Home

General Information

About Us


CVC Audit Information Download


Contact Us


Display Advertising


Ad Sizes and Samples


Classified Advertising

Communities

Communities Served


Community Resources

-$- Online Store -$-

Digital Online Subscription


Order A Classified Ad Online


Place Assumed Name Notice


Cook County Legals Printed Here


Kane County Name Change - $85


Place Obituary Notice


Download Sample Paper

Submission of News

Engagement Submittal


Birth Announcements


News & Photos


Sports Scores

Lifestyle Features and Videos

Food and Lifestyle


Lifestyle Videos


Seasonal Widget


Crossword and Sudoku Puzzles


Mug Shot Mania News

Online News and Commentary

The Examiner U-46 News Feed


Cheap Seats 2024 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2023 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2022 By Rich Trzupek


Guest Seat By Harold Pease, Ph.D.


Cheap Seats 2021 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2020


Cheap Seats 2019


Cheap Seats 2018


Cheap Seats 2017


Cheap Seats 2016


Cheap Seats 2015 B


Cheap Seats 2015


Cheap Seats 2014


Cheap Seats 2013


Cheap Seats 2012


Cheap Seats 2011


Cheap Seats 2010


Ramey DUI Video


Representative Randy Ramey pleads guilty to DUI


Bartlett Volunteer Fire Department Street Dance


The Truth about Global Warming


Examiner Editorials and Cheap Seats from the past

Forms and Newsstand Locations

Newsstand Locations


Carriers needed


Legal Newspaper

The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Bartlett School parents reveal safety concerns


