Tag: school violence

Pennsylvania School Accused of Failing to Protect Students in Their Care

After a student reportedly attacked Michael Homitz’s daughter during lunch at Avon Grove High School, leaving her with a concussion, Homitz home-schooled his daughter and has publicly criticized school administrators for allegedly failing to protect her.

The Feb. 23 assault was recorded by a student in the lunchroom and posted on the Internet.

Recent child suicides with connections to both in-school and electronic tormenting and a growth in the scope and nature of bullying prompted the Daily Local News to take a closer look at the issue in Chester County.

After the fight, Homitz withdrew his daughter from school and began teaching her at home because he felt school officials could no longer ensure her safety.

“No child is safe in that school if they’re not going to do anything about it. I wouldn’t feel safe as a teacher.”

Homitz said he repeatedly reported the bullying to school administrators on multiple occasions and warned it would eventually become physical. He believes administrators failed to take action to prevent the Feb. 23 incident.

To add insult to injury, Homitz said that instead of being expelled the attacker reportedly received a 10-day suspension and then returned to school. “The school didn’t do anything about it. The same thing is happening here and every school across the country.”

The comments to this article are interesting.

State Senator Asks Why Are School Police Department Disciplining Students and Not Teachers

A report released today by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Public Research Institute of Texas A&M University, found that police not teachers were routinely put in charge of disciplining students.

Calling the findings disturbing, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson and state Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire said they intend to investigate solutions to the problem.

“The report tells us that more than 1 in 7 Texas middle and high school students have been involved with the juvenile justice system,” said Jefferson, who said he intends to convene a panel to study the findings.

“We should ask whether teachers and principals, rather than police officers and judges, are best suited to discipline kids who commit minor infractions.”

“I’ve also got to question why school police departments are handling a lot of these things like crimes, and why we’re not letting school officials take care of discipline,” Whitmire said. “If we want our kids to do better in school and reduce their involvement in the juvenile justice system, we in the Legislature need to continue looking into how teachers can be better supported and how the school discipline system can be improved.”

“We see so many kids getting removed from the classroom for disciplinary reasons, often repeatedly, demonstrating that we’re not getting the desired changes in behavior,” Thompson said.

The report, the first of its kind for Texas students, examined in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions and placement of students in specialty programs called the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program and the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program.

As to Senator Whitmire’s Question: Why Are School Police Departments Handling Petty Crimes, Not Teachers?

The Answer: is because legislative and agency policies have restricted teacher involvement and ability to maintain a structured environment to such an extent that the only option left to teachers is to call the police.

Schools are so afraid of advocates, lobbyists and bad press that teachers are opting out of maintaining a structured learning environment and are simply calling for law enforcement.  This is bad for  the teacher, the school and the student.

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