Louisiana Voice

In 2007, when he was 11 years old, Justin Bleker was afraid to speak out about being raped by a school custodian.

Last Thursday, the St. Tammany Parish School Board wouldn’t allow him to.

LouisianaVoice REPORTED last month that the First Circuit Court of Appeal had upheld a $450,000 award to Bleker following a state district court trial that was just the latest of many examples of political malfeasance throughout the parish.

A follow up LouisianaVoice report earlier this month REVEALED that the man who was vice-principal of the school where Dino Schwertz was transferred to after details of his criminal past were learned is now the parish school superintendent.

And that $450,000 award to Bleker that was upheld by the First Circuit? Well, the School Board, rather than do the honorable thing of paying the judgment after having failed Bleker and other students who were victimized by Schwertz, has decided to throw good money after bad by incurring additional legal fees in applying for writs to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

And of course, the board hid behind that pending application for writs in denying Bleker the opportunity to address the board – and the public – last Thursday.

Bleker was on the agenda and was recognized to speak but halfway through his address, he was abruptly cut off, his microphone killed. Because the audio is cut, it’s impossible to hear any explanation for shutting off his microphone but the only plausible reason would be that the writ application to the Supreme Court is pending.

Bleker, who has a learning disability, was attempting to point out shortcomings in protective measures taken at parish schools and to explain the trauma he experienced as the result of his being raped multiple times by Schwertz. He begins speaking almost at the 1:27:25 mark in this VIDEO of the board meeting but his mic is abruptly killed three minutes in, at the 1:30.25 mark.

The camera is taken off the closeup of Bleker, the video of him replaced by a generic shot of the entire board, and the audio does not resume until more than a minute later, at the 1:31:42 mark, when board President C. Brandon Harrell recognizes the next person on the agenda. (Note to board: refusal to show his face does nothing to mitigate the criminally negligent manner in which you failed to protect children from Schwertz.)

It was a cowardly way to treat a victim of a heinous act, an act that shouldn’t have ever happened, wouldn’t have happened if only the board had been more diligent in its responsibility to vet Schwertz, who lied on his employment application. Instead, the board was slipshod in conducting its background check on a predator who was allowed to work where he could prey upon defenseless children who apparently had no one to report his acts to. Even worse, once the application misrepresentation was discovered, Schwertz was not fired, but, incredibly, was transferred to another school.

Below is the entire text of what Bleker had intended to say to the board. The text that is in boldface is what he was able to say before his mic was killed:

“Hello. My name is Justin Bleker. I want to explain that my words may sound a little broken because I have speech impairment and problems reading. I am here to discuss what happened to me at school in the 4^th grade. I was attacked in the bathroom by the Janitor. I was raped more than once. He threatened me by choking me. He told me if I ever told anyone he would hurt and or kill my family. I was so scared and hurt. I tried to hide from him by avoiding that bathroom and hallway but he would come and find me. There were times that I would climb up the poles holding the roof to the breezeway up then onto the main roof to hide. I eventually told my parents what happened and I no longer went back to Abney. After many years of counseling [sic] I tried to go back to school. I went back but not for long. My parents were told that my identity would be kept quite [sic] so no one would know that I was one of the kids that was messed with by the Janitor. That was a lie. Teachers would talk about me walking down the hall. Kids asked questions as well. I would take my cell phone to school with me just to be able to call my Mom so I felt somewhat safe. I have many problems that make it hard for me to learn. The schools and teachers failed at teaching me to read at a level to be able to graduate. The cameras that was [sic] installed after this happened is a joke. I was able to go to my sister’s school and walk past the cameras and never was stopped. I know that many of these cameras have blind spots and do not work and no one maintains them like they are supposed to. The policy of checking ID’s is not followed through like it should be. The placement of signs outside the bathroom when it is being cleaned is not be used as it should be either. If the background check had been reviewed with his application and he would have been fired then I may not have had to go through all of this. I suffer from PTSD now. I suffer with night terrors, sleep walking, fears of public bathrooms, and I have stomach problems now. I need for you all to understand that no one needs to go through this. If changes are not made then it can happen all over again. I plead with you to not allow these people to stay on as employees when they have clearly done wrong. I also ask that you make changes for the better. I believe that you owe me and my family an apology. I feel that each of you need to think how you would feel if this would have happened to you or one of your kids. I will not stop fighting for change because this issue affects not just me but other children. I now have kids of my own and I do not want them to have to deal with this. I know that I am talking for none of you to respond because of the court case that you have now taken to the Supreme Court. I hope that this message reaches each of you so that we can make our schools a better place for all kids.“

The entire scene is reminiscent of another school board meeting two years ago in Vermilion Parish at which a teacher who had the temerity to question a $30,000 pay raise for parish school Superintendent Jerome Puyau was ARRESTED, HANDCUFFED AND REMOVED from the board meeting.

In both instances, the school boards displayed a shameful reluctance to be held accountable to the taxpaying public, to employees and students.

In both cases, the boards’ behavior was inexcusable and reprehensible.

But hiding behind a pending court appeal in an effort to silence the victim of sexual abuse is especially repulsive and repugnant.