Can we get a little zero tolerance here, please?
A 13-year-old Denver girl said she was threatened with a knife at her middle school and her hair was set on fire, yet she was the one who was told to stay home for the remainder of the school year while her alleged attacker wasn't suspended or even investigated.
Courtney Glowczewski has a small right arm and leg because of cerebral palsy, a disability that her teachers say has not kept her from working hard in school and being a good student...But her physical appearance has made her a target of taunting and of physical attack, which she said has never been addressed by the administration at Martin Luther King Middle School. Last week, she said the bullying got worse when she said she was threatened and assaulted by a seventh grade boy.
"He pulled out a knife, a silver knife, a pocket knife, and then he said 'What!?' So I was scared and didn't know what to do," said Glowczewski.
As she walked to her seat she smelled smoke and one of her classmates was patting her hard on the back.
"I looked and there was a black spot on the back of my shirt. And then I saw some black hair falling from my hair," said Glowczewski. Her hair was on fire and the other student said that she was trying to help put it out.
Her mother, Sherrie, was called to school when her daughter reported the incident to the assistant principal. Sherrie Glowczewski was outraged when she was told by the administration at Martin Luther King that her daughter didn't need to come back and not to worry about the tests...
7NEWS discovered that while Glowczewski was sent home, her alleged attacker is still in school, even though administrators confirmed he had a knife.
The interim principal is "admitting mistakes." Imagine my surprise.
I'm sensing a pattern here. Have a weapon anywhere on your body, in your locker, or in your car, and you're out of school for good. But actually use the weapon, and the school will just freak out and send the victim home (the better to distance themselves from lawsuits). My, what a great message this sends to miscreants and concerned parents everywhere.
I can already predict the advice half of my readers will give to Ms. Glowczewski: "Homeschool!" And they'd be right.
(Thanks to Devoted Reader and mathematical genius Mike McKeown for the link.)
Update: More than one blogger was outraged by this story; Jim Peacock did something about it.
I sent an email to Mark Stevens, Director of Public Information for Denver Public Schools, and received a response yesterday. Reviewing the post and comments at WizBang shows that it is a form response. Still, it is more than I expected and it appears that the school is now working in good faith to correct the situation.
Posted by kswygert at May 27, 2004 10:10 PM