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 is FERPA? Part II--"The Locker Room Attack"

The "Daily Muckraker" Newspaper  and other various groups want their readers and the community of Anywhere USA to believe everything they say and write, not unlike how the monks are expected to behave  in this Gahan Wilson Cartoon.

FERPA is simple, yet complex.  It has rules that must be followed in order to assure student records are kept confidential.  But as I pointed out in part I, not everything that is known about a student is protected under FERPA.*

So let's look at a fictitious, hypothetical scenario.  I'll call it the "Locker Room Attack at Anywhere USA High School."

Remember, the account below is a fictional story.

Imagine if a basketball team from Anywhere USA High School is in the locker room after losing an important Friday Night game.  Imagine if two of the players from the team lure a team assistant named "Jorge Zapata" (who has a physical disability) out of the locker room and assault him, knocking him unconscious viciously while simultaneously calling him disgusting racial slurs,  like this. [NOTE: This linked video from a recent actual attack near Detroit, MI is violent, disturbing, contains reprehensible images and language,  and is difficult to watch--viewer discretion is STRONGLY ADVISED-victim in this video, according to news reports, retrieved his phone, was not seriously injured, and the perpetrators were caught....]

Imagine if the attackers steal the victim's cell phone and film the incident with the victim's own camera phone while "Jorge" is unconscious.  Imagine if these assailants place this violent video on a social media platform that many of the students in Anywhere USA High School could subsequently see?

Imagine if "Jorge" wakes up, is able to find his phone, and is not too badly injured, and decides not to report the attack because he is humiliated, and instead he just internalizes the matter, and he keeps the incident to himself.  After all, he knows his attackers, and he hears that they are already lining up their stories to say that the whole incident was nothing more than slap-boxing, and the incident is actually going to be blamed on Jorge.  Everyone starts to repeat the story that Jorge started the whole thing by "slap boxing" the players and starting trouble.  If anything comes of the incident, the attackers will say Jorge is simpy "Lying on them!"

The following Monday though, the students at the school are buzzing over the incident; many have seen the video. [NOTE: This linked video from a recent actual attack near Detroit, MI is violent, disturbing, contains reprehensible images and language,  and is difficult to watch--viewer discretion is STRONGLY ADVISED-victim in this video, according to news reports, retrieved his phone, was not seriously injured, and the perpetrators were caught...]

An investigation by the school is launched.  Students are questioned, and law enforcement is brought in.

Meanwhile, within the next week to ten day period, a duly elected school board member for the Anywhere USA School District hears from three  (3) separate parents and three  (3) separate students about the violent assault, and he also hears about but does not see the video [NOTE: This linked video from a recent actual attack near Detroit, MI is violent, disturbing, contains reprehensible images and language,  and is difficult to watch--viewer discretion is STRONGLY ADVISED]taken of the incident from these constituents.  This particular school board member's district includes Anywhere USA High School, and this board member is very engaged with this school, as he has many relatives that attend here.  Furthermore, this school board member has been vocal about his concerns about violence, bullying, and harassment occurring in local schools like Anywhere H.S. USA.    Shocked at what he has heard,  this particular school board member immediately calls the superintendent of the Anywhere USA school district with what he has now heard from several sources close to the incident.

He is told by the superintendent that the situation is known to the district, and that an official investigation is already underway.   "We've got this" the superintendent tells the board member.

Bullying in Schools: What We're Supposed to do When a Report of Bullying is Made...

The approach to managing and controlling incidents of bullying/harassment on Florida's school campuses has become very prescriptive with the passage of the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act in 2008.  This law's passage gave Florida some of the toughest sanctions against bullying and harassment in schools in the nation.  

Our school board rules regarding Bullying mirror the statute.

But a law is useless if it is not enforced with fidelity.

I have concerns that our district may not be adhering to this law and the associated school board rules regarding the way these incidents are handled once a bullying complaint has been made.  I've seen incidents, including one that occurred in one of our district's middle schools on December 2, 2014, for which I do not have confidence the rule was followed.  The classroom teacher who knows the alleged bully and his victims and had taught them all year wrote that the infraction was bullying, and she was not going to tolerate it.  She wrote "Bullying" twice on the referral.  Did we follow our school board rule?  I have requested the investigative report to figure out if we did.

I'm zeroing in on this and I intend to make it my mission to ensure we are following this law and these rules.

Read the complete chapter 7.18 here, or see an excerpt of the investigative language from 7.18 below

(From Chapter 7 of the School Board Rules)

"C. Any written or oral reporting of an act of bullying or harassment shall be considered

an official means of reporting such act(s). Reports may be made anonymously, but

formal disciplinary action may not be based solely upon an anonymous report.

(4) The investigation of a reported act of bullying or harassment is deemed to be a school-related

activity and begins with a report of such an act:

A. The principal or designee will select a designee(s), employed by the school, trained

in investigative procedures to initiate the investigation. The designee(s) may not be

the accused perpetrator (harasser or bully) or victim.

B. Documented interviews of the victim, alleged perpetrator, and witnesses shall be

conducted privately, separately, and are confidential. Each individual (victim,

alleged perpetrator, and witnesses) will be interviewed separately and at no time

will the alleged perpetrator and victim be interviewed together.

