Assault at Columbia High School – A father's comments

September 8, 2016:

I just watched a video of my daughter being assaulted at Columbia High School today. I was called to the school shortly after it happened and told my daughter is being suspended for 10 days and would be receiving a citation for disorderly conduct, and I was immediately pissed because I know my daughter and I know that the only thing she did was defend herself.

Well I just watched that video of a straight out premeditated attack. I’ll be going back to that school tomorrow morning and I’m going to see that Columbia Borough Police Officer who is the school resource officer. I’m going to show him that video.

I’ll tell you what, if after he’s done watching that video my daughter doesn’t get an apology from him, from the teacher, and from the school principal shit is going to hit the fan.

What I just watched should not be happening in ANY school, and Officer Engle’s statement to me that, “Well it isn’t just here, it happens everywhere” is part of the problem. If Officer Engle is not intelligent enough to understand that’s not acceptable ANYWHERE, and it is his job, the teacher’s job, and the administration’s job to intervene before it ever escalate anywhere near the point that it did today, I will be the one to teach them.

September 8, 2016:

My daughter and other students at Columbia High School have been being harassed by the trouble makers in that school simply for doing their classwork. This has been an ongoing thing at that school going back 30 years since I went to school there. The teachers and administrators simply turn a blind eye to it. Watch this video and see what’s happening in that classroom and you tell me if those teachers and administrators shouldn’t be intervening before it reaches the point that it does in this video. My daughter was suspended for 10 days because she was doing her homework she was on her class work and other kids were picking on her. She’s getting a citation in the mail for disorderly conduct, because she was doing what I asked her to do to do her homework despite these other kids harassing her. It’s time Columbia High School’s administrators began addressing this problem. ..it’s way past time!

UPDATE… I’m adding this here, because I want to get the story out about what the problem is in that school district because it isn’t the assault that occurred in this video. It isn’t the teacher’s fault, and honestly it’s not even completely the students fault. The blame belongs squarely on the culture in the school that has festered there for years.

I don’t blame the teacher. Frankly, it’s the administration that has failed the teachers and the students. What occurred in the classroom the previous day is the problem in that school and is a clear indication of the culture that has festered in that school for years.

The boy shadow boxing in the video and what he did the previous day IS what is wrong in Columbia Borough School District.

The day prior to Selena being assaulted he was out of his seat, walking around the classroom and disrupting the other kids that were doing their work. The teacher asked him to take his seat and do his work. He responded by openly mocking the teacher, and then the students that were doing their work, calling them weirdos, geeks, kissasses, and other things. He went as far as to point out some of the other students papers and mock their work. Selena’s paper was one of them.

NOTHING HAPPENED TO THAT STUDENT FOR WHAT HE DID. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t even reported. The fact is, that exact behavior is repeated every day, in class after class, it’s common place. Nothing happens to any of the kids behaving this way, and any teacher reporting a student for that type of activity is treated as if they aren’t “in charge of their classroom”, as if they are weak and did something wrong.

What occurred there was bullying, disrespectful, disruptive, and should not be allowed in our classrooms. It has been occurring in Columbia school district for many many many years. It has become ingrained in the culture of that school. The Administration always points to funding as the problem. Money is not going to fix this problem changing the culture is what is needed. Columbia Borough School District is a failing school district for a reason and it has nothing to do with money.

In my talk with the principal yesterday she was in such denial of any problems in her school. “Those things don’t happen here.” “No student has ever been assaulted in the three years I’ve worked here.”

I say to that principle that she is wrong. That’s what I told her yesterday just because you frame them as fights and dismiss them as that and treat the victims as part of the problem does not change the problem. You create a false perception in identifying these things as fights and not as what they are. It’s time to reevaluate the way we are looking at what is happening in that school.

It’s time we stop paying lip-service to bullying and disruptive behavior in classrooms and began addressing it, and rooting it out for the cancer that it is!

The girl that assaulted my daughter joined in on that disruptive behavior with a number of other students laughing and joking and mocking the kids that were doing their homework. It escalated to the assault you see in this video.

September 9, 2016:

I’m posting this video again of my daughter being assaulted in school yesterday. I spoke with the school principal a short while ago who phrased what happened as a fight. My daughter is currently suspended from school over what happened to her here. This was not a fight. What I see in this video is an assault. My daughter wasn’t involved in mutual combat she was trying to defend herself. She’s being treated like she is part of the problem. She is not and the administrators at that school need to reevaluate the way they are looking at things. This was not a fight and it’s not going to be swept under the rug as if it were. My daughter will not be treated as if she is part of the problem. The problem is what was occurring in that school prior to this assault that is not being addressed by that school.

There are a group of troublemaking kids in that school who over the years have demonstrated they are not the least bit interested in education they are a distraction and a disruption to the classrooms. After originally sharing the video yesterday I received many messages from other parents of kids in the Columbia Borough School District, who’s children have been assaulted in those schools. Each has experienced a similar situation as to what I’m dealing with now. The person that attacked their child was allowed to return to the classroom. Their children, like my child, were treated not as victims but as part of the problem. If after watching this video you agree with me that this wasn’t a fight, that this was an assault, please share this message with your friends. But please don’t stop there. Please call Columbia Borough School District at 717-684-7500. Let them know that this wasn’t a fight. Let them know it just was a criminal act. This was an assault. Let them know my daughter is the victim of a crime, should be treated as such, and not as part of the problem!

