Bullying , violence complaints raised
POTTSTOWN » Anthony DiPietro is 14, but when he heads to Pottstown Middle School every morning, it’s usually not his math homework he’s thinking about.
He’s trying to avoid more violence.
Not long ago, he was “jumped” by several other boys outside the school cafeteria. After he reported it and some of the boys were suspended for two days, his cousin was jumped right in front of the school “in retaliation.”
Now the two travel the halls together whenever possible. “We have to have each other’s backs,” said the eighth-grader.
The rest of Anthony’s family has his back too, and they were out in force to tell the Pottstown School Board all about it.
Anthony is not the only victim, his siblings, mother and father told the board last week.
“The school only punished five out of the eight kids involved,” said Anthony’s sister, Margaret. And Anthony missed a day of school “and he missed out on his Junior National Honor Society induction,” she said.
His sister Kristin, who is older, told the board she is “frustrated and scared because of what happened to my brother, that I cannot protect him. He came home, my
“Hearing all this makes me feel like maybe I amnot doing everything I should, but we can’t throw every kid who is bad out of the school. We have to serve every child.” Kurt Heidel, Pottstown School Board member
“I told themto leave her alone and one girl comes up to me and says ‘say onemore word and we’re fighting.’ She hit me in the face and I fell and she stomped my face into the pavement.”
DaShara Bearens, Pottstown student
“Teachers want to act, but don’t have the support of central administration. It’s one reason why somany teachers, like myself, leave the Pottstown School District.”
Michael DiDonato, former Pottstown Middle School teacher
“We are working hard to fixit. That’s not an excuse. We will have to work harder.” Stpehen Rodriguez, Pottstown Schools Superintendent
mom is was in tears, mydad was angry and my brother is bloodied and bruised and no one is doing anything to solve the problem.”
“My brother had to change his schedule to avoid” the two students who were not suspended. “He’s stressed and overwhelmed, which takes a toll on his school work.”
“My best friend was jumped and came to school with scratches, the school did not call the police. A high school kid got his jaw broken, but he was the one suspended,” she said.
Anthony’s mother, Krystal DiPietro, said all four of her children are high honor students—“they’re respectful, they want to learn. And yet my son is gang-assaulted by these students and not much is done.”
“Don’t wait to make changes. Are you going to wait until a teacher is starting down the barrel of a gun?” she asked before proceeding to read off a list of all the places where school shootings had occurred.
The fact that their pleas came on March 15, one day after the middle school students joined their high school peers to march out of school to mark the onemonth anniversary of one of those shootings — the 17 killed at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. — was not lost on anyone.
That same night, school boardmembers and administrators alike would voice their pride in the students who had spoken out during the National Walk-Out.
“Those students walked out to protest violence in schools,” said DiPetro. “Let’s do something before we suffer the same tragedy because right now, we’re doing nothing.”
It’s not just the middle school
The DiPetro comments would be significant even if they were the only ones to speak at the March 15 boardmeeting, but thatwas hardly the case.
More than 25 people — parents and students — stood at the microphone and told similar stories, of bullying, of harassment, of threats, fights and injuries even all the way down to kindergarten.
Parent Emily Wojton told the board there is a student in her daughter’s kindergarten class at Franklin Elementary School “who is always cursing, calling the children names. He has threatened my daughter and her best friend with guns and knives. She was terrified to go to school today.”
“I emailed the principal and I received no response for a day fromthe school resource officer,” said Wojton.
The student was taken out of class for two days, but when he returned, “he threatened them again. My daughter is becoming quiet and withdrawn.”
DaShara Bearens told the school board she was involved in an incident last year when she was in eighth grade. “I was jumped by five girls a fewblocks away from school.”
“I saw lots of people surrounding a small girl, so I went and stood with her. Seven other girls were cursing and threatening this girl, saying she had been talking about them,” Bearens told the board. “I told themto leave her alone and one girl comes up tome and says ‘say one more word and we’re fighting.’ She hit me in the face and I fell and she stomped my face into the pavement,” Bearens said.
Those who struck her faced no consequences, she said.
There are problems at the high school as well, said student Emily Caulfied.