C. The investigator shall collect and evaluate the facts including but not limited to

1. description of incident(s) including nature of the behavior;

2. context in which the alleged incident(s) occurred, etc.;

3. how often the conduct occurred;

4. whether there were past incidents or past continuing patterns of behavior;

5. the relationship between the parties involved;

6. the characteristics of parties involved (i.e., grade, age, etc.);

7. the identity and number of individuals who participated in bullying or

harassing behavior;

8. where the alleged incident(s) occurred;

9. whether the conduct adversely affected the student’s education or

educational environment;

10. whether the alleged victim felt or perceived an imbalance of power as a

result of the reported incident; and

11. the date, time, and method in which the parent(s)/guardian(s) of all parties

involved were contacted.

(5) Whether a particular action or incident constitutes a violation of this policy requires a

determination based on all the facts and surrounding circumstances and includes

A. recommended remedial steps necessary to stop the bullying and/or harassing

behavior; and

B. a written final report to the principal.

(6) A maximum of ten (10) school days shall be the limit for the initial filing of incidents and

completion of the investigative procedural steps. The highest level of confidentiality

Is there an Epidemic of Bullying, Violence in our Schools?

In the lead up to the vote on the Newpoint closure, I received numerous emails, phone-calls, and other correspondence about that school.

But one recurring theme, particularly from the students who contacted me, was an intense fear, a worry over being bullied in traditional schools if Newpoint closed.

Bullying is a huge problem nationwide, with students around the country being subjected to a non-stop barrage in person, over the internet, and on social media.  Sadly—often these students end up depressed and they hurt themselves or become bullies themselves.

Bullying, harassment, abusive and oftentimes violent behavior is common at our traditional district schools too—according to many who wanted us to keep Newpoint open and also according to the frequent, almost semi- regular complaints I receive from parents whose students attend our traditional schools and are aware of these same issues.

I also read about the bullying that is a hallmark of the infractions committed by those students who end up on our "disciplinary reassignment" lists monthly....

Something has to change, we have got to get this dysfunctional violent and abusive behavior under control, no matter what. I don't think Kohlberg or Flip Flippen programs are fixing this huge problem.

 I brought the idea of mandatory student climate surveys—a method that has been successful at countering violence in other schools---where students can confidentially report bullying and force district staff into action.  I’m aggressively staying on this; I’m told staff is pursuing it

One parent at the Newpoint meeting stated her daughter was harassed and bullied so badly at Workman MS that she pulled her child out.  “One student was beaten down, his nose broken and his leg broken” was a claim made by this parent.  “Nobody investigated and the students who did it were not punished—nobody would listen and everybody at that school ignored the problem!”  (at that point in the meeting I interjected that I wanted to talk with her, I would follow up, I would not ignore her.  She and I have talked and emailed back and forth since the meeting)

One young student recently wrote this to me

“i want to keep this school open because it makes me feel very safe it's the only school that takes care of bullies really quick so please keep the school open”

Another wrote:

“dear school board members this school gives us great education.those other thing about alcohol and stuff were also at other schools like at ransoms dance. They listen to our ideas and we can work at our own pace. Some people come here to get away from bullying and if you take that away people will get bullied again like some people I know.”

Another wrote:

“I have a lot to gamble with the new school stuff we all go through, I went to Woodham Middle School and I was sadly bullied. I found Newpoint, I am no longer bullied”

A parent wrote:

“My name is XXXXXXXXXX and my son's name is XXXXXXXXXXX. He is a XXXXXXXXXXXX. XXXXX attended Holm Elementary for his entire elementary education. His grades were good until about fourth grade. He was being verbally bullied by his classmates. His teachers did what they could to stop it, but the bullying continued. By sixth grade, I put him in karate classes hoping to give him some self defense skills and boost his self esteem. Unfortunately, this did not work. During his sixth grade year, the verbal bullying escalated to physical bullying. XXXXXXXX was attacked more than once at school. He was so stressed about going to school that despite walking to and from school, taking p.e. everyday, and karate class twice a week, he gained over 20 lbs that year. Seventh grade did not improve either, I ended up taking legal action against another student who was caught attacking XXXXXXX. I was on the verge of putting him in counseling because he was becoming so depressed and withdrawn”

Another parent wrote:

“I live close enough to Bailey Middle School to see it from my house. But after the actions of their faculty and staff, it is more than worth it to commute [our daughter] to a school that is over thirty minutes away! Last year she was bullied by students AND a faculty member, who and I quote was heard by my daughter and two of her classmates as saying "Its not my fault you had a migraine and could not be here yesterday, you will get what you deserve, a zero..." myself, my wife, daughter and her two classmates approached the Principal with this information that same day we were told she would deal with it, when in fact we were later told by a fellow teacher (who is our neighbor) that the bulling teacher and the Principal both "Had a good laugh over it." When my wife and I approached the dean, we were told that kids would be kids and unless we had any other options we would be out of there and on to Escambia High the following year. Well, we weren't. And in fact, my daughter fell into a depression that not even the mental health professionals could rationalize. They continually told my daughter "I'm sorry for the way you were treated by people who were supposed to protect you."

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."

Thought's on the Gun Violence Reduction Task Force Meeting

Are guns the problem?  Or--is it crime, drugs, societal breakdown, breakdown of the family, un-diagnosed mental health issues, rank social dysfunction, and a culture of violence in some pockets of the community that leads to  and manifests itself as the "gun-violence" we've seen in Escambia County?

