Deirdre Fernandes’ page one story in the Globe today reviews past complaints against Underwood Elementary school teacher Daivd Ettlinger and the response from the Newton Public Schools.
“Our school suffered as a result of administrators not acting despite what sounded like a growing chorus of complaints,’’ a father wrote in an e-mail to [Superintendent David] Fleishman in mid-March.
I wrote an email to the Superintendent and SC members on January 22nd essentially stating that they should set up an independent group to address any complaints that are not handled in an appropriate manner by the building principal. I dont have children at the Underwood school however I have seen other issues in other Newton schools that my children are in get sweeped under the carpet. If an independent group was in place then maybe this teachers problems might have been recognized years ago.
We need a paper trail – what happened to only one complaint being filed – when many parents complained ?
Unfortunately Neither the Superintendent nor any of the SC members even acknowledged my email. I know that they got it as I got an email from the secretary of the SC stating that she would forward it to them – but I guess they are busy people who dont have time to address a parents concerns. BUT maybe if they had taken my suggestion seriously in January and at the very minimum be seen as proactive we would not have made the front page of the Boston Globe today. Maybe the Superintendent and the SC like the publicity?
And how can the Principal and Superintendent think that when a parent brings forward a complaint about the teacher hugging and putting a student on his lap during a field trip that they – the parent should have to address it with the teacher. WHat kind of Principal would do that??
And while we are on this subject – we are still waiting for the report on the NPS cori review of job applicants – for those of you that dont know – Newton Public Schools only Coris in Massachusetts. SO if you lived your whole life in another state and move here and get a job in the NPS they will only CORI you in Massachusetts – so if you were a criminal or pedophile in another state we would never know. So you can rest assurred that your prior records will not be found when you apply for a job in the NPS. Maybe that topic needs to make the Front Page of the Globe so we can get some action out of our SC and School Department. And for full disclosure that email was also sent the SC back in January too – Supposedly we are going to find out what they are going to do about that by June. I guess it takes 6 months to figure out that they have a loop hole in the system and probably another six to fix it.
Oh by the way -just so you know you can hire a outside company to Cori outside Massachusetts for you – Just like many other schools do in Massachusetts. But I guess it is going to take you 6-12 months to figure that out on your own.
Mayor Warren – Maybe it is time for you to step in and get the NPS administration to start acting in a more efficient and transparent manner. I am sure you like many of us who live in Newton did not appreciate the front page publicity today.
“And how can the Principal and Superintendent think that when a parent brings forward a complaint about the teacher hugging and putting a student on his lap during a field trip that they – the parent should have to address it with the teacher. WHat kind of Principal would do that??”
And how can they now say that none of the complaints were related to sexually suspicious activity, given the above?
I’m very disappointed that a brand new superintendent dealing responding about complaints that occurred under a previous principal for that school is still taking the CYA stance reflected in the Globe article.
What a truly difficult topic. Let’s hope that the adults remember to differentiate between responsible investigation/taking of precautions … and a witch hunt.
Our elementary students are among our most vulnerable residents. They are just starting to learn the rules of the road. As a parent, I truly hope that at the end of the day, my child is better for having spent a day at school. Each morning as I watch my daughter get into her ride or my son walk into that brick building, I am entrusting them to my partners with whom I’ve engaged in the effort to raise my children to become reasonable and responsible adults. But they are learning and they will most likely make mistakes. So, there is a level of trust that a safety net will be there to catch them.
Our trust has been broken. We are angry and looking for someone to blame. But, let us not forget who the real perpetrator is here. A smart and devious predator who did not want to be found. The children were victims but we, as a community, are victims too. The school is also a victim.
This is a horrible incident that the Administration is not taking lightly. A disruption that the community is not letting go by quietly. This is all good. However, after all is said and done … I hope people are open to the possibility that the Administrators may have done mostly the right things and that the parents may also have done mostly the right things and an evil person managed to threaten our peace. I hope that we will close any obvious gaps we may have, but we will not punish those who are NOT doing anything wrong by making it difficult for teachers to do their jobs simply in our desire to make ourselves feel that we’re protecting ourselves from someone who would simply find another way to hurt us.
Do look at procedure. Do make the necessary adjustments. Do re-examine the pros and cons of additional actions. Do be more aware of what is going on around us.
