Family Sues School District for Indoctrinating Their Children Into a Cult

[Ausgirl]

Thing is, it all sounds like pretty bog-standard cult indoctrination. Disorientating/exhausting activities (whirling), different 'language' (words re-purposed to cult-specific meanings, etc, terms that make little sense to 'outsiders'), isolation (distancing from family), and "the end is nigh" thinking ('death obsessed', look at Heavens Gate as a good example of that).

What stumps me is that there are not more complaints. Cults don't generally stop with one family..

 

[gitana1]

My daughter attended a state-run grade school with a very religious agenda, which used an array of bullying and coersion techniques toward both parents and kids to ensure ALL kids were exposed to their religious ed classes. It seemed like not a big deal to a lot of parents though it was a bit strange to them -- but it made me see red, the handful of kids whose parents refused the classes (Jewish kids, Muslim kids, my kid!) missed out on happy-clappy fun, singing, lollies, toys and time with friends, they were made to sit in a hallway and do math instead. DISgusting!!!!!! And this is a government school!!!

I see the behaviour of the principal and his born-again cronies as cult-related, and was so angry about it. Our kids were coming home asking about the devil and would they go to hell!!!

Anyway, I can see how culty thinking could creep into a classroom situation, and many parents trust teachers more than they probably should.

We have a quite strict separation of church and state in our country. Such conduct is strictly prohibited by our constitution. What you have described that occurred at your children's school would never be tolerated here. The ACLU would be on that faster than a pig to a trough. I mean, people are constantly suing to stop the pledge of allegiance from being said because it contains the words "under God". If what you described happened here, there would be multiple news vans, news articles, constant tv reports, loud and vocal protests and serious lawsuits including requests for temporary, emergency orders and preliminary injunctions and huge cost to the district.

No, Americans will quietly put up with horrible, costly health care, constant, even only sucking wars, and horribly poor education, but the moment religion comes into play- watch out. All hell breaks loose. What you described could not occur here.

I read almost half of the complaint here. To my trained eye, it's bizarre and illogical. The plaintiffs describe knowing in great detail about the inappropriate activities of the teachers/counselor while the activities were occurring, such that they discussed and criticized these activities with their kids, yet they describe not one complaint to the school itself. And the school reports never receiving one complaint.

The inclusion of Wellesley in the suit, a very well known, historic and well regarded school (like a woman's Harvard), further betrays the lack of rationality. So now we are to believe that a completely unrelated university added to the cult activity by giving the girls a space to use to which they weren't entitled? Surely you can see this doesn't make sense.

Finally, their inappropriate suspicion of "magical realism", which Datchery so kindly explained, shows how nonsensical this is. Magical realism is not a cult theory. It is a literary device commonly used among Latin American authors.

I've learned it's what we see in the movie Like Water for Chocolate.

No, this case seems driven by mentally unstable people who have lost control of their children. IMO, the suit won't get far.

 

[JeannaT]

I can see parents being bizarre enough to allege this stuff - but did this require a law firm to file this suit? Did they file it themselves without any legal help?

 

[MyBelle]

We have a quite strict separation of church and state in our country. Such conduct is strictly prohibited by our constitution. What you have described that occurred at your children's school would never be tolerated here. The ACLU would be on that faster than a pig to a trough. I mean, people are constantly suing to stop the pledge of allegiance from being said because it contains the words "under God". If what you described happened here, there would be multiple news vans, news articles, constant tv reports, loud and vocal protests and serious lawsuits including requests for temporary, emergency orders and preliminary injunctions and huge cost to the district.

No, Americans will quietly put up with horrible, costly health care, constant, even only sucking wars, and horribly poor education, but the moment religion comes into play- watch out. All hell breaks loose. What you described could not occur here.

I read almost half of the complaint here. To my trained eye, it's bizarre and illogical. The plaintiffs describe knowing in great detail about the inappropriate activities of the teachers/counselor while the activities were occurring, such that they discussed and criticized these activities with their kids, yet they describe not one complaint to the school itself. And the school reports never receiving one complaint.

The inclusion of Wellesley in the suit, a very well known, historic and well regarded school (like a woman's Harvard), further betrays the lack of rationality. So now we are to believe that a completely unrelated university added to the cult activity by giving the girls a space to use to which they weren't entitled? Surely you can see this doesn't make sense.

Finally, their inappropriate suspicion of "magical realism", which Datchery so kindly explained, shows how nonsensical this is. Magical realism is not a cult theory. It is a literary device commonly used among Latin American authors.

I've learned it's what we see in the movie Like Water for Chocolate.

No, this case seems driven by mentally unstable people who have lost control of their children. IMO, the suit won't get far.

BBM. I agree. If this really had been happening for years, other children would have mentioned it to their parents. I think the only "cult" was the one at home.

Waiting until the 2 oldest children are legally adults is a tad bizarre, imo.

 

[screecher]

I've used it? What do you mean?