Yesterday evening from 5:30-7:00 PM Sheriff Chip Simmons hosted the final Brownsville Gun Violence Reduction Task Force Meeting at the Brownsville Community Center.

About 100 citizens attended, as well as locally elected and appointed officials to include three county commissioners (myself included), the county administrator, a city councilman, our state senator, one of our two state representatives, multiple representatives from the school board- to include the Superintendent and one school board member- as well as others associated with the court system and the media.

The objective:  To hear public input and for each stakeholder to report in on the specifics of what his/her organization has done and is doing to improve safety in the Brownsville community.

My counterpart, Commissioner Lumon May, kicked the discussion off by listing a huge amount of projects and initiatives the county had undertaken in Brownsville.  Stormwater infrastructure, sidewalks, community centers, sports leagues (tennis and basketball) a new library in Brownsville, the youth employment program, the construction of affordable homes, and a host of other programs.

Similarly-the newly appointed interim superintendent of schools discussed some initiatives he will be bringing back, to include peer-to peer mentoring and conflict resolution strategies.  He also reported that he will be a partner to the Sheriff in creating a safe atmosphere in schools.

Interestingly--a majority of public speakers chastised the sheriff and law enforcement in particular--saying they felt "Brownsville was being over policed" and multiple speakers pushed back on the Sheriff for saying the violence and murders thus far this year has been chiefly "black on black."   After a number of speakers expressed dismay that the sheriff would use this term--he (Sheriff Simmons) gave the stark facts.  "There have been thirteen murders in the county this year.  All thirteen perpetrators were black, as were 11 of the 13 victims.  These are the facts and I am not going to hide this" he stated to the room which was silent upon hearing this enlightening, factual statistic.

I spoke and thanked the stat for funding mental health facilities in the community and I focused on mental health (undiagnosed, untreated) as a big factor in the violence we see.  I also discussed some of the economic development initiatives the county has undertaken to create more jobs here.  Finally, I ended my comments explaining how the county is approving new residential development so that the extra supply will help to ease the housing affordability issue we are seeing area wide.

The meeting ended on a note of optimism with several speakers giving praise for the group's efforts and work.  One young man in particular keyed into what I said about mental health shortcomings in the community leading to the violence.  He gave his own story-- a violent recovering addict who is changing and celebrating 8 years of sobriety while also giving back and mentoring folks in the community where he now lives (Jacksonville).  His story was compelling.

We will have more of these sorts of roundtables going forward.  Potential next topics were enunciated by the Sheriff:

Fentanyl crisis

The Clergy's role in community issues

Gentrification

School issues

So look for community action and meetings to come on these topics.

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

David Spade and Lee McNulty, Two Videos that are Relevant.

                                     

The answer is always no.  It is like I'm the caller trying to get David Spade in the Capital One commercials above to say yes! 

When I bring initiatives to this school board that deserve at least some consideration--it seems like the first answer is always NO.  That's okay, I know how to be persistent. 

But discipline and policy enforcement as it relates to discipline are areas of concern, expressed by teachers and parents to me in increasingly large numbers in the wake of the publication of my recent viewpoint in the PNJ; Despite this-- it appears as if this is a discussion that the board and administration does not want to have.  "We're doing all we can" is what I'm hearing at the meetings. "We are limited in what we can do" is a common refrain

 I disagree and think we can and should be doing more.   I don't want any students to be subjected to some of the things mentioned in Lee McNulty's video below....

While we in Escambia county schools are like James Hilton's  Shangri-La compared to Patterson New Jersey--we DO share some of the same problems described in his video above.  Teachers discouraged from administering discipline, infractions minimized and not coded correctly, students pushed through the system, etc. etc.  (Disclaimer--I'm not linking this video to say that we are anything close to Patterson NJ public schools--thank God we're not).

Although I know we are nowhere near Patterson and that the majority of our schools are very, very good, many of the issues expressed by this 27 year high school teacher in his video above are relevant to a discussion on school climate and school violence that I am trying to foster locally---particularly when they ask Mr. McNulty what he would do if he were in charge--from minute 9:35 on to the end at minute 13:00.  Some of what he is saying is relevant to some of our schools and anyone who would deny this IS living in James Hilton's Shangri-La mentally or they are not being honest.

I'm not tackling this issue to be divisive, I want us to tighten up on this like we've done with the district drug plan and first grade reading engagement.  I want us to truly do everything we can with a comprehensive plan on school climate, discipline, and violence.  And no, I don't subscribe to the failed notion that "discussing" this problem is "attacking" leadership or the schools.  Trying to improve and organization does not equal not supporting the organization. 

I simply don't want to see us devolve to a point that we are like Patterson NJ with respect to the way misbehavior is tolerated and students are allowed to run the schools and for this receive a promotion to the next level. I don't want our enrollments to continue to stagnate while our neighbor Santa Rosa county enjoys geometric school system enrollment gains.  I don't want to continue seeing some schools churn out staff to the point that every three years there is an 80% turnover.  These issues are all inter-related and that's why I want to listen to the concerned voices from the classroom that I am hearing on the subject of discipline and school climate.  That's why I'm staying on this issue because teachers, particularly the young ones, "are afraid to speak up and they feel like they are not protected if they do."  That's a direct quote from an Escambia County classroom teacher, by the way.

