Two weeks ago Heriberto Hernandez was not smiling as he made a desperate public plea before the Board of Education: His fourth-grade son was not getting the help or medication he needed from school officials. Absence-triggered suspensions resulted. Now that has changed.
It is now clear that what Hernandez received two weeks ago was far more than a sympathetic hearing from the board. He got action.
Hernandez reported on the progress of his case at Saturday’s meeting of the kids’ advocacy group, Teach Our Children (TOC), at the downtown library branch. Hernandez (pictured with TOC organizer Nilda Aponte) suggested how to get things done in the New Haven Public School (NHPS) system: Work in concert with other parents. If you must, go to the top, as he did on Jan. 28.
His son’s one hour of special ed instruction per week at the Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy, he told some 25 parents gathered in the main library’s community room, has been upped to three hours.
And there was more good news to report: A special bus is now picking Enrique up and bringing him home. There’s a new program school officials are looking into so he can finally have some hope of making academic strides.
Most important, Clemente staff now know that on days when a nurse isn’t at school, a staff member can administer Enrique’s pill to help control his Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). This mis-understanding by the school staff, resulting in the boy’s acting out, had created the most recent crisis.
Reducing the growing number of school suspensions, and gaining a clear understanding of what are grounds for suspension, emerged as a top TOC agenda item for 2009.
Right now not only is the number of suspensions growing, but there is also confusion among parents such as Cynthia Ballard (in the middle) and Kelly Moye, whose kids go to Conte/West Hills. Ballard’s second-grade son Bentley had recently been suspended for the fourth time, she said, “for bullying.” This last incident, she said, was especially distressing.
“My son was asked by a little girl if some article of clothing, a mitten, I believe,” she said, “was his. Bentley said it was. Then the girl tossed it into the trash can. Bentley leaned over to retrieve it, to the best of my understanding, and in the process the girl got pushed over. She wasn’t hurt, but it was a scene. Bentley said the teachers told him they would discuss it the next morning. But that very afternoon, I received a call at 4:40, mind you, that he was being suspended.”
“In these bullying situations,” said Kelly Moye, there are several kids always involved. They’re little, like Bentley, and on the receiving end of stuff, and then things happen, and it’s often the second or third kid who fouls and gets caught. Really little kids don’t know how to handle bullying. There needs to be more of a context of understanding this.”
Fortunately for Ballard, the principal at Conte/West Hills, whom both Ballard and Moye praised, suggested that Ballard be in touch with Moye, an involved parent who drops his child off every morning at school. Moye has as a result become Bentley’s mentor. He sits with him at breakfast and they talk. “Kids just want to be heard,” said Moye.
“This policy needs to get clarified. The staff at Conte/West Hills prefers not to suspend but to work things out. Still there needs to be some context and some consistency.”
Moye said he feels that all the kids at Conte/West Hills are his kids. Since he was a member of TOC, he asked Ballard to come to the Saturday TOC meeting to hear Hernandez and others talk about their experiences. She was very glad she came.
So far the suspension issue with Enrique Hernandez seems also to be working out. Officials, said his father, have erased from his son’s record, most if not all of Enrique’s absences, since most were caused by behaviors due to mismanagement or mis communication by school staff of his medication.
Patti Avallone, the Title One Supervisor for the BOE, who handles much of the system’s parent engagement training and attended the TOC meeting, said that the superintendent was himself eager to bring consistency to suspension policy and to reduce the incidence. She said he already had had several meetings with various parent groups for their input.
TOC was not included, however. Vallone said they should be and she’d try in future to make sure they were at the table.
For previous installments in the Independent’s series on parental involvement in local schools, click on:
Dad Goes To The Top, Gets Results
Parents, M&Ms Join In Math Lesson
Brandon Aims For The Blue Shirt
Night-Shift Waitress Hangs Up Apron
Dad Meets The Teachers. All Of ‘Em
Ms. Lopez Moves Brandon’s Seat
Night-Shift Waitress Gets Xena To Class On Time
Fifth-Graders Get “Amistadized”
Board of Ed To Parents: Get Involved!
Task Force Hones Plan for Kids
The New St. Martin DePorres Comes Home
Good-Bye Recess. Hello Take 10.
