“Blatant disrespect” by students toward staff at Armstrong Middle School has prompted Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Superintendent Eddie Peasant to email parents that if the behavior continues, law enforcement will be called to remove students and even parents from campus.
Peasant sent the email Tuesday night after what he described as “disrespectful and disruptive behaviors” had become so commonplace at the middle school that it was interfering with the learning environment.
“I’ve discussed these inappropriate and unacceptable behaviors with students, parents, teachers and administrators, and I am providing you with this information to make you aware of my expectations and my directions for the remainder of the year,” he says in the email.
Peasant did not return calls to The Dispatch to comment further on the students’ behavior, but his email makes reference to students threatening school staff and using “abusive, profane, vulgar or indecent language.” He emphasized any student — or parent — who uses such language will be escorted from campus.
In the email, Peasant also urges parents to address their children’s school behavior at home.
“Remind them of what is appropriate and what is not appropriate in the school setting and warn them of the consequences of their actions if they choose to act with disrespect or disruptive behavior,” he says.
Neither AMS Principal Julie Kennedy nor Assistant Principal Ra’Mon Forbes returned calls from The Dispatch by press time.
The Dispatch has also requested the number and nature of complaints filed with the school resource officer at AMS this school year. The district has yet to provide that information.
In an emailed statement to The Dispatch, SOCSD Public Information Officer Nicole Thomas said Peasant sent the email to ensure parents were aware of and could address the discipline issues at AMS.
“It was important to Dr. Peasant to address the issues he referenced in the letter and to speak directly to parents of Armstrong Middle School students,” Thomas said.
Board works to change discipline policy
SOCSD School Board President John Brown and Vice President Debra Prince both said they were unaware of specific incidents or what prompted Peasant to address parents, but both agreed student behavior tends to worsen closer to the end of the year. The last day of school for students is May 23.
“I don’t know any particulars of anything specific that happened prior to the email,” Prince said. “It’s just that time of the year, the middle school students needed a great reminder, but I don’t know if anything specifically happened to trigger that email.”
Brown added behavioral issues at SOCSD — and specifically AMS — have prompted the board to look at revising some discipline policies within the district. He said he’s specifically concerned that suspending students doesn’t address disciplinary issues.
“Instead of suspending, maybe try evening classes,” Brown said. “We are trying to avoid sending students home, because a lot of them are saying ‘I want to go home.’ Hopefully we will have a plan in place for next school year. They need to stay in school as much as they can and as long as they can.”
Brown said the board has not taken any action but hopes to have a new policy in place before next school year. He added school administrators will visit districts that have similar programs, such as evening classes, to see the logistics and success of those districts.
“(We are) just trying to come up with something better,” Brown said. “What we are doing is working to a point, but everybody loses if the student is out of class. It costs us money, costs them valuable class time and it reflects back on the teacher because (they) can’t teach them if they’re not there.”
Prince said, in her opinion, parental involvement would dwindle discipline issues.
“In addition to having consequences, we also have to use every teaching opportunity we have. We have to also try to identify why we are seeing inappropriate behaviors and come up with some effective strategies to change those behaviors,” she said. “… In my perfect kind of world, we would just continue to have more community and parent involvement. We don’t have to wait for things to go wrong, if more people engaged with the educational system on an ongoing basis and stay informed on what’s going on.”
Brown agreed with Prince, claiming parental involvement was the major benefiting factor with student discipline issues.
“Parents have got to have that talk (Peasant) alluded to in the email and teach their children what’s appropriate and what’s inappropriate,” Brown said. “They need to respect the teachers and administrators of a school system. Parents have got to set the example for their children and support the administration and teachers.”
Brown added, while the majority of parents do teach respect, those students that are “acting out” create a difficult learning environment for well-behaved students.
“Some of the problems with children you’re having today (is) some of those parents are having a tough job because they are single parents,” he said. “They don’t have the adult supervision of their children in hand; therefore, they have problems. It takes the parent involvement.”
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