Student reports threat of assault, has jaw broken and is suspended

February 12 2011, Journal Press

On Friday, Feb. 4, a sophomore at King George High School went to School Assistant Principal Duane Harrison at the start of the school day and reported that he had been threatened with “getting jumped” at school. At 2:44 p.m., approximately 7 hours later, a dispatcher with King George Sheriff’s Office called 911 to request aid and transportation to the emergency room for the sophomore who was later diagnosed to be suffering from two fractures to his bottom jawbone and one fracture to his top jawbone.

What happened in between the time the sophomore requested assistance from Harrison and the time the sophomore was treated for his injuries at the emergency room appears to be a series of school personnel failures — failure to follow school policies, failure to take immediate and appropriate action on a reported student-to-student threat, and failure to promptly diagnose a serious injury.

After reporting the threat to Harrison, the sophomore participated in regularly scheduled classes and lunch. As the change-of-class bell rang and the sophomore prepared to leave the cafeteria, he was attacked, thrown to the floor and badly beaten, allegedly by at least three students. Bloodied and shaken, the sophomore was taken to the school nurse, who cleaned up the blood and instructed the sophomore to go to then-Interim Principal Cliff Conway’s office where he was instructed to write a report on the incident. The sophomore and his mother were also informed that he was being placed on a 10-day suspension status for participating in a fight.

After leaving the school the sophomore and his mother drove to the King George Sheriff’s Office and requested to speak to an intake officer. At 2:44 p.m. the front desk dispatcher, upon seeing the injuries the sophomore had sustained, immediately identified the serious nature of the injuries and called 911 to request medical assistance. The mother declined the ambulance transport, and drove her son to the emergency room. The emergency room staff diagnosed the three jaw fractures and provided medical treatment.

According to Student Conduct Policy Guidelines issued by the Virginia Department of Education in 2009:  “Threats to kill or to do bodily harm are specifically prohibited by § 18.2-60. of the Code of Virginia. The prohibition includes threats to any person or persons “(i) on the grounds or premises of any elementary, middle or secondary school property, (ii) at any elementary, middle or secondary school-sponsored event or (iii) on a school bus.” 

Further, according to a Guidance Letter released by the Virginia Department of Education on Oct. 26, 2010, Office of Civil Rights Office of the Assistant Secretary, “A school is responsible for addressing harassment incidents about which it knows or reasonably should have known.” The guidance letter continues and reports that “When responding to harassment, a school must take immediate and appropriate action to investigate or otherwise determine what occurred.” The guidance letter concludes stating “Appropriate steps to end harassment may include separating the accused harasser and the target, providing counseling for the target and/or harasser, or taking disciplinary action against the harasser. These steps should not penalize the student who was harassed.” 

Further, according to King George School Board Policy JFCEA, Revised Sept. 28, 2005, “Supervision of Students: Students shall be under reasonable supervision of a school employee during the time the students are under the jurisdiction of the School Board.”
It appears as though the initial failure of school personnel was in the failure to follow school policy in assessing risk after learning of a threat to a student.  A second failure of school personnel was to take immediate and appropriate action as called for by VA DOE guidance noted above.  A third failure of school personnel falls under the purview of the school nurse who failed to recognize serious injuries and recommend immediate medical treatment.
The School Resource Officer, Deputy Butch Norris, was absent due to illness Feb 4.  Knowing that there was a threat to “jump” the sophomore, and with the absence of Norris, school administrators also had the option of advising the KG Sheriff’s Office of the potential for violence at the school that day.  

Conway did, however, after a review of a videotape showing the altercation in the cafeteria, lift the 10-day suspension initially imposed on the sophomore.   

To put reported student offenses into perspective, a review of incidents reported in 2009/2010 at KGHS show 12 offenses against students; 34 offenses against persons; 18 alcohol, tobacco and drug offenses; 20 property offenses; 348 incidences of disorderly or disruptive behavior; and 474 technology offenses. KGHS reported a population of 1,264 students during 2009-2010.   

As of Feb. 12, according to King George Sheriff Steve Dempsey, “One young man has been charged with felonious assault. The matter is under investigation and further interviews are being conducted by the School Resource Officer.” Felonious assault, also called malicious wounding, under Code of Virginia Section 18.2-51, is punishable as a Class 3 felony.
Numerous phone calls to Cliff Conway, who was appointed as permanent Principal of the High School by the KG School Board on Feb. 14 and Candace Brown, current School Superintendent, were not returned.

This about sums it up... at least action is being taken now. Shame the kid had to get beaten up though.