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

Commissioner of Education Tours Warrington Middle School--Media "Absent"

Florida’s Commissioner of Education spent this morning in Pensacola touring Warrington Middle School and meeting with local education officials.  Gerard Robinson, named as the replacement for Dr. Eric Smith who resigned earlier this summer as Florida Education Commissioner, spent time visiting classrooms, speaking with students and teachers, and visiting the Warrington Middle School Flight Academy.

               Florida Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson Tours Warrington Middle School on 9-9-11

After the tour, Mr. Robinson sat down with Superintendent Thomas, WMS Principal Sandra Rush-Riley, District and FDOE staff,  as well as members of the Escambia County School Board.  A discussion of education policy topics ensued,  and the Commissioner  asked if the district had any priorities he could take away from Escambia County. 

Florida Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson Discusses Education Priorities with Superintendent Malcolm Thomas and WMS Principal Sandra Rush-Riley (above)

The four  main priorities discussed with Commissioner Robinson were the following:

1.        The District solicited support from the commissioner for a more realistic and fair way for intervene schools like Warrington Middle School to exit intervene status.

2.        The District expressed the need for facilities funds—PECO maintenance and PECO construction--with an emphasis on equity between traditional schools and charter schools when state allocations are made(for 2011-2012—charter schools received PECO funds but traditional public schools did not)

3.       The District reiterated our strong position that co-enrollment funding via workforce development needs to be continued and funded fully.

4.       The District discussed the need for local control of the school year calendar, in particular the need to have control over the start date so that the first semester can be completed prior to Christmas Break.

Commissioner Robinson was gracious and friendly and thanked everyone on the tour for taking time to spend the morning with him.  On a somber note, Commissioner Robinson was aware of the murder of an Escambia High School Student the night before, and he offered his condolences and said he would keep that student’s  family in his prayers.

Given the fact that Mr. Robinson is the number 1 educational official in our state of 19 Million people—I felt his visit this morning to Pensacola was a significant event.  Unfortunately, no local media showed up, no WEAR, no PNJ, and no INWEEKLY.  Mr. Robinson is the type of role-model many youth in our community would benefit from seeing and hearing;  The community at large would have been well served seeing this man and hearing his message to the youth in the classes he visited today-but that will not happen. 

 Some in the local media prefer to blame the school district for violence outside of school (and the district’s control) rather than covering The School Board’s  important  and meaningful events like today’s visit from Mr. Robinson. 

Home to Prison Pipeline Part III

(NOTE-SOME VIDEO CLIPS LINKED BELOW ARE UNCENSORED AND CONTAIN VULGAR LANGUAGE, VIEWER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED!)

The Idea of a "School to Prison Pipeline" should be properly called what it is, a "Home to Prison Pipeline"

Are teachers and school staff really the reason why so many students are on the so-called "School to Prison Pipeline?"  As I've pointed out here and here, I don't believe so.  Some students come to school looking for trouble and are not interested whatsoever in school--and often these same students attack fellow students,  teachers, and staff.  And when appropriate discipline is meted out, like in this horrific case from Mobile where two students attacked a teacher with brass knuckles, there are some who still cling to the naive belief that this is somehow the school's fault.  It is absolutely ridiculous.  Excellent writer Thomas Sowell captures much of the problem in today's well written piece from Town-Hall

Locally-we had a student in February that we did not expel, we simply shuffled him to another school, a charter school, after he had amassed more than 50 referrals!  Disrespect, defiance, profanity, classroom disruptions, failure to follow directions, cussing at a teacher, calling the teacher a Mother- F%^&#@er, collecting a couple of arrests for shoplifting, and we still have him in school.  Are we putting him on a pipeline to prison?  Or are we overcompensating and bending over like circus contortionists to not do what we should have done with this student--EXPEL HIM!  Bending over backwards for disruptive, abusive, and dangerous students does nobody any good whatsoever, and simply confirms the fears that many parents harbor as they pull their own kids out of our schools to shelter them from this abusive conduct and toxic environments like this.  And then  there are the teachers that we ask to take this abuse- it is not right, and they don't deserve it, and if we don't confront these issues with strong discipline-we won't have anybody willing to teach in some schools!

Everyone should read this expose that appeared in Townhall last October, it really sets the table on the issue nobody wants to talk about.

And then watch this video from Baltimore ABC 2 News and hear the tragic, heart-wrenching story of teacher Jeff Slattery and what happened to him.

And then look at this example from earlier this month in Santa Monica. A well respected wrestling coach discovered a student with drugs and a weapon, and the student attacked him.  the coach subdued the student using wrestling, and the superintendent of the district attacked the coach's actions and suspended this employee.  There was such a huge backlash to the scapegoating of this coach that even the liberal LA Times sided with the coach and rightfully excoriated this weakling superintendent of schools out there.  (Coach Black has been reinstated)

Or, how about this teacher, simply trying to get a trouble student to leave class, and he gets attacked by the student, puched, and kicked.  [ NOTE---I do not endorse nor do I agree with everything the presenter in this video espouses after the video clip, these are HIS opinions, not mine]

Now, if you have the stomach, watch this selection of  various videos from around the internet of students misbehaving badly in class.  Should school employees and other students have to tolerate this sort of behavior?  No way!

The uncomfortable fact of the matter is that schools must not hide the problems by not disciplining students to lower report-able incident numbers and thereby  sweeping this problem under the rug, as some feel Cincinnati, Ohio, and several districts in Georgia have done.

