December 7, 2007

Livingston Parish School Board Hearing Officer

P. O. Box 1130

Livingston, La

70754

Dear Sir or Madam:

I would like to formally request an appeal of the suspension of W. A. G., which was given to him on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 4, 2007 by Mrs. Painter at Southside Elementary.

According to the calls and documentation that I received from Mrs. Painter on Tuesday, this incident appears to be centered around the poking of another student with a thumb-tack while at lunch in the cafeteria. A. was given 2 days of suspension for the poking of the student and an additional day of suspension for “stealing” – as he took the thumb-tack form the door of another classroom while running errands for his teacher.

While I do feel that both of these items are inappropriate, and should be addressed, I do not feel that either of these merits suspension. A. maintains that the poking of the student was accidental, and occurred after he was bumped into while playing with the thumb-tack. Additionally, I have heard numerous accounts of lesser punishment being handed out for similar incidents at schools in Livingston and surrounding parishes. Most of these involve contacting the parents and some form of in-school disciplinary action such as a trip to the office, no recess, paddling, and detention.

I do understand that past incidents have to be taken into consideration, and am aware that he has had violent outbursts in the beginning of the year. I have always supported the school and their disciplinary actions in the past – when they were warranted. However, I do not believe that the school administration has taken into consideration anything other than the fact that he has had 2 other suspensions. I do not feel that they have actually compared the incidents in any way. If they had, they could not fail to see that his past incidents were very violent and angry in nature. They were the actions of a very different boy, who was angry and hurt by his circumstances, a boy who spoke of wanting to die or just go to Hell because that is what he deserved. This incident is what I would consider the poor judgment of a 9 year old boy, which should be dealt with like it was any other 9 year old at the school.

As a direct result of the previous incidents at school and the very beneficial input offered by the school administration and teachers, I have sought professional help for my son. He has been actively participating in weekly counseling sessions with a professional counseling service. Since he begun these sessions, everyone has seen a complete turnaround in his attitude, behavior and performance. I have received several calls from school personnel to comment on these changes; additionally he has become more involved with friends and church activities. In my opinion, we are dealing with a different child than the one that began school in August.

I have also heard that there were 2 other similar incidents that weighed on Mrs. Painters decision to suspend A. for the 3^rd time. The only one that I know about is an incident where he brought an upholstery needle to school. At the beginning of class, he removed it from his back-pack and brought it directly to his teacher, Mrs. Wolfarth. I received a call later that morning from Mrs. Pasha to verify that he got it from where he said, and to compliment him on showing good judgment and taking it directly to his teacher as soon as he found it. As for the “other” incident, Mrs. Painter did not bother to elaborate on it, and I have never been contacted by the school to discuss it.

As I have mentioned, this is A.’s 3^rd suspension. I will be the first to admit that the first 2 suspensions were warranted and justified. I regret that I was blind to the more serious nature of the first of these, and delayed in seeking professional help. I have rectified that and it is working. A. is finally getting some self confidence and a drive to please me and his teachers. I fear that this suspension is going to cause a set-back with his progress, and be counter productive to achieving the end result that we all should want – a well adjusted child that will succeed in school and life.

What’s more, based on the phone conversations I had with Mrs. Painter, I am afraid that she may have been personally hurt or offended by A. in 1 or more of his previous outbursts. The tension that I heard in her voice seemed to go deeper than the frustration she would feel at having to suspend a child from school. If coupled with what I feel is an obvious over-reaction to typical school incidents – I get the feeling that A. is being set up for failure.

A. is not the same now as he was then. I am not making excuses for his behavior, but pointing out that I have come to understand his behavior and the help that I have sought is paying off. While past behavior should weigh on any decisions that are made, it should weigh-in in its entirety; this includes the action, circumstances and results of those past incidents.

A. has worked hard to adjust. His behavior is much improved. He has a more sincere and helpful attitude, and his grades are finally starting to reflect the kind of work that I know he is capable of. He is proud of what he has accomplished. I do not know how to maintain this type of attitude when everything he has worked for will be negated. The 0’s that he received for the tests he has missed this week are sure to pull his grades back down to where they were before or lower. He now has to go to school everyday with a reminder that the school will Expel him if he does anything wrong. Is this the kind of stress and pressure that we want to put on a student that has verbally and physically expressed suicidal thoughts? Is this how we build up a child with low self-esteem? Is this how we show a child that we want him to succeed?

If discipline is needed, I am the first to get onboard. But the punishment should fit the misdeed. In this instance, it does not. I am asking that the school board please reconsider A.’s suspension and allow him to make up the work he has missed. He is working hard to become a great student, let’s encourage that. If we want him to be a well adjusted boy, then let’s treat him like the other boys – until the situation requires us to treat him differently. If not, we are only reinforcing his own notion that he is not good enough to be with everyone else.

Sincerely,

posted by Mr. Mom @ 11:11 PM

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