Found Safe TN - Mary Catherine Elizabeth Thomas, 15, Maury County, 13 March 2017 #11

[DatelineFan]

I was thinking there were lessons in CPR done in his health class.

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CPR should be done on a hard surface. You move the patient to the floor.

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[Kapua]

The school has admitted that they made that error, and have taken steps to correct it. People make mistakes. They always will. Regardless, what would be different if the school had notified him sooner? Nothing really. The father knew about the situation for six weeks, and could do nothing to prevent this from happening. What difference would an extra week have made?

Great. I am glad that the school admitted their mistakes.

As to what would have been different? Who knows? You can't watch a teen 24/7. Maybe you can confiscate her cell phone, read her texts and figure out that something is very, very wrong. Parents, if you got that call, what would you do?

And as someone (you?) posted several threads ago, nobody could have predicted that TC would kidnap ET. That's crazy, and nobody expects that to happen, ever. These incidents are rare. (Not rare enough.)

 

[KKearns]

Well, the attorney has a vested interest in not sharing both sides of this story, so...meh. But anyway, it isn't necessary for me to know the full story here, since I'm not a judge. I'm content not to have an opinion on all this. [emoji2]

No I agree he does have that interest, but something untrue like that would be a dumb mistake. That letter will be in any lawsuit. So..

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[KKearns]

If they weren't involved at the time of the reported incident, they were informed by the police. With custody issues, a pending suit on abuse and her integration into the public school system I'm sure she had a court appointed advocate who would have been pulled in by LE as soon as they started the investigation.

That is one thing.. Doesn't seem she has a guardian ad litem and doesn't seem all states appoint them immediately.

Have we heard from Elizabeth's guardian ad litem? Nope.

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[Mom24]

If a school feels a child is being beaten, are they obligated to inform the parent BEFORE they conduct an investigation and involve LE ?

Not saying that is what happened here, I'm simply saying that I can understand certain cases where it would be wiser to involve LE and step back.

I'm guessing you mean if they have evidence that a child is beaten by the parents. Yes. They are required to notify the parents at the time that they notify LE. For instance, if you were a teacher and Joey came in with bruises that were consistent with abuse you would notify the Principal. The Principal would then call LE to report the suspected abuse, and call the parents. Then LE would most likely question the child at school and then take a visit to the home of the child as well. But yes, the legal guardians are notified even if the abuse is suspected by the hands of that legal guardian. In this instance, we can't even suppose that as an excuse since the child who reported this was reporting a kiss between a student and a member of the faculty.

 

[Deleted member 155000]

If a school feels a child is being beaten, are they obligated to inform the parent BEFORE they conduct an investigation and involve LE ?

Not saying that is what happened here, I'm simply saying that I can understand certain cases where it would be wiser to involve LE and step back.

In schools I have worked in (not TN), this is not the case. Parents are often not told, in fact, until CPS visits in order to protect the child from the suspected abuser's wrath if they found out their child "told" on them.

Tennessee laws protect persons who report abuse or neglect in good faith. Tennessee Code Annotated 37-1-410 provides immunity from civil and criminal liability. Reporters do have the right to remain anonymous. - See more at: https://www.tn.gov/dcs/article/tennessee-child-abuse-hotline-faq#sthash.NPZ6Scmf.dpuf


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[Deleted member 172065]

IMO some teachers probably thought there was something off about TC but didn't know what to do about it. All totally speculation on my part.

 

[DatelineFan]

But that is where we differ. If they did, they can't investigate they have to call child protective services by law.

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Exactly. I posted links about this. It is NOT the reporter's (school, in this situation) job to validate the claims. It is their legal responsibility to report it, then CPS and LE investigate.

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[DatelineFan]

It was a while before she had a bed at home and was sleeping on the couch. Maybe she wasn't sleeping well.

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She can sleep in the nurse's office.

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[Mom24]

Well, the attorney has a vested interest in not sharing both sides of this story, so...meh. But anyway, it isn't necessary for me to know the full story here, since I'm not a judge. I'm content not to have an opinion on all this. :smile:

Vested interest, but he's got to be careful about what he says. But I agree, there's so much we just don't know and while we have the big picture, it's all the little details we're missing that make things confusing and hard to figure out. At some point a teacher reported TC for his behavior with ET which led to his suspension, but what set that teacher off? Was she monitoring the situation on the school's behalf? What about the guidance dept? What steps were being taken on ET's behalf? What class was she switched to? Did he have a curtain around the bed too? Why was a middle school student coming to see a High School teacher? Discretion is the better part of valor.