Are we doing this here locally?  We've stopped reporting the incidents to the Board on the monthly meeting agenda, and at last month's meeting several board members "golf-clapped" when the superintendent announced there "were no student discipline issues to report on the agenda!"  (that's because the thirty or so items that used to be called expulsions are now called "placement changes"-- and the board simply receives a list of these without the background info.  But these are still serious infractions, drugs, fighting, violence. weapons.)  I didn't clap because I know there were/are plenty of discipline issues--and many are going unpunished, or not punished severely enough--to appease certain folks who think we target minority students for discipline in a disparate manner, which is absolute, 100% complete garbage that is not true!

Strong consistent and colorblind discipline needs to be applied to keep students, teachers, and staff safe, and political correctness needs to be taken out of this mix, otherwise the public school system will implode.

Violence and Bullying in Schools: More Must be Done

While the overall national trend on reports of bullying are headed lower, there are still unacceptable levels of bullying reported in our Nation's schools.  Laws and rules written by well-meaning lawmakers and school board members must be followed with fidelity--otherwise such regulations are not worth the paper they are printed on.

We have the issue of bullying and harassment here locally as well, and I believe a mandatory, confidential student survey administered to all children in grades 3-12 could stem the tide.  Many districts have utilized such surveys with great results to curtail incidents of bullying/harassment on school campuses---as well as a means to identify other potentially hazardous issues students may be experiencing..

Sadly, bullied students often take their own lives.  The story of Steve Wesener is heartbreaking.  As a nation we have to do better, we have to do more.

A few months back the idea of confidential, mandatory student surveys was discussed at our school board workshop---- and the board was told such a survey plan was in the works, it is/was being bargained with the teacher's union.  I intend to follow this closely and advocate for implementation as soon as it is practical to do so.

We are not alone in this issue, and parents in Escambia County are not alone in the frustration over bullies apparently getting away with their outrageous misconduct not only in person, but online as well...

From Yesterday's Modesto Bee:

"The old days of cornering a kid in the bathroom were bad, but the danger stopped at the front door, noted Sylvan school board member David Collins, who works with the Center for Human Services. “Now, with social media, it follows them until they go to bed,” he said.  Social media was the weapon of choice for bullies who went after Breanna Mendoza, an eighth-grader at Dutcher Middle School in Turlock. Mendoza has a facial deformity and was bullied so badly her parents took her out of school and spoke out publicly. Students at the school, speaking informally, said it “got ridiculous.”Nina Gatton, mother of a Modesto second-grader, wanted her son’s tormentor gone. “The school did nothing about it; you can’t have a zero-tolerance policy to bullying and then do nothing,” she said in exasperation after seeing the bully at school the next day. “He beat up my son,” Gatton said. “He spun him around and round three times, grabbed a handful of dirt and grass and shoved it in his mouth, and then punched him in the eye.” The school told her the bully had been disciplined, but could not give her details or promise to guard her son at all times."

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/eye-on-education/article25131931.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/eye-on-education/article25131931.html#storylink=cpy

Voting Against Student Disciplinary Recommendations..

Every now and then I find a recommendation in an agenda that I just cannot support.  Last night there were two such recommendations that I voted against, both dealing with student discipline issues.

Over the last nine years on the board, I have seen much inconsistency with respect to the punishments meted out to individuals, based upon a variety of reasons.  Although minorities appear to be removed from school at a greater proportion than their representation percentage would warrant, I have also seen that oftentimes these same students receive far more “chances”  than their non-minority peers get (# of major discipline referrals given), before they are eventually punished with removal from their school.  

Last year I went through the statistics and found some evidence of the trends I had seen but not previously verified.  

Consistency is important, and following board policy is important as well. 

Minimizing some infractions and going the opposite direction and going overboard on other rules transgressions is a big problem--- and two cases yesterday fall right into this category.

Student “A” had a checkered past, racking up 10 discipline referrals for major rules violations, fighting, threatening a board’s employee with physical violence, numerous major class disruptions, dropping the "F" bomb in class frequently, and  then he finally he brought a bag of marijuana to school.  The

Violence in our Schools Part II: Liberal Psychosis Destroying the Public Schools before our Very Eyes..

Liberals have a way of patting themselves on the back when they feel things are going better in the schools.  In this ridiculous piece—if a disruptive student is acting up, not following established rules and affecting the teacher’s instruction—this is 100% the teacher’s fault and he/she needs more training.  From Salon.com

“Across the country, educators are rethinking their approach to school discipline in response to sky-high suspension rates that disproportionately affect black children. Some of the more common efforts aim to change student behavior or overhaul school protocols. A district might unilaterally ban suspensions for more subjective transgressions or adopt restorative justice practices designed to repair relationships when there’s been a rift. But a growing number of schools in the Bay Area and nationally are realizing that improving discipline is just as much about changing teacher behavior as changing student behavior.”

Meanwhile, liberals in California are busy patting themselves on the back because they are achieving fewer expulsions, even though student behavior, per se, has remained constant.  It’s just that the discipline handed out is much more lenient now, particularly for minority students. And this is legislated from the state capitol.  Essentially, like they’ve done for academic rigor, they have lowered the bar on school discipline, violence, and misbehavior so they can pat themselves on the back and claim “success” because fewer students, particularly minorities, are being expelled.  From the San Jose Mercury-News

“Impetus came from the state Legislature, which last year began limiting schools from suspending students for defiance. Suspensions for "willful defiance" dropped 28.9 percent from 2012-13, and expulsions for the same reason dropped 47.7 percent.  Previously, they accounted for the largest number of suspensions, and were associated with a large number of minority students' discipline.”

