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http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=425751
Parents are new class of bullies
Schools see flurry of attacks on kids, staff
By SARAH CARR
[email protected]
Posted: May 20, 2006
Elizabeth Morgan charged into her son's first-grade classroom this month, authorities say, shouting to the teacher: "I am sick and tired of you picking on my son and lying about him."
With the help of her middle-school age daughter, Morgan then cornered the Parkview Elementary School teacher, according to a criminal complaint, and struck her several times in the face and body with a closed fist in front of the first-graders.
When Morgan charged in, a student rushed to a nearby classroom to get help for his teacher, according to authorities.
The first-grader declared: "It's time," using a signal arranged after previous run-ins between Morgan and the teacher.
This year, schools have witnessed a spate of violent episodes involving adults - particularly parents - causing violent disruptions.
In Hartland, a mother was cited for disorderly conduct after she was accused of verbally confronting a student at Hartland North Elementary School in front of his fourth-grade class. She believed the student had been bullying her son. In West Allis, 36-year-old Serena Kelley was charged with battery this spring on allegations of punching a student just outside Frank Lloyd Wright Middle School, according to a criminal complaint.
And in the last couple weeks, several Milwaukee adults were issued disorderly conduct citations for disruptions in schools. At Morse Middle School, a parent brought her daughter to school and encouraged her to fight another student, according to an account of the incident sent out to the School Board. She also caused a disruption in the hallway. The same morning, police arrested a woman who was verbally abusive to a student at the Milwaukee Academy of Aviation, Science & Technology.
"The schools and administrators are seeing more violent parents," said Pete Pochowski, director of security for MPS, who noted that in the first seven weeks of the school year alone, there were reports of 16 outsiders causing disruptions in MPS schools. The district doesn't keep annual figures on how many parents incite verbal or physical confrontations in the schools, so a statistical comparison with past years was not possible.
"We've been watching this trend over the last couple of years. But it all came to a head this school year."
Patrick Thome, the principal of the Hartland school, said the mother "felt like her child was being bullied and emotion got the better of her."
A parent confronting another student "was not something I had experienced before," he added.
"I wish I had some sort of explanation for it."
Morgan was upset after her son received a one-day suspension from his teacher, Merele Mitz, according to the complaint. Morgan pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing Wednesday, and her lawyer says she denies the allegations.
When Morgan showed up in the classroom to protest the suspension, Mitz tried to calm Morgan down by agreeing with her, but Morgan threatened Mitz, saying to her, "I'll get your stinky ass," and began hitting her, the complaint says.
Kindergarten teacher Katie Krumins, who came when she heard the disruption from the hallway, told Morgan, "Honey, you need to stop."
But, the complaint says, Morgan turned to her, arms outstretched - pointing to her chest - and said: "Do you want a piece of this?" She threw Krumins against a cabinet and resumed hitting Mitz, the complaint says.
Two male teachers got between Morgan and Mitz, and Morgan went out into the hallway, where she encountered the school principal and a principal supervisor for the district. She pushed the supervisor, causing her to fall on top of a student, who began to cry, according to the complaint. A classroom of first-graders at Parkview Elementary School watched the entire incident from their desks. A group of kindergartners saw much of it from the hallway.
Morgan has been charged with battery to two school district employees, Mitz and Yvonne Hopgood, the principal supervisor.
In response to a surge in verbally and physically violent incidents involving adults in the schools, MPS took the unusual step of creating a "notice of no trespassing" letter that principals can send to parents and other adults who have caused problems in the schools. Pochowski said the city attorney's office was starting to feel swamped this winter by MPS principals asking for restraining orders, and worked to tailor the letter for the school district in January.
"I guess you could call it temporary restraining order lite," said Pochowski, who noted that it doesn't carry any authority under state law, only municipal ordinances. "I've heard several principals say, 'I've got three or four out now,' " Pochowski said.
When asked why schools might be having more problems with adults, Pochowski, who also serves on the city's homicide review committee, said, "People are less tolerant of each other than they used to be. What used to be a fistfight in an alley behind a bar is now a gunshot."
And for some parents, "there just doesn't seem to be an acceptance when a teacher says, 'Well, your child is not doing well,' or whatever. In some cases, we've had adults come on school buses or into classrooms and attack a child that was involved in a fight with their child the day before. That's unprecedented. We've never heard of that before."
Students are victims, too
The Milwaukee County district attorney's office handled seven charges of battery against school district employees since January. Three were felonies and three were misdemeanors. One was dropped.
In other cases, though, the victim is a student. In West Allis, Serena Kelley was charged six weeks ago with battery of a 14-year-old boy. According to the criminal complaint, she walked up to the student while he stood with some friends in front of the school.
The complaint says Kelley asked, "Why are you messing me with my kid, punk?" She then pushed the boy against a railing and punched him with a closed fist in the left side of his face, threatening: "If you ever go near my kid again, I will kill you."
Kelley, who also pleaded not guilty, did not return a call seeking comment.
Yvonne Bell-Gooden, a clinical psychotherapist who works with children and adults at Milwaukee Health Services, said a complicated mixture of economic, family and community stresses could be fueling confrontations in schools.
She said that in addition to sending the wrong message about conflict resolution, violent parents can prompt children to question whether their schools are safe.
"The goal should be to make them feel comfortable and help them understand this doesn't naturally occur and it is a safe environment," Bell-Gooden said. "As a community, if this is a problem that is becoming prevalent, we need to problem solve about where the problem is stemming from, and why this is happening."
In the Parkview case, Hopgood, the principal supervisor, tried to block the hall because there were so many children watching the scene unfold, according to her testimony in the complaint. Then she tried to calm the distraught, angry parent. But Morgan kept pushing Hopgood's hands back.
"This violates what we are trying to do," Pochowski said. "Our schools want parents to be in those buildings - but to help us."
People are very influenced by those around them, and when the culture at large becomes more permissive, parents may tend to doubt even their own convictions in disciplining their children. Very different from 100 years ago, when teachers spanked kids at school without asking the parents' permission, and the parents would be angry at the child for whatever he did to make that necessary. When Christianity formed a bond of common values, there was much less confusion about right and wrong, even among those who did not practice the faith.
