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Healing begins at superintendent's town hall
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| By MARK J. CRAWFORD, Telegraph Staff Writer |
November 23, 2005 |
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The evening was an emotional one, full of anguish and remorse, support and blame, one that provided some answers and left some questions to be answered; but the paramount accomplishment of the Nov. 17 town hall meeting at Bradford High School, the one that will have enduring impact for the community, was the joining of hundreds of parents, students, teachers and administrators in agreement that it is time to change and time to heal.
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Superintendent of Schools Harry Hatcher said the events of the past five weeks have been troubling for everyone involved-parents, students and himself. It was plain to see that the weeks that followed complaints of sexual harassment, retaliatory violence, student arrests, an employee sex scandal, and the regional attention it has all brought the Bradford County School District have taken their toll on the superintendent. He said himself the experience has brought him to his knees, pleading that a higher power work through him to provide guidance and leadership.
"There's no disagreement with you, our students and our school about what we want. None. We want a safe campus. Period," Hatcher told those assembled in the high school auditorium.
Listing the actions taken at Bradford High, Hatcher said several meetings took place last week between administrators, faculty and student government.
"Across the board it was clear that everybody wants a safe campus. We don't want our kids coming to school worried about junk."
A couple of things have grown out of the incidents of sexual harassment and violence and the subsequent meetings with the parties involved, Hatcher said, including installation of video cameras and increased security.
"The cameras didn't work one time. Not too good. Makes me look real stupid. But they are working now," he said.
In addition to the cameras, an additional law enforcement officer is patrolling campus. That could last to the Christmas break or the end of the school year. Teachers are now in the hallways during breaks, and female staff members have been asked to volunteer to monitor restrooms during those breaks.
With all of that said, the school superintendent placed the ball in the parents' court.
"What I want to hear from you tonight is what else do we need to do?" Hatcher asked.
The administration would listen to those suggestions and respond, he said. On that theme, Hatcher cleared the air over the administration's willingness to listen to the community. While it was reported elsewhere that public comments were limited during the Nov. 14 school board meeting, Hatcher said that was never the intention of the board. (The policy is that anyone who fills out a public comment card is allotted time to address the board.)
"Tonight, if you want to speak, you'll speak," Hatcher said.
One of the first to come forward was Jackie Howard, mother of the 14-year-old twice beaten in a BHS restroom after she reported being groped by two male students. Thanking the community for its support, Howard became emotional, saying she hoped the changes taking place would help Bradford's students.
"It's too late for my daughter," she said, speaking of the physical and emotional scars her daughter has suffered. "All she wants is to leave this county, to leave this school, and to leave all of these problems behind."
Following a fire in her home and in the home of her daughter's best friend, Howard admitted that there had not been an outsider involved in setting those fires as was initially reported to the authorities. Investigators had already come to that conclusion, and her daughter and her daughter's uncle have now been charged with the crime (see related story).
Most agreed that the past is past and that the community must now concentrate on what is to come. Billy Rehberg said parent involvement is what is most needed in Bradford Schools.
"I think we've got a lack of communication between the staff and the school board and the parents," he said, surprising many with the revelation that there is not an active Parent Teacher Organization, or PTO, at the high school. A lot of responsibility is placed on high school teachers, he said, but more parents are needed to volunteer their time.
"The morale at the school now is at an all-time low," Rehberg said, adding that the perception is that the school system is not what it should be.
Sharon Akins said she had a child at the middle school who was assaulted and the family is pursuing criminal charges, but she said she was left out of the loop about how the issue was being handled on the school side.
Hatcher admitted he had done a terrible job of communicating, torn between the positions of saying too much and not saying enough.
"I've just done a terrible job, no excuse, and we're going to do a better job of it," Hatcher said.
Robbie Best said the ongoing formation of a PTO at Bradford Middle School is one way that school is trying to build a bridge between parents and the school.
"We need mentors. We need grandparents. We need friends and parents who come to the school and are a visible presence on campus, making connections with our students, so that they have a network of people that can assist them in dealing with life's issues," said Best. "Last but not least we need churches in our area to become involved in a proactive way, and we need prayer."
Best and others organized a prayer walk on Saturday afternoon at BHS as a first step in involving the faith community.
Parents like Kimberly Cruce said they wanted schools to send a message that violence of any kind will not be tolerated, pointing to the arrest of a student in another district who was taken into custody for shoving a teacher. Bullies have no place in the school system, she said, and incidents of that are more frequent than administrators have been willing to admit.
