Monday nights Clarke School Board meeting had a noteworthy crowd all there to talk on a few themes that have given them cause for concern.
The group Concerned Clarke Parents came with such a large amount of people that the meeting was moved from the Administration office to the middle school gym in order to accommodate the meeting guests.
The CCP is made up of parents, teachers and families of children in the district. During the public comments portion of the meeting members of the CCP stood and either read anonymous letters from elementary staff or gave personal statements to the board. All the letters and statements seemed to have reoccurring themes, safety for students, safety for staff and teacher and student moral in the elementary building.
“We come to you tonight as Concerned Clarke Parents, a group made up of parents and caregivers who are invested in the children within our community. Our goal is to make sure that all children are receiving the best possible education and above all are in an environment where they are safe,” said Lindsey Redman.
Two weeks ago the CCP had a meeting with the Steve Seid, Clarke Superintendent and Jill Kiger, Clarke Elementary Principal to discuss the different unsafe events that have been happening at the school. The CCP’s main concerns are the immediate safety for children in their classes, employee moral and retention and the ability to provide quality education. The group did not feel that they had a successful meeting so at the school board meeting Monday they read the anonymous letter from staff and gave statements in an attempt to be better understood.
Elementary staff members chose to remain anonymous in their letters due to repercussions that some staff members received after voicing similar concerns to administration last school year.
One letter read, ‘My number one issue as an elementary teacher is that we have some of the most amazing staff that are so over-worked, exhausted and fed up with how we are treated. We have kids running our school and no support from administration. Kids are tearing our rooms apart, which we pay for, and then not facing any consequences’. The letter went on to say, ‘Why do the majority of our kids have to be exposed to such outrageous behavior as if it’s normal? In the real world there are consequences for your actions’.
There is a rising number of students at the elementary that act out with violent behavior that could potentially harm other students, teachers or themselves. Teachers are not to touch the violent student or send them out of the classroom. Teachers must stop class and evacuate the entire class until the one upset and violent student is able to calm down. Often times the student is rewarded with either treats or electronic time for calming down.
One anonymous staff letter talked in particular about such incidences. When a student has a violent outburst in the hallway it makes it difficult for other classes to walk by to get to their destination. One section of the letter read, ‘Sometimes we must walk by a child screaming, yelling, cursing and pounding behind a blue mat... the kids in the classroom line are scared or worried as we get through to our destination’.
The CCP and staff letters made it clear that with no school wide standard for discipline, students and teachers are both left with inconsistency and low moral in the building.
Many of the concern is centered on students not receiving academic education at different times during the day due to policies that keep the violent student in the classroom during outbursts. This causes the group to worry about safety as well because Clarke schools does not have a behavior management program in place.
One letter read, ‘ The school wide behavior plan, or lack thereof, is an increasingly growing problem. We are all aware that Clarke seems to have an overload of students with behavior concerns, I’m worried for the students with those concerns as well as the students who have to witness and deal with the repercussions of those severe behaviors. I have had my share of students with severe behaviors and have not felt supported with any type of action plan to help them’.
The public comments portion of the meeting lasted two hours, with many anonymous letter and personal statements read to the board. Teachers seem to feel overworked and not supported, students seem to be lacking structure and consistency as well as academic time in their classrooms and parents seem to be concerned for their children’s safety and well being when bearing witness to massive meltdowns by their peers or dealing with bullying and left unsupported.
The school board was given copies of each of the letters to review. The board made no comment to the CCP at the end of the public comment portion of the meeting.