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After our meeting with Superintendent Edmond Heatley, I paid my 24 kopecks at Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court for a certified copy of the divorce decree so Gayle and I can get our marriage license. We expect to cough up another 73 kopecks for that today.
Gayle gave her notice at work yesterday, her last day being the day before the wedding, Friday the 24th, and to her amazement they were actually surprised. She's working hard to get caught up on her contact notes and whatnot so it's not too bad a mess when she leaves. With a month notice, they have plenty of time to arrange things and not give her new cases.
The meeting with Superintendent Heatley.
He seated us at one side of a conference table with himself on the other, and presently his deputy Nancy Harms came in and took notes.
We went in having received a call yesterday from Jeff, who was sitting in a lawyer's office and talking about pursuing a civil rights case on behalf of lots of people who have been abused using bogus 5150s - Stephen's case being one of the more outrageous in their judgment.
Stephen opened by recounting his experience - how the interview went with Casas, and how things went at Canyon Ridge. Heatley then wanted me to recount how things went from my viewpoint, and I said nothing new.
Heatley wanted to get right to, "So what do you want from me," without admitting that the district might have done anything wrong that we have to take account of in moving ahead. He tried to say it was the cops who decided to take Stephen in, although they have no discretion in such a case, as he surely knows and as a psychologist and lawyers have advised me - as I pointed out. He denied that the district even had any authority in this matter, claiming that it was DCS or CPS that had decided on this in response to Casas's report.
He claimed that it was my opinion that Casas had told Stephen in the interview that he needed to do his schoolwork and be drugged to make him "feel better" to that end. But that wasn't anyone's opinion; it is a fact attested in Stephen's sworn statement to that effect. And it is a fact that DCS and CPS had nothing to do with this, except that two weeks before DCS had determined that there was no cause for action and had closed the case that CVUSD had prompted them to open. It is a fact that the cop called Casas from the base of my stairs, and that Casas herself insisted that the cop take Stephen away right then.
If the district didn't do this to Stephen, the Roman Catholic Church didn't kill anyone in the Middle Ages, because instead of doing it themselves they had it done by the civil authorities that were required to act on the Church's wishes. No pope in recent memory has claimed anything so absurd about his organization's history as what our superintendent was claiming today. And Stephen and I are supposed to repose some kind of confidence in people who behave like this?
Another fact, which did not come up in this conversation but will come up in court or any other venue if that's how they want to play it, is that back in February when it happened, nobody in the district thought that Stephen being up on the roof and threatening to jump when Dykstra arrived to teach him - so that she went away empty-handed - merited a 5150 investigation, much less a certification. Casas suddenly got interested in this incident a whole month later, ancient history in 5150 terms, when she came to talk about how Stephen needed to do his schoolwork and that the "drugs will help him."
Not "would," but "will."
They already had it all arranged that this 5150 would be certified and lead to Stephen being drugged according to their wishes. Being imminently suicidal when the teacher arrived to teach him in February so that she had to leave without doing so didn't call for a 5150, but wanting him drugged a month later because they figured this would get him to do his schoolwork suddenly caused this old incident to justify a 5150!
Since Superintendent Heatley had nothing but such shuck and jive for us today, we could not yet ask him to do anything for us, since he would not give us the security that must accompany any business we may do. He flatly refused to give us the assurance we need that they won't do him more harm like this. It was especially annoying to see the triumphant little smirk with which he denied any responsibility as he tried to blame it all on the cops and DCS, while asserting all the while that they absolutely would certify another 5150 against Stephen if they felt it was warranted - putting him in the same deceitful and ruthless hands to traumatize him again at their arbitrary pleasure.
I explained to Heatley that I had already trusted the school district and by doing so had brought upon him the most traumatic event of his life at their hands. If I trust them again, and he is betrayed again, how can I lift up my face to him in future?
With that, and being proved wrong on the law and the facts, he did stop smirking at last and realized that he would do well to acquaint himself with the actual events. He said that after reviewing their files and talking to some people, including the captain at the Sheriff's station, and getting the police report, he would call me Thursday afternoon and set us another time to talk. A continuance.
Stephen went out of there flashing back to the conversation that led to his being dragged away March 27th. Being terrified to go home, he went elsewhere for the day.
