Here is the video from the 9/9/2024 school board meeting where Lisa Phelps makes a motion for a 3rd party investigation into the Cedar Forest Elementary Child Abuse Scandal. Ms. Phelps explains her reasons in these back-to-back clips.
It is reasonable to have an outside entity investigate all the missteps and non-actions of leadership prior to the arrest of Gloria Jackson. Spotsylvania County Schools leadership investigating themselves does not make sense because it is a conflict of interest. It has come to our attention that there are over 70 videos from the Cedar Forest Child Abuse Scandal, and we just scratched the surface on this issue.
What were the missteps by Cedar Forest Elementary principal Orth or assistant principal Kuhnert?
Did the school board office, specifically Kelly Guempel, Jeremy Siefker, Amy Williams, do anything?
Who attempted to suppress information and deliberately coverup the child abuse?
Why was the whistleblower teacher fired?
Why hasn’t Kuhnert, Guempel, Siefker, Williams been fired?
Lisa Phelps made a motion to hire a 3rd party to investigate the causes and failures of school administrators leading up to the Cedar Forest Child Abuse Scandal. April Gillespie seconded this motion. School Board Chair Lorita Daniels spent her time fighting Phelps on this issue. Suddenly, Lorita Daniels ordered a recess, and the school board cameras turned off.
Well, we have the video of what transpired during the recess. This video reveals that school board members were all aware of the Cedar Forest situation a while ago. Phelps and Gillespie had pressed for an investigation in the past. Daniels, Cole, Medawar, Rodas, and Jackson did nothing to support a 3rd party investigation. The people conducting the investigation within the schools were involved in the coverup.
Daniels, Cole, Medawar, Rodas, and Jackson eventually voted against the motion to hire a 3rd party to investigate the scandal. Their explanations did not provide the public confidence that they can protect students. Below are important questions to ask in any 3rd party investigation.
Why did Principal Orth and Assistant Principal Khunert not immediately step in to prevent further child abuse?
Why did the school board office not step in to immediately put a stop to this?
Why were numerous videos filmed of child abuse and no one stopped it ?
What was Kelly Guempel’s role in this scandal ?
Why was the whistleblower’s contract not renewed?
Does it make sense for the people involved in the coverup to investigate themselves?
Here is our letter to the Spotsylvania County Schools Superintendent Clint Mitchell. He has already made inaccurate statements here at the 9/9 school board meeting. For example, he said all the staff changed at Cedar Forest Elementary after the Gloria Jackson incident. Yet, the same assistant principal remains – Kuhnert. Why did he lie?
Here is another video showing the toxic environment in Spotsylvania County Schools created by the administrators at Cedar Forest Elementary. This video is a recorded conversation between teacher Brandi Clark and Assistant Principal Kuhnert. Ms. Clark reported a child screaming and Gloria Jackson hits the child. Ms. Clark states “Jackson did take off her shoe and she did elbow him”.
The teacher was looking for a solution by reporting the problem. Yet, the administrators would not tell parents their rights, the exact nature of a child’s experiences, and deny opportunities to obtain IEPs. Everyone should ask this basic question. How many of the children abused mentally and physically in the first 3 videos we showed you on our Rumble account have IEPs?
At Cedar Forest Elementary, we have confirmed reports of employee harassment. Administrators would use stickers and pink shirts as an intimidation tactic to foster a toxic work environment.
Where is the official statement from Spotsylvania County Public Schools? There has been no official statement from Superintendent Clint Mitchell on how he will change the toxic culture in the school division 25 days into his tenure. It has been over 4 months since the arraignment of Gloria Jackson.
We heard Spotsylvania County Public schools has been focused on cleaning up the bad press instead of an apology or rectifying the situation. What did the prior acting Superintendent Kelly Guempel do to handle this situation? School has started and children are in classes. Are we going to have more of the same?
Here is a letter from Brandi Clark, the teacher that reported the behavior of Gloria Jackson at Cedar Forest Elementary in Spotsylvania County Schools. In court, Gloria Jackson was found guilty but only received 12 months’ probation. We consider that unacceptable given the many video recordings of child abuse.
Ms. Clark was obligated to report this behavior because under the law she is a mandatory reporter. She has to report child abuse. Yet, there are people blaming Ms. Clark for everything and people supporting the poor behavior by school administrators.
