Angry East Hamilton Middle Parents Want Admin To Enforce Disciplinary Procedures
Image Credit: Hamilton County Schools / YouTube
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Parents of East Hamilton Middle School students met with administrators last week to voice their outrage over increasing violence and lack of discipline at the school.
Nearly 200 parents gathered Thursday night, not to ask administrators to create more stringent policies but to demand that they enforce the ones that are already in place.
Two recent incidents sparked the current meeting, although parents say these latest two cases are just a couple of the dozens of things that administrators have turned a blind eye to or have minimized. One of the recent incidents involved a student bringing a knife to school, while the other involved a physical assault.
Parents also complained that administrators were letting too many students get away with seemingly little things, such as dress code infractions and tardies.
“It’s the everyday occurrences that are causing the situations,” said parent Sara Diruscio.
Parent Billy Stewart noted that a big part of the problem is that the school is not following the Code of Acceptable Behavior that was created by the district.
“My role in this is to discuss the inconsistencies between the discipline requirements of the COAB and its execution down to the middle school, and what might be intentional manipulation with discipline agreements to minimize the severity of the discipline to make the middle school look better to third parties,” said Stewart.
When Principal Kristen Childs claimed that the school was following all district procedures regarding discipline, parents disagreed.
“Teachers are writing referrals according to the COAB, handing it over to administration, and referrals are being misplaced or not followed through at all,” stated Diruscio.
Several parents told of incidents involving their own children being bullied or assaulted. Those responsible for the bad behavior were only suspended for a short time and were allowed to come back, only to repeat the behaviors, the Times Free Press reports.
Childs replied that the administrators were working to reevaluate their procedures for handling discipline issues, but this did not appease parents.
“If you’re not enforcing what’s already in place, why create a new plan you’re not going to enforce?” asked parent Mark Bender.
At the conclusion of the meeting, an agreement had been reached for parents to form an advisory committee to look at improving the disciplinary procedures. Childs also assured parents that her staff would be strictly adhering to the disciplinary guidelines created by the district.
“You have our word that we’re going to enforce all of our policies, all of our procedures, starting tomorrow,” Childs promised.
