Saturday, November 14, 2009

Parents: School Indifferent to Bullying

By Elaine D. BriseÑO
Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
          Emily and Troy Dunow say their son has endured months of bullying by a group of boys — one of whom stabbed him in the cheek with a mechanical pencil.
        But the school and district have done little to stop it, the parents say.
        The Dunows contend their efforts to get the issue resolved have been met with indifference by Assistant Principal Trish Gronewald and by the Rio Rancho school district office.
        Their son, Logan Dunow, an eighth-grader at Rio Rancho Middle School, said he began having problems with the boys in third grade. He moved to a different elementary and hadn't seem them again until this year, when they all began attending Rio Rancho Middle School.
        "They didn't like me because I was a nerd," said Logan, 14. "They used to tease me about that. Now I think it's also because of who I hang out with."
        Although the stabbing caused only a minor injury, the Dunows say the pencil pierced through Logan's cheek.
        They say Gronewald has refused to meet with them and has accused them of harassment.
        Gronewald did not return a message left for her Friday afternoon. Principal Amy Torres said the school has been told to direct all calls to district officials, who are now handling the matter.
        Tonna Burgos, the district's executive director of student services, said the district and the school resolved the conflict after the stabbing in August. She said officials were not aware that Logan began having problems again until a fight last week between him and the other boys.
        "There was a resolution in August," Burgos said. "We were unaware there was an ongoing problem."
        She said the school has taken action in both incidents, but privacy laws prevent disclosure of details.
        The Dunows contend officials have mishandled the conflict, starting with the stabbing.
        "It was my son who called to let me know this had happened," Emily Dunow said of the stabbing. "The nurse didn't call me. The administration didn't call me. Nobody called me. An adult should have called me."
        She said the student who stabbed her son was punished by having his office duties taken away. However the school, needing to give the boy another class for that period, put him in her son's PE class.
        She said the school provided a mediation session for the two students, but that only made things worse because the other boy and his friends started taunting her son for being a snitch. When the Dunows contacted the school again, they were told the issue was closed.
        The family filed a police report with the Rio Rancho Police Department, but no charges were filed.
        The Dunows say they have contacted the school asking that the boy involved in the stabbing be removed from their son's PE class, but their request has not been granted.
        Burgos said the Dunows met with district officials last week about the lunchtime fight and were given bullying and complaint forms, which the couple have not yet returned. The Dunows said they are still filling out the paperwork and plan to return it.
        "It's perfectly reasonable for the parents to want to sit down and talk with the administration," Burgos said. "Once we get the forms back from the parents, we can follow up and meet with the principal."
        The Dunows say they considered transferring their son to another Rio Rancho middle school but learned they were all full and were not accepting transfer students.
        As for the fight last week, the Dunows admit it was their son who threw the first punch.
        But Emily Dunow said in the weeks leading up to the fight, the boys were calling her son names and teasing him. They grabbed his backpack and threw it down the stairs. They also stole his student ID, she said.
        "When this all started, they (school and district officials) did not take us or the situation seriously," she said. "They have just handled this poorly."
       

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