But also balance the cost and benefits of new policies. Do not, even for a minute, think there is any way to guarantee that this can’t happen again.
Greer – Of course it can happen again if we dont close the loop holes and maybe it can occur even if we dont close them .
BUT the problem is that even bringing the problem and an appropriate solution forward does not get a response from this school administration.
But if many complaints are made and the principal doesnt do anything – what are parents supposed to do? In this case the parents did complain to the Principal and also to Superintendent Young and NOTHING WAS DONE. SO as I suggested if another group was formed to handle these complaints in an unbiased way – then maybe in this case they might have noticed the problems sooner than later.
I dont know any parent that would think it appropriate for a 2nd grade girl to sit on the lap of her teacher? SO why did the Principal think it was OK??
Joanne makes a great point. It’s hard to fathom that a complaint from a parent about what was clearly inappropriate behavior [if true], failed to even get the principal’s attention. It’s a stunning accusation that will very likely drag the city as a defendant into the inevitable litigation.
Thanks Mike
I personally think that unless Mayor Warren steps in here and “helps” our Superintendent with this we are in BIG TROUBLE. The SC clearly will not ask him to do it. I was very upset at the Community Meeting when I found out that you can live in another state your whole life – show up in June – get hired in July by the NPS and the NPS HR Dept will only cori you in Massachusetts. So if they had a shady past in another state – we dont know about it. And I doubt living only one month in Massachusetts would show anything on the CORI. And neither the Superintendent nor the HR director who is an attorney seemed to get it. It seems like common sense to me but evidently not to our Superintendent nor SC. As I stated above we wouldnt be Front Page news if they had listened to parents concerns about setting up a independent committee to take parents concerns seriously especially when a principal doesn’t.
Is there some warning flag that connects giving a shove (to some degree) to move a kid along, and suggesting to a another kid if they are wanting it, there’s an unpeeled banana available and sexual violence toward children?
As an employer, if my employee was accused of rape and in viewing his file I learned that he was previously accused of being rude to customers and doing something else, like using a racial slur in a meeting — should I hang my head for not preventing rape when such other signs were there?
If we go down the road of firing people accused of certain offenses because the world includes far more serious offenses, we are going down a very slippery slope
My wife is a teacher at Underwood. I know everyone involved extremely well. I socialize with the staff there and that includes Ettlinger before this broke. I can tell you that Ettlinger’s behavior, to those that worked with and around him, didn’t arouse suspicion of pedophilia at all. It was as shocking a revelation as could be. It is such a mind f**k to go from ‘this is an okay guy’ to ‘he is a monster’ in a matter of a day.
David Castelline, the principal, however is not a monster. He isn’t an enabler. I’m not saying he handled everything perfectly, ‘what-ifs’ are rampant when such a horror is revealed. I’m not saying he should answer every question ( he has been cooperative).
The sit on the lap incident is troubling but the PTO Parent also didn’t rip the kid off his lap which leads to the question of degree he stepped over the line. If everyone who reads this is astute enough to be able to see that one incident in a 13 year career points to pedophilia then stand up and take a bow. You couldn’t do that.
We aren’t hearing from the majority of parents who were just as duped as the rest of us. The rightfully angry parents want more blood and no one can fault them for feeling that way. However the evidence brought forth by the Globe just doesn’t have any teeth that would even justify a suspension. When the smoke clears, people will see that Dave Castelline is a good and decent man who did a tremendous job in his tenure at Underwood.
Kim – Thanks for your personal perspective. I am sure he fooled the majority of the staff and parents.
The point that is getting lost here is that the NPS Administration should put into place TODAY a system so that if a concern is not addressed appropriately by the building principal that parents or staff would have a hopefully unbiased place to file their concerns.
Because lets just say I was on that field trip – I probably would not have walked over to the 2nd grader and pulled her off of Ettlingers lap even though it obviously would have seemed as a abnormal thing for a student to be sitting on a teachers lap nor would I have gone to the Teacher directly which is what the principal suggested to the PTO president. Why the principal did not think this was unusual is BEYOND me.
The bottom line is that Ettlinger was the NPS golden boy. His school website was the one that teachers across the city were told to look at because it was so good. He did videos of kids at home for a literacy program my son attended. He would visit all the homes of his class. Maybe that doesnt raise suspicisions to you but having lived thru the Priest issues in the Catholic Church – it certainly raised issues to me when I heard about it 2 years ago. And again it was just a video shown that he taped and narrated about literacy.
