Daquan Wilson is a nine-year-old student at Elkins Elementary in Kensington (a neighborhood in Philadelphia). He got beaten up in June this year by three bullies on the playground - and the school system's solution was to hire a bodyguard for him, because the bullies are still in school:
No one knows what prompted the June 17 attack...Daquan was repeatedly kicked by the three boys, [his mother] said. Later, he was seen by the school nurse and when he came home from school, his mother took him to the hospital. He was treated at Temple Children's Hospital for a gash to the back of his head and released, she said.
The three attackers were suspended for two days, June 18 and 19, the last two days of the school year. The students were not transferred to a disciplinary school because their actions did not rise to that level, said district spokesman Vincent Thompson. In addition, Thompson explained, the three did not deny their actions and their parents cooperated fully with the district's investigation during the summer.
But Wilson is incensed that two of the three attackers still attend Elkins, and that her son has been assigned a bodyguard. She now wants to transfer Daquan out of the school.
She should be mad. So the kids admitted to the attack - yet that merits only two days of suspension? And the district is concerned enough to hire a bodyguard (which can only make Daquan feel more ostracized), yet can't find a way to punish the bullies even further? The school is claiming the mother requested the bodyguard, yet she said she first heard about it during a meeting with school officials. I'm more inclined to trust the mom's story - it's hard to believe that a mother could force a school to pay for a bodyguard when the school's story is that the bullies' actions don't merit a transfer.
The attackers - and their parents - are serving five weeks of Saturday morning detention this fall. But the bodyguard's presence suggests that either the school or Daquan's mom doesn't believe that the detention will do much good.
Posted by kswygert at September 15, 2003 04:51 PM