On March 3, 2023, a fourth grade student, was subjected to an unprovoked assault and kidnapping during school hours at Birmingham Falls Elementary School in Milton, GA. As was reported, three boys made a plan to "kidnap" a student while in the school's restroom. When the victim walked into the restroom, he was physically detained and his eyes and mouth were covered with towels, so that he could not see or scream for help. These boys forced the victim inside of a bathroom stall and kept there against his will. Despite the school being aware of the incident, the student was sent back to his classroom, with one of the attackers. The school failed to provide the victim any emotional support that day or since the incident.
In addition to the school's failure to provide appropriate support to the victim, the notification regarding this incident was less than acceptable. This incident happened between 8-830am. The mother received a voicemail around 12:30pm stating there had been an incident, but no further detail was provided. No effort was made to reach the victim’s father, despite the gravity of this incident. Unfortunately, the mother was on a work call and called back less than 10 minutes later only to be told that the Assistant Principal @StefiWickers41 was in a meeting but would call back promptly. The mother never received a call, and finally at around 2pm, she drove to the school to find the Assistant Principal @StefiWickers41 who ultimately shared what happened and explained the failure to respond was due to a busy day and the kindergarten roundup.
Since that initial voicemail, the mother has initiated all communications with the school and the County. Specifically, since March 3, she has reached out and spoken to administration including the principal of the school Don Webb @principalwebb on numerous occasions (all at her request) and on March 7, she spoke with the Regional Superintendent, Dr. Crumbley @FultonZone7, who assured her of prompt follow-up, which never occurred.
When the mother reached back out Dr. Crumbley @FultonZone7 due to the lack of communication she was sent this note;
"Thank you for your email. After we spoke over the phone on a March 7, I assured you that Dr. Scott from our student discipline would be in touch to discuss your concerns - this was the follow-up you requested. He did this within 24 hrs of our call."
This is a complete fabrication. The mother of the victim never spoke to Dr. Scott @KevinScott_OSD and has no record of any attempt to be reached. This demonstrates yet another failure of the Fulton County School District.
It wasn't until March 30th, 2023 the Dr. Scott @KevinScott_OSD set up a meeting with the mother. Almost 28 days after the kidnapping incident occurred. The mother wanted to know:
• How was this reported?
• Why the Code of Contact was not implemented?
• What the counties solution will be?
During this meeting Dr. Scott @KevinScott_OSD immediately relieved himself of the conversation and passed the mother off to Jose Mena @JoseGMena. Every question the mother asked was answered with,
"We are unable to discuss any disciplinary action taken against other students due to privacy laws.
The mother however was offered to have her son participate in a Restorative Circle. It was described as such.
A restorative circle is more than an apology. A restorative circle is an approach to repair harm that was done. Participants in a restorative circle are encouraged to be open and honest about their perspectives regarding a conflict, how they have been harmed, and how they think others might have been harmed.
The conversation unfortunately proved to be an unproductive conversation. It is evident that Dr. Scott @KevinScott_OSD and Jose Mean @JoseGMena, were unable to provide any proactive solutions, much less engage in a meaningful discussion to address the School's failure to adhere to the Code of Conduct.
While the parents’s understand the school cannot discuss specific disciplinary action taken, it is evident the school elected to ignore disciplinary actions mandated by the Code of Conduct. Specifically, the 2022-2023 Student Code of Conduct states defines Tier IV: Serious Acts of Misconduct to include "Forcefully abduct, transport, detail a person." The Code further provides that “serious acts of misconduct that place students or staff at risk of emotional or physical harm which may include threats to the health, safety and/or property of others." It is difficult to understand, based upon the school's acknowledgement of the March 3 incident, how this matter was not classified as a Tier IV offense or even a Tier III offense ("assault/threaten another person"), which would warrant more serious disciplinary action than the half day dismissal from the school day that was imposed on the three students in question. The school's response does not appear in alignment with Fulton County's representation that
"School safety remains a top priority."
In fact, since the half day dismissal the attackers got as a punishment, the victim has been forced to remain in the classroom with one of these students. When the mother asked why her son must remain in the same classroom as this student, she was told that her son could be relocated to another classroom, which further victimizes her child who did nothing wrong. Why these students are allowed to remain, without appropriate consequences, is baffling.
Given the lack of response and the admitted assault and kidnapping of the victim during school hours, the mother made a final attempt to discuss this matter and for the school to take appropriate action. As such, she requested an opportunity to meet with the school's administration, the school's resource officer, the district representatives, and a member of the District's Office of Student Discipline to discuss the inadequate response in this matter and the remedial actions that can be taken by the school and District to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all students. This meeting request was ignored.
The School failed to adhere to the County's mandated Code of Conduct remains unresolved. There is still no clear understanding or explanation of why the Code, which all parents and students agree to be governed by at the outset of the School year, was not followed.
Essentially, the School and the County are sending the message that the Code will be applied in an arbitrary and inconsistent manner. In doing so, it seems that this allows for a waiver of any future enforcement of the Code in the event a similar situation occurs in the future. There is no dispute that a crime occurred on school grounds, which was not reported by the administration. Rather, it required the mother's involvement to raise these concerns, which remain unresolved. Had the mother not advocated for her son, this likely would have been swept under the rug by the school.
The school remains unwilling to address these concerns. As such, the family has requested all videos (including any videos of student movement in or around the bathroom in question), notes, student records for the students in question (including disciplinary records), and correspondence, including any emails or text messages or any other electronically stored data preserved relating to the March 3 incident.
How can we ensure our students are safe in Fulton County Schools when administration doesn’t even enforce the very own policies they created.
How are students suppose to implement the schools #BEKIND slogan when the schools employees don’t?
How can parents feel safe sending their children to school in Fulton County?
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