Multiple concerned residents question school safety, offer solutions ... - Lock Haven Express
TIM WEIGHT/FOR THE EXPRESS A crowd of concerned citizens gathered in the Central Mountain High School auditorium for a special meeting regarding the district's on-going safety concerns at CMHS.
MILL HALL — Limited cellphone usage in schools; increased presence of security officers; improved behavioral and mental health resources.
These possible solutions were brought to the Keystone Central School District Board of Directors during a public meeting regarding safety in the district — specifically at Central Mountain High School.
The meeting, held Wednesday night in the high school's auditorium, followed continued requests from the public and an alleged attack in a school bathroom. The incident occurred in February and, according to the Clinton County District Attorney, involved a female student allegedly beating another student while several other students stood by, recording the incident.
Prior to this incident, a few CMHS seniors voiced concerns about the safety issues at the school, particularly in the bathrooms. These concerns, coupled with the most recent act of violence at the school, prompted the special meeting held Wednesday evening to discuss safety and security at CMHS.
Dietrich, who hosted the event, began the meeting by explaining, "the focus of tonight's meeting is to generate ideas that we can potentially implement within the next month or so."
TIM WEIGHT/FOR THE EXPRESS Greg Walker was among those who spoke.
"Since the purpose of tonight is to gather some ideas, I am asking that you please stick to that topic," Dietrich added.
School board members were asked to listen to the concerns and suggestions, and not offer comment.
In place of answering questions, board member Elisabeth Lynch wrote key points from each speaker on an easel, which were not easily visible to those in the crowd.
At the conclusion of each speaker's presentation, Dietrich summarized each visitor's remarks in a bullet point format written on the easel, but without commenting or answering any questions regarding any of the issues addressed by the visitors who spoke.
The nine speakers featured two parents, one of current students within the district; and another of alumni.
TIM WEIGHT/FOR THE EXPRESS Cindy Culvey was among those who spoke.
Greg Walker is the father of four children; three of which are still attending KCSD. He stated that his children love their teachers, but they do not like coming to school.
Walker said how the district responds to violence isn't his main concern, noting by that time it's "simply too late."
Walker's interests were based on preventing violence through good behavioral and mental health resources for students in need of them.
"The human resources at this school, highly educated professionals, every single one of them, might be wasted. I am not confident that the administration learns from them. That is an excellent example to set at an educational institution. And the school has a policy: See something, say something. I am deeply concerned that the violence at this school could get much worse," he continued. "We don't experience school shootings until we do."
Janelle Miller, a mother of two alumni, said she has a background in child protection, juvenile probation and children's mental health. She currently substitute teaches within KCSD.
TIM WEIGHT/FOR THE EXPRESS KCSD Board President David Dietrich and Board member Elisabeth Lynch took down ideas from the speakers on a whiteboard as the meeting progressed.
Miller said cellphones are a place to start in curbing issues at CMHS.
"I think that a lot of the trouble, that I've witnessed anyway, begins with the use of cell phones in school," Miller said. "Shared messages just spread like wildfire, and as I understand it, teachers are not permitted to take phones away from the students."
Superintendent Jacqueline Martin said the cellphone policy is currently under cyclical review.
The policy currently states, "devices must be turned off and in (communal device storage or backpack) upon entering instructional areas unless the instructor has granted specific permission."
Miller suggested students be required to place their phones in a designated area of every classroom for the duration of class time and retrieve them at the end of the class block.
TIM WEIGHT/FOR THE EXPRESS KCSD Board members are pictured listening to a speaker at the special meeting on student safety concerns at the district.
"Specific, consistent consequences for negative behavior do not seem to be understood by all the staff. I would suggest that parents be contacted every time after every incident of negative behavior. A parent cannot be expected to address their children's behavior if they are unaware of it. It's been my experience that at times being inconvenienced as a parent makes phone calls from the school more serious," she pointed out.
In addition to these suggestions, Miller also asserted that after-school detention be revisited. If parents are inconvenienced by having to pick up their student(s) after detention, they're more likely to take their behavior more seriously, she said.
"I'd like to suggest that the idea of after-school detention be revisited. Currently, detention is simply sitting in this room for the last block of the day," she said. "It's not effective. It doesn't impact anybody in a negative way."
Miller's thoughts on after-school detention resonate. She pointed out that if parents have to pick up their child after school hours, it serves as an inconvenience to them and perhaps that would lead to a parent's willingness to address their child's behavior at school.
