Left In Lowell

Let’s not turn a personal tragedy into a political football

17 Responses to “Let’s not turn a personal tragedy into a political football”

1. I81U812 Says:
   September 15th, 2006 at 12:54 pm

   If you want to make an omelette, you have to crack a few eggs. The question is : Who hired this guy? He’s admitted to having 100 court dates and he hasn’t blown off any of them. Model citizen. Obviously, innocent until proven guilty but if my kids were at Lowell High and there was even a hint of suspicion, I’d want them out of there. Let’s not pass judgement until he’s had his 101st court date.

2. Eleanor Rigby Says:
   September 15th, 2006 at 6:34 pm

   I have to disagree with you Mimi, first I believe I read or heard that the Lowell Police
   Dept did a background search and turned up only minor infractions, but nothing like what this
   man admitted to in court. So the first question is why not.

   Second, if this were you or me that was arrested and charged with this crime there would be
   no call for restraint and in all probability we would be fired from our jobs, not placed on
   “administrative leave with pay”.

   Yes, you are innocent until proven guilty however I really don’t like the way folks
   in the public sector appear to be given special treatment pending their day in court. The
   man was arrested and charged with a serious crime. Place him on unpaid administrative leave
   the, if and when he is acquitted, return him to his job with back pay and interest.

3. bob lighthouse Says:
   September 15th, 2006 at 7:19 pm

   to Mimi: B.S.

4. Lynne Says:
   September 15th, 2006 at 8:55 pm

   hey Bob, wanna be a little more polite? Thanks.

   Sorry, but my temper is short right now and I’m not interested in unhelpful and rude comments.

5. K-R-S Says:
   September 15th, 2006 at 9:56 pm

   M~Unfortunately, I disagree with you on this one. I still love ya,!

6. waittilnextyr Says:
   September 15th, 2006 at 10:36 pm

   I’ve heard a lot of “shooting-from-the-hip” commentary on the local radio station, which does no one any good, and may do a lot of harm. It sounds like the system is flawed (what a surprise!), but until the facts are known, it is irresponsible to jump to a conclusion. That said, there should be no sweeping it under the rug. If the systeme is broken - fix it. If someone made an error - exact a punishment.

7. Mimi Says:
   September 16th, 2006 at 11:15 am

   My problem is not with the arrest it is with the use of the arrest to launch political attacks on the local radio.

   Didn’t you people hear the totally unresponsible comments made on the radio, Friday morning? Apparently Waittilnextyr and I did.

8. Lynne Says:
   September 16th, 2006 at 11:35 am

   That’s what I took from Mimi’s post - that some people are launching into unfair attacks on local elected officials before we know what really happened and how the system broke down. Of course, we expect that sort of behavior from certain media outlets in this town, but that doensn’t make it right, fair, or useful.

9. pete the pirate Says:
   September 17th, 2006 at 8:55 am

   “until we know what really happened”?
   is’nt it enough that a repeat offender, first of domestic violence, now of sexual offenses (making him a sex offender!!!) was put into the henhouse in a position of influence over high school students?

10. Lynne Says:
    September 18th, 2006 at 11:46 am

    Yes pete, in a perfect world it wouldn’t have happened. But throwing blame around as to where the system broke down doesn’t help anyone, least of all to prevent it from happening again. Irresponsible political use of this tragedy is unconscionable.

11. pete the pirate Says:
    September 18th, 2006 at 2:44 pm

    its not a perfect world, and it should’nt have happened. heads should roll over this error, it could have been a lot worse.i don’t see a school comm member looking for the cause of the breakdown as irresponsible. you had no problem with a cc looking to the cm to lay the blame, whats the difference? they’re elected officials, they can’t help posturing to look like their doing their job. in this case i agree with sc member, bottom line he should’nt have been with hs kids.

