Again! today students from the high school went to the middle school to attack my oldest son. Two of them are the same kids who attempted to attack him at the El Cerrito Plaza, assaulted him earlier in the year on school property (almost breaking his nose, but did break his super-special prescription glasses) as he waited for Cross Country practice and I learned today slapped and punched him after school on another day recently. Today they planned to beat him until bones were broken. Several "nice" kids both AMS and AHS dragged, grabbed, pushed my son towards the impending beating. That is legally kidnapping!
We as a community need to name and shame this behavior and these kids specifically and let them know it is not "cool" and not acceptable. We also need to let these children's parents know that we as a community will not let them abdicate their responsibility to the schools or the police. We need to tell our own kids that encouraging a fight is wrong and choosing not to fight is actually pretty brave.
The teens involved in todays events included AHS students: CJ Hunter & Malik Parker. They and their friends remained on school property, did not listen to school staff and would not even leave when the Police Officer (who arrived on the scene long after I arrived) told them to go. I asked to be escorted to my car with my son so that he and I would not be verbally abused or intimidated. The teens that were there still attempted to intimidate school staff with an officer present!
The district eliminated the school safety position in the budget last year and NEVER mentions it when publicly listing the reduced programs / services. This continued oversight really does not impact most people until their child is a victim of this violence and the repeat offenders. Now there is no real plan for interdiction, the only consequence if any seems a few days suspension. Yes the district may report crimes to the police but follow up on those cases is often days later if at all. If we have repeat offenders we need a program to address why and a community that sets the norm that they are socially punished vs. rewarded.
We as a community have got to decide if safety of our students is worth more than a new computer lab or pool or even tuba lessons. And apparently we cannot trust that student safety is an issue that matters to the school board or the superintendent -- especially when they don't respond to personal emails, phone calls or in person visits. I have warned the district in writing that I will sue if there are any further safety issues with my son that were foreseeable and preventable.
To handle this entirely as a police issue means that those choices that some of these kids are making now may haunt them for life if they develop criminal records and then cannot then attend college as they cannot receive federal student loans.
That makes people afraid to escalate these things and call in the police. Often the district washes its hands and says it is a police function but then under reports (reports these incidents days later) impeding the police's ability to investigate and arrest. When this happens the police don't take the school referrals seriously unless a parent screams loud enough. All this because there is not one officer who has the relationships and history to see the patterns of violence and realize which kids are creating the most problems and can work with the district to develop resources and programs to turn them around.
My son has been taught by the Albany Schools that he has to fight because the consequences of not fighting are much worse.
- Today he again chose to not fight and luckily was rescued when someone reported the beating was to occur at the office but many more kids were pushing him headlong into a massacre.
- Tomorrow I want the district to punish those involved so my son actually sees "the system" work!
- This year I want to see funding restored and programming put in place to develop a sense of community to defuse these types of social crime.
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