School 67 principal criticized for not reporting alleged sex abuse

The school principal should be ashamed of herself. What was she thinking by not reporting abuse to the proper authorities. I don't know what is going on in public schools today where children are not safe anymore from the people that are supposed to be helping them. She should be fired!!

The school principal should be ashamed of herself. What was she thinking by not reporting abuse to the proper authorities.I think the princple should be fired from the school ASAP.

How inept is the ENTIRE school system?!?!?!

I honestly believe, and I TRULY believe, that the entire school board and this current administration should be terminated!

We should just cut our losses now, and start from scratch.

Don't worry about a thing Carmella,Crystal Bartons in your corner. No body on the Buffalo School board has the B A L L S to disapline you!!!

I didn't report MY sexual abuse of a 14 year old boy, are you gonna criticize me next???

Downtown makes it almost impossible, once you make a stink, they breathe down your neck and make your life hell. Central Office ISS TO BLAME, they don't wannt to face any problems, whatsoever. why isn't williams in troulble for NOT READING A LEGAL DOCUMENT HE SIGNED FOR?

Thanks Drunk Frank Clark for NOT DOING YOUR JOB ONCE AGAIN

Proper English wrote:

How inept is the ENTIRE school system?!?!?!
I honestly believe, and I TRULY believe, that the entire school board and this current administration should be terminated!
We should just cut our losses now, and start from scratch.

I completely agree with you! The whole bunch of them are a disgrace; for the most part, I think our children have more sense then they do.

I find it amazing that a principal - trusted by parents to care and protect over 400 children on a daily basis - does not know the policy and procedures of the Buffalo Public School System AND lacks the COMMON SENSE and DECENCY to even THINK that at any point she should report this matter to the police. What is WRONG with her? Maybe it was not "willful" negligence but she must be held accountable in some way. The BOE has absolutely no backbone to take action so I hope the parents of that child do take her to civil court and prove in open court the arrogance and ignorance of the administrators that are running this district. Thank God for Charlene Harris.

Every educator in NYS, teachers, administrators, and aides, has to attend a 3 hour Child Abuse Seminar before they get their licence... Ignorance is not an excuse.. If she forgot the law all she had to do was ask somebody ..

Semper Fidelis wrote:

Every educator in NYS, teachers, administrators, and aides, has to attend a 3 hour Child Abuse Seminar before they get their licence... Ignorance is not an excuse.. If she forgot the law all she had to do was ask somebody ..

I'm sorry but "forgot the law" is never an excuse where a child is concerned. These people are very highly paid to be educators and administrators and to "forget" a law that even a child knows is just plain arrogance. Teachers and Principals at other city schools knew the law....how come Discovery was different? Makes me wonder what other things she has "forgotten". We parents have GOT to force the BOE and the principals, teachers, supervisors ACCOUNTABLE!!

Floridamom wrote:

The school principal should be ashamed of herself. What was she thinking by not reporting abuse to the proper authorities. I don't know what is going on in public schools today where children are not safe anymore from the people that are supposed to be helping them. She should be fired!!

You are ignorant. If you knew the facts you would know that the principal called her boss who assured her that they were following protocol with the whole situation. She did her job and obviously the legal system thought so also because they did not file charges. If you don't like how the system works then move to Cuba. You are close enough.

sbl wrote:

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I'm sorry but "forgot the law" is never an excuse where a child is concerned. These people are very highly paid to be educators and administrators and to "forget" a law that even a child knows is just plain arrogance. Teachers and Principals at other city schools knew the law....how come Discovery was different? Makes me wonder what other things she has "forgotten". We parents have GOT to force the BOE and the principals, teachers, supervisors ACCOUNTABLE!!

She did not forget the law. She entrusted her supervisors with the situation as they advised her to do. Obviously the district attorney did not see anything knowingly covered up or they would have charged her. Why doesn't everyone keep their opinions to themselves and wait for the court case to be over. Then you can all say.......it never really happened so there couldn't be anything that was done wrong by the administrator.

sbl wrote:

I find it amazing that a principal - trusted by parents to care and protect over 400 children on a daily basis - does not know the policy and procedures of the Buffalo Public School System AND lacks the COMMON SENSE and DECENCY to even THINK that at any point she should report this matter to the police. What is WRONG with her? Maybe it was not "willful" negligence but she must be held accountable in some way. The BOE has absolutely no backbone to take action so I hope the parents of that child do take her to civil court and prove in open court the arrogance and ignorance of the administrators that are running this district. Thank God for Charlene Harris.

And who said she didn't know the policies? Her first directive from city hall was to call them and they were taking it from there. She did as her superiors told her to do. Charlene Harris said "I think I saw" or "it appeared as if" and the district was going to call police on that statement????? If Charlene is so wonderful why did she leave that little boy in the bathroom with the aide?? Makes me think she didn't really see much of anything. She should be brought up on endangerment charges. Hopefully the courts will find the truth and Mr.C. can get on with his life.

nobody forgot the law wrote:

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She did not forget the law. She entrusted her supervisors with the situation as they advised her to do. Obviously the district attorney did not see anything knowingly covered up or they would have charged her. Why doesn't everyone keep their opinions to themselves and wait for the court case to be over. Then you can all say.......it never really happened so there couldn't be anything that was done wrong by the administrator.

