Parents complain of bullying at Roswell schools; Concerned group intends to ask for reforms at Tuesday's school board meeting

The U.S. Department of Education reports that 22 percent of U.S. students bet ween the ages of 12 and 18 were bullied at school during the 2012-2013 school year, according to an infographic from stopbullying.gov, a website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The graphic also shows the different experiences of girls and boys. (Submitted Graphic)

Two Roswell High School students got into a physical fight earlier this year that culminated in one punching the other to the ground, sitting on top of her and banging her head repeatedly on the concrete.

One of the 14 year olds, whose parent wants the name withheld, sustained a concussion. The other girl was suspended for five days and, according to a Roswell Police Department, given a battery citation and referred to juvenile probation.

But the larger issue has never been resolved, according to the parent, who mentions as an aside being told by school officials the head-slamming incident was one of three fights at the school that day.

The parent's continued concerns are that a video of the end of the fight was posted on social media, with no response questions about whether the students responsible for that were disciplined. A promised apology letter has never been sent to the student with the concussion, who reports continuing to be taunted and egged on to fight. And the parent has a lot of unanswered questions, including why the incidents with his child that began in October and included a death threat, were not dealt with effectively and were allowed to escalate.

Other Roswell parents are saying such an incident might be extreme, but it is far from unusual. They say their children are frequently bullied, sometimes to the point of coming home with bruises, broken bones, bleeding wounds and terrorizing fear of future bodily harm.

These parents say that teachers, administrators and School Resource Officers have not done enough to prevent the bullying behaviors.

After dealing in frustration with what they say is a lack of communication or appropriate responses on the part of public school officials, a group of parents have formed Parents Against Bullying of Roswell and intend to discuss their experiences and ask for reforms at Tuesday's school board meeting.

"What will it take for something to be done?" asked Tina Ramus, whose middle-school son recently was beaten up at school and, she said, has since experienced an escalation in bullying, including explicit death threats. "If what they are doing isn't working, they need to do something else."

School and police officials said that the Roswell Independent School District does not have an unusual problem regarding bullying and that they are doing the best they can to deal with problems, given the nature of youth, limited staffing and legal restrictions on what they can communicate to parents and still comply with student privacy laws.

Parents question school policies

"Of course, the District seeks to be proactive in addressing bullying issues," said Interim Superintendent Susan Sanchez in an email response to questions.

She said that she does not consider the bullying issue at RISD to be unusual.

"My understanding is that there were 15 bullying incidents in 2015," she wrote. "However, we do not have the numbers for 2016."

Sanchez said that federal law prevents discussing or providing information, such as disciplinary and referral reports, that identify students.

She added that she is aware of the Parents Against Bullying group and the intention of some parents to address the school board, but made no other comment regarding that.

Both state law and state education policies prohibit school bullying, and the Roswell Independent School District has current policies that define what constitutes prohibited behavior at schools or at school-related functions. "Cyberbullying" via social media or other electronic communication is also defined and considered prohibited.

While the policies do not specify the consequences, stating in the handbook that punishment depends on many factors, disciplinary measures can escalate to suspension or expulsion. The standard, however, is specified as the "least restrictive means necessary to address a hostile environment."

That gives teachers and administrators a great deal of discretion, and that is causing some parents a lot of frustration.

Ramus said she wasn't even informed about the fight involving her son, in which he was hit several times, because he was not physically injured and no nursing report was created. She said that she was later told by school officials that only the parents of students disciplined are notified about bullying incidents.

She also said it wasn't until she took to social media to complain publicly about the handling of the incident that school officials took her complaints seriously, but she is far from satisfied with responses so far.

Reforms sought

Ramus and others want more school officials on school grounds to monitor students. She also suggests that schools accept offers of parents to serve as monitors. Ramus said she asked to watch the playground but was told she couldn't. Sanchez responded that parent volunteers are welcomed if they have passed background checks and fingerprinting verifications. Ramus said she was not offered that option.

Ramus and others also want to make it mandatory that parents are notified of all incidents of bullying, whether their children are the perpetrators or the ones subjected to it. Ramus and others are convinced that could occur without violating privacy by omitting the names of other students involved when notifying parents.

Ramus also recommends that schools limit the size of the areas where students can be during lunches or free time. She said that her child's school also should remove the shed from the playground where her son was cornered and attacked.

The parent of the high school student also wants disciplinary actions taken against students who videotape fights or post the clips to social media.

In response to a question about the video posting, Sanchez responded, "The District did review the policy and respond according to policy." She declined to give specifics, citing privacy rules.

Because of her social media campaign, Ramus said she has heard from many local parents and students.

