- Re District slow to report sex allegations, July 8, 2013*, 9:21 p.m.
- Re: Teacher-teen relationship 'ongoing,' teen at baby's birth, police say 07/09/2013, 9:39 a.m.
- Re: Redlands teacher who bore child pleads not guilty to abusing 3 boys 07/09/2013, 10:18 p.m.
smf: This is a sad, pathetic, tragic story – reeking of soap opera melodrama and lost innocence, of adults gone bad …and children – including one very small one – done lifetimes of wrong.
There is a lesson to be learned, contained following:
Letters: Reporting suspected sex abuse
Letter to the Editor of the LA Times | http://lat.ms/1brBxcz
July 11, 2013 :: Thanks to the Redlands Police Department for noting that officials at Citrus Valley High School waited weeks — much too long — to tell authorities of allegations that one of its teachers was having a sexual relationship with a minor student. In my experience as a school counselor serving three Southern California districts, we correctly understood the law requiring us to report allegations of child abuse and neglect to mean this: "Hear a rumor, pick up the phone and report it. Don't confer with any other party. Don't investigate; leave that to law enforcement or a child protection agency."
In her statement saying that school officials didn't receive credible information about the alleged abuse until July 1, Redlands Unified Supt. Lori Rhodes indicates a misunderstanding of the law. The information in a suspected child abuse report need not be credible.Credibility is a decision to be made only by the investigating agency.
Wendell H. Jones
Ojai
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* (Corrected) Misdated June 9 in the Time’s posting
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