Policy For Consideration - November 2008 Meeting

I am posting this Policy that was introduced at the November meeting. Please give some input on your thoughts. I am also including a link for: TCA 37-1-131 Delinquent Children
http://dept.fvtc.edu/ojjdp/tn.pdf




Juvenile Offenders Policy Consideration

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Document Request Form

I called the Board of Education to request a copy of the November Board Packet to view a policy that was being voted on for consideration. I will include that policy in my Board Meeting post this weekend. I called the BOE and requested the packet and was told I needed a Request Form. When I asked where that form is I was told you had to obtain it from an attorney. I wanted to share the below form with the public to maybe save the cost of an attorney to others. In my search for the form I also found that you can obtain a Board Packet with the attached form and a payment of .15 cents a page. I would call ahead to request your documents and give them a heads up you are coming. I was also told that Mr. Lewis has to sign the form before the information will be released.

There is a lot of information in these packets that I feel should be viewed by the public. I am gong to start scanning these packets along with the meeting minutes to help the public become more aware of what is going on at our board meetings.

Documents Request Form

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Tennessee Code Annotated Section 10-7-503
http://tennessee.gov/sos/acts/105/pub/pc1179.pdf

School Board Meeting & Report Card

School Board Meeting

Tuesday November 18

5 PM

Smith County Board of Education

Parents, Taxpayers and Citizens of Smith County attend board meetings, you have the power to make true change in our public schools.

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Check the link area for

2008 TCAP & Report Card Link

Update - RESOLUTION 11-2008-08

Commissioner said...
It passed with huge support from all the commisioners who were present. Many spoke in favor of the change. Now we must all work together to take it to the state level. That is where it has to be changed.

Commissioner Said......

You can do something the following is a resolution that will go in front of the county commission on Monday the 10th at their 7:00p.m. meeting held at the court house. START CALLING YOU COMMISIONERS AND TELL THEM THAT YOU WANT THEM TO VOTE YES. This will then be sent to the state. Then you can start on your state Rep. and Senators. After the resolution I have attached a list of the county commissioners I am sorry it doesn’t have phone numbers I got it off of the Chamber of Commerce website and had to correct some of the members had changed.



RESOLUTION 11-2008-08



TO URGE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ENACT LEGISLATION TO ALLOW COUNTIES THE OPTION TO SELECT A DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS BY ELECTION OR APPOINTMENT



WHEREAS, the director of schools holds a highly significant and important position in the communities in Tennessee; and



WHEREAS, the current law allows only for the selection of a person to fill this position by appointment by the local board of education: and



WHEREAS, in many counties, there is a desire for such position to be filled by election by the registered voters of the county;



NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Commissioners of Smith County, meeting in regular session on this 10th day of November, 2008, that the Tennessee General Assembly is strongly urged to pass legislation amending Title 49 as appropriate to allow county legislative bodies to choose the method of selection of the director of schools or, in the alternative, the General Assembly is urged to pass legislation to authorize a local referendum to determine for each county whether the director of schools should be appointed by the board of education or chosen by the voters of the county.



BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED, that the county clerk shall mail certified copies of this resolution to the members of the Tennessee General Assembly representing the people of Smith County.



Adopted this 10th day of November 2008.



________________________

Michael F. Nesbitt

Smith County Mayor



ATTEST:_________________________

James B. Norris

County Clerk



County Commissioners, Smith County:

District 1 - Pleasant Shade - Defeated - Difficult

Billy D. Halliburton

Vernon Hesson

Anthony Woodard



District 2 - Dixon Springs - Monoville - Tanglewood - Turkey Creed

Richard Brimm

Phillip Enoch

Darryl York



District 3 - New Middleton - Brush Creek - Hickman

James K. Winfree

Carolyn Boles

Daniel D. Cripps



District 4 - Rock City - Rome

Jeffrey A. Winfree

Frank H. Gibbs

Earl H. North



District 5 - Gordonsville - Lancaster - Hickman

Ron Cowan

James M. Gibbs

Billy M. Woodard



District 6 - Carthage

Barbara Hickman

Jerry Futrell

C. D. Poindexter



District 7 - South Carthage

Leslie Proffitt

Joey Nixon

Ronnie Bussell



District 8 - Chestnut Mound - Elmwood

Kenneth Massey

David Gross

Ricky L. Gibbs

Attn: Bloggers

Bloggers: I appreciate your support but I would like to ask all bloggers to please remember the privacy of other people’s children. We choose to put our child's life out for the public to read but only because she agreed in an effort to help make changes in our school system so no child will have to go through what she has.