(I use when describing my MIL)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

:floorlaugh:

 

[tlcya]

from page 27 of the complaint which is linked in my post number 5 above

388. On information and belief, Defendants Mastoloni, Kessler, Esposito, and Sullivan
instructed E.D. and L.D. to appeal to Wellesley College to provide them with housing for
the remainder of the summer, by falsely claiming that they were homeless abuse victims.

389. Defendants Mastoloni, Kessler, Esposito, and Sullivan knew that there was no abuse in
the Doe family. This is evidenced by the fact that Defendants Mastoloni, Kessler,
Esposito, and Sullivan have never reported any such abuse, even though schoolteachers
and guidance counselors are mandatory reporters of such abuse.

390. Moreover, Defendants Mastoloni, Kessler, Esposito, and Sullivan each knew that the
girls were not, in fact, homeless. · To the contrary, Defendants Mastoloni, Kessler,
Esposito, and Sullivan each knew that E.D. and L.D. came from a loving home in which
Jane and John would have welcomed them back with open arms at any time.

391. Nevertheless, Defendant Esposito wrote a letter to Wellesley defaming Jane and John,
falsely accusing them of being abusive towards E.D. and L.D., and falsely claiming that
the girls were homeless.

392. Wellesley College agreed to cooperate with the conspiracy of Defendants Mastoloni,
Kessler, Esposito, and Sullivan, and provided E.D. and L.D. with summer housing that
they were not entitled to.

 

[Ausgirl]

We have a quite strict separation of church and state in our country.

So do we! I heard ( as we left the area not long after this, thank goodness) that the principal was fired, and the culty class removed from the curriculum. I cannot believe it was ever on it! Apparently, there's a loophole somewhere and that's how they wormed their way in. Don't even get me started.

I'm wondering if by 'magical realism' they actually meant 'magical thinking', which would be a far more appropriate term.

One would use it to describe, say, the kind of mythological BS that would make a perfectly rational 8 year old become suddenly convinced that her family were all going to hell.

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

I have not looked into this further yet because I am cooking and getting ready for company, But...

There are a couple of very odd religions out there that require alienation of family. They take a verse in the bible and twist it to fit that requirement.

I am looking forward to hearing more on this.

 

[Ausgirl]

More than a couple, Scarlett. Try -hundreds- of them. Most are very small, though, family-sized like those placard-toting nutters in Westboro. Many are harmless. And many are not.

From what I've read, it looks to be that the girls left home and the parents were furious. Severe helicoptering at best. Nutty possessiveness at worst.

However, I recall being looked at as slightly mad (along with the handful of other parents who objected strongly) for loudly opposing the cultish class I posted about earlier. No-one seemed to understand -why- we were so darned furious about it -- not because they didn't think the class was 'a bit off'. But because it was approved by the school board, so it had to be perfectly alright, right?~

That'd be the school board with cult members on it. I started to feel like I needed a tin foil hat.

I really don't think these parents have a valid claim. just saying - insidious, fear-mongering religious groups backdooring their way into schools, it's been done.

 

[tlcya]

having read the complaint in its entirety I find it overflowing with specific instances of alleged inappropriate behavior by the named teachers and counselor. These instances encompass years and are alleged to be very regular and well known instances. I do not find one instance in which the Does attempted to contact a principal, administrator or the governing school board to report alleged inappropriate behaviors or relationships. the only time they apparently contact teachers or counselor was after the two eldest girls distanced themselves from their parents and moved out. Which BTW adult children are prone to do when they chafe under parents rules or as a matter of course in growing up.

The complaint is rife with allegations that the school was or should have been aware of said inappropriate behaviors and yet failed to act to intervene. Yet nowhere is it explained how the Does know that the school knew or should have known.

IMO these folks are extremely religious and opted to send their daughters to public school and now are pissed off that their daughters discovered new age thought and religion and a wider world view that their parents ever expected or wanted. I also strongly suspect these folks are not of limited means and may have some standing in their community which is why they are so concerned with not being named in their own darned complaint. Instead they are anonymous, Jane and John Doe. This suggests several things to me.

1) the accused teachers and guidance counselor suspected possible abuse or hinkiness in the Doe home.

2) the Does are well placed in the community and did not appreciate attempts by the teachers to reach out to the girls to ascertain if there was cause for their concern.

3) The Does apparently only got worried or concerned about the alleged inappropriate relationships teachers had with their daughters after the eldest went to college and began distancing herself from her parents.

4) When the two eldest girls came home from college and the proverbial poo hit the fan with parents, the girls ran to the trusted teacher and cried abuse.

5) I am wondering if since the two eldest girls were adults at that time there was no mandate to report the allegations of abuse against them but the allegations were reported to the college in order to obtain summer housing for them. That is providing the allegation that the teachers set up this temporary abuse/homeless housing at college for them is even true. The girls could easily have done that themselves.

bottom line I have the feeling the girls being indoctrinated is not the issue. The issue is that the girls are no longer indoctrinated into the parents religion of choice.