Tell them it’s time to take bullying serious and address the issues not play lip service to it. Let them know that the time for suspension was the previous day with the kid who openly mocked the teacher and berated the other kids in the classroom for doing their homework. Let them know that that child should not have been in this classroom when this incident occurred. Let them know when a child is openly mocking a teacher and berating classmates for doing what they’re supposed to be doing that’s a problem that needs to be addressed immediately. As for the girl that assaulted my daughter… let them know she does not belong back in that classroom, EVER!

I don’t blame the teacher. Frankly, it’s the administration that has failed the teachers and the students. What occurred in the classroom the previous day is the problem in that school and is a clear indication of the culture that has festered in that school for years.

The boy shadow boxing in the video and what he did the previous day IS what is wrong in Columbia Borough School District.

The day prior to Selena being assaulted he was out of his seat, walking around the classroom and disrupting the other kids that were doing their work. The teacher asked him to take his seat and do his work. He responded by openly mocking the teacher, and then the students that were doing their work, calling them weirdos, geeks, kissasses, and other things. He went as far as to point out some of the other students papers and mock their work. Selena’s paper was one of them.

NOTHING HAPPENED TO THAT STUDENT FOR WHAT HE DID. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t even reported. The fact is, that exact behavior is repeated every day, in class after class, it’s common place. Nothing happens to any of the kids behaving this way, and any teacher reporting a student for that type of activity is treated as if they aren’t “in charge of their classroom”, as if they are weak and did something wrong.

What occurred there was bullying, disrespectful, disruptive, and should not be allowed in our classrooms. It has been occurring in Columbia school district for many many many years. It has become ingrained in the culture of that school. The Administration always points to funding as the problem. Money is not going to fix this problem changing the culture is what is needed. Columbia Borough School District is a failing school district for a reason and it has nothing to do with money.

In my talk with the principal yesterday she was in such denial of any problems in her school. “Those things don’t happen here.” “No student has ever been assaulted in the three years I’ve worked here.”

I say to that principle that she is wrong. That’s what I told her yesterday just because you frame them as fights and dismiss them as that and treat the victims as part of the problem does not change the problem. You create a false perception in identifying these things as fights and not as what they are. It’s time to reevaluate the way we are looking at what is happening in that school.

It’s time we stop paying lip-service to bullying and disruptive behavior in classrooms and began addressing it, and rooting it out for the cancer that it is!

The girl that assaulted my daughter joined in on that disruptive behavior with a number of other students laughing and joking and mocking the kids that were doing their homework. It escalated to the assault you see in this video.

September 10, 2016:

An open message to the thugs attempting to defend the actions of the girl that assaulted my daughter,

For those of you that feel compelled to reach out to me and defend the actions of that thug that assaulted my daughter. So, you think you need to confront me “with what my daughter did wrong”? Well, I’m not going to continue to respond to you individually but I’m going to set the record straight here.

I know what that thug said before she assaulted my daughter. I know what she was running around that classroom ranting and I’m telling you it’s horseshit!

My daughter never said anything about that girls kid. My daughter, who was being harassed by her at the time appealed, saying to her, “Mykeala, I thought you said you wanted to be a good mother for your child. Instead of behaving like this, you should be doing your work so you can get a good education and be a good mother for your child. Be a role model for your kid”

That is what she said that provoked this attack.

Even if she had said something different, AND SHE DIDN’T, there is no defense to the behavior displayed in that video. That is criminal. It is the action of thugs, and bullies.

What my daughter did was to echo the values and morals that I am working diligently to teach her. I’m proud of her, what she said and what she did. She is working hard toward being a role model herself. She has more work to do, and much to learn yet, but she is well on her way.

September 12, 2016:

Many have watched the video of my daughter being assaulted at Columbia High School and many have talked about it a lot. I’m writing this post to ask you all to put this talk into action. The School Board meeting is this week, Thursday at 7pm in the District Administration Center, located at 200 North Fifth Street Columbia, PA 17512. Please come out, not only to support justice for my daughter but to call for a change in this district.

It is way past time this school district began to take action against this “bully culture” that infects our classrooms, and recognize it for what it is. I am not the least bit interested in blaming anyone, or calling for their removal. I would be happy to work with anyone willing to reevaluate their current perspective and take a hard look at what is happening here. To point fingers or blame individuals for the failures here will serve no purpose toward a solution. I will not be satisfied with a scapegoat blamed for a single inaction. The truth is there has been a systematic inaction that has festered here for a long time. Perhaps, there may come a time to call for removal of those unwilling to acknowledge the problem, those that choose to remain in denial, but for now that may be a bit premature.

What is happening here has been a growing problem for years and frankly the problem has become so pervasive that it is no longer recognized when it occurs. The old adage of ‘not seeing the forest for all the trees’ plays out daily in our classrooms in an ominous way; through disruption, disrespect, and bullying. We need to take a hard look at how we are identifying these behaviors, and an even harder look at what we are doing about them. We have been playing lip-service with the term zero-tolerance, but the reality has fallen far short.