New York Eagle Scout Suspended From School for 20 Days for Keeping Pocketknife in Car

First post in a year and a half, but too good to pass up.

Fox News, Tuesday , October 13, 2009

A 17-year-old Eagle Scout in upstate New York has been barred from stepping foot on school grounds for 20 days — for keeping a 2-inch pocketknife locked in a survival kit in his car.

Matthew Whalen, a senior at Lansingburgh Senior High School, says he follows the Boy Scout motto and is always prepared, stocking his car with a sleeping bag, water, a ready-to-eat meal — and the knife, which was given to him by his grandfather, a police chief in a nearby town.

But Lansingburgh High has a zero-tolerance policy, and when school officials discovered that Whalen kept his knife locked in his car, he says, they suspended him for five days — and then tacked on an additional 15 after a hearing.

The incident is similar to the case of Zachary Christie, a 6-year-old Cub Scout in Delaware who faces up to 45 days in his district’s reform school for bringing a scout utensil that can be used as a fork, spoon and knife to school. But for Whalen — who has received an award from the Boy Scouts of America for saving a life and completed 10 weeks of basic military training last summer — the stakes are much higher:

He is concerned that the blot on his school record could kill his dream of attending West Point.

In an interview with Foxnews.com, Whalen recalled the incident that led to his suspension.

He said his school's assistant principal, Frank Macri, approached him on Sept. 21 and asked him if he was carrying a knife.

"I was taken down to the office, and they told me that a student told them that I was carrying a knife," Whalen said.

He said he told them "they could search me and everything, and they said, 'There's no need for that.'"

Whalen said he doesn't know who might have said he was carrying a knife, but he was open with school officials.

"And they said, 'Do you own a knife?' I said, 'Yes, I'm a soldier and an Eagle Scout — I own a knife.'

"And they were like, 'Well, is it in your car or anything?' And I told them, 'Yeah, it's in my car right now.'

"And they asked me to show it to them. I didn't realize it was going to be a problem. I knew it wasn't illegal — my police chief grandfather gave the knife to me."

Whalen said he took school administrators to his car because he thought their fears would be allayed when they saw it was just a 2-inch knife.

"They thought I had a dagger in my car or something like that, so I thought yeah, I'd show it to them," Whalen said.

"I showed it to them, and they told me I had a knife on school property and had to be suspended."

But things didn't end there, Whalen said.

"They brought a cop in, who told them 'he's not breaking any laws, so I can't charge him with anything.'"

Whalen said he asked Macri why a 2-inch pocketknife would be considered more dangerous than other everyday items around the school.

"I said to him, 'What about a person who has a bat, on a baseball team? That could be a weapon.' And he said, 'Well, it's not the same thing.'"

The school district's policy lists "Possessing a weapon" under "examples of violent conduct," which "may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including suspension from school."

School district officials did not reply to requests for comment.

Whalen says Macri gave him the longest suspension possible — five school days.

"They gave me the five-day suspension, because that is all a principal can suspend a student for," he said. "And from there, they had a superintendent hearing to see if the superintendent wanted to suspend me for longer.

"But the superintendent wasn't even at the hearing. It was the principal and the athletic director. The vice principal who originally suspended me wasn't even there, and neither was the superintendent. They basically asked me, 'Did you have the knife in your car?' And I said 'Yes, I did.' The meeting was recorded and they told me they were going to play the tape to the superintendent.

"They asked me if I wanted to say anything, and I told them all my accomplishments and what I've done, and the principal even admitted that I had no intent to use the knife, that I had no accessibility to the knife."

But school officials decided to suspend Whalen for an extra 15 days anyway, he said. And unless the decision is changed, he will not be allowed on school grounds until Oct. 21.

Whalen said he does not know why the 15 days were added, but he said a school district employee told him it was because the school wanted to apply its policies consistently.

"I've been told by someone who works for the district that they had to do it, because if someone else had a knife and they saw that I didn't get a suspension, that it would look bad for the school."

School superintendent George Goodwin and Lansingburg Senior High School Principal Angelina Bergin did not return calls for comment Tuesday morning.

Whalen said he has no record of disciplinary problems.

"I think I have a detention from like 10th grade for being late or something like that," he said.

He said the suspension has put his college dreams in jeopardy by keeping him out of class, while making him still responsible for assignments.

Though he is provided with a tutor for 90 minutes a day, he said, "I've been suspended for something like a ninth of my school year, so I'm falling behind drastically in my classes."

In addition to getting back to school as soon as possible, Whalen wants the school to drop the incident from his transcript.

