A Unit 5 mother claims her son got suspended for fighting, but he allegedly went to go get help to try and prevent a fight prior to it actually happening.
According to Miranda Gonzalez her 14-year-old son was “suspended for his involvement in a fight after he tried to go get help in preventing it.” The incident occurred at Parkside Junior High School last May before the end of the school year.
“Another student was attacking him,” said Gonzalez. “He was kicked the entire length of one of the hallways.”
According to Gonzalez her son then went to the office to report the incident and ask for help before a fight occurred.
Gonzalez said Tara Kemp, an administrative assistant, referred Gonzalez’s son to a computer to make a summary of what happened, rather than keeping him in the office and tying to figure out the situation, and then returned him to class with the student that was allegedly physically assaulting him.
Gonzalez said her son did not have his computer with him at the time because he was going to P.E. and there was no computer for him to use in the office so he went straight to class.
There, she said, the other student would not leave her son alone and instead approached her son’s locker pushing and punching him and her son warned the other student to stop. Gonzalez says that at that point her son defended himself by pushing the other kid back and punching him. This second confrontation is what resulted in her son being suspended.
After the incident Gonzalez requested to meet with administration. She had several meetings with them including meetings with then Parkside Junior High Principal Karrah Jensen and Vice Principal John Haws, but was not satisfied with the information she received.
Gonzalez claims they didn’t feel that they had done anything wrong, that Kemp was not trained for that, that she is not capable of asking basic questions such as: ‘what happened, who did this to you, what is going on, do you feel safe?’
Gonzalez pointed out that school policy states that any staff member should be able to assist any student when they are in a situation where they feel like they are being bullied.
A suspension review hearing was held on May 31, 2023.
Afterwards Gonzalez remained unsatisfied and filed a suspension hearing review so she could speak with the school board about her concern. Gonzalez was told she could not meet with the board but would have to speak with the suspension review officer who also happens to be the board’s attorney, Curt Richardson.
“To me that’s a conflict of interest and very biased for someone who is representing the district to defend them to be the final and only recourse for this concern,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez has not received a response to her request for the the suspension hearing review.
Gonzalez has also filed a formal grievance with the school in accordance with the policy outlined on the school’s website. But she has not heard anything regarding it either.
Not hearing back from her suspension hearing review request or her formal grievance filing led to Gonzalez advising the school board of the situation at their board meeting on July 19 during pubic comment.
“I’m tired of no one hearing me,” Gonzalez said.
According to Richardson, when a student goes to the office and expresses a concern… staff is happy to listen to them. Sometimes administrators are not available. Richardson said he believes Parkside uses a computerized form while other schools may use other methods.
Richardson said, “We do try to determine if a situation is an emergency situation. If it’s immediate we need to address it.
Richardson said in that case the school asks students to share information so the matter can be addressed right away.
If a school does not have any indication that the matter is something that needs to be addressed right away, in the case of administrators not being available, they will generally ask a student to report their concern to a teacher or another staff member, according to Richardson.
Richardson is not able to discuss specifics regarding incidents concerning Gonzalez’s son because it is student record information and confidential.
Richardson did say the district has heard suggestions from the Gonzalez family to potentially provide better access for students to report concerns including a computer station in the office or making a hand written form available.
Richardson also said that the expectation is that if possible a student is to walk away from physical violence and contact a teacher. Richardson acknowledges that there may be situations where a student is cornered, or something of that nature and if not able to walk away may be forced to defend himself or herself.