What Should a Parent Do if Their Students are Assaulted or become Victims of Battery at School?

It becomes frustrating for parents if they have a student that has been assaulted or battered at our schools because parents trust us to keep their kids safe while appropriately punishing  violent bullying offenders, and yet we as an educational entity cannot divulge the punishment we give such offenders.  Discipline records are educational records and cannot be divulged under FERPA.

If the same parents press charges, they will receive information on the offender to include charges and eventual disposition of the case--to include any punishment given.

I struggle with this.  When parents have students that have been assaulted or abused at school, and the school minimizes the issue or downplays the severity, this infuriates parents.

As an example, right now at PHS there is an issue brewing of which I am aware that may erupt and result in Police being brought in;  The issue, incessant bullying and harassment of one student by another, with the aggressor hauling off and slapping the victim's head multiple times on multiple occasions over a multiple week period--frequently in the presence of other students.  This abhorrent behavior continues to this day.  The victim is afraid to defend himself, and is humiliated and demoralized because this keeps happening, and he does not know what to do.  According to what I have been told, the school has been made aware of this, and has taken a "boys will be boys" nonchalant stance on the matter---which is infuriating the parent.  Nothing is being done, and the student who is being victimized intends to transfer out of this school as soon as he can, in order to escape this bullying and harassment.

These incidents must be met with immediate steps to stop the behavior.  Allowed to continue, who knows how such behavior might escalate.  Perhaps the next time it could be something horrific like this past Wednesday's high school beating in a Baltimore High School...There must be zero tolerance for violence, bullying, and harassment in our schools, Zero Tolerance!

Why does the school not follow policy and put an end to this?  I'm going to dig into this PHS incident like an industrial horizontal boring machine.  I'm tired of hearing these stories about how our schools

When Frustration Boils Over Regarding School Safety

A frustrated parent attended last night's board meeting, and he gave the board and superintendent an ear full!  His issues--incompetence in record-keeping, ineffective administrators, ineffective teachers, and most importantly---violence and bullying in school and a lackluster response to these incidents of violence.

Watch his speech to the board at minute 5:32 of the public forum part of this video.

His son has been the victim of bullying, as has his nephew.  Both students were recently assaulted at the same school.

His nephew had his nose broken in an assault, and his son was punched and kicked in a classroom in front of all his peers--bruising his ribs badly.

This parent is more than frustrated.

After the meeting, in a private meeting between this parent, law enforcement, district administrators, myself, and superintendent Thomas, the  conversation continued.

"There is a disconnect between you all and what is going on in those classrooms.  I want you to do your jobs and keep these students safe." His anger and frustration was evident, yet he kept his

Violence in Some Local Schools Continues

I was contacted by another concerned, irate parent yesterday afternoon about school violence.  The issue, incessant bullying and violence directed at his 7th grade son.  "I'm worried my son will snap, I'm worried he will go off on these students that are harassing him, and this is going to be really bad if it happens!" he stated to me in our long phone conversation yesterday afternoon.

"I've never ever dealt with such an incompetent response to a significant problem---what can I do, what should I do to ensure this does not happen to my son any more at Escambia County Schools?" was the question from this concerned father.

"It has been on-going ever since elementary school, and nothing ever changes and students are bullying and harassing my son and other students as well-- and it is getting to a point where I will consider pressing charges!" he continued  "Last week, my nephew that attends the same school with my son was attacked, he was punched in the face and he was badly injured!--when will the employees of this school control this situation?"

I have received numerous complaints about violence in this school over the last three years.  I am going to follow this particular incident very closely to ensure that our board policy is being followed with respect to the students who attacked other students at this school.  There must be swift punishment for violent, aggressive and/or abusive misconduct at our schools.  If the school only gives a weak consequence or worse yet no significant consequence for this sort of assault, I believe this parent will press charges.  And I don't blame him.

The parent asked if he could take a couple of days to get the whole story out of his son and call me back on Sunday;  additionally, he said he is going to talk to the school principal to see what is being done to correct this misbehavior.  If the issue is not fixed, he reiterated the idea hat he may call the police and file a report.

Sad as it may sound, with all of the chances we give, sometimes and not infrequently it takes a parent pressing charges to permanently remove some predatory students from some of our schools.  This is sad but true.  Just last year, at a different middle school, we had a 6'1" 270lb 15 year old 8th grade student, on his 15th referral( with a previous record of several violent/aggressive incidents), punch a 6th grade girl in the face and injure her.  In that case, that student received an anemic punishmnet--a week out of school.  When he came back (which he should not have been allowed to do, in my opinion) he eventually ended up sexually assaulting two different female students on a bus, their

What Should the Appropriate Sanction be for Violent Students?

Some might think that multiple, nearly limitless "chances" are warranted  and quite appropriate for students who engage in systematic patterns of bullying, harassment, and abusive conduct on our campuses and buses.  Some might say "don't give up on kids" or "they might drop out or fail" if we punish students too harshly

I believe otherwise.

I believe after a certain point, as with Mr. 61 or with Mr. Big "A", great care must be taken to administer significant and meaningful discipline, combined with diligence and attention utilized when placing such students back into classes and on to buses with their former victims after discipline has been given.

I don't believe we have an "epidemic" of violent behavior on our campuses, but I do believe we have a significant issue and that our current methods are not appropriately stemming the tide of these dysfunctional behaviors that are bleeding onto our properties and into our classrooms from dysfunctional communities and households.

These dysfunctional behaviors, in turn, are leading to stagnant enrollments in all of our schools generally and acute levels of teacher turnover (churn) at several of our schools individually.

So for Big "A" I believe he should have received a 2-year ban from riding our buses, as well as an expulsion for the rest of this year and all of next year--being only allowed back after successful

Violence in our Schools Part I: Audit Finding Demonstrates Schools Intentionally Under-Report School Incidents of Violence

Violence occurs in schools, that is a fact.  It happens in schools around the country, and it happens frequently locally.  The problem, the huge problem, is that some violent students get multiple "chances" to fix their violent, anti-social and dysfunctional behavior due to the threats of litigation and massive pressure from outside social justice institutions.  Lawmakers and policy-makers pass rules and laws, like the 2000 NY state safe schools bill.  These rules and laws are meaningless if they are not faithfully enforced.  A recent audit in NY found that many schools were simply not reporting the incidents, in violation of the law.  If we took an honest look at practices nationwide, and yes, even here in Escambia County Florida, we would find instances of this under-reporting are not isolated.  They happen all the time.....

From the Poughkeepsie Journal:

"auditors found that numerous schools failed to report hundreds of cases, while many cases were misclassified as less serious...The state Education Department has agreed to DiNapoli’s recommendations to improve school safety...“In recognition of the need to revisit the existing VADIR guidance and support districts’ reporting efforts, the department has begun the review of existing VADIR training materials provided to schools to improve the accuracy of data collection, reporting and records retention of annual VADIR data submitted to the department,” state deputy education commissioner Sharon Cates-Williams said in a statement...During a review of the 2011-2012 school year, auditors found 935 unreported cases of violence from the seven schools outside of New York City, including cases of sexual contact, assault and drug and weapon possession...Auditors found that East High School only reported 256 cases instead of the 769 that auditors said should have been reported, including two unreported cases of sexual offense that involved inappropriate sexual contact and 11 unreported cases of possession of a weapon...In a statement, the Rochester school district said the high school had been reporting only incidents of misbehavior that resulted in student suspensions. But auditors said the district should include students who received alternatives to suspension."