Dan returned my email early this morning with his thanks for being a PHP reader and pointing me to his online comments above.

Maybe the E$D supporters can relate to Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men” with his statement “You can’t handle the truth!”

Jane Doe II “is a victim of grooming” by a well respected E$D teacher. E$D did not support her and instead decided to throw her out of the school that they had already graduated 3 of her siblings

I don’t know the Doe family and have no connection to E$D or the case.

As a parent of 2 teens I can empathize with Does parents since my kids don’t want my input( although I still give it) and I am involved & supportive in everything they do (scholastically, athletically, musically, socially) etc. but I only have my 2 and the oldest will turn 17 in 2 weeks.

I’m not giving the Does excuses but as the youngest of 5 kids, if you asked my older siblings, I got away with murder (in their opinion) because I received the advantage of not fighting for use of a car and a bedroom of my own. They were all out of the house and I was living with “relaxed” older parents that probably hoped I gained some “sense” from absorbing their guidance with my siblings.
Lucky for my parents, they raised me right because one day when I was “walking to school” at 16 (small Midwestern town – up hill and through the snow both ways) someone tried to sell me “pot”, and I said no – part of it was their training and the other part was the “fear of God” if I did something that was wrong I was going straight to “hell”. (you might guess I was raised Catholic).

Jane’s parents may have been ignorant to what was going on in her life (regrettably so) but I’m sure they weren’t planning on an influential, popular E$D teacher taking control of their daughter.

If E$D weren’t so concerned with protecting their own interest and would have been more concerned to protect one of their children, IMO this case wouldn’t be in court and dragging E$D’s name through the “court of popular opinion.”

I don’t believe the Does want money (no money will heal their family), but they want E$D to admit that they were wrong to expel their daughter and exposing the bad decisions by E$D’s administration (Royall/Mayo/Swann/Burrow) and to assist Campbell in his defense of all of the bad decisions. (My opinion not the Does)

I’m pretty disgusted to see criticism of PHP for the coverage. It’s a big story, and not because they are covering it. It’s big because we ALL have heard about it for going on two years! You expect the media and the public to ignore it or sweep it under the rug? If I was an ESD parent, and loved the school, I would be thrilled that the trial and conversation would bring about change, and my child(ren) could could stay after the issues, problems and concerns were addressed.

Had just one time in earlier posts a pro-ESD comment admonished the name calling of the victim, the tone would have stayed civil. I’ve been a paid blogger for years,and can see when a topic turns. PHP should be commended for doing a very, very excellent job.

I think that we as a community are teaching JD2 other important lessons about victimization. People Newspapers has taught JD2 about how a juicy story, even it draws on someones misery, sells papers. I suspect that People Newspapers will try to rationalize its actions saying it is assisting JD2 by shining a light on an injustice. However, JD2 and ESD were already scheduled to have their day in court before the paper started to follow the story. And the resources the paper has committed to trial coverage undeniably show your true motives.

For those of us who don’t have a dog in this legal fight, we are teaching JD2 about schadenfreude as we gleefully watch ESD get raked over the coals. And, we don’t really care about whether this exacerbates JD2’s shame as we cheer for either JD2 or ESD during the trial. We will make similar excuses as People Newspapers but we know better. We are drawn to this case like an Oprah show or a car wreck.

Shame on us all.

Dan, you are right that you are offering all of this coverage to us for free so it is not our decision about what gets printed. Oh, wait – that’s right; I am a paid subscriber to your newspaper. So I guess I am paying for the coverage afterall…for now.

First, sorry it happened to you too, Tinkerbell. It is a strange experience to relive abuse via someone else’s experiences. When a person is right in the middle of a situation like this, logic often goes to the wind and emotions play a huge part. So does the impact each participant has with each “player”. It totally colors how one sees the situation.

After reflecting for over 30 years and comparing my situation to Jane Doe’s, I can understand where some fellow co workers wished the teacher all the best. They were not wishing someone they saw as a monster perp all the best. They were wishing someone who might have been a close friend all the best. Someone who they saw as a good person but had screwed up big time. The person I saw as a monster, others saw as their best friend, husband, Dad, whatever. Maybe they too wonder how close they might have come to going down the same road. Sex Addiction healing centers are booming businesses for a reason.

And, I can see how some of the teachers might not have seen what was obviously happening in front of them. They are human. In my case, my youth minister was a very good soul but because she held the belief that all priests were good, she was totally blind to the abuse even when she walked in on it. That a priest could do this was so foreign, she could not accept it. Twenty years later, she understands how obvious it was and said she was sorry. So, because I have known a very good person and saw the mistakes she made because of belief patterns and pre established relationships, I can understand why some of the staff reacted the way they did.

I’m not glad this happened to Jane Doe II. I’m not glad that the teacher went down this road. But, I am glad that attention has been drawn to this subject.

I can only speak for myself, but the parish I grew up in offered me so much. I was graced by so many people just like Jane Doe was at ESD. Yes, there was the abuse, but that is how life is…good and bad mixed together. That good and bad mix is found in every single institution from top notch schools, churches and families. If we destroy ESD and all other places where things like this happen, they earth would be a barren place. It happens everywhere. Everywhere.

Good people can have dark sides that they show only to a few. Bad people can have good sides that they show to many. Much of what I figured out took me 30 years to better understand why it happend back when I was 16. It’s complicated. I still don’t have it all figured out. It’s hard when you love the players.

ESD has earned every single negative comment that has been posted on this site. Your coverage has been very good and it seems like the fanboys for ESD have a distatse for facts. I have another great story you can pursue,why this business does not pay any taxes. Seems the defenders want it both ways. They do not want to pay taxes yet they do not want to be labeled Christian either because the schools reprehensible showing in court do not fit the Christians only do good marketing BS they spout.

I assume this is a competing news outlet, so Claire, feel free to replace it with one of your own.