"My dream college would be West Point, and having a pock mark like this on my record could be detrimental. They're looking for the best of the best, and if someone didn't take the time to look through it and examine the case, they would just say, 'hey, this guy had a weapon on school property, and we don't want him at our college.'"

Whalen said that he has received support from the community during the last few weeks.

"I've received tremendous communal support. Almost everyone I've talked to has said they're behind me 100 percent, that it's ridiculous that [the school has] done this me."

Whalen said he is not considering a lawsuit.

"I don't know what I could do, because technically ... I did break the rules, and I'll accept that punishment," he said.

"Perhaps I should have been more aware of the rules. However, I'm more upset about the additional 15 days.... That was entirely optional, and they decided to go through with that."

One of the first posts on this blog was about a similar situation. I've said it before--zero tolerance, zero thinking, and a good student has a black mark on his transcript. Once again, the REAL message the school is sending to its students is 'Don't get caught, and if you do, lie.'

Threatened student gets no help

WSB-TV Atlanta, May 18 2007

A Henry County high school student said he was the victim of persistent threats that were reported to the school administration. But now he's the one being punished.

"I'm just outraged and appalled that something like this could happen," said father Rob Sims.

"It's not an uncommon concern for parents to be upset and concerned about their child being disciplined," said Tony Pickett with Henry County schools.

"I'm a good student, I just want to make friends," said student Bryan Sims. Bryan Sims said he is a member of the wrestling team and film club at Luella High.

He said for two weeks he thought about what to do after repeated threats from a fellow sophomore. He said friends told him about numerous threats from the other student to kill him.

"When I did approach him and said, 'Why do you want to shoot me, are you really saying this,' he just looked at me and smiled," said Sims.

He said he told his dad and his father went to the school administration about the threats.

"I said, 'I expect this to be resolved, if it's not resolved, I'll have to be back here in a couple weeks and we'll have to have a different conversation, up to and including, if I have to withdraw my son from school because I feel he's not safe," said Rob Sims.

Rob Sims said he heard nothing back and days passed. Finally, Bryan said the other student shoved him and made menacing remarks so Bryan waited until after his next class and then he retaliated.

"I threw a punch and I nicked him really, in the back left corner of his head. I wrapped my arms around him and I brought us both to the ground. I put him in a painless submission hold and said, 'Okay, now that you're down there, listen to me," said Bryan Sims.

Lawyer Scott Key said Bryan Sims was charged with four administrative charges and a school tribunal found him guilty of one -- physical abuse. In a hearing Friday they suspended him for the rest of the year.

"I understand that there should be some sort of punishment," said Bryan Sims. "Our responsibility everyday is to keep students and staff safe and secure," said Pickett.

Bryan Sims said he is the victim. The mother of the other student called Channel 2's Mark Winne and said her son has been picked on all year. She said the principal told her there was no evidence that her son did any of the things Bryan Sims accused him of, but she also said she's not happy with the school's handling of the situation either. She said her son had to go to the emergency room.

Incidents like this one happen all the time, everywhere... it's happened to almost all my friends. It's not just the nerds, geeks, dweebs and dorks that get picked on, it's pretty much anyone who isn't in the 'popular' cliques. That includes all the brightest and best minds and personalities and future leaders who will go on to earn twenty times as much as the bullies after high school; an economic vengeance. But this is little consolation to the student going about their day to day lives trying to make it through the school day without being harassed.

Marge Simpson: 'I thought you said, 'The law was powerless!'
Officer Wiggum: 'Yeah. Powerless to help you, not punish you.'

Administrators need to take these issues seriously, because they seriously affect their students. When, regrettably, school shootings do occur, it's when the students are tired of being victimized, tired of having no relief, tired of dealing with school officials and parents and trying every option open to them to fix their problems, and they resort to violence.

Resorting to violence to solve a problem represents a breakdown of communications between parties involved; in this case Bryan Sims took whatever action was necessary, went through proper channels, talked to his father, talked to school officials, and in despair took matters into his own hands. This is vigilante justice and it takes place when corruption, bureaucracy, incompetence or apathy halt the systems in place to administer legal justice. It represents a failure of the system.

I can't make blanket recommendations of how school officials should have handled this situation, but it is clear they had opportunities to head off the confrontation. It takes a lot of courage for students to not take things into their own hands and to share their feelings and experiences with parents and teachers, and if a parent expresses as much concern as Mr. Sims had the school has an obligation to their charges to look into it. These are rarely trivial matters; scientific consensus is that they affect children deeply and permanently and shape their future outlook and personalities. Let's make sure our school officials do their job properly, in loco parentis.