Letter to all ....

I am the parent of the sophomore student that was attacked at KGHS on Feb 4th and I attended the school board meeting on March 14, 2011, where the subject was school safety.
I sat at this meeting with my son as all of the public comments were made, and I am very disheartened at how Lynn Pardee handled herself during this time. There were parents and speakers addressing the issues they have and how the school board has failed each of these children and the community and Ms. Pardee was laughing, smiling and just making it all a big joke. 
My son has been through more than any normal teenager should have to go through while attending high school and here this women sat mocking him, laughing in his face and acting like all of these comments were just made up because all of us parents just got bored and needed something to do. This is a serious problem for my family and many others that live in this community and all the time she just laughed.  The three boys that had to stand there and watch her laughing and grinning should never have had to witness this from anyone. No one should make fun of any child and especially a child that has been threatened, beaten, or abused by the system. Two of these boys were bullied and here she sat bullying them more. Was what happens to them not bad enough that she has to add insult to injury?
Then to make a statement after all of the parents had left saying that she felt bullied and threatened? Has she lost her mind? No one threatened her or bullied her, but she sat there in her chair all high and mighty and bullied these boys, and the rest of the board sat there and let her.  This community wonders why our school systems are not doing anything about our children being bullied. Why should they? They are bullies themselves. Lynn Pardee proved it to all of us on Monday night March 14th.
Pardee further insulted everyone there by saying bullying starts at home and her people were doing their best and the parents were at fault. My son will never be the same and this women’s horribly insensitive behavior made it even worse.
 I am emailing this letter to all the school board members, board of supervisors, administrators, and the Virginia Department of Education.  I have done this with all of my emails, I do not expect a response from the schools, as not responding is their way of pretending no one ever contacted them and they didn’t know anything about it.  I have been told they can’t talk to me because they have to ask Candace what they should say or how they should act. I’m still waiting for a response from my last email.
King George Parent
For your reference:
Bullying is a form of abuse. It involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person's (or group's) power over another person (or group), thus an "imbalance of power". [2] The "imbalance of power" may be social power and/or physical power. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a target. Bullying types of behavior are often rooted in a would-be bully's inability to empathize with those whom he or she would target.

This letter was sent to the local newspaper.
This is what i got in return:
I recived two very thoughtful emails from our board of supervisor, with great concern and asked that we keep them up to date on all going ons.

This is one of them:

I just wanted to let you know that I've been paying attention to all that you, your son, and your family have been through over the last few weeks.  I'm certainly sorry that you have had to deal with such troubling circumstances and want you to know that many in our great community have expressed their concern and support for you. 
I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,

Thank I got this email: from a school board member:

I am sorry that you have construed Mrs. Pardee's gestures and attitude in such a negative way. She is one of the most polite and caring people that I know, especially when it comes to all of the children in our schools. Knowing Mrs. Pardee as I do,  I can safely say that she was smiling at the children at the podium in a gesture of assurance and friendliness and to make them feel comfortable in front of the School Board. I listened to Mrs. Pardee and interpreted  her comment about bullying starting at home to mean that parents should discuss the act of bullying with their children in the home.
As I told you in my email to you on March 1st, I am truly very sorry for what has happened to your son and also for the frustrations and anguish that you and your family must be going through after such an ordeal. I am anxiously awaiting the final results of the investigation of the incident, as well as the allegations inferred against the School Division on the handling of the incident. Until that time I cannot, and will not,  publicly comment on any information concerning this incident until all of the information has been presented.
As far as the Public Comment session on the School Board meeting last Monday evening, it is a time for the public to address the School Board on any issues that the public speaker would like to talk about. It is not an open forum or discussion session between the School Board and the Community. The School Board meetings are our business meeting in which we have a pre-advertised agenda of items for the evening. That doesn't mean that we don't listen to, or act upon the issues, concerns, or problems of the public speaker. We do. Occasionally during the Board Comment portion of the meeting,  we will try to address some of the issues of the evening that came up during public comment session, if we have some pertinent information in relation to the issue. But, we have to maintain the agenda and the purpose of the meeting. Some of the School Board representatives hold Town Hall  meetings within their districts throughout the year to provide that open forum for two-way discussions with the community as a whole. You also have the email addresses and phone numbers of each representative on the Board, who will listen and respond.
I don't know why you wouldn't expect a response from me on any email or telephone call that you send. The only email that I have received from you has been on March 1, 2011 at 3:55pm, in which I answered you that evening at 11:06PM. If there have been others, I have not received them. I generally prefer phone calls or face-to-face meetings over emails as the first line of communications.
Sincerely,

Take a look at this.....

