep her
from being hurt.

Another role as parents that we have is to teach our children body safety,
how to say no to unwelcome advances, and how to seek an adult for help. We ask
our children to advocate for themselves and to trust their gut instincts when
situations feel wrong. How can we teach our children to do this and to trust the
caretakers when these are the ones who pushed and cajoled and paraded
authority around to do otherwise, to act in an unsafe manner? And how can we
ask this young lady to disclose what happened to her when she was told after she
had been sodomized that she was the one who would be suspended and possibly
sent to an alternative school?

According to the Justice Departments National Crime Victimization Survey
from 2008-2012, sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes, with
60% still being unreported. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National
Network, 1 out of every 6 women has been the victim of an attempted or
completed rape in her lifetime. 15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under
the age of 12. Girls ages 16-19 are four times more likely than the general
population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. Victims of
sexual assault are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression, 6 times more
likely to suffer from PTSD, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more
likely to abuse drugs, and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide. To cover up
this offense is unspeakable and reprehensible.

In regards to this particular case, administrators were deliberately
indifferent to the dangerous environment created by the young man in question.
Administrators shredded his previous discipline records and disregarded repeated
allegations that he was soliciting students for sex. To quote the DOJ brief,
to conclude otherwise [that the school was not deliberately indifferent]
would allow, or worse still, encourage a school district to avoid Title IX
liability by destroying all records of an offenders misconduct and then
claiming that no one has a recollection of the offenders history. It would
also wrongly suggest that school officials have no obligation under Title IX
to make an informed decision as to appropriate cautionary measures
when they know, as here, than an offender has committed or been accused
of multiple acts of sexual and violent misconduct.
What has been documented by the school of this young mans discipline records
still show 15 proven infractions, which include sexual and violent misbehavior.
Also according to the DOJ brief,
even though all three administrators insisted that they could not recall
details of [a previous January 13] accusation but were certain that [the
young man] was not involved in any wrongdoing, they imposed a penalty
that was nearly seven times longer than any previously ordered for [his] 14
prior, proven infractions. This punishment strongly suggests that they knew
that [he] was dangerous, needed to be separated from other students, and
constantly supervised.
Yet this suspension still allowed this young man access to the general student
population via janitorial work around the school, and it enabled him to have
access to the restroom where he would later sodomize a child.

Today, the community wants to make clear that we will not forget this
negligence, that we will not simply place blind faith in adults whose job it is to
protect and care for our children and who instead allow a child to be abused
because of the dangerous environment that they created through negligence. We
will not forget that these adults kept their jobs or were promoted. We will not
forget that the Board was surprised to hear that this was still an issue because
simply allowing the teachers aide to resign was sufficient to them. We will not
forget that the Boards reaction to the community has lacked all compassion,
care, and concern not just for the children involved in the incident but for our
children now. THIS WILL NOT GO AWAY. The pursuit of personal reputation that
took precedence over the violent abuse of a child is not acceptable and will not
be covered up.

It is the dearest wish of the community gathered here to join our voices to
the 100,000 people who signed a petition demanding the firing of the staff
involved. And it is our hope that the appeals process, aided by the Department of
Justice and 33 other national organizations, will be successful in holding
accountable the men and women who were callously, grossly, and
unconscionably negligent. Thank you.