Letter to School Board Jan. 25, 1999

(note: letter received via email, may differ slightly from final version)

Stephen Daeschner
Jefferson County Public Schools
via fax

January 22, 1999
cc: Beverly Moore

We request the following information be reviewed and documented regarding the practices of the SBDM council and Climate and Safety Task Force at Atherton High School.

After parents, teachers and students presented a strong case for tabling the motion of a more restrictive dress code, the SBDM Council, at its meeting on January 21,1999, passed the motion by secret ballot! Many parents, teachers and students are outraged , felt the SBDM council subverted the process and wish to file a grievance or appeal the decision.

Following are the events of the past few months as related to this issue:

Nov. 1998 SBDM COUNCIL MEETING

For the first time many parents and students became aware of a restrictive dress code that was to be discussed at the meeting. Many people attended after hearing about it from their children. Communication by the school regarding this meeting could be greatly improved. The Council had the first reading on the new dress code. Many people left feeling angry that they had not been informed about this. Because of this it was agreed that the Climate and Safety task force would have an open meeting to answer any questions about the new proposed dress code.

Dec.1998 SECRET CLIMATE AND SAFETY TASK FORCE MEETING

No advertisement or information about the meeting was available, except when one parent, Sheila Tasman, called Pat Cantwell, Chair of the committee. Sheila said she would like to be on the task force and asked about the procedure for doing that. Mrs. Cantwell said, one just shows up at the meetings and was told about this one. This group appeared to be comprised of mostly teachers and there was no diversity in their opinions on the dress code issue. They all wanted to go with it and pretty much would railroad over any opposition to get it accomplished.

Teachers on that committee were: Mrs. Garrett, also an SBDM council member; Amy Herman; Mrs. Eldrige; Mr. Smith; Mr. Ivy and Pat Cantwell, counselor/Chair. It was a very biased group of people who tried their best to intimidate the new member, who had differing views. At one point, a student there, spoke up to Mrs. Herman and told her, Quit sneering at Mrs. Tasman, that is all you have done since she began talking. Mrs. Tasman challenged them on the dress code item that stated the color of the shoes must be solid black, brown or white. She explained to them that her son had always been very difficult to fit and they finally found a pair of tennis shoes for him that happened to be navy. Mrs. Herman lashed out at her and said, "well, you can spray paint them." When Mrs. Tasman realized Mrs. Herman was serious with her statement she then very calmly said, "I am not spray painting my kid's shoes black. Give me a break!"

The result of the meeting was an amended restrictive dress code proposal.

Dec. 1998 OPEN CLIMATE AND SAFETY TASK FORCE MEETING

This meeting occurred a few days after the secret meeting, and parents thought they would have an opportunity to have a discussion and dialogue with committee members as well as a chance to get involved with this task force. It was set up very poorly. The task force committee sat at a table in the front of the auditorium and everyone else sat in the audience. The only way one could ask a question was by writing it down on an index card and having it collected. Dr. Greenlee, the assistant principal, would then read as many questions as she could get to and one of the task force members would answer it. I think this method further created resentment among the people who made the effort to attend, approximately 100. One of the questions was, how do you join the task force? The answer given was, you just show up at the meetings.

Dec. 10, 1998 PETITIONS

Parents developed and distributed a petition which read the following language:

We are petitioning to table the vote on the restrictive dress code while more far reaching solutions are addressed to develop a more positive atmosphere at Atherton high school. In signing this I am asking also to be informed about efforts to improve the Atherton community for students, teachers, parents and administrators.

Dec. 17, 1998 SBDM COUNCIL MEETING

Speakers were very eloquent in what they said. Everyone from teachers, to parents, to students, to the Executive Director of the ACLU to the Third Ward Alderman spoke. All supported tabling the dress code while other avenues were pursued to solve each problem. The results of the petition were reported - 363 names plus 16 on the teachers' petition. Several speakers made the point to the council members that, we are fighting for the same goals, e.g., a safe and supportive learning environment, but we are working against one another. If we can join together, our goals will have a greater chance of success. Research cited from The American School Board Journal that it was their advice that policy decisions should be based on research rather than assumption.

The result of the meeting was that SBDM Council proceeded with first reading of the amended restrictive dress code. No one in the audience seemed to support the proposal. A survey to see how the students, parents and teachers felt about the restrictive dress code would be sent out and returned by Jan. 15, and results given at the January SBDM Council meeting. They were offered professional help to develop the survey and did not accept it.

Jan. 14, 1999 CLIMATE AND SAFETY TASK FORCE MEETING

Approximately 40 people attended the meeting and work was begun on identifying the problems and coming up with workable solutions that could be implemented for each one. It was the first constructive meeting many of us had been to at Atherton. Dr. Rick Alleva volunteered his time to help with the process. We learned a great deal from this meeting and an overwhelming majority wanted to continue working together in this way. It was troubling, however, to hear that some students in the hall before the meeting were discouraged from attending the meeting. They said that they were told it was going to be a small turnout and that it was not that important that they go.

In that meeting many parents,teachers and students thought that we had taken a big step in the right direction and the Climate and Safety Task Force voted to continue the process of identifying the issues and implementing solutions. Someone made the recommendation that the SBDM Council table the dress code issue. Pat Cantwell, as chair, conducted the meeting, entertained the motion, conducted the vote, and did not note any abstentions or nay votes. She, furthermore, agreed to present this recommendation to the council.

Research was also cited from the Journal of Educational Research, which the SBDM Council members should have had a copy of, which did a 10 year credible longitudinal study, on high school students, and found that there was no correlation between uniforms and discipline and that in fact there was evidence that uniforms had a negative effect on student academic achievement.

