SPS Doesn't Learn
Update:
So KOMO TV News has a different timeline for this coach/IA.
They say that Miller was hired at Roosevelt High in 2007 and was there until 2009 when she was fired over "boundary issues" and "predatory behavior." I believe she was only a coach at RHS. Then she was hired in 2010 at Ballard High School as a coach and then in 2015, she was an IA for Special Education students. The abuse of the victim started in 2016 and lasted two years.
Know who was the head of SPS HR from 2014-2016? Brent Jones. That was when Miller was hired as an IA at BHS. (How do I know this? It's on his LinkedIn page. And yes, I have a screenshot.)
The Seattle Times has an article which has this incredible statement from SPS HR (bold mine):
After the lawsuit was filed, “SPS participated in good faith in several mediations to reach a mutually agreeable financial resolution with the plaintiff,” district spokesperson Beverly Redmond said in an email. “SPS Human Resources has now implemented a central review process when hiring with all positions as a further safeguard against employing individuals with a questionable employment history.”
Here's the problem with that last statement - NOW, SPS is doing something? After case after case over decades, NOW they are going to "safeguard" against hiring these kinds of people?
Another thing:
Seattle Schools paid $77,000 of the settlement. The rest of the money was paid by the Washington Schools Risk Management Pool, Redmond said.
And know what happened this school year? At a Board committee meeting, it was reported that the risk pool management insurance had gone way up. I wonder why.
The victim's lawyer outlines what went wrong (bold mine):
“This is not a single failure where something happened on one occasion and someone slipped through the cracks and was rehired,” said Steven T. Reich, A.L.’s attorney. “There were multiple failures here.”Seattle Schools failed to properly document complaints made against Miller, Reich said. Miller lied on her application to work at Ballard and didn’t disclose she was let go from Roosevelt. District officials didn’t catch the omission, even though officials knew she was fired for crossing boundaries with students, he said. “ … Miller’s grooming behavior and boundary violations were so ubiquitous that her direct supervisor, a teacher at the school, had to repeatedly caution her about professionalism and appropriate boundaries,” the lawsuit says. “On several occasions, Miller’s supervisor reported her concerns about the inappropriate relationship between Miller and A.L. to the school psychologist for Ballard High School. The supervisor was told by the psychologist to stay out of it and mind her own business.”
Mind her own business? Does anyone know if the school psychologist now is the same one from 2016-2018?
Ballard High administrators “were not privy to all the information,” Reich said. “The reason given to rehire her at Ballard — it was viewed as a mistake in judgment by a younger coach and they wanted to give her a second chance.”
Just disgusting and frustrating.
end of update
A lawsuit over sexual abuse allegations at Ballard High School, which is a part of Seattle Public Schools (SPS), is no longer heading to trial after the district agreed to pay the student $3 million.
The case, which would have gone to trial on June 20, involved a student and former SPS assistant soccer coach and instructional assistant Meghan Miller, who was assigned to work with special needs students at Ballard High School.
Miller abused the student from 2016-2018. Miller was arrested for these crimes, convicted and is now a registered sex offender.
However, the student filed a lawsuit against SPS in December 2020, claiming the district was liable because it knew Miller might pose a danger to students and failed to protect her.
Really? How so?
For instance, the attorneys said Miller was initially hired in 2007 by SPS at Roosevelt High School, where she served as an assistant girls’ soccer coach and basketball coach.
She worked there for two years but was terminated in 2009 after her supervisors observed a “pattern of predatory behavior” with students.
My question would be, why did SPS not put Miller on a "do not hire" SPS list after the Roosevelt High employment? Is that not possible? You also have to wonder where she was from 2009-2016.
Lastly, $3M is a very high settlement.
Comments
When my kid was in grade school, a music teacher got in trouble for physically assaulting a 5th grader. He disappeared and nothing more was heard about the incident.
I looked him up online to see where he'd gone and found that he'd been the recipient of disciplinary action in another WA school district, for watching porn on school computers.
And then a couple of years later, he was back teaching small children. I haven't checked since the pandemic to see if he's still with us.
SPS does not have its priorities straight.
SP
No, I think this is all on SPS.
Facepalm
Emile
BT
Spendy
She worked there for two years but was terminated in 2009 after her supervisors observed a “pattern of predatory behavior” with students.
Miller was hired the following year at Ballard High School as an assistant girls’ soccer coach, and in 2015, her responsibilities were expanded to include instructional assistant work.
-Theo M
Oh right, it would put it out in a public space. That's why I'm still here; to create a record that would otherwise not exist.
Theo M.
The person that ran HR in 2009 and 2010 is the same person that is running the entire district, now.
Former IA