I thought you guys would just love this.... http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/032011/03152011/613245

Update

I wanted to let everyone know that my son is now getting a home bound teachers and work from all his classes. He is trying hard to keep up his spirits and taking it day by day. He is a little worried because a lady (she is a dentist) seen him at a event and said he may have to have his jaw re broke, we will find out on the 24. He now has all the wires off but can not chew so is on soft food only.
I wanted to take this chance to let you all see what else is going on in our school systems. The following link is another child in the local Elem school that got held by knife point on school grounds.
I have email address if anyone would like to send emails on behalf of my child and this child. Just send me an email and i will give them to you.
Here is the link:
http://www.journalpress.com/king-george/2458-knife-to-students-throat-merits-12-day-suspension

Just an update from the local Newspaper.

I justwantedto make sure you all had the inks to follow this in our local newspaper:
http://www.journalpress.com/king-george/2411-sophomore-suffers-jaw-fractures-in-cafeteria-attack
http://www.journalpress.com/king-george/2430-suffering-sophomore-remains-at-home
http://www.journalpress.com/king-george/2418-wow
http://www.journalpress.com/king-george/2418-wow
We go to the doctor tomorrow. I will let you all know how it goes.
Again, THANK YOU!! so much for your support

School system= BIG FAT FAIL

KGHS

To those of you that do not know…. This is one thing you should care about...

My son was brutally attacked at school on Feb 4^th, 2011 in the school cafeteria. Seven hours before this attack, he went to the vice principal and told them he was going to be jumped. 

What did the school do to protect him?? NOTHING!!! 

The three boys jumped my son as soon as he stood up to leave during lunch period and sucker punched him in the side of the jaw. One of these boys was wearing a class ring. After he hit the ground, one boy continued to beat on him as if he was a punching bag. A Good Samaritan jumped in and got this big boy off my son and was then attacked by the boy and two others. While the two other boys continued to beat on the Good Samaritan, the first boy (with the ring) went back to beating on my son. 

They broke his jaw in three places…requiring him to go to the ER and be transferred to another hospital  an hour and a half away to have another doctor look at him. He then had to go through a four hour surgery to fix his face. They sent him home with his jaw wired shut and unable to eat or drink anything unless it was through a straw.

The school not only failed to protect my son from this attack, but  they also kicked him out of school for 10 days along with the only person who came to help him.

All this because of the county's zero tolerance policy. 

We live in a place where they expect our children to walk away... ok I understand this, but when there are three boys beating you down, you can no longer walk away. There is no choice but to stand and fight as best you can.  

In the days after the fight, we have been able to get both my son and his defender reinstated into the school with this 10 day suspension pulled off their records; a record they should have never had in the first place.

You send your children to school to learn and expect them to feel safe while they are there… 

• Was my son safe? 
• Where was the school when all this was happening? 
• If they were there to help him why did the fight last so long, over five minutes?

The boy that threw the first punch was kicked out of school for 10 days.  This was on a Friday and it took them until Wednesday of the following week to arrest this kid. He spent two days in juvenile correction facility and was arrainged to house arrest with an ankle bracelet. 

Do you know that this child with a felony charge on him and an ankle bracelet is allowed to return to school at the end of his ten days? No questions asked. He is allowed right back in to hurt someone else.

When the school was asked if it was common practice to have children in their school with ankle bracelets on and a felony charge over their head, they replied with "Yes, we have children here with ankle bracelets and some we know have them but not as to why they have them, or others we don’t know at all."

Don’t you feel this should be common practice to protect our children? 

The schools should know who these kids are and why they have ankle bracelets on and whether they are violent or have done a violent crime. Are my children safe? These are all questions that run through my mind when they stated this.

After my son told the school he was going to be jumped they failed to protect him, but the children involved were given a 10 day vacation and allowed to return to school while my son is at home recovering and worrying about his future. They have threatened my child’s life and the lives of his friends, and the school system has done nothing.    

What do we have to do to ensure the safety of our children? When they are attacked who will be there to protect them? If your child is beaten for five minutes before it's broken up, what would have happened if the attacker had a knife or another type of weapon? 

Our county's school system has failed us. The school system cannot protect our children if they allow violent felons to walk the halls of our school and to do as they please. They continue to terrorize whoever they please and the school refuses to do anything because "they are entitled to an education."


Aren't my children entitled to an education in a safe learning environment? Shouldn't my children be able to get an education without fear?