While all school officals are public figures their children are not and they are off limits on my blog. I believe in freedom of speech but any reference directly to a school employee’s child or negative comments about any student will be deleted from my blog.

Again thank you for your support and I welcome all comments even the negatives one. Just don’t lose sight of the intentions of our blog.

To Clear Things Up

This blog was started because we had exhausted all of the chain of commands, wanted to share how our child and family was treated by the school system and seek the advice of our fellow residents. This blog doesn’t make us anti GHS or anti GHS teachers. We have had three children attend GHS and are proud to be Tigers. Trust me I have enough BLUE & WHITE to last me, my grandchildren and great grandchildren a lifetime of Tiger wear. There are a lot of great teachers, administrators and staff at GHS that has helped prepare our children for their futures, share in the good times and bad. We are thankful to have them in our childrens lives. Our children have had to face the consequences for their actions and yes we have forced them to apologize when they make mistakes. Our children have had to serve detentions, write-offs and run extra because like most people they aren’t perfect. Anyone that is reading this and knows our family understands the reason we started this blog. For those that don’t know us we aren’t whacked out parents that fight the school and school system every time they send Jr to the office. With that said we won’t be transferring our daughter to another school system and we won’t be moving or leaving town in the cover of darkness. Sorry but we are here to stay and will continue to fight for our child and yours.

Are We All Not Teachers In A Child's Life?

Dr. Hiam Ginott - I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.

My First Board Meeting

Tonight I attended my first school board meeting, it was kind of confusing. It appeared to me that Mr. Lewis ran most of the meeting. I was impressed with Nick Fulton and Karen Shoulders, they will represent us well. During the meeting Mr. Lewis asked for approval on items A-E, I wasn't real sure what these were since there was not a conversation about any of them. I did receive an agenda but it was only one page with no details. The issues addressed that I found important as I saw them:

1. Our school system is crowded and our schools are in desperate need of more class room space. The schools I heard mentioned were New Middleton and Gordonsville Elementary. Mr. Lewis is supposed to obtain pricing and growth information based on now then project five years out. If GES does add new classrooms where will it be? Things are already very tight at the school with no room to expand. Tommy Mannng requested the blue print plans Mr. Lewis had for GES.

2. Defeated Creek is the only school that does not offer Pre K. Our Governor said No and we don’t have the funds to start Pre K at this school. No real answer how to correct.

There were a couple issues I was disappointed as to the way they were addressed. I am sure the decisions were based on policy of how school boards are run. This was the part I found so confusing because it seemed they could be resolved tonight instead of dragging into the next month.

1. There was a student that wanted to speak to the board, Karen Shoulders made the request. Mr. Lewis cut her off and explained this was being handled at the school level and policy read if it was a school level matter then the board could not address. I just hope this student doesn’t give up and keeps fighting. I was impressed to learn that he had called Ms. Shoulders several times to try to seek help not a lot of students would do that. I wasn’t really sure why Mr. Lewis was so against him speaking. What if you are not happy with the school level decision, is there an appeal process? Where do you go for help when our director refuses to let you go to the board? How do you get added to the agenda? Who decides what the school board listens to?

2. Dick Fulton brought up the fact that past meeting minutes were not typed according to the tapes of the meeting and wanted to amend them. From what I understood a teachers name was not mentioned in the meeting but when the minutes were typed her name was used three times. Mr. Fulton stated that he and the other members had approved them but they he thought they should be corrected to have her name removed to match the tapes. From what I understood in making this request he was not following school board policy so he would have to request this matter be added to the agenda for next month. Who does he have to go to so this can be added to the agenda or do so many members have to agree? If these minutes didn’t match the tapes from the meeting why is it so hard to correct the minutes?