One parent of a middle school student has talked about her daughter being hit in the head repeatedly even after the daughter told school officials earlier that day that she had been threatened with being attacked. Another parent has written about a daughter whose wrist was broken and whose son was scratched up in fights at their elementary school. She withdrew her students from the school because, she said, her daughter went all day without proper attention to her wrist. She was then told school officials would not talk to her about what happened because her children are no longer enrolled.

Ramus also said that she has heard from several students, some of whom have said they think about suicide rather than continuing to deal with the fear, pain or isolation that they are experiencing.

Severe toll of bullying

Most educators and public health officials agree that bullying is not to be tolerated as "kids will be kids" behavior, although it is frequent.

Statistics for 2011 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 18.7 percent of New Mexico high school students reported being bullied. The lowest rate for any state was Florida at 14 percent, while the highest was Montana with 26 percent.

That same year, 11.3 percent of New Mexico high school students said they had been in a physical fight at school.

A 2009 New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey of the state departments of health and education found that 16.2 percent of Chaves County high school students said that they had been bullied on school grounds, while 10.8 percent said that they had been in a fight on school property.

People who are bullied often have lifelong effects, including increased risks of suicides, lower levels of academic achievement and higher rates of anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorders, according to stopbullying.gov, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.

People who engage in bullying behavior also suffer. They have higher reported rates of alcohol and drug abuse, imprisonment, dropout rates and domestic violence in relationships, among other effects. Even bystanders are negatively affected academically and emotionally, the website indicates.

Not enough resource officers in schools?

The Roswell Police Department has five police officers, including Sgt. Ron Smith, head of the School Resource Office program, assigned for all 21 schools and 10,300 students in the Roswell Independent School District.

"The SRO program is dependent on staffing at the (police department) as well," Smith said. "There is an agreement and the possibility of up to six officers, but that also depends on manning. As you probably know, the police department is well short of people right now, so we have to fight to keep the four we have so that we can do a good job for our kids."

Smith said that he thinks the officers and school officials are doing their best to deal with bullying problems.

"When you are in a school environment and watching hundreds of kids, fights only take a few seconds," he said, agreeing with Sanchez that the RISD does not have a bigger problem with bullying than any other school district.

Smith's own words and actions have been called into question. He admits that he has told at least one parent that fighting is something her child might have to do.

"No, we do not encourage fighting, but, as a last (resort), kids lash out and do such a thing," he said. "It is part of what goes on. And as long as parents and school staff deal with it appropriately, it is what needs to happen. ? At times, people do lash out just to get people off them. It is not encouraged. And, if it does happen and it reaches the level of a crime, we will deal with it as a criminal investigation."

Smith said he thinks school officials and SROs are sending the correct message. "We tell them from day one to keep their hands to themselves, to tell an adult," he said. "This is pounded into them from day one, do not handle this physically. Yet we have fighting from kindergarten to 12th grade. I deal with teachers every day. I see it everyday. Teachers and administrators are pulling their hair out. Everyone wants to know what to do about these issues. I wish I had better answers."

Ramus alleged that Smith mocked her son for having his parent talk to school officials.

Smith said he did not intend to demean the son or mother, but he added, "It does seem that this student has to deal with his mom all the time, and, yes, the question was asked if he was going to have his mother come to school to solve his problems."

Smith said that his point was that he thinks the sixth-grade student needs to learn to work with school officials on his own.

"That is what school is for, to learn to deal with problems, to learn to deal with things ourselves," he said. "We are trying to get him to understand he can handle things by simply walking up to security, to school staff, to the SRO, if there is one there.

"Now a concerned parent is a blessing. A concerned parent coming and trying to help out a student is great, but parents have to know that when they come in to talk to school personnel, school personnel are not going to lie to them. We cannot tell you who your child was in a fight with," said Smith.

He added that he thought Ramus was doing a good job with her son and that parents did have a role to play. "Sometimes if a parent is involved early enough during the problem, it quells it."

He disagrees that he and his officers have not acted appropriately regarding Ramus' child or any child. "Any time there has been a legitimate claim, we have dealt with it."

Public airing of concerns

About seven parents are planning to attend the Tuesday night meeting of the RISD Board of Education to discuss their concerns and recommendations.

"We did not ask for this," said one parent. "We are just standing up for our kids."

Ramus said the end goal is to help create a school environment where students feel and are, in fact, safe.

"I really believe that people talk, they learn more," she said. "I really believe the more communication between parents and teachers, parents and schools, principals and schools, the more documentation, the more interrelationships between us and schools, the better result."

Staff writer Lisa Dunlap can be reached at 575-622-7710, ext. 310, or at reporter02@rdrnews.com.