Jan. 21, 1999 SBDM COUNCIL MEETING

Many parents,teachers and students spoke up to support tabling of the dress code. Only one speaker (a teacher) voiced support for the proposal. They cited the research again and many spoke of a desire to capitalize on the energy that the dress code issue has generated and put it to work on developing a positive, consensus-based agenda for dealing with problems at the school. We felt we were finally beginning to have some honest communication with faculty and administration and were optimistic about the wealth of resources within and outside the school. We couldn't believe there could be one person among us that would vote for pursuing a restrictive dress code after knowing all the facts. WRONG. When Mrs. Cantwell presented the Climate and Safety Task Force results she did not voice the Task Forces's recommendation and told the SBDM members that they had made a motion to recommend tabling the dress code proposal.

Nina Bedford, Assistant Principal, quickly raised her voice and said the motion was in violation of some policy, 1601 or 1610, and questioned how many of the 40 people were really members of the task force. She said the motion was not valid since most of those people had shown up for the first time at the last meeting and they could not be considered members. Mrs. Bedford spoke up about this supposed policy, which she had a copy of handy, immediately after Mrs. Cantwell's non-presentation, clearly indicating that they had met prior to the meeting and contrived a way to negate the Task Force's recommendation and subvert the process. If this is the case and collusion can be established, this could be not only unethical, but criminal under Ky. state law.

If this policy has not guided their practices until now (AND ALSO IS NOT BEING APPLIED TO OTHER TASK FORCES), they can hardly selectively apply it in this one situation. Was there this exact balance of membership in place at the Task Force meeting when they made their uniform proposal? If not, then that's not a valid proposal either and the SBDM council should likewise have refused to hear it.

They made a motion to vote for a second reading on the dress code and then by secret ballot passed the restrictive dress code.

We couldn't begin to express all the feelings that were left in that room. Many felt the process was extremely unfair and subverted. Many felt the SBDM Council members had planned ahead of time how this would pan out and later evidence supports that. Most were outraged and deeply saddened by the loss of respect for the process of democracy in this public school.

Here are some questions: If the teachers were informed about the results of the research on the negative effects of uniforms for high school students, would they have voted for it? If they knew 81% of the parents surveyed and 93% of the kids didn't want it, would they have voted for it? (These results were given at the January 21 SBDM meeting.)

Why was there never discussion on the restrictive dress code issue at any of the SBDM Council meetings among the members? Were they deciding this outside of the SBDM council meetings? Why was a police officer asked to be at this last meeting and none before? Had their decision been made in advance? How else would they have thought trouble may arise and they needed to be prepared? Since when is a secret ballot allowed at an open meeting? What do we do with the information that a parent was told by a staff member that the SBDM met before the meeting? Why were we told all we needed to do to join a task force was to show up, if this was not true? And finally, what do we do with all the good information and work we had begun to do only to be told by their actions, 93the SBDM Council is going to tell you what to do and you will have no other choice but to listen.

There are many Atherton parents, teachers and students who have, in good faith, attended many meetings on this issue. We WANT to work together with the teachers and administration to learn what the problems are and to find ways to resolve these problems. We are shocked that our school would make an important decision such as this using a process that includes closed meetings, open meetings with no discussion, rules that are invoked late in the process and secret ballot votes. We are appalled that the energy, talent, good ideas and good intentions that so many students and parents have offered to the school community are being disregarded.

We recognize that many of the SBDM Council and Climate and Safety Task Force members are in a difficult position and all are undoubtedly doing what they feel is right. The lack of responsiveness to parents and students, however, is disturbing and, in some cases, the downright arrogant and unprofessional behavior of a few of these individuals is unacceptable.

Although much trust has been lost, we say again, that there is still an opportunity to turn this situation into a positive one. Here are our suggestions:

1. We will file an appeal and grievance to rescind this new restrictive dress code. Your support and advice in this matter will be appreciated;
2. Determine what the policy is for the Climate and Safety Task Force membership and provide an opportunity for ALL people within the Atherton community to participate on the Task Force;
3. Allow that task force to pursue the work that was begun on the January 14th meeting of identifying the real problems and finding real solutions;
4. Require that all meetings of the SBDM Council and its Task Forces and subcommittees be open and well publicized, well in advance of the meetings;
5. Allow no secret ballot votes

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter.

Thank you,

The following list of parents have given their approval to be listed as a part of this letter and are in alphabetical order:

Marian Ahl
Miren Asumendi
Marsha Bankhead
Mike Bankhead
Cheryl Barnes
Kathy Brocar
Scott Brocar
Linda Burt
Patrick Burt
Gary Cook
Sandy Weldy-Cook
Pamela Faulkner
Charles Frank
Judy Goldring
Michael Goldring
Syble Haney
Debbie Lovell
Frank Lovell
Darryl Miller
Kathleen Mynheir
Maxine Olmstadt
Tag Olmstadt
Debra Prather
Katherine Prather
Stewart Prather
Christy Perkins
Rita Puryear
Pat Read
Kathy Regneri
LaDonna Roser
Tim Roser
Christine Sing
Michael Sing
Adele Singer
Larry Singer
Joan Singheiser
Debbie Stewart
Bill Stober
Darcel Sutton
Sheila Tasman
(spokesperson- send correspondence here: 1816 Kline Court 40205
459-3442)
David Tasman
Mary Tomerlin
Robert Tomerlin
Robin Vowels
Debra Warmack
John Warmack

More are continuing to pour in ......

Read the Superintendent's response

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