Miller filled in as a substitute at CMHS earlier Wednesday and confirmed that the teachers are monitoring both the halls and the restrooms, however, she made a valid point: "Our high school is ginormous. It is gigantic. There's no way for staff to be everywhere all the time."
Mary Ann Clark, a Primary election candidate for the board's Region I seat, asked questions and offered ideas to combat the issues at hand.
"I think the best way to address some of these issues is to try to prevent them," Clark said. "If the students that instigate the bullying, inappropriate and sometimes criminal behavior, are receiving mental health services, are those services producing results? Are there benchmarks that the service providers are supposed to meet and are they being met?"
Clark mentioned her experience working for the Commonwealth Department of Corrections. Regarding the training she'd received before working at the correctional institute, Clark stated that "one tool to combat bad behavior is a show of force."
She asked if the district has the ability to ramp up its security team and make them more visible within the school.
"Perhaps not in groups of two or more, but by increasing the amount of time spent outside of the actual security office," she said.
Clark highlighted the current procedure in place for situations requiring the security team to write a citation to a student. She said this procedure increases paperwork loads and requires subsequent off-campus time to attend hearings at the District Magistrate's Office.
"If the emphasis were more on visibility and positive engagement, particularly with the students that are initiating the bad behavior, some of the citations and in turn, off-campus time could be reduced as well," she said.
If funding is available to hire more officers, Clark asked if it would be possible to hire a support person to process paperwork, enter data and monitor release grades to free up an officer's time.
Two seniors at CMHS offered their own take on the issues at the school, and their suggested solutions. First of which was Christopher Corbin.
"Students are unsure of their safety. Parents are unsure if their resources are being used effectively," Corbin. "Teachers are unsure if they will be given the support they need to enforce the rules, which leads to the administration."
Corbin continued passionately, "I mean no disrespect when I call out to you, honorable board members. However, these efforts are not enough. The halls of the high school are filled with profanity, violence and substance abuse. Yet the response to calls for relief at the board meeting two weeks ago was this committee. It is a step in the right direction, but it fails to grasp the simple truth of the matter. We must work together."
"The agenda for this meeting as stated on the website, and by your president Mr. Dietrich, calls for the discussion of 'ideas potentially doable within the next month,' Corbin continued. "I say to you this: A band-aid will not stop a bullet hole; any solution that is not systematically and permanently in the picture will not permanently fix the problem."
The audience, which had been relatively silent until this point erupted in applause.
Corbin continued, "this call for a fix is doable before the end of the school year, (which) also neatly coincides with the fact that many school board members are up for reelection. While I hope it is not the case, it might appear to the layman that this meeting is not a chance to shore up campaigns for this coming election,"
Corbin pointed out before exclaiming, "Prove otherwise board members! Prove that you are servants of the public and not of ambition. Create a council of students, teachers and parents with the board as its president that meets on a regular basis to discuss these issues. Not as speeches to the boards, but as ideas to be explored."
Another senior at the high school, Rebecca Muthler, addressed the board for the third time this school year. Muthler has consistently delivered her concerns and suggestions to the board since February.
Muthler pointed out that a negative stigma is attached to CMHS due to some students bad conduct.
"The Keystone Central School District motto is 'Respect for Yesterday, Pride in Today and Plans for Tomorrow.' Although this is a good saying, it doesn't really reflect our school," she said. "What did we respect yesterday? What are we prideful of today? And what are we planning for tomorrow?"
"There is hardly any respect on a daily basis in this building. Students cut classes, roam the halls, talk back to teachers and don't get along with their peers," she said.
Muthler suggested adding student representatives to the school board would be beneficial.
"To get plans in place and plans carried out, we need to work together as a community. I believe we can do this by having student representatives on the school board," she explained.
"I have been told to voice my concerns through the student government instead of public meetings. But how can I do that when the student council is in charge of organizing events such as Senior Ball and the Senior Trip? They are not in charge of anything else," she said. "What the student government used to be is no longer in this high school."
Muthler explained that her class president, and student council, have no power to make change because neither group is what it used to be.
Before concluding, Muthler spoke about what she would change at the school if she had to choose.
"If I had to choose just one thing to change as soon as possible, I would choose to persuade everyone to work as a community. I would like to see student government come back to what it used to be, and I would like to see a good group of students and teachers represent the student and staff population as a seat on the board," she said.
Sharon Wagner returned for the second time to address the board, after her daughter suffered what was allegedly a brutal attack in one of the high school bathrooms.