12. Paul@01852 Says:
    September 18th, 2006 at 3:05 pm

    The real problem Pete is not WHAT Waamala did that should have been discovered with a CORI check because even if the check discovered every instance of arrest he was only convicted of ONE count of domestic assault. I agree that even one count should be punished, don’t get me wrong. However, given that everything was in the open would this have disqualified him from a teacher’s position? #1 he was either found innocent or all counts except one were dropped. #2 everything occurred during what I have been told was during a VERY bitter divorce. #3 apparently from reports Waamala was an exceptionally bright person with a bachelors, master’s and a doctorate in electrical engineering. Then when he was hired he obtained a second doctorate in education. In this climate of a severe shortage of math and science teachers I think it would have been well worth taking the risk of hiring him. Remember NONE of the charges, missed or otherwise involved childen or sex crimes! #5 apparently from reports the charges from 1990-93 were filed under 3 separate names which probably accounts for the initial negative CORI report. Is this the fault of the Lowell school system?

    Accusing the school administration or the School Committee of negligence is ludicrous if you examine the facts. THIS is what Mimi’s original post tried to address.

13. Mimi Says:
    September 18th, 2006 at 4:05 pm

    Pete:

    Responsible and productive criticism is today’s Lowell Sun Editorial on the subject.

    Irresponsible and damaging criticism are the comments made on the radio on Friday.

    Responsible actions are most School Committee members refraining from discussing this issue in public until the Personnel Subcommittee meets tomorrow and the full School Committee meets the following day.

    Irresponsible actions are School Committee member(s) public and political tirades aimed at the Superintendent.

    Responsible actions are Mayor Bill Martin’s motion to review the hiring process.

14. pete the pirate Says:
    September 20th, 2006 at 11:10 am

    if he gets out on bail, let him tutor your daughter.
    the guy was a repeat offender, the fact that he was only convicted of one domestic violence case probably means he “made up” with his victim prior to a trial and they did not testify, so he only got caught (or convicted) once in your book. you don’t have a problem with a guy who manages, despite his high intelligence, to get into multiple situations where the police are called, multiple times, to investigate and subsequently arrest him, multiple times, for domestic violence? stop being so politically correct and open your social worker eyes. the guy has, at the least, an anger management problem, if not a problem with women. and that was before they found out about his penchant for incest. stop defending him, he is not a good guy. stop defending the broken system that put him into a teaching postion. wake up.

15. Lynne Says:
    September 20th, 2006 at 1:18 pm

    Pete, you have utterly and entirely missed the point of this whole conversation.

16. pete the pirate Says:
    September 20th, 2006 at 3:12 pm

    wrong lynne, i addressed that point, i expressed an opinion that you do not agree with, again, so i missed the point. sorry for not seeing the world as you do.
    somebody said that because he was an exceptionally intelligent man, it would be worth the risk to hire him and put him in a building filled with hish school students, you did’nt criticize that statement, so i take it you agree with it. hindsight shows you were wrong. i said that based on the information that was available in january, it was wrong. someone should be held responsible. thats my point!

17. what the heck? Says:
    January 20th, 2007 at 12:36 am

    Hey, how about blaming the person who is really at fault, the one who hired him. How come nobody is pointing the finger at the Superintendent’s office? Face it, when it comes down to brass tacks, the boss is responsible for their employees. If the boss makes a bad hiring decision, they should take the heat. Get that idiot out of office. There were plenty of well qualified teachers ALREADY within the school system to take that job. They did not need to hire outside of the school system. It was a bad decision and the Superintendent should take the blame for it.
    And I’m sorry, as a parent there is NO WAY I would want my daughter being taught ANYTHING from a man who was convicted of domestic abuse.

    Furthermore, in my opinion, (just my opinon) nobody who is even suspected of something like this should receive pay while they are in jail. If they are found innocent, then let them get the back pay when they get out. Why should the City of Lowell finance the legal fight for this man if he ends up being guilty. Would you pay if it came out of your own pocket every week?

    Furthermore, it makes me very angry that the City is willing to continue to pay someone like that but does NOT pay teachers (well respected non-pervert teachers mind you) who are called to active military service. (city workers are paid but not teachers). What kind of warped priorities are those?

Leave a Reply