They can do such damage to a kid and, when they see the wreckage, they think of nothing except how they might cover their own butts! And they deserve our trust?
Gayle gave her notice at work yesterday, her last day being the day before the wedding, Friday the 24th, and to her amazement they were actually surprised. She's working hard to get caught up on her contact notes and whatnot so it's not too bad a mess when she leaves. With a month notice, they have plenty of time to arrange things and not give her new cases.
The meeting with Superintendent Heatley.
He seated us at one side of a conference table with himself on the other, and presently his deputy Nancy Harms came in and took notes.
We went in having received a call yesterday from Jeff, who was sitting in a lawyer's office and talking about pursuing a civil rights case on behalf of lots of people who have been abused using bogus 5150s - Stephen's case being one of the more outrageous in their judgment.
Stephen opened by recounting his experience - how the interview went with Casas, and how things went at Canyon Ridge. Heatley then wanted me to recount how things went from my viewpoint, and I said nothing new.
Heatley wanted to get right to, "So what do you want from me," without admitting that the district might have done anything wrong that we have to take account of in moving ahead. He tried to say it was the cops who decided to take Stephen in, although they have no discretion in such a case, as he surely knows and as a psychologist and lawyers have advised me - as I pointed out. He denied that the district even had any authority in this matter, claiming that it was DCS or CPS that had decided on this in response to Casas's report.
He claimed that it was my opinion that Casas had told Stephen in the interview that he needed to do his schoolwork and be drugged to make him "feel better" to that end. But that wasn't anyone's opinion; it is a fact attested in Stephen's sworn statement to that effect. And it is a fact that DCS and CPS had nothing to do with this, except that two weeks before DCS had determined that there was no cause for action and had closed the case that CVUSD had prompted them to open. It is a fact that the cop called Casas from the base of my stairs, and that Casas herself insisted that the cop take Stephen away right then.
If the district didn't do this to Stephen, the Roman Catholic Church didn't kill anyone in the Middle Ages, because instead of doing it themselves they had it done by the civil authorities that were required to act on the Church's wishes. No pope in recent memory has claimed anything so absurd about his organization's history as what our superintendent was claiming today. And Stephen and I are supposed to repose some kind of confidence in people who behave like this?
Another fact, which did not come up in this conversation but will come up in court or any other venue if that's how they want to play it, is that back in February when it happened, nobody in the district thought that Stephen being up on the roof and threatening to jump when Dykstra arrived to teach him - so that she went away empty-handed - merited a 5150 investigation, much less a certification. Casas suddenly got interested in this incident a whole month later, ancient history in 5150 terms, when she came to talk about how Stephen needed to do his schoolwork and that the "drugs will help him."
Not "would," but "will."
They already had it all arranged that this 5150 would be certified and lead to Stephen being drugged according to their wishes. Being imminently suicidal when the teacher arrived to teach him in February so that she had to leave without doing so didn't call for a 5150, but wanting him drugged a month later because they figured this would get him to do his schoolwork suddenly caused this old incident to justify a 5150!
Since Superintendent Heatley had nothing but such shuck and jive for us today, we could not yet ask him to do anything for us, since he would not give us the security that must accompany any business we may do. He flatly refused to give us the assurance we need that they won't do him more harm like this. It was especially annoying to see the triumphant little smirk with which he denied any responsibility as he tried to blame it all on the cops and DCS, while asserting all the while that they absolutely would certify another 5150 against Stephen if they felt it was warranted - putting him in the same deceitful and ruthless hands to traumatize him again at their arbitrary pleasure.
I explained to Heatley that I had already trusted the school district and by doing so had brought upon him the most traumatic event of his life at their hands. If I trust them again, and he is betrayed again, how can I lift up my face to him in future?
With that, and being proved wrong on the law and the facts, he did stop smirking at last and realized that he would do well to acquaint himself with the actual events. He said that after reviewing their files and talking to some people, including the captain at the Sheriff's station, and getting the police report, he would call me Thursday afternoon and set us another time to talk. A continuance.
Stephen went out of there flashing back to the conversation that led to his being dragged away March 27th. Being terrified to go home, he went elsewhere for the day.
They can do such damage to a kid and, when they see the wreckage, they think of nothing except how they might cover their own butts! And they deserve our trust?
posted by Peter Attwood at 7/24/2007 04:02:00 PM
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