 

[KKearns]

She can sleep in the nurse's office.

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No one is saying this was a good idea, just explaining a back story.

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[Mountain Misst]

I do believe that is called grooming..... he wanted to be the groom, but conveniently forgot he was only the stable-mate.

http://www.crimeonline.com/2017/03/...der-massages-holding-hands-special-treatment/

The pair were also reportedly caught holding hands on several occasions. Even more shocking, a student reported seeing Elizabeth fast asleep on a bed that Cummins had in his classroom. He apparently had a hospital bed in his room for teaching purposes, but allowed Elizabeth the privilege of sleeping on the bed, alone in the room.

 

[DatelineFan]

No one is saying this was a good idea, just explaining a back story.

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Got it

For people wondering about the laws of mandatory reporting, search earlier threads. I posted links at least twice. They were very clear on the laws and protocol nationwide.

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[misslu]

O/T but have to say how thankful I am for websleuths and it's members. I've been out of touch because of a surgery and wanted a quick update. For whatever reason I checked on social media first and got nowhere fast. Lesson learned...Thank you WS & (though sometimes frustrating) TOS!

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[MsMtOlympus]

The school's fault lies not just in the events that took place from the reporting of the kiss on-wards, IMO. Though I can't produce cold, hard evidence towards this theory, I suspect there was a culture of "oh that's just Tad!" whenever some eyebrow-raising behavior was witnessed by the adults. I mean, the fact that the students called him "Tad" as well (per Destany Parrish) tells me that he was given way too much free reign with way too little oversight. Part of this is because his wife most likely had a stellar reputation as a person and as an employee with the school district and the assumption was that he was just as trustworthy as she. TC didn't come in to the job as a stranger off the street, there were personal bonds already established between the Cummins and his colleagues and superiors and a blind spot was in place from Day 1.

 

[Mom24]

In schools I have worked in (not TN), this is not the case. Parents are often not told, in fact, until CPS visits in order to protect the child from the suspected abuser's wrath if they found out their child "told" on them.

Tennessee laws protect persons who report abuse or neglect in good faith. Tennessee Code Annotated 37-1-410 provides immunity from civil and criminal liability. Reporters do have the right to remain anonymous. - See more at: https://www.tn.gov/dcs/article/tennessee-child-abuse-hotline-faq#sthash.NPZ6Scmf.dpuf


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A moot point since it wasn't the father who was suspected of kissing ET in the classroom. That law is for a different purpose. It protects people for reporting incidences of abuse, it's not protection against reporting abuse. For instance. we'll use Joey again, Joey comes in with bruises consistent with abuse and you notify the Principal and the Principal calls LE and the parent. LE questions Joey and they go to workplace of Joey's father to question him. People at work find out Joey's father is being questioned on allegations of child abuse and the rumor mill ramps up. But Joey wasn't abused, he plays football and he got injured at a game. Now Joey's dad begins to have issues at work because of the investigation. Joey's dad can't sue the school because they acted in good faith in reporting the suspected abuse.

 

[Deleted member 172065]

TC & HIS PSYCHOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS
I have a guess of what it could be. But to avoid any disagreements, I will just call him 'off'.

 

[Deleted member 155000]

A moot point since it wasn't the father who was suspected of kissing ET in the classroom. That law is for a different purpose. It protects people for reporting incidences of abuse, it's not protection against reporting abuse. For instance. we'll use Joey again, Joey comes in with bruises consistent with abuse and you notify the Principal and the Principal calls LE and the parent. LE questions Joey and they go to workplace of Joey's father to question him. People at work find out Joey's father is being questioned on allegations of child abuse and the rumor mill ramps up. But Joey wasn't abused, he plays football and he got injured at a game. Now Joey's dad begins to have issues at work because of the investigation. Joey's dad can't sue the school because they acted in good faith in reporting the suspected abuse.

Agreed. Just answering the question.

In any case, I would expect schools to notify the police and parents immediately.


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[MsPooh]

It was a while before she had a bed at home and was sleeping on the couch. Maybe she wasn't sleeping well.

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In one of her IG posts she talked about having 2 twin beds that she pushed together, everyone kept sleeping on them and then someone did something gross on it and made it yucky. She then got a new bed.

 

[KKearns]

In one of her IG posts she talked about having 2 twin beds that she pushed together, everyone kept sleeping on them and then someone did something gross on it and made it yucky. She then got a new bed.

She had some comment also about her bed getting there and how she didn't have to sleep on the couch anymore.

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