Parents speak out against zero tolerance

More than 100 people turn out for rally

By BILL RODGERS Tribune Chronicle
WARREN — More members of the community came out Wednesday night to protest a zero-tolerance policy at Warren City Schools they claim is unfair.

‘‘He was pushed into the fight. He had to defend himself,” said Larry Larson about his grandson. “I asked if he had taken a whupping and went to the hospital that would have been right?’’

Larson was one of more than 100 people who attended the rally at New Jerusalem Fellowship on Palmyra Road.

Another speaker, Josie Freeman, said her grandson was accused of tripping another student and expelled. She said he was on the football team, had a 3.2 grade point average and was told his expulsion meant he would not be allowed to attend another public school in Ohio.

Since he was too young to attend an alternative charter school, he sat around the house, she said.

‘‘It was a sad thing to see my grandson lying around the house, not doing anything. He couldn’t go anywhere. They threw my grandson out there,’’ Freeman said.

The school district has said they cannot release disciplinary records of individual students.

As such, pastors calling for a change to the fighting policy have asked for stories like these so they can study the policy.

‘‘We cannot acquisition the files, but you can,’’ the Rev. Frank Hearns of Second Baptist Church told parents.

The ad-hoc group, formed recently by pastors such as the Rev. Alton Merrell to question why two seniors in the school district would not be allowed to graduate this year. The seniors were expelled along with a sophomore girl under the zero-tolerance policy.

The group is circulating a petition urging the district to allow the girls to return to class with the two months they were out considered sufficient punishment.

Speakers at the rally pointed out that some districts suspend students who fight for three days.

‘‘We agree there must be discipline, we simply believe that the punishment and the crime have got to fit,’’ Merrell said.

They further urge that the policy needs to be revised to exercise discretion on a case-by-case basis. One speaker questioned why a student who defends themselves should be given the same measure of punishment as an aggressor.

Though school administration states students can appeal the punishment, the group argues that the arbitration process lacks impartial arbitrators.

The petition ends by stating an ongoing program of cultural diversity and sensitivity training be adopted for teachers, administrators and school board members.

The speakers discussed the role race plays in the policy, with the consensus being that it affected everyone regardless of race. Royal Mayo, district coordinator of the NAACP, was there for support and said the policy was too harsh and needed to be changed. And city Councilman James Pugh called for diversity training and for the district to hire people ‘‘who look like our kids.’’

But several of those waiting to speak, like Larson, were white.

‘‘My grandson was expelled from high school, and he’s white. Ö This was on a clean record,’’ he said.

School Board President Robert Faulkner said previously that the board would discuss the policy at an upcoming retreat. Hellweg stated earlier that since the policy was adopted, there were fewer fights in the district.

Following the rally, Merrell said his group was expecting a phone call from school officials this week. They hope to speak to the board about the policy.

‘‘We need to go to the policy makers,’’ Merrell said.

Warren schools have been closed this week for spring break.

brodgers@tribune-chronicle.com