Below is her letter to the Spotsy Wire explaining the situation and the coverup with the school administration. Orth is the principal at Cedar Forest. Kuhnert is the assistant principal.
It looks like Spotsylvania County Schools continues to cover up their toxic culture. Look at this text message sent from a school administrator to the teacher whose contract was not renewed as retaliation for video recording the toxic behavior in schools. Could Amy in this text be Amy Williams from HR? #Kuhnert #Corruption #Guempel #Carlisle #CedarForest #Orth
Here is another video showing the toxic culture at Spotsylvania County Public Schools. We want to be clear that all of these videos we are showing you are from 2023 and 2024.
We are concerned that the culture of some schools within Spotsylvania County Public Schools has not changed. Why? Certain employees remain in certain schools. There is nothing more important than the safety and well-being of SCPS students.
According to sources, there are other SCPS employees engaged in similar behavior with administrators actively covering things up. Has any department with investigative authority talked to the families? Who attempted to cover this up? Who has attempted to silence any whistleblower? Did Guempel know anything?
Here is another example captured on video of the toxic culture in Spotsylvania County Schools. Would you be ok if this “educator” talked to your child in this manner? Why was this “educator” employed by Spotsylvania County schools for so many years? Who in Spotsylvania County schools attempted to coverup this behavior for many years?
This video was captured on a different day from the earlier video we showed you in our 8/18 article. You can tell by the different outfits. Why was this educator behaving this way to special needs kids in the minority community?
An article recently appearing on one of the so called “local news” websites talks about the start of the school year here in Spotsylvania County. The article stated that Spotsylvania County Public Schools has an opportunity to make positive changes due to the hiring of Dr. Clint Mitchell as superintendent. That article included the normal drumbeat to which we read every year, a lack of funds and teacher shortages.
What seems to be missing each time in these articles is the partial reason SCPS, like every other dysfunctional school system, can’t reach their manpower (hiring) goals. Everyone knows why but why won’t anyone say it? It is the toxic culture that has been cultivated over decades. You might not be able to see it if you participate in the dysfunction. Those that do see it as a toxic environment leave the profession as an educator. The educator who sees their utmost responsibility to be the safety of the children and fellow employees could and have been released from their contracts. Without safety concerns addressed, the school year for students can be a living hell. For the educator, it is demoralizing.
Where does the administration stand in rectifying this issue? It depends on the school building. As an employee of SCPS you may have had an administration that knocks it out of the park and have always fostered a fantastic learning environment. That is great! Other administrations will close ranks and punish those who raise concerns.
The employee who demands a safety issue be addressed might not have their contract renewed. The employee who is the offender of a standing SCPS conduct policy, often remains in a classroom/school building. The parent who raises concerns about a safety incident, their child, the victim, is moved. How inconvenient for that student, don’t you think?
Letting an employee stay for years while parental/staff complaints pile up about child abuse is not just unacceptable, but illegal! When this article is published it will most certainly attract the education system cheerleaders and apologists. Yes, we know that some parents certainly contribute to the dysfunction because they’ll send their improperly raised children to school. Thus, why it was mentioned above, a “partial” reason why we can’t fill the needed positions. Yes, most teachers are great and provide a satisfactory experience to the students and families.
What can Dr. Clint Mitchell do? He could start by picking the low hanging fruit. Get rid of those administrators in school buildings that won’t enforce code of conduct policies. Doc, tell them that wearing pink shirts as an intimidation tactic when terminating an employee is unacceptable. Tell them using a two-faced sticker for the ole wink-wink nod during parent-teacher conferences so they all lie the same way when talking about little johnny is not ok. Tell them when an employee protects a child or fellow staffer, that heroic employee’s concerns should immediately be addressed with positive reinforcement.
That type of employee, at the minimum, should feel worth more than the dirt on the bottom of the principal’s shoe. Dr Mitchell, tell your administrators that if a student needs an IEP, quotas and ‘it is too much work’ are not acceptable solutions. SO WHAT if the parent doesn’t want to participate. YOU provide a safe and healthy learning environment, which comes as a great relief to kids from broken homes and those students with special needs. Such an easy solution but why can’t we fill all the full-time positions?
You don’t have to take our word for it. The video speaks for itself.
