The Jeremiah Lasater tragedy
10-26-08 Our Superintendent refers to this as "an incident" not the tragedy it actually is.
The constant quotes that the Superintendent and Principal did not know about the bullying and harassment of Lasater are unbelievable. School officials, however, were emphatic that no bullying was ever reported to them. Nor were taunts ever witnessed by Vasquez school staff, Principal Rosemary Oppenheim said.
The Dean of Students, who is directly responsible for student discipline, has not been heard from. If any of these three simply stood up and said that we have a bullying problem and we are going to work to get to the bottom of it, we could have been supportive of them. But they constantly repeated the absurd claim that they knew nothing about it, which either indicates that they're lying or incompetent to be school administrators.
We have had
three parents write us to tell us that after they complained
about bullying,
nothing was done to the perpetrators and each one of the parents
removed their
students from Vasquez, as they felt the school was unsafe for their kids.
Students and
administrators that were interviewed by the TV stations and the major
newspapers all said the same thing, and that was essentially everybody knew about
the bullying. Here is a quote from the LA Times,
Lasater was a target of frequent
taunts by schoolyard bullies at Vasquez High School in Acton, students said. One parent whose
child went to the aid of a person being
bullied was then attacked by the same people and the school
refused to take any
action against the attackers.
Here is a quote from his last year's teacher Michael Daly, one of Lasater's former special education teachers, who said the teen had endured teasing and bullying for years.
If you
believe the obvious lie that the administration knew nothing about it, it was still
their fault for not knowing anything, doing nothing and refusing to act. The argument that they have
a zero-tolerance is pretty meaningless if they take no action on the problems
reported to them.
In one case it appears the administration punished the person being harassed, just because they complained. He was pulled from class and required to [do his school] work in the school office.
It is particularly bothersome, as reported in the Signal and the Times, that the athletic department punished all of the kids on the football team because a student "mouthed off " to the team doctor. And then when the student athletes complained about their group punishment, the so-called staff team leaders told the students their punishment was a result of Lasater. The Head coach (Turner) specifically pointed out Lasater as the cause of the punishment. This was apparently a week before Lasater decided to kill himself at school.
If this is how they resolve problems, then these administrators, coaches, and teachers need to be fired immediately and quality persons should replace the see nothing, do nothing bastards who caused Lasater's death
One parent who
complained and also removed his kids made it clear he was told if we just passed
the bond issue, the tooth fairy would solve the High School's problems.
Mr Lasater's idea for a special help line for the students to receive call backs from off campus professionals is an excellent idea and should be implemented. We still need the students that see bullying to call in the incidents to the school Administrators. The real solution is to get the administration to do something about the bullying they see before their eyes, not just hiding the problem.
The administration
needs to apologize to the community for its incredible mismanagement of the high
school