She said she was taunted by a group of boys because she is a member of a Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transsexual group. “They tripped me, made fun of me and laughed, so I went to the office and I got lunch detention because I said things back to them. You get punished for standing up,” she said.
Brianna Juarez said her time at Pottstown High School “was the worst four years of my life. I stood up for kids who got bullied, then got bullied myself. Even some teachers bullied me. You get punched in the face for defending yourself,” she said.
Logan Ruyak, a high school student, said “the only anxiety students should face in school is a big test, or doing homework. They should not have to face bullying and gang violence. That’s ridiculous.”
Ruyak said she hears “sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, trans-phobic racist comments in class and the teachers do nothing. They’re scared to.”
Past problems
Michael DiDonato, who resigned as a Pottstown Middle School teacher last year, was following a Mercury reporter’s live Twitter feed of the meeting Thursday and replied on Twitter: “teachers want to act, but don’t have the support of central administration. It’s one reason why so many teachers, like myself, leave the Pottstown School District. It’s a shame kids have to endure these types of conditions at school.”
This is not the first time these problems in Pottstown have made news.
Last year in The Mercury, teachers’ union members came forward with complaints that their attempts to discipline students were being undermined by the administration, that as many as 40 percent of the discipline referrals they made had not been acted upon.
Also last year, Pottstown Police Chief Rick Drumheller confirmed police were having a problem with middle school students along North Franklin Street after they left school.
In what may have been a foreshadowing of last week’s meeting, art teacher and president of the Pottstown Federation of Teachers Beth Yoder told The Mercury “I’m flabbergasted that there are not more parents coming to school board meetings to complain.”
Later in the year, both middle school principals resigned, and a new principal has been hired. But if the complaints made by parents last week are any indication, the same problems remain.
Board reaction
Toward the end of that meeting, school board members expressed sympathy and frustration with what they had heard and thanked those who spoke.
“I understand people’s feelings when they are worried about the safety of their child. It weights heavily on all of us. It weighs heavily on me,” said school board member John Armato.
Boardmember Raymond Rose, and several other board members, suggested parents attend the board’s committee meetings as they are less formal and there is more of an opportunity for give-and-take between parents, administrators and board members.
Saying “these comments weigh heavily onmy heart,” Rose also suggested parents looking into joining the Family Advisory Committee to help search for solutions.
“Nomatter how much we pray, no matter how many different ways we come at it, we can’t always control it,” said Board Vice President Katina Bearden. “Something always goes amiss.”
Bearden’s daughter is a student in themiddle school “and we’re dealing with these issues and putting up with the same things. She is a target too, for defending others. We are trying to deal with this in the committees, but please know, this is an ‘ us’ thing, not a ‘you’ thing.”
Bearden and boardmembers Bonita Barnhill, Kurt Heidel and board President Amy Francis , suggested a good way for parents to get involved is to apply for the board seat left open by the resignation of Ron Williams, which occurred that night.
“My daughter is in fourth grade at Rupert and come September, she is going to the middle school and I have been scared about it for six years,” said Heidel, his voice cracking.
“Hearing all this makes me feel like maybe I amnot doing everything I should, but we can’t throw every kid who is bad out of the school. We have to serve every child,” he said.
Heidel said the TriCounty Network has a summer camp which allows students from different elementary schools to get to know each other before they all head into the same building in fifth grade.
Board member Susan Lawrence said she has family members who work in the middle school “and I hear about what goes on there. Sometimes we feel like our hands are tied. There are a lot of issues and we are trying to do the best we can for everyone,” she said.
“We have so many kids who are dedicated,” said Lawrence, pointing to the successful staging of “The Little Mermaid,” a districtwide musical. “I hate to see it all ruined by a minority who are not like that.”
Pottstown Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez said he told the parents who threatened to come to the school board meeting that the board “would not want to sweep things under the rug. We are working hard to fix it. That’s not an excuse. We will have to work harder.”
After the meeting, Tony DiPietro, Anthony’s father, said he believes the school board members “are sincere” in their expressions of concern. “I’m sorry but I don’t think Mr. Rodriguez is sincere,” he added.
“I just don’t want to see some of the things that have happened at other schools happen here,” he said.