When Liberals (Democrat and/or Republican) squeeze this balloon on one side, it will expand on the other—they should know this.  When the politically correct educrats want a victory and sell out teachers, the good well-behaved kids, and parents to get it---this is not only reprehensible-it is dangerous. 

They wonder why fewer and fewer students are going into the field of education?

They wonder why some schools cannot be staffed?

It’s not a mystery.  Between careerist bureaucrats telling teachers they must endure verbal, physical, and emotional assaults from students that are violent, disruptive, and dangerous--- and parents and communities chastising them for being failures at educating and disciplining students from dysfunctional households—who would want that stress for the abysmal pay?

Teachers today have knives at their backs and knives in their face—they get it from both directions as they receive less support than ever from both administrators and parents.

We are engaging in this very thing here in our local schools in many instances and it is disgusting to me.   Telling the world that everything is fine in the schools when I hear from teachers, parents, and

Multiple Phased Approach Needed to Curb Gun Violence Locally....

 

Yesterday evening, 11 locally elected representatives and one local pastor as well as the Pensacola Police Chief met at the Brownsville Community Center for the second Sheriff’s Roundtable on Gun Violence.  The event had about 50 citizens from the area in attendance, as well as multiple media outlets and various office staffers.

About a dozen speakers addressed the panel.  Various ideas/topics were broached.  The overall theme from the citizens was that areas of poverty produce the violence—so anything that the local governments can provide to such areas will help stem the tide of the gun violence we have seen.  Jobs, infrastructure, more programs for youth, and more police patrols were some suggested solutions.  In a nutshell—more services and money invested is what most of the speakers wanted to see.

After public forum concluded--each of the panelists spoke and described recent actions their respective organizations have taken to assist with this problem.  The group ended the discussion after about an hour and forty minutes, settling in on the idea that the entire panel would descend on one neighborhood and bring all the available services from each represented entity to this one area in a “blitz” of the neighborhood --for lack of a better term.  I fully support this, although we will see if such an initiative carries over and has staying power long term to help curb gun violence.  It will take events like this combined with much more, to turn the tide.

For my part, I offered specific, tangible ideas I would fund, and ideas for which I would advocate, built from the comments I made at the initial meeting where I described the current violence (as well as other social ills we see) as a symptom of a much larger issue—the complete breakdown of the American Family, acute in areas where we see extreme levels of violence and crime.  No families, no fathers, no religion, cultural acceptance of dysfunctional conduct, and NO guidance for too many youths growing up in the cesspool of a cultural meltdown with such children being “raised” by the entertainment industry’s products promoting the glorification of violence and antisocial behavior. 

I believe the issue is massive and will take a holistic, wide ranging set of  short-term, medium term, and long range approaches to turn.  It will take decades.  It takes families, and it takes fathers.

In Pensacola, as in other cities, we see a significant amount of gun violence that manifests from areas of generational social dysfunction and poverty.

Sheriff Chip Simmons has sponsored  community roundtables to allow us (local leaders) to brainstorm practical solutions.  At the first such roundtable meeting heldlate last year—a large and diverse group of community leaders, pastors, law enforcement personnel, school district leaders, and other elected officials got together to discuss the problem with an eye toward solutions.

And the sheriff was direct in asking for ideas and tangible solutions that could be implemented by each participant within his/her individual sphere of influence.

Yesterday as we met again, we interacted with one another and the members of the community that came to the event to have their voices heard.  I left my suggestions, below, with the Sheriff,----- and I described a few to the panel.

No easy, fast solutions exist short of martial law in some crime-ridden areas and the construction of more jail space—but if we have the courage to identify the real root causes and begin to work on these big issues that drive the dysfunction—we will see improvement over time.

But it takes decades to fix what has taken decades to unravel and devolve.   My proposed, initial list of suggestions below:

 

Florida State Rep. on School Climate: "How Do We Know the Data Reflecting Fewer School Incidents of Violence is Real?"

....That is the question posed by Florida House of Representatives K-12 Subcommittee Chair Janet Adkins in this past Wednesday's K-12 subcommittee meeting.

The committee was given a presentation by two DOE personnel about school climate and the apparently decreasing levels of reportable school violence and misbehavior incidents.

The very colorful PowerPoint presentation and full meeting packet is here.

Several committee members were skeptical, thankfully.  It's not a rosy picture in many classrooms.

From about minute 25 to minute 46 of this video-members of the committee asked a series of very good questions-the gist of which was captured at minute 46:22 by Chair Adkins, when she asked

"How do we get to what is real, society is not getting kinder and gentler, yet we're to believe the number of these incidents is decreasing in our schools.  But I talk to teachers and they are discouraged; they are discouraged about classrooms that are not controlled and their inability to

Thoughts on the Roundtable......

Needed:  Honest, courageous, and productive conversations at the roundtable on Tuesday....

Sheriff Chip Simmons has empaneled a group of community leaders to hold a round table discussion this Tuesday regarding a deadly double-shooting in District 1 two weeks back. I applaud his leadership in taking this bull by the horns.  The conversation will be about the levels of violence in the community as well--not just this particular shooting.  I am honored to have been invited to participate, and I look forward to Tuesday.