"I'm just gonna get right to the point," Wagner stated. "We need to bring back detention. These kids have no consequences. They're out-of-school suspensions are vacations to them. If maybe their parents were inconvenienced with having to pick them up after school, maybe something would be done."
Wagner suggested better monitoring of the bathrooms and hallways, possibly by hiring a female resource officer to serve as a bathroom attendant.
"Back to your resource officers. You need to hire a female. You need to get females into bathrooms, or somebody who can go into those bathrooms. These kids know that bathrooms are not watched by teachers or whoever. You also need to have the teachers start standing outside their classrooms in between classes," she asserted.
A point not previously made by any other visitor, and not yet discussed by the school board, is the repercussions for the students who did nothing to help Wagner's daughter when she was attacked.
Rather than go find help to stop the incident, it is alleged that as many as 28 girls were in the restroom during the altercation, many of whom were there for the purpose of recording the incident.
"There needs to be consequences for people witnessing these fights and not doing anything. You need to be prepared. The parents really need to start taking a front on that and hold them accountable. Tell your kids, 'you see something, you say something'; don't stand there and let it happen," she said.
Wagner suggested students with a history of infractions should be placed on a list due to their repeated behavior. They can then be monitored more closely, thereby preventing future conflicts.
After Wagner, Chris Scaff addressed the board with his thoughts. Scaff is another Primary election candidate for the board's Region I seat.
"I had a whole list of things that I wanted to say, but it's all already been said," Chris continued, pointing out that security officers are limited in terms of what actions they are permitted to take.
"I know the state micromanages everything that everybody in here does, but you have a bunch of officers standing around this room and you folks put the handcuffs on them," he said. "You folks need to get involved. If the state says you can't do this, you can't do that, then you folks need to find a way to get around it."
"Support members, you need to support the kids because the kids someday are going to sit where you're at. And as for the guys wearing badges in here, they're told, 'well, you can't do this, you can't do that.' What are they even there for? You've got to let them do their job. They're the pros," he said.
Scaff concluded his brief presentation by demanding that the board find a way to make positive change happen. Applause resounded in the auditorium at the conclusion of Scaff's final statement,
"Everything I had written down on my list has been said in here, two or three times and I'm not going to keep repeating it," he said. "Instead, I'm going to ask you folks to get off your cushioned chairs and make this list happen. It's time to get down to business."
Second to last on the list of speakers was Michele Whitney, a local activist and Primary election candidate for Clinton County Commissioner.
"The scope of this board meeting to discuss civil violence was defined as narrow, and that focus was to be only on concerns and possible solutions for our district's deep-rooted issues of violence," Whitney said. "As I see it, it's not really about the violence as much as it is the disconnect that exists, and brushing issues under the rug."
Whitney noted the continued point that a significant number of girls were in the bathroom the day the alleged attack took place in CMHS.
"Depending on who you speak with, the number of girls who gathered to watch the beating of a young girl is around 27 or 28," she said.
She expressed her concerns about the number of girls who are rumored to have been present during the attack, questioning how a group of that size could congregate in the bathrooms to begin with.
Another of her concerns was directly related to the school board members or lack thereof:
"My second concern is the board itself, not the members, but the content of it," she said. "Why is there no student representation on the board? They are one of the most important factors. Where are the student school board members?"
Whitney used other schools, such as State College Area School District, as examples of how including students on the school board could be successful before stating:
"How can you, board members, have any idea what's going on in the district when there's no student representation on the board to tell you? There's no guidance from the very people who are the most important."
The last to speak at the meeting was Cindy Culvey, who focused her concerns primarily on the use of cell phones in the high school.
"I think cell phones should absolutely be a zero tolerance. We have a rule that says no cell phones. Why do kids have them? If the teachers can't take them, that's why we have officers," Culvey said. "The teachers should have access to a way to communicate with these officers the entire school day."
"When (teachers) have a child in a classroom that has a cell phone out, an officer should be notified and should escort the child out of the room and the cell phone should be confiscated," she said.
Culvey's disdain for cell phone use by students during the school day potentially stems from an incident that occurred to her granddaughter.
"I saw a video of my granddaughter, somebody walking up behind her and punching her in the back of the head probably 10 or 12 times," she said. "That entire fight was on video. That doesn't happen if it's not premeditated… I saw the fight that happened a few weeks ago in the girls' restroom. That also doesn't happen if it's not premeditated."
Culvey surmised that what is occurring at the high school with cell phone use is premeditated attacks — a student who intends to start a fight coordinates with another student to ensure that the incident will be recorded. She also claims that CMHS students upload videos of fights to a website for others to view.
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