So again what these parents are asking for is an independent group. What I emailed the SC and Superintendent on Jan 22nd essentially said the same thing.
Lets be proactive so that this doesnt happen again. Why is the Superintendent not addressing this concern and establising this group??? Maybe it is time our SC ask him or Maybe TELL HIM he needs to do this. Lets not wait for a Next time.
Joanne — Sex crimes happen in the majority with someone we know. So who in your family and encounters would you not let your child sit on their lap is they asked?
My kids are bigger now but when they were little they only sat in either mine or my husbands lap. On occassion with their grandparents.
I think anyone beyond that IMHO would be considered suspicious.
And we are not talking about a 2 or 3 year old – We are talking about a SECOND GRADER – this girl was 8 years old.
And because of the Church Scandal my children were never allowed to be altar boys.
So Hoss – why do you think that Ettlinger was visiting all the homes of all his students every year?? Like the priests to try to find the vulnerable ones.
I know when this story broke – a parent wrote into the Tab blog about how nice Ettlinger was with her child as she was going thru a divorce and Ettlinger was the Father figure and would take her kid out for the day and bring him places etc.
What do you think the priest did – went after the children with familys that had issues and played upon those circumstances in order to get close to the children.
My kids have never had a teacher come to our house to visit. If that isnt a red flag I dont know what is.
Joanne, if it was such a red flag, why did you not contact anyone with your concern before the truth came out? Again, I understand your rage but you are pointing out signs that you say you saw before anyone knew anything and claiming that something should have been done before hand and yet you did nothing.
Kim – maybe I did not make myself clear.
1. My son was at a summer school literacy program in which the Underwood Literacy Specialist was in charge of this program. This program was not at Underwood but at Day and my children do not go to Underwood. This summer program would have weekly Literacy Topics for Parents to attend. I would go and my niece who was getting her masters in education at the time would attend with me. At one of these meetings a video was shown that was done by Ettlinger – in it he went to the homes of the students in his class and taped them all in relationship to literacy topics. The Underwood Literacy specialist commented that this teacher would go to all the homes of the children in his class each year and visit. Both me and my niece thought that was ODD. Had I ever met Ettlinger NO – but it struck us both as ODD. I have had 2 children in the NPS and NEVER has a teacher wanted to visit my home. Had I been a parent at the school and he wanted to visit my house I would have said something – again lets remember what the Catholic PRIESTS did.
2. The PTO president tried to bring up a red flag and was shot down by the Principal and in essence told to bring it directly to Ettlinger. If that is not appropriate behavior for a principal I dont know what is. The principal should have confronted Ettlinger and said – I heard on the field trip that you kept this 8 year old girl on your lap. First of all – is that even safe because dont our buses have seat belts for this kids?? Even if the girl was scared about something etc – it doesnt look right and Ettlinger you are putting himself into an awkward position – so please dont do that again. I dont think anyone would think that is appropriate behavoir for a teacher. At a minimum IMHO that would have been appropriate for the Principal to tell Ettlinger. He did not as he told the PTO President to go talk to him herself.
3. The person that should have adding up all these LITTLE RED FLAGS was the Principal. Maybe taken in isolation they dont add up but taken as a group to him they should have. And I am not saying that they would have pointed to the pedophilia but to ODD behavoir clearly not appropriate for the classroom. You cant tell me that there is not ONE teacher at Underwood who now says – that they should have recognized that something was not right with this teacher? Again when you add up all the little pieces.
And since the Principal did not keep a paper trail it makes it more difficult. The only written complaint that was found was the one sent to the Superintendent office. Now we have parents stating that they complained about various issues in regard to this teacher and the only written complaint was the one that was not sent to the Principal but higher up.
4. Our new Bully law requires a paper trail. So if my child is a bully in school A and I decide to move him to School B the fact that he bullyed in School A will follow him. So in this way the principal of School B will know that this is not isolated incident when he bullys again but a pattern of behavoir.