In the lead up to the event, I have given three media interviews on this topic, after having been asked my opinion on what, if anything, should be done to focus on the violence in our community that leads to these tragic events like the murder that happened in Bellview.  Two of the pieces have subsequently been published and I believe the third will be published this week in the lead up to the roundtable. 

The violence, the gun crimes, and the gangs+drugs issues we see growing in our community are symptoms of a bigger problem that few are willing to discuss: The loss of the family unit in growing pockets of our community.  This dissolution of the in-tact family unit leaves many young men with no strong role model and disciplinarian in the house to deal with issues that invariably arise in child rearing through formative years.

The single biggest predictor of whether or not a young man in America will become entangled in the criminal justice system is whether or not a father was/is in the home where such a young man is/was raised.  But to some, such discussions are verboten for political correctness' sake.

Imagine, as my friend Tom Danheisser posited in his hard-hitting, prescient op-ed on this topic last year, if we were trying to cure lung cancer but we could not talk about cigarette smoking?  He knows what I know and he has seen it in his courtroom as has my brother in his courtroom:  Fatherless families produce children who are at a much higher risk of committing crimes, being prosecuted, and ultimately ending up in prison.  (And lending creedence to the media's reticence to discuss root causes of the crimes, drugs, and gangs issues in Pensacola/Escambia County that produce the carnage we see locally--I'm told the Dannheisser op-ed was also sent to the PNJ last year in May of 2021--but their editorial team refused to print it.  Too much truth I suppose.....)

So this conversation Tuesday has to have a few guideposts if it is to be successful:

1.  We must realize the long term solution will take decades.

2.  We must realize the problem is not the police.

3.  We must have the courage to speak truth and use irreputable facts and figures to buffet our positions.

4.  We must realize no matter what we do we cannot and will not be able to save every young person from descending into a life of crime.

From my perspective, in order to actually accomplish a worthwhile outcome and trajectory toward

Crime on Campus--Email of Concern and My Response

I received the below email this morning.

>>> XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 04/08/11 9:13 PM >>>


Dear Escambia County School Board members: I am a parent of a XXXXXXXXX school student. I want you to know that both me and my daughter want you to work on developing a plan to address violence of any kind in our schools. I also want to be very clear in that I demand to know immediately if my XXXXXXX is suspected of either committing a crime, or being the victim of one, a crime of ANY kind. All crimes which happen on your campuses should be handled in the same way they would be handled should they happen at a local hospital, restaurant or home. Local law enforcement, the public servants our tax dollars train and depend on to be knowledgeable and experienced in responding to crimes, must be notified immediately.
I also want you to know that if my XXXXXXXXX is sexually assaulted and proper procedures are not followed (meaning a trained investigator be called immediately) I will hold each and every one of you personally accountable for that crime. I do not know if you are parents or not (in which case the depth of my feelings may be misunderstood); I mean no personal offense by these words. I just want to be clear in my expectation of you, our elected officials charged with educating in a safe environment the most precious part of our society, our children.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

My response: (redactions to protect writer's identity)

XXXXXXXXXX,


Thanks for your email of concern.

We report crimes, we do not condone or attempt to cover-up crimes. A fringe element of our local so-called media has reported erroneous data in his publication which becomes dangerous; He essentially said we broke the law by not notifying the DCF about the Tate H.S. Incident. Of course he was proven wrong when our attorney confirmed that we had followed the law and the statutes he quoted were inapplicable to the Tate HS incident. Now this same individual is hurling new allegations our way that are incorrect regarding protocols for SESIR reporting. He will be proven wrong on his allegations here as well-at a special board meeting this Thursday at 3PM. Of course I do not expect he will retract his allegations when they are found to be baseless--he will then move on to some other topic he can sensationalize for maximum hit counts on his blog.

XXXXXXXX--We care about all of the kids in this district--and I can say that to the best of my knowledge on our campuses if crimes are committed and discovered--these crimes are reported, that is the law and it aligns with our school board policies on reporting of such incidents.

The guilty are punished, and Escambia Schools are, save for the isolated random incident, safe.

XXXXXX--I, too, have a student at  XXXXXXX, and my XXXXXXX went there for three years. My wife and I are in the XXXXX  PTA(XXXXXXXXXX) My youngest son XXXXXXXXXXXXXX. I have three kids in this school system, one of which is at PHS (a school I graduated from in the 80s) and believe me, I care about student safety. I'm the driving force behind a drug awareness program that has cut expulsions for drug possession in half. (Ironically, the same media personality that is attempting to demonize us for the Tate incident and SESIR reporting DISAGREES with drug dog searches and random testing of athletes for student safety--pretty ironic. He feels that this is simply too "invasive") But the truth, XXXXXX, is we expel students who are violent or who harm other students, period. That is the way this works.

Bottom Line: We have great personnel in our schools who care about kids. My advice to you would be to be involved, go to the schools, meet the faculty, and observe the environment for yourself. Don't allow third-hand, unreliable and inaccurate souces to frame your opinion for you; I would also strongly caution you against putting too much stock in believing in the paper monsters that one local newsblogger attempts to incarnate in order to vent some sort of passive agressive disdain he has for our current elected superintendent of schools and school board.

