By Jesse Broome

 

On Monday, November 6, over 100 Springfield parents and residents gathered at Jonathan Dayton High School to attend the scheduled Board of Education meeting. Aside from regular agenda items such as student and staff recognition, Tree Top property update, and various reports, attendees converged on the meeting to examine how the Springfield Public Schools handles bullying and the practice of looping.

Springfield Public Schools has received recent media attention from Arnold Diaz of WPIX Channel 11 news, who reported on the bullying case of a fourth-grader at Sandmeier Elementary School. According to the report, the girl was bullied incessantly throughout her time in third grade; classmates would make fun of her birthmark, steal her school supplies, and frequently call her names such as “stupid” and “idiot.” As the school year ended, the girl looked forward to a different class with different classmates, but the family was notified that the class would stay intact for the fourth grade, with the same students and teacher. (The practice of keeping the teacher and students together for multiple school years is known as “looping.”)

At the close of the Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Davino made a public statement about the School District’s response to the specific bullying case and then allowed the public to speak; and the response was overwhelming. For over two hours, parents and residents approach the Board Members and Superintendent Davino with stories of bullying and solutions to looping.

The meeting concluded with little resolution; however, important issues were brought to the forefront.

If you want to learn more about the bullying case, watch the videos on PIX11 here.

For more information on the policy of looping and reasons for limiting its practice, visit the Limit Looping website, which has been developed by a group of Springfield residents.