Mid February 12-year-old Morgan Graveline had the front teeth knocked out of her head during school hours in the school cafeteria. Morgan’s mother Danielle Gauthier told the Union Leader neither medical assistance or the police were called. Gauther went on to tell the UL that no report was ever taken despite numerous calls to Police Headquarters and only after the story received media coverage.
The UL featured a follow-up story on Saturday, February 26 alleging that Morgan Graveline was the aggressor. Hassan Baruki, the father of 14-year-old, “tooth-knocker-outer, Abdi Karim Maalo, asserted his son to be a, “good boy” but added that his friend Ali is a “troublemaker.” Summarily, this becomes a, “She said-He said story. We need be less concerned about who said what to whom. A young girl received a concussion and the teeth knocked right out of her head. For all the preaching, policies and law changes, here is an example where nothing prevented this violence.
The UL’s Ted Seifer also included Danielle Gauthier’s brushes with the law and a bankruptcy filing in this story. What does that have to do with the price of eggs in China? Why? Does this inclusion effectively weight her “credibility?” Does Gauthier’s issues change any of the facts alleged here? In my view, the inclusion was a poor choice and reflected badly on Ted Seifer and the UL. But that is between Ted and his bosses at the UL. Enough said on that.
A faculty member, upset over how Ali and Abdi were portrayed in the media, became an unidentified mouthpiece to the UL, hiding his or her contribution to the story hiding behind school confidentiality policies. This is telling of where the priorities are. First, the faculty member seemed far more concerned about how the media painted poor little Ali and Abdi, yet expressed no concern over the significant pain, suffering and injury to Morgan, not to mention the trauma of being assaulted. Second, the “unnamed faculty member” was essentially breaking the law by even speaking to the press about any aspect of the incident. For all the gate keeping of these so-called “confidentiality policies, certainly one faculty member was willing to leak to the press./p align=”justify”>
Today, the story is revisited in the UL where Danielle Gauthier says the district never advised her of the final disposition of his investigation. Brennan released a statement to the UL on Friday saying the district, “has taken all necessary steps to prevent bullying in our schools and to ensure that a safe and secure learning environment is being provided to all of our students.” Seriously?
Now that all has been said and done by the rank and file district hackarama and the educrats have had their say, let us have a closer look at how the Pupil Safety and Violence Prevention Policy (Students 118) did not work.
Policy vests sole discretion in the Superintendent whether or not a notification to parents will be done IX Waiver of Notification Requirement and, XIII. Communication With Parents Upon Completion of Investigation #4
Where a student is injured while in the care of the school administration, it is hardly a parental confidence builder when educrats will not give so much as a cursory explanation of how the situation was handled, what specific steps were taken to deal with the incident and what will be done in the future to discourage violence in schools.
Dr. Brennan’s handling of this incident has left a massive public opinion vacuum where the general public gets to fill in the blanks with their own conclusions, innuendo and in some cases, invectives, as evidenced by the reader comments in the Union Leader on line. It’s the poison Dr Brennan picked and this policy only serves the worst of all aspects of incidents such as this.
Finally, as a parent with a student attending McLaughlin, I have discussed my own violence and bullying policy with my child. Because quite frankly, the policy in place now bears me considerable doubt in my confidence of the schools’ ability to provide a safe learning environment for my child.
We all can thank Dr Brennan for making this incident about race; about where a kid is from, hand-in-hand with all the “Little Mogadishu references” and negative statements about, “third world refugees” and being from Somalia means having no self-control. That seems like a hell of a lot to saddle a kid with, Doc. Where these kids are refugees from Somalia, they have likely had a hard life and didn’t need you to make it harder for them.
And Thanks, Dr. Brennan for not responding to Danielle Gauthier. Exercising your authority under the policy obviously is your right because such policies are always written to fend off any accountability to parents, especially where his or her kid is injured.
