Don't Back Down

A couple of weeks ago, Creative Loafing columnist Tara Servatius slammed Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) for their handling of an incident in which a student repeatedly was threatened and attacked by other students. Even after the student's parents went to CMS, the behavior continued.

In the end, the parents were sent a letter banning them from the school grounds because of "unacceptable behavior" when they went to pick the student up from school grounds after one of the beatings. The letter doesn't define this term. The student had apparently been suspended. The attackers had been charged with assault by the Huntersville Police Deparment. CMS apparently refused to discuss the issue with CL.

Yesterday, Tara posted an update to the story. The news doesn't look good. According to her latest report, the student is still suspended, while all of her attackers have returned to school grounds. The parents are still barred from returning to the school. And CMS still won't talk, despite their protests of not being asked for their side of the story and attempts by CL to contact them.

We have two kids enrolled in CMS, and stories like this are, quite frankly, frightening. I have no idea if the stories are one-sided, as the administration won't respond with their version of events. That tells me that it is time to take matters into our own hands. On November 21st, from 3pm until 7pm, local radio station 106.5 will sponsor a session for parents and students to call in and talk about school violence. Now is your chance to be heard. Don't miss it.