Pleasant Grove student’s grievance gets no traction at recent Level 2 hearing

Pleasant Grove Middle School parent Amanda Bowers has received a formal response from the March 15 Level 2 grievance hearing with Bill Harp, PGISD’s director of school services and the district’s attorney, Wes Jordan.

The response supports the findings of the family’s March 8 Level 1 grievance hearing at the middle school, which determined Abigail, an eighth grader at PGMS, violated the school’s student code of conduct and the student network responsibility contract by allowing two students to use her email account during a theater class on Feb. 8.

One of the students used Abigail’s account to send an image of the KKK to two black students, one of them being the other student logged into her account. Abigail initially received three days out-of-school suspension, then an additional seven days of in-school suspension. It was later reduced by two days.

In the grievances, Bowers questioned the district’s handling of the situation, the punishment and the lack of a discipline grid for such inci-

dents. She wants her daughter’s record cleared and says she believes the additional seven days of suspension were in retaliation for her asking questions about the incident.

On Feb. 20, she filed complaints with the Texas Education Agency against PGMS Principal Linda Erie and Assistant Principal Jon Tomberlain alleging educator misconduct. She also filed complaints with the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. TEA and the Office of Civil Rights have been in contact with her, she says.

In the Level 2 response, Harp reasserts Erie’s statement that neither of them have the ability to implement a discipline grid and that wold have to be done by the school board.

The determination also references Abigail’s written incident statement in which she said she saw Student A send the picture to the other student and that “Student D didn’t care and I was worried about it but didn’t really do anything because Student A is my friend.” It also states that she violated the provisions of the Student Network Responsibility Contract and the student code of conduct, to which Abigail has admitted.

“After review and consideration of all information in the Level One record and presented at the Level Two hearing, I do hereby find the actions of administrators were consistent with board policy and the consequences issued by the campus behavior coordinator are consistent with board policy and the student code of conduct,” Harp wrote. “The decision of the Level One administrator is upheld.”

Bower said the hearing lasted more than three hours and the district blamed the entire incident on Abigail.

“They place no blame on the teacher who was in the room with the student and the one who admitted to sending the email,” she said. “They place no blame on her. They place no blame on the teacher and they place no blame on the district. Solely on her.”

Bowers said the student who sent the email received 60 days in the District Alternative Education Program and the other student who used the login did not receive punishment.

“Their position is that anything that happened under a student’s username, that student is solely responsible for what happens under their username regardless of who accesses it or how they access it,” Matt Bowers said.

After receiving the determination, Amanda Bowers said she wasn’t happy with the district upholding the Level 1 decision and intended to file a Level 3 grievance.

A Level 3 grievance would be heard by the school board. At that point they can make a ruling, but if they do not give a formal response, the lack thereof supports the Level 2 decision. Once the Level 3 grievance is filed, the district has 10 days to respond.