Bullying

We'd like to address the bullying issue in our school.

We don’t mean the bullying going on in both the middle and elementary schools. No, we mean the bullying going on by our administration.

Just last month Dr. Fredisdorf called a woman in from the IASB to instruct newly elected board member Karen O’Halloran on what her role on the board of education was. Two years ago, when three new board members were seated, did our superintendent have someone from IASB come out and tell them what their role was? No. Was it done in July of 2006 when Rosaria Becker took a seat on the board? No. We believe this woman was brought in from the IASB by our administration to put Karen O’Halloran in her place and to bully those in attendance.

This woman talked about how the board should not want the public to attend their board meetings. Why wouldn’t our board and administration want the public there? Our board members have a choice in whether or not to respond to public comment and they chose not to as instructed by our superintendent.

Rather than opening the lines of communication in this community, to become partners in the education of our children, we are bullied by their silence.

Another example of bullying was shutting the community out at last month’s meeting by holding the board self evaluation in closed session. If this board and superintendent are doing the wonderful job they would like the community members to believe they are doing, why evaluate themselves behind closed doors? It contributes to the secret society illusion that perpetuates in this district. We would like to know when the last time the board self evaluation was conducted in closed session prior to this year because it has not been done in the last three years according to the meeting minutes that are online.

According to your board policy, the School Board supports the formation and vitality of parent organizations recognizing that they are an invaluable resource to the District’s schools. Did the board welcome the Pleasantdale Education Network, an organization created by parents for the betterment of our children? No. Why did the board go against its own policy by refusing to work with and acknowledge the PEN organization? Again, it's a form of bullying by our administration.

Last evening, parent Anna Campos came to the board to provide numerous examples of how her 5 year old daughter has been bullied all year by her kindergarten teacher and how Mrs. Campos herself has been bullied by the staff, principal and superintendent. They demanded that her young Hispanic daughter be tested for the Swine Flu and could not return to school until then, even though the child displayed no symptoms. This five year old girl was put through the ringer until her parents finally pulled her out of Pleasantdale.

Three children have been pulled out of school this year due to bullying. Two of them Kindergartners, from the same classroom!

The teacher surveys from last spring talked about how the teachers are bullied by the administration. Remember these comments when asked what the roadblocks in district 107 were?

"Administrators rule with fear and intimidation."
"Being bullied."
"There is a climate of fear" at the middle school.
"Fear influences how teachers react to requests...if I don't do something they ask me to do, what will they do to me? If I question something that occurs, will I suffer repercussions?"
"Tone of voice used by principal (Meg Pokorny) when talking to staff members that disagree with her point of view is threatening."
"When I see teachers treated inhumanly or unfairly it makes me feel that anyone could be next."

How about last winter when our superintendent told the non-tenured teachers that if our slate of "rogues" won the election we would fire several teachers, trying to scare them into action. If that isn't bullying, what is?

When will the bullying in our district end and why does our school board allow it to continue?

We are beginning to realize that the bullying in our schools won’t ever end because it is a problem that begins at the top of our school district and propagates down.

We're hoping the board members on the social/emotional committee, Rick Rigley and Beth Tegtmeier, will look into the bullying going on by our administration and work to put an end to it - but we won't hold our breath.