Tag Archives: Grandview High School

Cherry Creek Parents- It is time to make a stand

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It seems logical that if Scott Siegfried assumes his new role as Superintendent of the Cherry Creek School District, business as usual, as it was under the appalling leadership of Harry Bull, will continue.

Our children will continue to be at risk.

Secrecy, a lack of transparency, and a lack of accountability will continue to be the norm.

Is this really what we want?

If it is, then be preapred.

If this is not what we want, there is something you can do. Go to Say No To Scott Siegfried and sign the petition to have Siegfried removed as Superintendent.

Why Is No One Interested in the Whereabouts of John Kennedy?

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Last August, the Cherry Creek School District was rocked by allegations that 2 District employees had been arrested and charged with the sexual assault of a minor. Following this, three Middle School Administrators were indicted for failing to report the abuse.

In one of the cases, the perpetrator, a man by the name of Brodderick Lundie, managed to have his name withheld from the District community for 4 months, presumably because of Superintendent Bull’s personal relationship with Lundie’s father.

Bad as that was, the 2nd episode of assault involved a Middle School teacher at Prairie Middle School who was charge with 31 counts of assault on a minor!

Following that, three Prairie School Administrators were indicted with failing to report the abuse of a minor.

Whether he will admit it or not, Harry Bull’s “retirement” announcement seems a direct result of these incidents and his failure to protect the children of this district. He will be gone and good riddance to him.

However, there is another high-level District administrator that has disappeared very quietly, like a puff of smoke in a breeze; John Kennedy.

Where is John Kennedy? There was no announcement regarding his separation from his job as the Executive Director of Middle Schools (remember, Prairie is a Middle school). There was no announcement of his retirement. There was no announcement of any reassignment. There was nothing but a unremarked and little noticed change of leadership in the Middle Schools from John Kennedy to Tracy Grant.

More curious yet is the glaring lack of interest anyone has in finding out what happened to Kennedy.

When you call the District to find out what has happened to Kennedy, you are told, variously, that he is “on leave”, that he “is on administrative leave”, that they don’t know where he is.

Communications to the district Communications Director, Abbe Smith, finally confirm that he is on leave due to “a personnel matter”.

Pressed, by a request under the Colorado Open Records Act, to clarify the nature and circumstances surrounding this “Administrative Leave”, Ms. Smith responds with spurious assertions of “attorney-client privilege”. Since John Kennedy is not represented, legally, by the district, there is no privilege to be claimed.

Further communications to Abbe Smith elicit the response that she misspoke and that John Kennedy is now being represented by his own attorney. Why? What does Mr. Kennedy need an attorney for?

A clue might be in a memo received by the District in response to a CORA request. This memo, dated last August, discusses the need for a replacement for John Kennedy at a regular meeting. The implication is, of course, that John Kennedy has been gone from the District since last August.

Let’s see? What happened last August that might have resulted in the placing of John Kennedy on Administrative leave?

Well, could it be the assault committed by the degenerate Brian Vasquez on the children of Prairie Middle School?

Could it be that these assaults triggered a series of events culminating in the indictments of Prairie Middle School administrators Dave Gonzales, Adrienne McIntosh, and Cheryl Somers?

It’s speculation, of course, as Kennedy’s removal might have nothing to with the sexual assaults on our children, or the failure to protect them, or the cover-up of the initial incident 5 years earlier.

This information has been supplied to metro news agencies. No apparent interest.

The District is stonewalling any further requests for the specifics around why John Kennedy is on Administrative Leave. They are required to provide this information but are blocking, delaying, and, frankly, bull-shitting around having to provide the basic information as to why John Kennedy is on Administrative Leave.

Why are local news organizations not pursuing this? Why is a shroud of secrecy being allowed to descend over this issue.

Harry Bull’s convenient announcement of his retirement, just hours before the Prairie Middle School indictments were announced, screams “cut and run”.

John Kennedy’s magical disappearance is worse. It is as if the man is a ghost; never worked for the District, don’t know who he is, or where he has gone.

Time to get the full story on why John Kennedy and the Cherry Creek School District have parted company. There has been enough secrecy in this District and, with Harry Bull gone, it is time to lift the shades and shine a light on what is happening. The community has a right to know.

 

Where Is John Kennedy?

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In the wake of the Cherry Creek Sex Assault scandals, there have been some interesting developments.

In the hours before the indictments handed out to Prairie Middle School administrators David Gonzales (Principal of Prairie Middle School), Adrienne McIntosh (Vice Principal), and Chery Somers (Counsellor) for failing to report child abuse, the Cherry Creek Superintendent, Harry Bull, issued a letter to the district, announcing his retirement.

Obviously, any thinking person would be extremely skeptical regarding the timing of Mr. Bull’s announcement, as well they should be. What connection can Mr. Bull have to these events that might have pushed him into retirement? I mean, you just have to wonder, don’t you?

All I can say about this is, good riddance. The man is a disgrace. He has placed his own personal ambitions and agenda over the well-being of children.

Quietly, however, another senior administrator has slipped from the scene.

What has become of Executive Director of Middle School Education, John Kennedy?

John Kennedy (should I call him “Doctor” Kennedy?) was the point person when parents complained about explicit and violent pornography being made available in the Middle School (and other levels) EBSCO data bases.