Greg Allen said too many resources were being spent on "bad apples" at the expense of the schools' many good students. The more attention given to troublemakers, the worse they will behave, he said.
While many wanted strict discipline enforced, Virgil Berry said it was parents, not the schools, that often stood in the way of that taking place.
"This problem did not start last week or last year. It started the first time a parent went into a kindergarten class and said, 'You will not discipline my child,'" said Berry, who brought the auditorium to its feet in a standing ovation. He asked parents to support teachers and administrators.
"They have the responsibility for maintaining law and order in the school, but they don't have the authority. It's been taken away from them," Berry said.
Hatcher seized the moment Berry's words had provided.
"You see how everybody responded to that? I think we're all in agreement on that until it affects me and my child," the superintendent said.
Tori Kelly pressed school leaders to incorporate diversity training into the schools "so everybody can get to know each other and about each other so we won't have all of this division in our community."
That sentiment was echoed by Akins, who said that by the time kids reach middle school age they have begun to reflect the attitudes of the adults who have influenced them at home, including the use of racial slurs that most of those parents would never dare speak in polite society.
"So parents it's up to you, don't go home and say something that will incite this further," she said.
Hatcher said diversity training began with the administration and will continue with teachers and staff. Students are being encouraged in that direction, but the schools need to do a better job. He said he is working with Elaine Slocum of the Bradford County Faith Community Center to do that.
"Diversity is not a bad word, and we need to understand that the world that we live in is drastically changing," he said. "We're not all alike, but there can still be unity in diversity."
Marian Bright told administrators to augment the counseling available to students, saying recent episodes of violence boggle the mind.
"Who knows what the children have gone through to bring them to this point," she said, explaining some are going home to drug-addicted parents and don't know how to deal with their anger. "We're going to have to come together to save our most prized possessions."
"It sounds like we need to get some other counselors up at the high school right now so that the children do have an opportunity to express themselves. We can do that," Hatcher said.
Best wanted schools to go further, identifying students who have a history of disruptive behavior and taking the measures necessary to get them help. He suggested the board go outside the county and seek new funding to hire personnel that can give students that help, since the schools' guidance counselors are deluged with paperwork-much of it FCAT-related.
"We've got to be proactive with this. There's no sense in us having anymore meetings like this where we have to be reactive to issues that have already happened," said Best.
Rehberg bemoaned the loss of 30-year athletic director Mike Hartley to Clay County, only to have him replaced with Matthew Moore, the director caught having sex during a soccer match with a fellow employee. No one seems to know anything of his background, Rehberg said.
Assistant Superintendent Rick Ezzell later said that a background check had been performed on Moore and that his reluctance to comment on Moore's history in the media had to do with the ongoing investigation. Both Hatcher and Ezzell stressed that all employees are subjected to background checks.
If any one individual took the brunt of the blows tossed at the meeting, it was BHS Principal Karl Wendell. Debbie VanAllen said Wendell shouldn't be at the high school and didn't deserve one more penny of parents' money, a statement that drew applause and cheers from many, including students.
Others wanted to hear Wendell speak, but that never happened. Hatcher tried to absorb criticism of Wendell, saying the school board hired the administrators he recommended.
Even if people aren't happy with the principal and recent events, many wanted it known that Bradford High School is a good school filled with promising students and dedicated teachers. Many students spoke up for their school as a great place to be, saying they were proud to be students at BHS, and even talked about their need to do a better job communicating with one another and getting along.
Jennifer Norse said that instead of crucifying school officials, the community should be wrapping its arms around them. Sara Wilson, in thanking Hatcher for calling the town hall, said she could see by the look on his face that he cared, and that's all she wanted to see.
The town hall was not a one-shot deal. Hatcher announced that a task force would be formed to devise specific strategies to improve the system. Thirty-one parents, teachers and school administrators had signed up for the task force as of Friday.
Hatcher has rescheduled a town hall with the NAACP of Bradford County for Monday, Dec. 5, at 6:30 p.m. in the RJE gymnasium on Pine Street. The meeting will address topics from busing to FCAT scores. A second town hall with the parents of Bradford High School has already been scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 6. That meeting will take place at the BHS auditorium at 6:30 p.m.
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©Bradford County Telegraph 2009
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