Rochester Concerned Taxpayers

After being reported in this Fosters article, Sue O’Connor went before the school board to further rectify the situation regarding this incident where her grandson was the victim of aggression by another classmate.

She told the board at their September 10th meeting:

1. I am here regarding a matter that occurred on the third day of school that has me greatly upset and concerned for the safety of all children in the Rochester School District. My grandson was attacked without provocation on Friday. The attacking child is coded. Why is it that the School Department allows such violent children mainstreamed with the typical child?

2. The family was notified by the nurse approximately 1-1/2 to 2 hours after the incident, we still have no time frame as to when this incident occurred. The nurse felt that his injuries warranted ice packs on his neck, the parent should have been notified that instant. The nurse felt the need to check on my grandson a second time before calling home. The excuse, she might have gotten busy. This is a poor excuse. My grandson received finger mark bruises on his neck, scratches on his throat and by bedtime the red marks on his ribs had finally faded.

3. The School Department has a policy manual to address these issues. JGD-R3 -Simple Assault Notification Policy. This policy was not and has not been followed.

4. There is also JGD-R1 Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Reporting of Acts of Theft, Destruction or Violence. This also has not been followed.

5. RSA 193-F:2 Pupil Safety and Violence Prevention. The General Court for the state of New Hampshire hereby finds that pupils have the right to attend schools that are safe, secure, and peaceful. One of the legislature’s highest priorities must be to protect our children from violence by dealing with harassment, including “bullying”, in our public schools. This does not occur.

6. RSA-193-F:3 Pupil Safety and Violence Prevention. This is not happening.

7. House Bill No. 360 requires that each school district adopt, implement, and enforce its own pupil safety and violence prevention policy and provides that the state board of education shall issue a technical assistance advisory to school districts offering guidance on how to proceed.

8. Are the other parents going to be notified that there is a violent child in the classroom?

9. I have the utmost respect for my grandson’s teacher regarding this situation, how she has handled it, and the difficult situation the school has put her in. She motivated and gave my older grandson a love of school and we are still hoping that she will be able to help this child overcome this.

10. Today was my grandson’s meltdown day. We walked to school and he sat on the curb and did not want to go in. The school guidance counselor came out to help. She gave me a quick overview of how she was going to handle the situation, gave my grandson a hug and asked me to leave quickly. I felt comfortable with her plan. Why is it then that the principal negated that plan took my grandson crying to his classroom thus disrupting his class, but the administration then had to go and pull his older brother out of class to try and comfort him. What was her reasoning for interfering? Obviously it had nothing to do with the best interest of the child. Why are we paying for guidance counselors if they are not going to be allowed to do their job?

11. I realize we are dealing with young children with different personalities and different backgrounds, but violence begets violence, and a double standard is created. In the eyes of the children in that class nothing happened to this child for attacking my grandson so they do not understand why they get punished when they act up.

12. Taking this issue on a case-by-case basis/wait and see attitude is unacceptable. This child obviously has issues that the school is not equipped to handle. We are overly concerned with the special needs children, but the rights of the typical child seems to have been totally forgotten. The education of our children is being severely curtailed in an effort to supposedly give every child an adequate education. We need to make sure that our children get an education that makes them superior to none, because they are going to have to support these children for the rest of everyone’s life.

13. What are the consequences of the typical child who defends him/herself when this child or any child attacks again? I am positive that the outcome for them will not be as light as the outcome of the special needs child. Again, why are we not protecting the other children in the classroom?

14. This family was contacted by the New Hampshire State Board of Education today regarding this matter. They stated that the case was closed. My daughter argued with the gentleman who called stating that the entire matter was not handled appropriately. The inspector will be contacting Mr. Hopkins again. The state did acknowledge that this was a coded special education student and implied that typical children have no rights, how wrong he was. Additionally and somewhat disturbing, the gentleman from the state stated there was an issue with the computer system with the phone numbers making it difficult to contact the parents. My question is why do the parents fill out paperwork at the beginning of each year for each child. If the computer is down go back to the paperwork. There are approximately 9 numbers for contacts for this child. This has obviously become a liars contest. Obviously, this has also become a cover up of the inept way the entire situation has been handled.

15. I would encourage every single parent in this city to contact their child’s teacher or principal or school board representative to find what is going on in their child’s class, I think you will be shocked as this is not an isolated incident. My grandson had a violent student in his class and it took several months of constant classroom disruption to solve the problem, which he did himself by throwing a chair at the teacher. I toured all the schools in Rochester this year with Mrs. Gates. When we were at the Maple Street School we were warned that there were not one but two volatile students who had a propensity to attack individuals coming into the classroom. Again, why are these children mainstreamed when they have the potential to inflict harm on others?

16. My next step has been to advise my family to speak to an attorney.