John Kennedy (really, should I call him “Doctor” Kennedy?) not liking what he heard, threatened the parents and told them not to talk about the issue, or “something will happen that neither you, or I will like”.

John Kennedy is no longer in his position of Executive Director and, depending on who you ask, he has either been “terminated”, “let go”, “is on administrative leave”, or simply, “we don’t know where he is”.

John Kennedy was the point man during a substantial period of time when Brian Vasquez was assaulting the children in Prairie Middle School and during the ongoing cover-up of the initial assault on the 14 year old female student at Prairie Middle School 5 years ago, when the girl was forced to recant her accusation against her molester, Brian Vasquez.

John Kennedy is now gone and we do not lament his disappearance. We are, however, very interested in the circumstances of his disappearance. Why is John Kennedy gone? Where has John Kennedy gone? What are the circumstances around his going?

We have sent CORA requests to Abbe Smith, the Communications Director for the District and have been stonewalled. Why would this be?

Complacency is a Disease

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Recently, the Cherry Creek School District has been rocked by 2 sexual assault stories. One of these occurred last May and was kept from the community until the second one was reported in late-August.

The fist incident involved a security guard (Brodderick Jerrod Lundie) at Grandview High School and the second involved a Social Studies teacher (Brian Vasquez) at Prairie Middle School.

Superintendent Harry Bull stated that the reason for his failure to report the first incident to the community was the protection of the victim and the fact that there was only the one incident. I have no idea how he divined no other incidents, maybe he relied on the good word of the perpetrator, Jerrod Lundie.

The second incident, involving Social Studies teacher Brian Vasquez of Prairie Middle School, appears to have been reported in  a timely manner. But, this pervert lured and molested children over a 4 1/2 year period, with the first incident being, apparently, in January of 2013. He has been charged with 31 different counts involving some form of sexual assault.

Now, first of all, Vasquez was a teacher for a long time, he came from other schools before he began his 7-year stretch with Prairie. Vasquez did not awake on some morning in January 2013 and decide this was the fine day that he was going to become a pervert. What was his background at these other schools? What was his prior history with Prairie? Is that another secret?

Second, for 4 1/2 years, Vasquez molested children. It is inconceivable that he did this for such an extended period and no one, not one person, ever raised any concerns about his interactions with children. Not one child said anything to a teacher or counselor?  No parent came forward to report things they heard from their child? No teacher observed and reported anything that looked odd? No anonymous voice on the district’s Care Line? Nothing? Hard to believe. More secrecy?

Now, this is egregious behavior. I don’t think Harry Bull was hired to make a secret of things that should have been reported to the community. He deprived parents of the right, and the opportunity, to discuss this matter with their kids and put it into some sort of a framework and context. This creep, the perpetrator in the first incident, was well-liked, the “cool” security guard and kids need to know that these types of people always find their way to where there is a concentration of kids and they are very adept at worming their way into the kid’s circle.

In addition, speaking with their kids might well have revealed whether any other instances involving this guard were known about by the kids. Maybe that was the problem Bull was trying to avoid.

But Bull, putting politics before safety, chose secrecy over transparency; the dark over the light. This is the usual modus operandi of the Cherry Creek School district, as they have consistently refused to let parents know of the vast display of pornography awaiting their children in the district provided data base resources.

Now, this is all very bad stuff but most disturbing, most disturbing of all, is the incomprehensible complacency of the school community; where were the parents that should have been out in force at the school board meeting last night, screaming their outrage? Where were the villagers with their torches and pitchforks, demanding the head of Harry Bull? No where! Not one at the meeting. No public comment about the incidents, no public comment about the secrecy, not one peep.

We were there. We made very pointed comments and we don’t even have a child in these schools. The fact that Harry Bull would hide the information that parents are entitled to is a community outrage that requires public comment. It erodes trust between Bull and the community he was hired to serve. It is in secrecy that dark things develop. A light needs to shine in these dark corners, preventing rot from developing. There was no light last night.

Where were the parents? Where was the community outrage, not only for the actions themselves, but for the secrecy engaged in by Bull and the Board of Education? A deafening and resounding silence. How very disappointing.

When the issue was a 15 minute change to the school start times, there was a packed house of parents, distraught at the effect this would have on their families. There were hours devoted to the studies, the science of sleep, the concerns of parents. Standing room only.

Sex assault on our children, secrecy about the reporting? Nothing!

Even the Aurora Sentinel, generally an ideologue of the left, evidenced more indignation than the parents of the affected schools. Were they too engaged in another bilious episode of Bachelor in Paradise? Unable to tear themselves away from Survivor Season 150? Or the riveting spectacle of the Voice or America’s Got Talent? Where were you people? What is wrong with you? These are your children and you can’t summon the energy and 2 hours of your time to speak out on their behalf? Is it too much to ask that you protect them? It is disgraceful.

It is heartbreaking.

There is an old adage that people get the government they deserve. That was clearly on display last night at the Cherry Creek BOE meeting, as was the reason.

Complacency is a disease, like cancer. It slowly rots a community and leaves it vulnerable to self-serving elected officials. If you do not demand they serve you, the community, then they will most certainly serve themselves.