There is no cult or organized religion these girls were indoctrinated into. There is simply the girls, exploring and becoming involved in studying a more new age, paganistic, spiritual belief system that their parents object to and blame the secular school for exposing their children to.

MOO JMO IMO ETC

I have now read the entire complaint. A complaint is simply a list of allegations and how those things alleged negatively affected the plaintiffs. So basically, if I wanted I could allege anything against anyone and file a suit. I am then forcing the defendant to "answer" my allegations. Only down the road do I ever have to provide any sort of proof or validation of what I allege.

This case will be interesting to follow. I may have to find out if the docket and future documents are available online so I can read as those docs are filed.

 

[nursebeeme]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...cut-indoctrinated-familys-daughters-cult.html

Wow
At the end of above link school says they never heard about any of this until the ls. I have a problem with that if it is true

 

[Morag]

Two things: Avon is a rather wealthy community with top schools.
The plaintiff's attorney is a TAX Lawyer, and he is about 40 miles from where they live. I wonder if no Avon attorney would take the case? This is one of the weirdest things I've seen!

Here's a link to Connecticut court information:
http://www.jud.ct.gov/jud2.htm

 

[Nova]

Magical realism is not a cult theory. It is a literary device commonly used among Latin American authors.

As I'm sure Gitana knows, most Magical Realism writers are themselves Roman Catholics. It is a New World tradition descending from Native American animism that sees "spirit" in all things. It is neither a cult nor a religion (except in Japan, where similar ideas inform both Japanese literature and the Shinto religion, and several third-world, animist cultures).

I have read and taught numerous Magical Realism works (it is a popular approach in Chicano plays) and I'm here to say that doing so never "brainwashed" me or any of my students in any way. It is an exquisite literary technique, however.

 

[Morag]

http://avon.patch.com/groups/school...avon-teachers-do-not-contain-a-shred-of-truth

http://avon.patch.com/groups/schools/p/report-avon-teachers-led-girls-to-religious-cult

 

[i.b.nora]

http://www.4thelaw.net/about-us

The Law Office of Thomas S. Groth, LLC focuses its practice on the following areas of law:

Business Organization
Business Succession Planning
Wealth/Estate Succession Planning
Real Estate Transactions
Tax Planning
Debt Settlement Negotiation (including resolution of state and federal tax debts)​​

tax business must be slow or non-existent. weird!

 

[Morag]

http://www.4thelaw.net/about-us

The Law Office of Thomas S. Groth, LLC focuses its practice on the following areas of law:

Business Organization
Business Succession Planning
Wealth/Estate Succession Planning
Real Estate Transactions
Tax Planning
Debt Settlement Negotiation (including resolution of state and federal tax debts)​​

tax business must be slow or non-existent. weird!

And there are surely hundreds of attorneys in Avon and nearby Hartford. Groth has only been practicing for about 2 years, so this could be a huge out-of-his-bailiwick case for him if it goes forward.
Wish we could find out who the parents are. Either they are nuts or something is very weird at Avon High School.

 

[minor4th]

Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Cult indoctrination can be very insidious and hard to detect by outsiders (even family members) while it's happening. It does appear that there have been pretty aggressive measures taken to alienate the kids from their parents and their parents' beliefs, and deception/fraud and secrecy has been used to accomplish this. That alone is a pretty good indicator of cult-like indoctrination. I'm not going to write the parents' allegations off as frivolous or misguided just yet.

It is too late to do anything about the two older kids - and if this turns out to be cult indoctrination, this is a typical outcome and why it's do difficult to protect against cult abuse. No one sees the big picture or knows what's really happening until it's too late.

Even if the parents are overreacting, I applaud them for filing suit and taking steps to protect their youngest child; it will at least shine a bright light on what's going on at Avon and perhaps motivate other parents to look more closely at what's going on with their own children.(unless, of course, it turns out the parents are totally nuts and their allegations are complete fiction)

ETA: I have some pretty significant experience working with cult victims and litigating against cults - so my ears perk up at allegations of cult abuse. FWIW

 

[minor4th]

IMO the filing of the petition by a lawyer who's not a trial lawyer is not a big deal (yet). He's probably an attorney they've used for other matters and is just getting the suit started. Surely if it proceeds, a trial attorney will be associated as co-counsel or substituted for the current attorney of record.

 

[tlcya]

I will be interested in your thoughts as this plays out minor4th. I hold a different view thus far but am open to reading more documented facts as this case progresses. Who knows, as actual facts replace allegations I may end up with a different take on this case.

 

[Zuri]

I will be interested in your thoughts as this plays out minor4th. I hold a different view thus far but am open to reading more documented facts as this case progresses. Who knows, as actual facts replace allegations I may end up with a different take on this case.

I am with you on this. This is truly bizarre. I saw no accountability or responsibility on the part of the parents.