Hemelt: Going quiet during scandal hurts more
Published 11:45 pm Friday, October 3, 2014
Jokes, headlines, gasps and headshakes.
Chances are you couldn’t avoid those when dealing with the recent titillating news out of St. Charles Parish of the arrests of two Destrehan High School teachers, charged with engaging in sexual misconduct with one of their students, 16 at the time of the reported incidents.
The story was trending on Facebook, made headlines across the globe, provided fodder for comics and will be with us for more time than any of us could ever want.
Strangely, about the only group of people we are not hearing from right now are St. Charles Parish School Board members and Superintendent Felecia Gomez-Walker.
When the students of St. Charles Parish need a voice of support, the elected school board members are hiding from comment. When the vast majority of teachers within the district need a statement of backing from their superior, the superintendent is not returning phones calls.
On Wednesday, the school district released a statement through Director of Public Information Stevie Crovetto.
It read: “As soon as the school system was alerted to the allegations, an investigation was immediately conducted and the Sheriff’s Office was notified. The school system has been fully cooperating with the Sheriff’s Office throughout the investigation and is being advised by our attorney.
“Since arrests have been made, the teachers are currently suspended without pay. According to ACT 570, Louisiana law does not allow for suspension without pay until an arrest has been made. This matter is a personnel issue and confidential, therefore no other information will be discussed.”
School Board members, who as elected officials are in no way impacted by the “lawyerspeak” mentioned above, are even worse in their lack of comment.
When contacted by L’OBSERVATEUR this week, each either politely said “no comment;” deferred to the board president, who also had nothing to say; or didn’t return messages.
How is it that the men and women who told voters they would be the education voices of their districts all of a sudden came down with a group case of laryngitis?
Don’t give me this stuff about “personnel issue” and “no other information will be discussed.”
How about taking a stand, saying the school district doesn’t stand for the accusations made public this week, and everything will be done to ensure the circumstances that led to the arrests, whether ultimately proven or not, are never repeated.
Where is the public statement from the administration in support of the teachers who were not arrested?
All I’m seeing is lame jokes from people saying “I wish I went to Destrehan High.” If I was a teacher, staff employee or student at that school, I’d want my school board member, principal and superintendent putting out statements that applauded the 99.9 percent of the people associated with DHS that haven’t been charged with having carnal knowledge of a juvenile.
Maybe even do an interview or two.
You don’t have to get into the details of the charged crimes. Speak about how this doesn’t reflect the culture of the school or the moral standings of its supporters.
Those associated with Destrehan High School shouldn’t go silent when the quiet majority who work there need their backing more than ever.
Stephen Hemelt is general manager and editor of L’OBSERVATEUR. He can be reached at 985-652-9545 or stephen.hemelt@lobservateur.com.