Jeff Bergosh



Jeff Bergosh
Escambia County School Board, Dist. 1
850-469-6147
http://www.jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com/
jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us

Safe Harbor Running Into Troubled Waters

I'm running into significant resistance to the idea of a formal, codified "Safe Harbor Provision" being added to our students Rights and Responsibilities Handbook. I'm not going to beome fixated or neurotic over this issue. I do find the level of resistance to be interesting though.

Here is a recent email string on the subject, with my response below:

Dear Mr. Bergosh,

I understand your position, but I hope you will reconsider. In a time when violence is becoming so commonplace, we do not want to open an opportunity for students to bring weapons to school and then use "safe harbor" as a way of getting around their choice. A student who arrives at the bus stop with a weapon has the option of turning it in when he gets to school by saying he did not realize he had it. That is pretty frightening to me because he has had it on one of our buses. Having worked in the high school for almost 38 years, students rarely ever accept responsibility for bringing weapons, drugs, etc., to school, and I believe we are opening the door for students to take more risks because they believe they will have a safety net. We will also increase the number of formal hearings we will have because this language will give students another position in which to argue their case. I understand you are concerned about the student who truly makes a mistake, but we are placing language in the R & R book that will create an environment that is less safe for all students. I hope we will place our emphasis on the safety of all students. Sincerely,

Carolyn Spooner


Carolyn Spooner
Director of High Schools469-5495 office
469-5630 fax
cspooner@escambia.k12.fl.us



Mrs. Spooner,

I appreciate your perspective and your years of experience. This entire issue is really not something I'll "dig my heels in" and hold my ground over, like I did and will continue to do over issues like Merit Pay. I simply felt that in this instance, Mrs. Waters' language was good, and having a Safe Harbor provision seems to work quite well in other districts including St. Lucie County. As written, what Mrs. Waters emailed to me would not provide any sort of a "safety net" to someone who brings a weapon to school and is caught with it. I disagree with that blanket assessment and I don't feel it would be that simplistic. However, not having a provision could become problematic.

I'm told of a situation that allegedly transpired a few years back with a very bright PHS IB student that got caught with a huge bag of dope. My understanding of this issue is that because we did not have safe harbor language, her legal team successfully used that against the district and the student was permitted to come back to the IB program after that incident. In a nutshell, her argument was “I found the dope, panicked, and was unable to turn it in because of zero tolerance and the lack of a safe harbor"While I know that defense was weak and questionable, it worked because we lacked the appropriate safe harbor language in our R&R handbook. This student's legal team worked our own rulebook against us and used us like tools.

I realize that with a safe harbor provision, legal challenges to suspensions may be easier to mount. However, I am an advocate for the innocent student who "forgets he has his pocketknife in the backpack following a weekend boy scout camping trip." I know these situations are extremely rare, but this hypothetical student ought to have a codified mechanism to voluntarily turn in the knife, without fear of repercussion and without having to hope for or rely on his teacher giving him the "benefit of the doubt". I mean, what if this hypothetical student has a strained relationship with his teacher? The process should be uniform in practice and outlined in the language of the R&R handbook---not guided by knee-jerk hunches and/or some other improvised method at the school level. This is just my sense of how it should work.


Perhaps it is just a philosophical difference of opinion, but I sincerely believe we ought to have some provision in the R&R book that mirrors what I'm told is already being practiced at the individual school level. This way, the language in the book will align precisely with what is actually in practice on the ground.With all this being said, I'm not going to drag out the war machine and battle over this issue. I'll bring it up, the board may or may not support me, discussion will/may follow, the vote will/may then happen, the board will speak with one voice through their vote (or lack thereof) and the issue will be put to rest. We will either have a safe harbor provision in the R&R Handbook, or we won't.

I hope we do.

Sincerely,

Jeff Bergosh

Violence Contributes to Hindered Academic Progress

We are constantly reminded of the correlation between poverty and low academic achievement-but what role does a community's violence play in a student's academic success?

We are constantly reminded, in the news and in what we hear, see, and experience in some areas of Escambia county, that this area has pockets of neighborhoods that are violent.  Murders happen, robberies, home invasions, and violent crime per 100,000 residents in Escambia County is higher than many big cities in our nation.  Last week a convenience store clerk was murdered in cold-blood in the middle of the day.  Another video that was played over and over recently showed a large man reach over a counter and violently sucker-punch a petite, pregnant clerk--so a cell phone and a minimal amount of cash could be stolen.  Crime is bad in some areas in particular.

So what impact is all this violence locally having on our schools?

In a series of scholarly articles found on the National Institutes of Health website, the case is being made that academic and behavioral issues in some students in some schools are a result of the violence in these communities, and the cumulative effect this has on developing children is dramatic.
Several studies, including one in particular that looked at students in Chicago and the proximity of their residences in relation to locations of violent crime, indicate that increased violence can negatively impact test scores.  In the Chicago study, those students who lived closer to where violent crimes had occurred showed diminished performance on English Language Arts assessments. (Interestingly, there was no statistically significant difference in Math scores).

From the article

"Community violence exposure has been associated with attentional impairment, declines in cognitive performance (Saltzman 1996; Singer et al. 1995) and declines in school achievement (Bell and Jenkins1991). These academic difficulties have been suggested to result from lowered concentration levels due to distracting and intrusive thoughts concerning violent events that may accumulate over time and with repeated exposure (Bell 1997; Horn and Trickett 1998; Taylor et al. 1997)"