East Hamilton Middle School parents are forming a committee to ensure administrators follow through on their promise to enforce disciplinary policies and procedures starting immediately.
After continued issues with student misbehavior, around 200 parents gathered at the school Thursday evening to demand change. Incidents have become so prevalent and disruptive that their children can't learn, parents said at the meeting.
But what concerned them most was what they described as the school's failure to impose consequences, communicate transparently, and provide a safe space for staff and students.
"(We) believe that East Hamilton is a hostile learning environment for students, and it's a hostile work environment for teachers and administration," said Sara Diruscio, a parent.
Frustration over a perceived lack of discipline had been mounting for months and hit a breaking point after parents felt two incidents -- one involving a knife brought to school and another involving physical assault -- were mishandled.
They banded together and met several times prior to Thursday's meeting. In preparation, they compiled a list of examples in which students were given little to no consequences for behaviors like slapping others, repeated bullying and cussing at teachers. The incidents were reported anonymously by parents and teachers who fear retribution, said Billy Stewart, a parent involved in creating the list.
He read aloud from the document Thursday. Among the incidents he referenced was a student making written threats to injure or kill teachers, including threats to "snap your neck" or break their spine. The teacher who reported this said multiple students have seen the student write these things, Stewart said. He said the student carries around a notebook full of such threats, but the student has been allowed to keep the notebook because it is a First Amendment issue.
Other incidents cited included a student who threw her yogurt at a student who was sitting in a seat she wanted during lunch. According to the anonymous teacher who reported it, administrators disregarded the incident as a "regular occurrence" and no consequences were issued.
The code
School Principal Kristen Childs assured parents all incidents are handled properly and with consequences.
"We have to do a complete investigation to determine the facts around that issue," Childs said Thursday. "So we are making sure that we can prove the things that we think we know about something. And then we turn to our Code of Acceptable Behavior. The Code of Acceptable Behavior gives us a rubric that does increase consequences over time if the student is repeating the same behavior. But it also gives us a range of possibilities for a consequence for certain behaviors."
The Hamilton County Schools officials this year have placed an emphasis on personalizing education for students as well as social-emotional learning, which is the process of helping them acquire self-awareness and healthy emotional management.
Childs said the school has implemented Mindfulness Mondays by using a social-emotional learning video platform called "In Control."
"We started the school year teaching kids and having them practice some mindfulness practices, things that can help them deescalate their emotions," Childs said, adding teachers love the program.
However, parents pushed back and asked how the school knows it's working.
"You're right," Childs said. "We need to be collecting some good data on whether it's helping kids change the way they're interacting with each other."
She said outlining behavior plans and discipline policies can sometimes be trial and error.
"We had a committee that came together this summer to build a schoolwide behavior plan," Childs said. "But as with all things, you don't really know how something's going to go until you dive in and start doing it, and there have been some imperfect places in that plan, and we know that."
Teachers are currently re-reviewing that plan, and parents will be part of that process as well, Childs said.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County teachers cite student behavior, lack of support as reasons for leaving)
Superintendent Justin Robertson asked parents Thursday to allow time for changes to be made.
"My challenge to you as parents is to give the administration a chance to take the input that we've gotten here tonight and give them a chance to come back to reset," Robertson said.
Mark Bender, a parent, fired back at Robertson.
"If you're not enforcing what's already in place, why create a new plan you're not going to enforce?" Bender said, adding his child has been bullied since the beginning of the year and nothing has been done. "If you started enforcing every single policy, every single rule involving bullying, most of those problems go away, and you have a very small problem after that to fix."
Robertson pledged changes will be made.
"I'm not just talking, and I'm not just giving you lip service," Robertson said. "I'm committing, as superintendent of Hamilton County Schools, to work with the administration here, to work with the parents here for us to come up with a plan to fix it."
Solutions
While parents came to the meeting with concerns, they also came with solutions and a willingness to volunteer in the school.
Some ideas included technology like the Halo Smart Detector for bathrooms. The device acts much like a smoke detector but with more capability. It can sense vape and marijuana smoke, unusual movements like fighting or aggression, gunshot sounds and even words like "help." The device is not an audio recorder or camera.
Another suggestion was a mobile application called SmartPass that acts as a digital hall pass. It can keep track of how long a student has been away from class, and teachers can set limits and restrictions. Parents said it might help reduce misbehavior and fights occurring when students leave class.
Parents also suggested an anonymous reporting system so students who are being bullied feel more comfortable.
But they wanted policies like the dress code and tardiness and consequences for cussing at teachers to be enforced immediately.
"You have our word that we're going to enforce all of our policies, all of our procedures, starting tomorrow," Childs said Thursday.
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @carmen_nesbitt.