After the meeting some of the members left right away not talking to anyone in the audience but a couple members were available. Again I am not sure how all of this process works, but this was my view of things, I will continue to attend every meeting to learn exactly how the process works.

Smith County School Board Members:
Scotty Yeaman
664 Ridgeway Drive Carthage, TN 37030 - Home-735-2024
Larry Taylor Wilkerson
639 Lebanon Hwy Carthage, TN 37030 - Home 735-9568
Dick Fulton
33 Morris Dr. Carthage, TN 37030 - Home- 735-2656
Tommy Manning
313 Pig Branch Rd. Brush Creek, TN 38547 - Home 683-6299
Pat Massey
7 Stonewall Hwy. Carthage, TN 37030 - Home 897-2241
Shane Campbell
233 Rural Academy Lane Brush Creek, TN 38547 - Cell 584-2874
Karen Shoulders
202 Toetown Road, Pleasant Shade, TN 37145 – Home 677-6136
Sonja Hammond
434 Hogans Creek Rd, Carthage, TN 37030 – Home 735-1065

You Can Make A Difference

School Board Meeting
Tuesday October 21
5 PM @ Smith County Board of Education

Parents, Taxpayers and Citizens of Smith County
Attend board meetings, you have the power to make true change in our public schools.

Here is a section of the Smith County Board of Education Family and Community Engagement Requirements and Options 2007-2008 that I found interesting:
(LINK: http://boe.smithcounty.com/Parents/Parent%20Guidelines.htm)
Our goal is to build a strong partnership between the school, home and community which is essential for a quality educational program. The Smith County School District is dedicated to actively recruiting all parents and community members to be involved in the education of our students. The purpose of this plan is to increase and improve the involvement of family members in their children’s education, to set expectations for everyone in the district concerning the involvement necessary for the success of our students, and to have a vision of what has to be in place for there to be quality family involvement for the entire district.

UPDATE ON SCBOE WEBSITE:

(LINK: http://boe.smithcounty.com/)
Smith County School System does not discriminate on the base of race, sex, color, age, religion, national origin, handicap, or veteran status in educational opportunities, programs, activities, and opportunities for employment and benefits. Student and Employee Rights, grievance procedures and forms can be found in the Smith County Board of Education Policy Manual, posted in the schools or at the Central Office.

Below is a message I received from a blogger signed Jen:

Take part in your school systems. It shows your children – through your actions - that you place a high emphasis on their education, enough so that you are willing to help make it even better. Studies show that children of involved parents generally have higher grades and test scores, better attendance, and higher rates of completed homework. - Jen

For The Record

This blog is about how our school administration handled the issues we brought to them. I have proof and witnesses to all of my allegations so I feel at the least a full investigation should be completed. I went through all of the proper channels starting with the teacher, principal, athletic director, Mrs. Fox and lastly Mr. Lewis. Our quest has lasted over 9 months with no resolve. The schools way to handle it was force our daughter to sit out a year stating she quit and not completing any investigation. The school district meet with us but to date has not done an investigation or resolved any of our complaints. My intentions are for the school to act according to school policy, I should not have to file a lawsuit to be heard. Our teachers, students and schools need money why would I want to sue only to take away from the under funded school system I already pay taxes for? A lawsuit would not correct the things I am fighting for.

Just because a parent questions something does not mean that they want to run things a lot of times it is because they want to know why. So many of us sign all of the papers our children bring home with out reading them or really knowing the meaning of what the consequences are. After what we have had to go through I will never just sign something or agree to something until I ask the school questions first to make sure I fully understand.

I don’t believe my children are perfect, I understand that schools need rules and children need to be reprimanded. I will stand up to something if I disagree and fight for what I believe is right. This will be our third child to graduate from GHS and we are proud to be Tiger parents. My son played football, our oldest daughter cheered for 6 years and our youngest daughter cheered for 4; I have never questioned any coaches’ authority. I do not want to take over anyone’s job or functions at the school. I do like to be involved in all our children’s activities and school by helping or volunteering my time. If that makes me a bad person then so be it but our children only grow up once, I am not missing a minute.

