‘Kidding Around,’ Really?
Perhaps, instead of asking our local jurisdiction to effectively deal with this (teacher-as-bully) problem — as Chardon, et al., seems to have a “good-old-boys’-network” thing going on here — one might consider filing a formal complaint with the appropriate federal authorities vis-à-vis federal hate-crime statutes.
Three verbal warnings, a written warning and then yet another verbal warning do not constitute a “progressively more harsh” disciplinary procedure.
In specifically addressing the “oven” event, we might also contemplate changing Chardon’s alma mater song to the “Horst Wessel,” thus adding an ominous sense of community to those who feel that Hitler and his “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” (Holocaust) has now become nothing more than just a form of “kidding around.”
No less atrocious is the event whereby a student-of-color is subjected to jokes about “the need to keep the lights on, so that the teacher can see him.” This is racism at its basest level.
One might think the powers-that-be within the walls of Chardon Schools — teachers and administrators alike — ought to revisit, in its entirety and with all its addendums, specifics and sub-sections, a little document called The United States Civil Rights Act.
It should not be enough; it can not be enough; it most certainly “IS” not enough — as it will never be — to merely try and sweep this years-long problem under the rug with mere statements, a promise or two and assigned attendance in behavior classes.
This is not a version of Dr. Pavel teaching his dogs to drool at the sound of a bell. This is the provision of a safe, secure and meaningful educational environment for the upcoming generation of the greater Chardon community — an environment funded predominately by the taxpayers of Chardon and the surrounding rural communities. Those taxpayers, each and every one of them, have both the electoral right, and the moral/ethical duty, to demand that the products and services obtained via their tax dollars be of a dedicated quality.
What this writer finds, in the comprehensive realm of these unacceptable events, spanning the course of several years, fails to come anywhere near the baseline of that quality. As such, the continued support by the greater community for the Chardon School district, its administration and its board should, at the very least, be foundationally called into question — if not outright terminated, via the ballot-box — at the earliest possible opportunity.
Stephen Waybright
Chardon
Bainbridge, We Have a Problem
This quote was printed in the Geauga County Maple Leaf on Jan. 25, 2018, from the article, “Bainbridge Residents Confront Police Chief, Trustees Over KHS Racial Incident.”
“Trustees described the township government’s long standing relationship with the Chagrin Falls Park community, including working together on several programs that directly benefit the mostly minority neighborhood. ‘We’ve had a very close relationship with the Chagrin Falls Park community for umpteen years’ (Trustee) Markley said.”
Lovely. Bainbridge Township takes care of all of its residents, even the black ones, which predominantly live in Chagrin Falls Park. The township is home to a historically black neighborhood that requires unique programs (possibly because certain people are still being left behind) and the township actually works to provide them.
This does not mean we don’t have a problem.
To help illustrate, let’s pretend that the Lake Lucerne neighborhood (also of Bainbridge) is predominantly Jewish. Someone discovers an anti-Semitic slur in a bathroom in the local school. As a result, township residents demonstrate serious concern at the next trustees meeting. But this is the answer they get (my theoretical response based on the actual response above):
“Our township has a long standing relationship with Lake Lucerne. Which, ya know, is super Jewish. So obviously there is no race issue in our township because we take care of everyone. Ya know, like we are supposed to.”
Bainbridge, we have a problem.
Do you hear how ludicrous the trustees’ statement sounds? Sure, I made up the one about Lake Lucerne. But someone actually said the one about Chagrin Falls Park. Which, from my perspective, demonstrates a huge need for community race relation education.
The Bainbridge trustees and chief of police might not think so, but we speak about race with damaging immaturity. And the situation described in this article screams it loudly and clearly.
Kristin LeFeber
Auburn Township