You must be one of the loyal teachers who signed the support petition written and coordinated by Ms. "Pitbull" Peters!
You people are all missing the point as to why parents are so upset. SHE NEVER CALLED THE CHILD'S PARENTS!!! And the DA said that she should have called School Security within 5 seconds of getting the report and that the entire matter could have been handled. He could not prove that she was "willful" in her negligence under Education Law. That is a matter for the child's parents to prove in their civil action against CB and Joy Trotter.
No matter how nice she may be, the fact is that she doesn't know how to handle A DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS Situation!!!! SHE is charged with the care of over 400 children on a daily basis and the simple fact is that she screwed up BIG time. Can the parents trust that she will make wise decisions in the future? Given the atmosphere in the building, can any adult be trusted to use their best judgement?
As for Mr. C...that is up to a jury to decide. They will have to sort the whole mess out.

five hundredsixty or so wrote:

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And who said she didn't know the policies? Her first directive from city hall was to call them and they were taking it from there. She did as her superiors told her to do. Charlene Harris said "I think I saw" or "it appeared as if" and the district was going to call police on that statement????? If Charlene is so wonderful why did she leave that little boy in the bathroom with the aide?? Makes me think she didn't really see much of anything. She should be brought up on endangerment charges. Hopefully the courts will find the truth and Mr.C. can get on with his life.

The police are the ones to remove the individual from the situation and have trained professional investigators do the work to determine if the case should be presented to a Grand Jury. Obviously, there must be something that was believable since Mr. "c" was indicted. It is in a jury's hands when it goes to trial. The Issue remains and NONE of CB's supporters can answer this ....WHY DIDN'T SHE CALL THE BOY'S PARENTS??? If he were sick in school would they call?? If he were to have fallen and had been hurt would there have been a call?? Then why not in this situation?

sbl wrote:

<quoted text>
The police are the ones to remove the individual from the situation and have trained professional investigators do the work to determine if the case should be presented to a Grand Jury. Obviously, there must be something that was believable since Mr. "c" was indicted. It is in a jury's hands when it goes to trial. The Issue remains and NONE of CB's supporters can answer this ....WHY DIDN'T SHE CALL THE BOY'S PARENTS??? If he were sick in school would they call?? If he were to have fallen and had been hurt would there have been a call?? Then why not in this situation?

Why is it so hard for everyone to understand that she did call her superiors immediately and they assured her that they would do all the calling. If my boss told me that I would trust that they were going to follow through. And since you have all the questions, why did the teacher leave a suspected child abuser in the bathroom with the boy? The teacher should be indicted along with the aide for being negligent.
And, after talking to a lawyer you can be indicted for anything at all, true or not. We'll all see when the aide is not found guilty of anything at the trial. Then all you arm chair "judges and juries" can sit back and find another blog to spout out about because this one will be over and done with.

I'm sorry but if my child is ill I get a telephone call from the school nurse. If my child has caused trouble in class I get a telephone call from the principal and then later in the day, the teacher. So if my child is autistic and possible abused in school I don't get anything from the school?? What's wrong with this logic? Botticello didn't do anything with willful negelgence but as a grown woman, parent and principal, when does common decency and common sense enter into the picture??? Why haven't any of her defenders answered that question??? Everyone goes back to what City Hall told her to do. Does anyone think that she should have had the common sense to call that child's parents and let them know that something may have happened?? Why are her supporters so quick to clear Mr. C when they weren't in the room at the time nor were they witnesses. Yes, Harris should have grabbed the kid and run but at least she KNEW that City Hall would do anything to cover this up. Were CB's supporters there when the police - not anyone else - but the POLICE questioned Ms. Harris??? Were they in the Grand Jury room when theevidence was presented?? NO. PLEASE Can some one tell me why we should not be upset that CBotticello did NOT call the child's parents immediately?? Hopefully the civil suit will explain her thinking.

What concerns me is how many times did she let incidents such as this slide? A principal is supposed to protect the children. How many kids have been victimized by known pedophiles and she just let it slide? This is a huge scandal just waiting to explode.

cmt wrote:

I'm sorry but if my child is ill I get a telephone call from the school nurse. If my child has caused trouble in class I get a telephone call from the principal and then later in the day, the teacher. So if my child is autistic and possible abused in school I don't get anything from the school?? What's wrong with this logic? Botticello didn't do anything with willful negelgence but as a grown woman, parent and principal, when does common decency and common sense enter into the picture??? Why haven't any of her defenders answered that question??? Everyone goes back to what City Hall told her to do. Does anyone think that she should have had the common sense to call that child's parents and let them know that something may have happened?? Why are her supporters so quick to clear Mr. C when they weren't in the room at the time nor were they witnesses. Yes, Harris should have grabbed the kid and run but at least she KNEW that City Hall would do anything to cover this up. Were CB's supporters there when the police - not anyone else - but the POLICE questioned Ms. Harris??? Were they in the Grand Jury room when theevidence was presented?? NO. PLEASE Can some one tell me why we should not be upset that CBotticello did NOT call the child's parents immediately?? Hopefully the civil suit will explain her thinking.

The civil suit will have nothing to do with the principal's actions.........haven't you heard Frank Clark? She didn't call because Joy Trotter told her not to, that the district would handle everything. If I did what my boss told me not to do at my job I would be fired. I also think that the fact that Ms. Harris said "I think I saw" would make anyone hearing the report a lot suspicious. Do you know something about "evidence" that no one else does? Since the police didn't come in for three months I would think that evidence would be hard to come by especially since nothing happened. I wish you all would wait until the trial is over and then you can spout off all the self righteous opinions you want.