I don’t have a problem with any of the rules I signed, handing over forms required, or our child following rules or guidelines. Yes our daughter was a cheerleader but I want to state this isn’t about this teachers coaching skills. My child has never had this coach as a teacher this isn’t about her classroom instruction. I have never questioned her coaching or how she coaches. Her grabbing & shoving my child wasn’t caused by a history of me questioning or overstepping her authority. She had just taken over the squad and I didn’t really know her. Until she laid hands on my child I didn’t have a problem with her. If it had stopped there maybe things could have been worked through but when things get progressively worse and your child starts suffering then things become personal.

We choose to pull our daughter from cheerleading until the school corrected the issues. I never requested this coach be fired or removed. We only wanted an apology to our daughter, the teacher not to make personal references about our daughter, not release private information to other squad members or their parents regarding her educational, medical or issues from private meetings, and for not just our daughter but the entire squad to be treated with the same respect that is demanded of them by this coach. We also wanted her reinstated to the cheerleading squad, since she did not quit we pulled her because of the issues we felt the school needed to address. As pointed out by this coach in a meeting the rule states if you quit after football you can’t come back but since the season had not started our child should have been able to return. After our meeting was concluded and we felt some of our issues had been resolved my husband left the school. The principal and teacher held another meeting in private where the decision was made for our daughter not to be able to return. We were made aware that the principal and school was going to override the rule and not allow our daughter to return at 9:30 PM that night. How do I know this meeting happened? The teacher told our daughter the next morning with kids in her class. The GHS administration overrode the rule and denied our child returning without an investigation into any of our complaints.

If our school system has laws, policies and rules that parents and students have to agree to and sign then everyone needs to follow them including all students, school personnel, administrators, district employees and board members. Several people have stated that because of the schools privacy laws the teacher, school administration or school district cannot defend themselves. If the privacy law hadn’t been broken then we wouldn’t have to defend our child, start a blog and put all of our private issues with the school out for all of the public to read in hopes someone will help us.

I Shall Single You Out....

In late May I arrived at practice to drop my child off and pay our child's bill. I was asked by the teacher/sponsor of this activity if I had our child's physical. I told her that our child had her physical completed with all of the other Gordonsville athletes and the trainer or principal had her physical form which she passed. She told me that until she had the form in her hand to prove she passed our daughter would not be allowed to practice or participate. Which meant during the summer I would have to track down the trainer or principal to get a copy of her physical to hand deliver before our daughter could come back.

I understand that this is a TSSAA rule that every school, coach and administration must enforce and I think it is important. If the TSSAA states these forms are to be on file (under lock & key for privacy) with the principal and our daughter completed her physical with the rest of the athletes of the school with no problems reported to the trainer, why was she told until she hand delivered her form she would not be allowed to practice or participate when the school already had her form on file? The teacher/sponsors excuse for this was our daughter was the only form she didn't have, the rest of the squad had turned their forms in to her completed. That was her response on July 25th, 2008 when my husband asked her in front of the principal as to why our daughter was singled out in front of the entire squad. During our conversation without any investigation into the matter by the principal, he just agreed with the teacher and brushed the issue off.


After doing some research on my own before July 25th, 2008 to make sure we had the facts before our meeting with the principal and teacher/sponsor this is what I found:

1. Our child was the only one from her squad that went with the school for a physical.

2. In late May when she singled out our child more then half of the parents told me their child had not even had a physical completed.

3. On July 25th, 2008 based on what their parents told me there were still several squad members that had not had their physical completed or turned in.

4. Not one coach from any of the sports at GHS received the physical forms in hand, our trainer received all of the athletes forms for our school to return to the school to be filed.

5. While checking around as to the the physical dates of some of the other squad members the parents involved were upset over the fact that this teacher/sponsor made the decision not to include the squad in the free physical program with the school, she told the girls they were on their own to pay out of pocket for their physicals. Her excuse for this after being questioned was that the administration told her this activity wasn't covered under the school physical program. If that is true then that would mean the administration discriminated against these children by excluding them.

