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Old 01-12-2012, 11:58 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,616 posts, read 77,596,211 times
Reputation: 19101

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
By the way, "The decision angered several parents" is not the same as "The decision angered the vast majority of parents".
Even so:

"The parents of the victim said they took the matter to police only after getting no satisfaction from school officials, who they say stonewalled the investigation."

Allegations that school officials dragged their feet and/or were "stonewalling" are not ones to be taken lightly.


"Another woman who wouldn't identify herself said parents who were speaking out did not represent the consensus of the school's football boosters organization. She said many parents were not saying anything on the advice of their attorneys."

Why did "many parents" have attorneys?

"Since the incident became public, the mother said, both her husband and son have been threatened. She said her son has received at least one threatening e-mail and her husband has received several phone calls from parents accusing him of making up the story."

Being "threatened" by overzealous football maniacs for coming forward after being the victim of sexual abuse? Sound familiar?


Maybe we just read this article differently.
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Old 01-12-2012, 12:26 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,616 posts, read 77,596,211 times
Reputation: 19101
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lobick View Post
Another thread highjacked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles45 View Post
By "best" I mean strongly orthodox in terms of the Faith, high academic standards, uniforms, conservative code of conduct, low incidence of violence/bullying.
The OP specifically asked for OPINIONS regarding the above bolded, italicized, and underlined topics in preparation to potentially enroll their child in one of Pittsburgh's Catholic secondary schools.

If you want to be angry at anyone be angry at the person who wrote that article that jay5835 linked if you feel as if it totally misrepresented the situation vs. how you personally knew it to have happened. The victim's family's allegations that school officials "stonewalled" the investigation, that others from the school threatened them to the point where they withdrew their son from the school, and the booster club president's own wording of "many parents" remaining silent because they had been retaining attorneys once the football season was canceled would all be of relevant concern if I was worried about a school's reputation for "low incidence of violence/bullying", "conservative code of conduct", and "strongly orthodox in terms of the Faith."

I fail to see why you deem this RELEVANT discussion to be "off-topic" and then proceed to single me out for personal criticisms. I obviously hit a nerve here with you, so if you would like to offer up your own rebuttal PRAISING Central Catholic's handling of this situation, then by all means feel free to do so.
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Old 01-12-2012, 12:33 PM
 
20,273 posts, read 33,010,585 times
Reputation: 2911
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
Allegations that school officials dragged their feet and/or were "stonewalling" are not ones to be taken lightly.
Absolutely, but that is not the same thing as saying a majority of parents actually supported stonewalling these parents.

Quote:
Why did "many parents" have attorneys?
Recall that some boys had been arrested, and others were apparently witnesses.

Quote:
Being "threatened" by overzealous football maniacs for coming forward after being the victim of sexual abuse? Sound familiar?
Again, though, that doesn't mean a majority, or for that matter even more than one, parent supported such threats.

Quote:
Maybe we just read this article differently.
I guess, but I don't see anything in the article to support your assertions about what a majority of parents at the time thought.
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Old 01-12-2012, 12:40 PM
 
20,273 posts, read 33,010,585 times
Reputation: 2911
By the way, I'm by no means suggesting anyone should be OK with such accusations, and not to be trite, but if accusations of institutional stonewalling when it came to sexual misconduct were an automatic dealbreaker for someone, I'm not sure such a person would be insistent on Catholic institutions in the first place.
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Old 01-12-2012, 12:49 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,616 posts, read 77,596,211 times
Reputation: 19101
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
By the way, I'm by no means suggesting anyone should be OK with such accusations, and not to be trite, but if accusations of institutional stonewalling when it came to sexual misconduct were an automatic dealbreaker for someone, I'm not sure such a person would be insistent on Catholic institutions in the first place.
I'm Protestant, and for purposes of full disclosure sexual abuse of children (and the simultaneous stonewalling/cover-ups) occurs in our faction of Christianity as well. For some reason, though, Roman Catholics seem to be the ones always singled out by the media, which I don't think is particularly fair.

I'm a man of principle. With the exception of my Chick-Fil-A addiction (as jay5835 always chastises me for) I boycott any business or institution that has knowingly supported, harbored, or otherwise pardoned those who are harmful to society and/or those that condone bigoted ideological beliefs.

