Posted on 05/27/2004 1:18:08 PM PDT by Roberts
Student Whose Hair Set Afire Told To Stay Home Alleged Attacker Remains In School
POSTED: 8:23 am MDT May 26, 2004 UPDATED: 11:07 am MDT May 26, 2004
DENVER -- A 13-year-old Denver girl said she was threatened with a knife at her middle school and her hair was set on fire, yet she was the one who was told to stay home for the remainder of the school year while her alleged attacker wasn't suspended or even investigated.
Courtney Glowczewski has a small right arm and leg because of cerebral palsy, a disability that her teachers say has not kept her from working hard in school and being a good student.
"I do really good in my classes. My teachers tell me, 'Good job,' and, 'You're doing very good,' and 'Excellent girl,'" said Glowczewski.
But her physical appearance has made her a target of taunting and of physical attack, which she said has never been addressed by the administration at Martin Luther King Middle School. Last week, she said the bullying got worse when she said she was threatened and assaulted by a seventh grade boy.
"He pulled out a knife, a silver knife, a pocket knife, and then he said 'What!?' So I was scared and didn't know what to do," said Glowczewski.
As she walked to her seat she smelled smoke and one of her classmates was patting her hard on the back.
"I looked and there was a black spot on the back of my shirt. And then I saw some black hair falling from my hair," said Glowczewski.
Her hair was on fire and the other student said that she was trying to help put it out.
Her mother, Sherrie, was called to school when her daughter reported the incident to the assistant principal. Sherrie Glowczewski was outraged when she was told by the administration at Martin Luther King that her daughter didn't need to come back and not to worry about the tests.
"I just wanted to go to a school that doesn't make fun of me. I wanted to be treated with respect," Glowczewski said, crying.
Meanwhile, her mother has made repeated phone calls to the assistant principal.
"I have no idea what they've done. That's why I want to speak to her. I want to know what happened to (the bullying suspect) and what's going on in that school," said Sherrie Glowczewski.
7NEWS discovered that while Glowczewski was sent home, her alleged attacker is still in school, even though administrators confirmed he had a knife.
The principal has now admitted her staff did not call police, did not interview potential witnesses, and did not conduct a proper investigation.
"He shouldn't come back in school. I should be in school taking my education and it's not fair," said Glowczewski.
The interim principal at Martin Luther King Middle School declined an on-camera interview, but said her staff made serious mistakes in this case and that she will offer Glowczewski and her family a summer school program and transportation.
Meanwhile, both Mark Stevens, the spokesman for Denver Public Schools, and the superintendent declined to discuss the case or DPS policy for dealing with such issues. That seems to be the same response Glowczewski's parents got when they complained to the administration.
BTW, the name of this place is:
Martin Luther King, Jr., Efficacy Academy
No kidding, talk about lipstick on a pig!
Why isn't that principal before the school board explaining her incompetence?
Bump for futer updates
I live off Martin Luther King Freeway in San Diego. Good advice.
OMG you're in trouble now, you used the G word, to the principles office with you :)
You are 100% correct. The people who should pay the price won't, while everyone else will. And prayers do go out for that young lady, she seems to be a strong person who strives beyond the cruelties of others. You expect it from other young children, but not from those adults who job and moral duty it is to protect her. As someone else posted, the adult administrators are behaving like children here.
That is simply false. It is not "common" at all schools. That is a ridiculous statement. It is not even common at all bad schools. Don't let ideology get in the way of fact.
NONE. If this were my child, heads would never stop rolling.
You better believe it.
"If this happened to a child of mine there would be arrests made even if it was only me."
Yep.
I am in a masters of education program right now. Any hope you have for this educational system should be doused and you need to make alternative plans. ( home school) What they are teaching and the absolute ding bats that are in education ( yes I have to group myself in there) is frightening.
They believe in and teach something called. Socially created reality. That is what ever you believe has been created by your own social reality thus, relative. The truth is what ever you construct it to be.
It is my experience, not my ideology, that draws me to this conclusion. Even if as you say it is not common, it certainly is not "false" that this goes on and adminstrators do nothing about it.
Are kids bullied while adminstrators and teachers do nothing about it? The answer is yes. Is it a rare instance? By my experience the answer is no. Does it take place at a majority of schools? I would say yes. At all schools? No.
Such things as this happen too often but this is way outside the pale of typical misbehavior.
Contrary to popular opinion schools are safer today than they have been in years. Extraordinary events such as this and Columbine distort the reality of public school experience.
I am hardly one to whitewash the situation living in Chicago home of one of the worst systems and even here this is hardly common.
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