Here is the link to the TSSAA website regarding physicals and who is responsible for them.

http://www.tssaa.org/Handbook/handbook.pdf

Page 12 - Physical Exam - Section 10

The Information Is Out There.....

I have added a Count Up Timer to my Blog so everyone that reads my blog can see the amount of time that has passed since our issues have started. A lot of people have posted and asked how far I plan to take this. I plan to keep blogging, talking and fighting this until our school system acts according to the rules, laws and polices that those we have elected and the leaders in charge have passed or approved. A parent SHOULD NOT have to file a lawsuit against the school or school system to be heard. Lawsuits only hurt the students and our schools.

These are the questions I have asked the GHS Administration, Mr. Roger Lewis and Mrs. Janice Fox regarding what the policies are. I still have not received a response.
1. How does the investigation process work?
2. What is the investigation time line?
3. What are the consequences for retaliation for the teacher and administration?
4. What is the policy for a teacher slandering a students character and reputation?
5. What is the policy for a teacher making false statements against a student that goes against the students and their families religious and moral beliefs?
6. What are the consequences for a teacher that violates the FERPA law?

JUST SOME FYI
* Harassment, Intimidation or Bullying - An act that interferes with a students educational benefits, opportunities or performance that takes place on school grounds or school sponsored activites.

* What is a BULLY - A person who is cruel and over bearing to others, especially those who are weaker or have less power.

*FERPA - The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA or the Buckley Amendment) is a United States federal law codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, with implementing regulations in title 34, part 99 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The regulations cover violations such as parent volunteers grading another child's work, school employees divulging information to someone other than the child's parents about a child's home life, grades or behaviors, and school work posted on a bulletin board with a grade.

Below are six links that I feel everyone needs to read.
State-by-State: Anti-Bullying Laws in the U.S.
http://www.familyequality.org/resources/publications/anti-bullying_withcitations.pdf

Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 10
http://www.state.tn.us/education/learningsupport/doc/pc0202.pdf

Office of Civil Rights - Protecting Students from Harassment and Hate Crime:
A Guide for Schools - January 1999
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/archives/Harassment/harass_intro.html

The Tennessee Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (TOCR)
http://www.state.tn.us/education/civilrights.shtml

Title VI - http://www.state.tn.us/education/doc/TitleVIBrochure.pdf

Title IX - http://www.state.tn.us/education/doc/TOCRIXBrochure.pdf

This is a message I received that I felt needed to be shared for all to read:

In the Supreme Court's ruling in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education the Davis Court defined that schools receiving federal funds may be held financially responsible where officials are "deliberately indifferent" to harassing behaviors including staff to student harassment that are "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive". This ruling defined four criteria in considering school liability:

1)School officials had actual knowledge of conduct

2) Schools were deliberately indifferent to conduct

3) School had control of the abuser and where it occurred

4) The school's response or lack of response was unreasonable given such knowledge

The ruling also suggests that schools have in place policies and procedures to address abusive conduct such as teacher-student harassment/abuse. In effect, if the school has allowed behavior that creates a hostile environment for student in a classroom, and school officials have been given appropriate notice but fail to act, then the school risks both compensatory and punitive damages. This one case alone proves that teacher bullying does exist. This case holds Administrators accountable for the actions of the teachers. If your student is a victim of teacher bullying, speak up and speak out. Sometimes as parents we are the only voice that is heard. It is our responsibility as parents to hold our educators responsible for their actions and behaviors.

From Gordonsville or Not From Gordonsville - Does that really matter?

I started this blog so that I could share the issues on how my child was treated by the system. This blog isn’t about who our families are, where we are from or what we have done in our pasts as educators, principals, coaches, parents, etc….. This is about the injustice our family feels they have received and the way our daughter was treated in this situation. All three of our children have all attended Gordonsville, we support the Tigers and we are proud to be members of this community.

So please when you read my blog remember this is about a child that was dismissed from a activity because the school system decided to hear one side of the story. There was never any investigation done, I know because at no point during this 9 month fight has one person talked to our child. How can you do a investigation without talking to the victim?

