Safe, Respected and Capable of Success

In a school of homeless, refugee and at-risk children - it's a big deal when the nurse calls in to tell you she's stuck on the freeway and is going to have her car towed. Fortunately, we can call in a temp agency and they fill those shoes quite aptly.

I always like to make the guest staff/crew/teachers feel welcome. Its no fun being a sub. So I welcome them and check in.

So I'm chatting with our guest nurse and I get a feel that she's had a rough past year with her high school aged daughter. Turns out the daughter's been bullied so severely that the high school staff had to escort her to her mother's car day after day! Nothing improved so Mom chose to transfer her to another school without her district's assistance.

I'm crushed by this. And, you should know that it's unethical for the district to ignore this child's cries for help.

Recently I wrote an article for Dr. Hunnicutt, Legal Counsel for Arizona School Administrators highlighting this very topic. In October of 2010, the Department of Education/Office of Civil Rights released a Dear Colleague Letter. It specifically addresses the need for all districts/schools to address this problem.

Under what circumstances should a Freshman female student endure her clothes being torn, rocks being thrown at her head during physical education class & slurs being uttered as she passes from class to class?

School's need to be aware of the grievous conditions they may find should they ignore the federal government's call for support of bullying victims. But I'm certain they're clueless.

Parents...you don't have to endure this level of ignorance. The letter is clear in its call for specific interventions at the school level.

Let's begin by holding our school board's accountable to answering the question, "Which of our children feel safe, respected and capable of success?".

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