It's been a decade since this fiasco occurred at Central Catholic. Perhaps students there are now more inclined, overall, to report wrongdoing to authority figures? Perhaps the adminstration, which was accused of "stonewalling", has been replaced? Perhaps parents are no longer as obsessed with athletics? Perhaps the "blame the victim" mentality that was pervasive there in 2002 to the point where the victim had to transfer schools has evaporated in 2012? I don't know the answers to these inquiries. The best course of action if the OP was seriously considering Central Catholic would be to tour the facility, have one-on-one discussions with faculty, administrators, and staff, and speak candidly to other parents who currently have children enrolled. Additionally, if the 2002 incident was as concerning to the OP as it was to me I'd ask specifically about it and to know what steps the school has taken since then to prevent something similar from occurring in the future. If I wasn't satisfied that disciplinary policies were tightened since then I wouldn't enroll my child there.

Apparently these opinions anger Lobick, but so be it. Perhaps he can share his own experiences with Central Catholic that would be contrary to my own sentiments?
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Old 01-12-2012, 12:54 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,616 posts, read 77,596,211 times
Reputation: 19101
P.S. I see the OP has also made an inquiry about Front Royal, VA. As someone who used to live in Northern Virginia I'd personally recommend Winchester, VA over Front Royal, VA if you decide to relocate to that area instead of Pittsburgh.
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Old 01-12-2012, 01:14 PM
 
Location: Mexican War Streets
1,584 posts, read 2,094,753 times
Reputation: 1389
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
Contrary to what either of you two say in regards to me being "idiotic" or "ignorant", a school that botched handling a very serious bullying/criminal incident is worthy of condemnation, not admiration. I will not resort to the same juvenile name-calling that you two have tossed in my direction, so I'm bowing out of this thead and will permit the OP to decide for himself if the article's content crosses his own individual "line" of how a bullying situation should have been handled.
I did not call you a "name".....again, this is the nerve you've struck, perpetual victimhood. You're "ignorant" about Central Catholic and I now know ignorant about ignorance.

Clearly, the institution is pro-bullying:
http://pittcentralcatholic.org/uploa...cy-Updated.pdf
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Old 01-12-2012, 01:14 PM
 
20,273 posts, read 33,010,585 times
Reputation: 2911
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
I boycott any business or institution that has knowingly supported, harbored, or otherwise pardoned those who are harmful to society and/or those that condone bigoted ideological beliefs.
And my point is that applying that standard strictly, you couldn't be a Catholic.

Necessarily, then, any person who is still a Catholic has to have a somewhat different view on that subject--not that they have to actually condone the relevant behavior, but they cannot possibly believe a permanent boycott of the relevant institution is the only acceptable response.

Quote:
Perhaps parents are no longer as obsessed with athletics?
Again, you leapt from "some parents" to a "vast majority of parents", but if you are insisting there can't even be SOME parents like that in any school would would consider, then the reality any parent has quickly grasped is that there will always be some parents in any decent-sized school that have screwed up priorities, whether it is about athletics or any number of other possible things.

Your far better point is about the school officials--they have the responsibility to sort through these issues and do what is right. But if you are looking for a school with absolutely no screwed-up parents, you will likely be looking forever.

Quote:
Perhaps the "blame the victim" mentality that was pervasive there in 2002
Again, I see no grounds in that article for your assertion such a mentality was "pervasive".

Note it may well have been--I have no idea. But you shouldn't be asserting such a thing as a fact without some sort of justification for doing so.

Quote:
The best course of action if the OP was seriously considering Central Catholic would be to tour the facility, have one-on-one discussions with faculty, administrators, and staff, and speak candidly to other parents who currently have children enrolled. Additionally, if the 2002 incident was as concerning to the OP as it was to me I'd ask specifically about it and to know what steps the school has taken since then to prevent something similar from occurring in the future. If I wasn't satisfied that disciplinary policies were tightened since then I wouldn't enroll my child there.
That seems reasonable.
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Old 01-12-2012, 01:25 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,651,584 times
Reputation: 5163
Vincentian has the best rep among the Catholics I know, but that one is coed, and I can't really speak to too many details. It's in the north suburbs. I've heard mainly in terms of academics, but that doesn't mean they don't also have the other standards in mind when they speak highly of it.

Central definitely seems very sports-oriented, whether or not you think the stuff mentioned here that happened several years ago is relevant today.
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Old 01-12-2012, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Mexican War Streets
1,584 posts, read 2,094,753 times
Reputation: 1389
Quote:
Originally Posted by greg42 View Post
Vincentian has the best rep among the Catholics I know, but that one is coed, and I can't really speak to too many details. It's in the north suburbs. I've heard mainly in terms of academics, but that doesn't mean they don't also have the other standards in mind when they speak highly of it.

Central definitely seems very sports-oriented, whether or not you think the stuff mentioned here that happened several years ago is relevant today.
Don't forget, Vincentian has Fedko now:
Sportscaster John Fedko named Vincentian Academy president
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