5. Why can’t we have what the parents at Underwood are asking for – an independent group to review complaints that are not addressed appropriately by the principal. And this should be CITYWIDE not just at Underwood. I dont think that their request is difficult and if it helps their community heal and in the process puts in place a system to hopefully prevent this from happening again than wouldnt it be worth it? Again WHY is the Superintendent and SC not addressing this ASAP????? I emailed them this idea in January and the Underwood Community more recently. Evidently the parents did not feel that their concerns were being heard if not they would not have gone to the Boston Globe and Channel 5.
MY “rage” my friend is because the SC and Superintendent even with this terrible situation that happened to Underwood are not acting in a speedy and decisive manner. We are handing them the Common Sense Solution to this problem but they are not acting on it.
What are they waiting for it to happen again?
If this happened in a family context, as if often does, and not a school — it would be utterly disturbing if anyone placed blame on a mother, particularly with such incidents as bananas and shoves. Sex predators are good at not being caught. Humans have lots of vulnerabilities. This Ettinger pierced our vulnerabilities and the push-back on helplessness is now blame.
Joanne,
I’ll reply in order of your points:
1. Where any of the children in the videos assaulted? I don’t know the answer to this. It’s a valid point. Who was taking the video? Was is Ettlinger taking video or was he in the video with kids. If he was in the video with the kids, your point is invalidated.
2. We’ve heard the PTO President’s side of the story. She didn’t document anything herself. The PTO president was so concerned about the severity of this incident that she didn’t document anything. It’s hearsay. Castelline acknowledges the situation and his actions, right or wrong. However, there was never another lap sitting incident. What can you possibly do with that? He did it. He was confronted and it didn’t happen again. We really don’t know the degree. Ettlinger was a master at fooling all of us.
3. My wife and I know the staff at Underwood intimately. There were a couple of people on staff who didn’t like Ettlinger and had problems with the way he was. I bet every teacher at the school has their detractors. None of them had expressed pedophilia as a concern. Not even his biggest detractors. None. Your point about the paper trail is a good one. But the parents are to blame as well. It’s a lesson learned. You think it’s odd that Ettlinger had teaching videos at the kids’ homes? Email that concern. The paper trail starts with the person making the complaint. Lesson learned.
4. Don’t know how your bully comment is germane to this topic.
5. The result of the Globe article hasn’t revealed anything that the Superintendent and Principal didn’t know. The discovery hasn’t been cause for any different action from the Super and Principal to date.
Joanne, I sat next to Ettlinger at a wedding this past summer. I feel just ridiculous and I didn’t work with him. The fact that no staff members nor parents suspected a pedophile was in their midst doesn’t speak toward their lack of awareness, it speaks to Ettlingers stealth.
I’m steadfast that Castelline did a great job at Underwood and I know I would have thousands of parents, children and teachers who support me.
Kim
1. He was shooting the video and he was the voice over. No they were not assaulted it was used as a literacy tool. The point is Can anyone on this blog that has children in the NPS tell me that an elementary school teacher has come to visit their house at the begining of the school year?? And I dont mean anyone in Ettlingers classes. We have 15 elementary Schools and Many teachers and many kids – is this something that HAS ever BEEN done???? Sorry this was a red flag.
2. The villian isnt the PTO president. She was put in an awkward situation by the principal – and Yes Ettlinger was the master of fooling everyone – he obviously knew that they were watching him after being confronted so of course there were no more lap sitting incidents. HE got too busy molesting the kids he was babysitting.
3. We are in agreement – Paper Trail and Lesson Learned – SO WHY ISNT THE SUPERINTENDENT ESTABLISING AN INDEPENDENT GROUP AS asked by me in January ( Yes I have an email and my paper trail and an email from the SC secretary that it was received but No paper trail from ANYONE On the SC nor the Superintendent – I guess they dont want a paper trail to follow their not doing anything with common sense suggestions).
4. Establishes a Paper Trail – there never was a paper trail with Bullying in schools now with new law there is. See #3.
5. With all due respect you are missing the point of the Boston Globe Article. The parents are asking for an independent group to be formed to deal with any future complaints parents might have about other teachers. Because the Superintendent and SC are not taking them seriously they went to the Boston Globe. GOOD FOR THEM. Evidently that is what it may take to get them to do something. Keep up the pressure on them.
I am sure he fooled everyone but why do we need to be fooled again- we should all be on the same side and move forward on this. Just establish the Independent group and lets move on. The SC and Superintendent are not doing their job on this to help the community move forward.