A child only gets a small window of their life for high school memories and we feel that the school system has let her down and busted that window. This activity isn’t our child’s whole life but it was a big part of it. It is so important to keep the children in our community involved in sports and activities so they can stay active and busy. I feel that a lot of school systems have forgotten that and the schools aren’t there for our children and community any longer. My fight might make people mad but if I don’t stand up for my child and fight the system no one will. If my stand makes even one small change it was all worth it and I hope it will give other children, parents and taxpayers the strength to stand up for what they believe in.

Your The Example

I am looking at all the different angles on this to try and make sense of it. Just so everyone understands why I am so upset about this situation I am going to give you just one example of an issue. This was our last conversation with the teacher and the GHS school administration, the conflict in this situation that the school and teacher keep throwing out as an excuse is caused and keep going by this teacher. Just remember this is only one of many issues we have.

July 31, 2008 - My husbands last meeting with the principal and teacher he left not completely happy but with a understanding of how things were going to be from that day forward. They all agreed the rule stated that you could not return if you quit after football season, since we pulled our daughter before the season started our daughter could return to her activity. She was to report to the teachers class the next morning which happened to be the first day of school. At 9:30 that same evening we received a call from the principal he stated that he had been thinking about things all evening, it was his decisions and his alone and he had not talked it over with the teacher. Due to the conflict with the teacher and her assistant he was going to override the rules and our daughter would have to sit out a year. We again explained the conflict and the rules. He acknowledged that he knew the rules that we had signed but he was going to override them and make her sit out for the season as an example. We argued that our child did not quit but we pulled her until the school handled the situation with the teacher. He told us he was going to make an example of our daughter to let the other athletes at GHS know that quitting would not be tolerated. We then asked why some students were being allowed to return after quitting but he decided that he would set an example with our child. He stated that is because these other athletes didn’t have rules like our daughter did. My husband asked him twice just to be sure he understood what he was saying and yes he stated the other athletes don‘t have rules. So if they don‘t have rules how is making our child sit out as an example suppose to help? Since she didn't quit will her school record say they kicked her off? What about all of our complaints or issues with this teacher will they ever be addressed? By removing our child did that correct the teachers behavior? What is the real example you are setting?

Our daughter still reported to the teachers class to pick up her stuff and turn in her uniforms. The teacher told our daughter that her and the principal had a long talk and they felt that because of the conflict it would be better for her to sit out this year. She then went on to tell our daughter that she didn’t have a problem with her or her dad. Was she saying that she has a problem with me and that gives her the right to treat our daughter the way she did? Why did the principal tell us he made the decision on his own and she told our daughter that they had a meeting after my husband left? She also stated that the principal was going to back her and not allow anyone to question her authority. Is that why in the first parent meeting she told all the parents that if we had complaints we needed to tell her because he didn't want to hear them? If we can't go to him then who do we go to?

Not only will this decision effect my daughters junior year it also could effect her future college scholarships. She received an invitation to tryout to be a staff member to help train other students at summer camps and clinics. These invitations are by recommendation, if she makes the staff not only would it help with scholarships the summer job would also pay for an entire school year of expenses such as books and living. She will now have to explain why she is sitting out her junior year and why she is no longer a 4 year member on her tryout package. This will definitely be a black mark on her application even if it isn’t her fault.

I know that everyone would handle this situation differently and it is hard to know how you would handle it without having the whole story. I do appreciate your advice and opinion and I will be open minded. Again remember this is only one small part of our complaint. I just want GHS and Mr. Lewis to do a full investigation into our complaints so both sides could be heard not just the teachers. Then once this is resolved based on school board polices and school rules we can put this behind us.

The only one suffering in this situation is our child who did nothing wrong. You only get one chance to go through high school and every child should have the opportunity to be involved. Does Smith County only give that opportunity to the kids of the parents they like or don't have a problem with? Based on what this teacher has told our child this is exactly how this situation was handled. Quote "She doesn't have a problem with my daughter or my husband."

Think about it........