By Seth Hancock
  Parents and former employees at Bartlett Elementary School addressed the Board of Education in School District U-46 about the prison-like atmosphere rather than a place of education at their school during public comments on Monday, March 5.
  Kip Murphy, a father of a second grader, said his daughter has been physically threatened and bullied multiple times by a student and nothing has been done to punish the perpetrator. He said on one instance in November, he took his child out of school for six days before returning.
  Since that first instance, Murphy said another threat occurred on Feb. 21 his daughter’s life was threatened with the perpetrator saying he’d “get a real gun and shoot you in both eyes,” and he has kept his daughter home for eight days since that incident.
  Murphy said he filed a police report and he spoke to John Heiderscheidt, U-46’s director of school safety and culture, prior to the board meeting and Heiderscheidt told him “he has no record of this.”
  “Our daughter’s still out of school. I’m here tonight,” Murphy said. “I don’t want to be here. I would have liked to have been at the science fair last week where my daughter really wanted to go but he was there.”
  Murphy said he’s told the school his daughter will not return until the perpetrator is removed and was told “the school’s telling us, ‘you know, we don’t think that’s going to happen. We can move (Murphy’s daughter) around. We can punish your daughter for being the victim.’ It’s unreasonable, it’s not right and this is second grade”
  Referencing the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Murphy said there should be a “heightened awareness” of such troubled students. Multiple media reports from Parkland have shown that the government from the local school district all the way to the Federal Bureau of Investigation knew about that shooter and did nothing to prevent the shooting.
  Sara Lippold, co-president of the Parents and Teachers of Bartlett (PTB), and Diana Gunsteen said they both have current students at the school but also have future kindergartners, and they are looking at other options rather than sending them to the U-46 school.
  Lippold said that over the last two and a half years there’s been a “decline in the parent and teacher involvement within the school, the deterioration of teacher and student morale and the alienation of our parent-teacher organization” and “this has not happened overnight but is a culmination of measures taken by the principal,” Lorelei Keltner.
  “I do not feel valued and appreciated when I walk into the building but instead I feel as if I’ve walked into a hostile environment when I enter the office to volunteer,” Lippold said and added: “Yet, I persist. I persist because despite of this I’m dedicated to making our school the best that it can be for our kids.”
  There are evacuations of students over safety concerns on a “near daily basis” according to Lippold.
  “I have personally seen the fear and confusion on the children’s faces as they evacuated their classrooms yet again today while I was there and wonder why their fellow student is allowed to throw things, to tear papers from walls, to attack other students without any sort of repercussions,” Lippold said. “And I want to feel safe and comfortable sending my youngest to kindergarten at this school in another year, but frankly in this environment I cannot.”
  Gunsteen said “the culture has changed in our last five years there, and it’s not a fun place to learn anymore,” and she said entire grades are being punished for the “behavior of a few.”
  “I was told to tell my child to be a leader, to set the example,” Gunsteen said. “It’s hard for me to tell him to continue to do that when he behaves, he listens, he does everything he’s supposed to do yet he’s still punished with the entire grade.”
  One of those punishments, Gunsteen said, is that the school has locked up all equipment during recess and kids are told they can’t run or play but can only “walk and talk.”
  “That to me doesn’t sound like an elementary school, it sounds more like a jail yard to me,” Gunsteen said.
  Both Gunsteen and Lippold said they’ve followed district protocol on the chain of command and have attended Citizens’ Advisory Meetings around safety to address their concerns, but the district has done nothing.
  There were three more speakers, including a former Bartlett employee, and many others in the audience to support the speakers. Shelly Wolf, first vice president of the PTB, said many more parents and staff want to address their concerns but are “fearful that there would be consequences for their children, or their jobs” and asked the board to “please do not ignore the years of feedback” on Keltner.
  Following the comments, board member Jeanette Ward said she’s had personal experience with her children of whole classes being punished for the actions of a few and “I found it frustrating too,” and she asked if there’s a policy regarding that.
  U-46 CEO Tony Sanders said “I’m not aware of a specific board policy,” and “I’d have to look into the circumstances. I was not aware of this before.”
  Ward suggested the board look into crafting a policy. She asked regarding students physically threatening their peers what can be done since the district does not expel elementary students?
  “We don’t expel,” Sanders said. “There’s always the potential to suspend even a second grader, but no matter what we do students always come back. It’s really trying to find what do you do for that child when they do return to that classroom.”
  Ward responded that “the things that were shared here tonight are pretty serious if a second grader is saying that to other students, and I’ve heard other stories worse than that.” She asked: “What can we do to make sure the rest of the students are kept safe?”
  Sanders said that “I think we’re doing that on a regular basis” as Heiderscheidt regularly updates the board on safety practices.
  “I guess my concern is that we’re letting bad behavior continue under the guise of helping, and we end up hurting other students by doing that and that makes me sad,” Ward said.
  Board member Veronica Noland said she “can appreciate” that, but the child who is making the threats needs to be thought of.
  “This is a delicate balance in protecting the students that are in the class and that particular student that is perhaps creating this environment and is lashing out,” Noland said and added: “I just want to caution everyone on not assuming that it’s really just one side or the other.”
  Noland also said she was concerned about the privacy of the perpetrator saying and that the public needs to trust the administration.
  “We have to be careful about what we can presume should be shared information and how they might be handling it,” Noland said. “I’m going to believe that this is being handled at the highest level and that safety is the upmost concern. I can’t imagine that that’s not the case here.”
  Board member Traci Ellis said she wants “a commitment on the part of the district to follow up with this parent, with the school and look into what is happening and resolve it. I don’t know what’s happening. I’ve heard one side. I don’t know. It’s not really my job to know that level of detail, but I think that this full board would want this addressed.”
  Ward responded: “I agree with that statement.”
  Board member Phil Costello applauded the speakers saying “I think it was moving, and I think it needs to be dealt with,” and suggested the board needs to focus on process.
  “We just need to have a process in place to deal with the escalation and protect all students, even the perpetrators in these situations,” Costello said. “They deserve our care, but we have to take care of all students to make sure that everyone has the ability to enjoy school.”

.

.

.




©2024 Examiner Publications, Inc.

Website Powered by Web Construction Set