Where do Waldorf teachers go?

Where do they go?

I'm preparing a TIMELINE of ABUSE at HIGHLAND HALL - and I'm finding that not only that there have been many abusive teachers at Highland Hall over the years, but also that they move around a lot (OK admittedly - some are still there and I'll cover this in another post). In one case, Wendy Wilkins, a teacher embroiled in a court case in a nearby Waldorf school was hired by Highland Hall.

The court battle was over her arranging sleepovers with students for her pedophile teenage son's entertainment. Yet Highland Hall, knowing this, not only hired her, but allowed her son access to the school, the children and enough private places that the inevitable happened - repeatedly. When it did, another teacher, Lisa (Scemema) Profumo not only didn't report it but covered it up and lied to an assembly of parents about alleged "signed contracts" and safeguards that were supposedly in place. Highland Hall ignored mandated reporting laws.

So - a Waldorf teacher came from a nearby school leaving a path of destruction - and then moved on to Highland Hall... leaving a path of more destruction. Where did she go? Does anyone have experience with such teachers?

Another teacher was at Highland Hall for a few years before she was finally forced to resign (Highland Hall wouldn't fire her). Christine Leonard abused children with humiliation and up to physical torture... even handed out "calming" pills provided by a parent for their child to children the medication wasn't intended for. I don't have to keep rack of her... she's still at Highland Hall providing TEACHER TRAINING.

I know there are many more cases at Highland Hall alone. These teachers didn't suddenly give up Waldorf - they went to other Waldorf schools or other areas of Waldorf.

I think Waldorf gets away with this sort of thing because we critics are not willing to name names. Why not? Teachers who abuse children are floating around from school to school and we're not doing anything about it? Are we waiting for Waldorf to do something about it?

I'm calling for two things in this post:

1) My battle is focused on Highland Hall at the moment - so I'm asking for anyone who had incidents of abuse or who knows of abusive teachers at Highland Hall, to please contact me either privately or better yet - comment on this blog.

Exposure is good. I have had a few Highland Hall alumni contact me and I'm VERY interested in filling my timeline all the way to the beginning of Highland Hall. I think I can show, graphically, that Highland Hall has been an abusive environment since its inception. Additionaly, if you have any old student handbooks from those years it will help associate the faculty and board members with those events.

2) For other schools, if anyone has encountered abusive teachers, see if you can track down where they went - if they went anywhere. Did they end up in another Waldorf school? Teacher training? Camphill? Administration / board of directors? Babysitting Wikipedia? Let me know.

I think it's time to put away the flashlight and turn on the spotlight. Some Waldorf teachers are abusive. They DEFINITELY shouldn't be training other teachers.

It's time we created a registry for these monsters. Please join me in collecting information about abuse in Waldorf - wherever and whenever it occurs.


Pete Karaiskos