Pflugerville Independent School District to hold an open forum in response to parent outrage after several tragic incidents involving student safety. Thursday, November 10, at 6:30 pm, Jos? Riojas Elementary School will host a "Climate and Safety Meeting" to "provide parents and campus staff an opportunity to engage in a productive dialogue that will allow the Riojas community to move forward in a positive manner." Childcare will be provided, and community members throughout the district are encouraged to participate. Parents are campaigning for change after a second-grade boy was stabbed in the eye at Riojas Elementary in September. The parents of the victim say they requested help for their son, who says he was punished for tattling when he told his teacher the boy hit him and spit on him weeks prior to the stabbing. "Since this traumatic incident, we heard from many other parents whose children were injured. They have serious concerns about school protocol, the disregard for following policies, or just being ignored when they complain. It is not just in one school; it's district wide," says the father of the 8-year-old boy. When parents asked Riojas Principal Tammy Rebecek about the district bullying policy, last updated in 2008, she was unaware that one existed. PISD Assistant Superintendent Dr. Tommy Eaton was unaware of HB1942 passed last year, which changes the requirements for schools to address bullying. Round Rock ISD, as well as other school districts in the area, proactively adapted the guidelines put forth by HB1942 as early as two years ago. Districts are required to fully comply by the 2012-2013 school year. This week, parent chaperones on a Riojas Elementary first-grade field trip allege that a man was videotaping four classrooms of children in Zilker Park. Chaperones contacted APD and the man was reportedly apprehended and admitted to taping the children, but the recording was not found. The tape was not found and the children could be identified by their school T-shirts. Riojas and PISD administrators have not released any information to parents about their children potentially being at risk, but hosted a school carnival the following day where hundreds of families played unsuspecting outside the school in the dark evening. "Even if this person hadn't taped the kids, why wouldn't they have some kind of police presence with so many little kids running around in the dark? Someone could easily be hurt or abducted. It's irresponsible, especially after all of the recent incidents," one parent said. The boy who was stabbed in the eye is still recovering, and his parents requested a stay-away agreement to protect their son from the child who hurt him. The school violated the stay-away agreement less than one month later when several classes of second-graders were left unsupervised on the playground and the child assaulted the victim again. Previous incidents at area schools include a 10-year-old girl who was sexually harassed and left with the perpetrator in 20091 and the death of a 7-year-old boy in 20082, who was found hanging from a coat hook in the school restroom and died two days later from his injuries. Parents express concern that schools are more concerned about attendance records than safety. "Our son split his head open on the playground at Murchison Elementary in kindergarten and the HAzMat crew had to clean up his blood--no one called EMS. He had stitches at Dell Children's. Another kindergartener brought him to a teacher because he was bleeding all over the playground and nobody noticed," says one parent. Another parent told school board members last month that her complaint to Riojas about a gun threat was ignored. A boy told her daughter on the bus that he was planning to bring a gun and shoot her the following day. "Assistant Principal Walker gave me a 'boys will be boys' attitude. She never followed up with me; she never confirmed she spoke with the young boy's parents or if any resolution was made," said the parent. There are rumors in the neighborhood that an attempted kidnapping occurred at a bus stop in the Villages of Hidden Lake subdivision, but no information was distributed to parents. Last year, a Navy Recruiter employed at Pflugerville High School was accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.3 And last year, a cyber-bully made the news after harassing Pflugerville High School students.4 "We need to work together to curtail this, rather than sweeping it under the rug to keep exemplary ratings. It is maddening to think that every day when you put your child on the bus or send them off to school you need to fear for your child's safety," says a parent. 1 2 http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/austin/stories/030909kvue_bullies_cb.1c99ae4a.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27006468/ns/us_news-life/t/boys-school-bathroom-death-attributedgame/#.TrVkWWBAdcd 3 4 http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/crime/recruiter-in-minor-sex-case-found-dead http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/Cyber-bully-slams-Pflugerville-teens Dr. Charles Dupree, Superintendent of PISD, agreed to conduct this meeting only after repeated requests to the school board from outraged parents and community members. "We want to provide an opportunity for parents and campus staff to engage in a productive dialogue that will help rebuild trust where it has been damaged, and to enable the Riojas community to move forward in a positive manner," said Dupree. Superintendent Dupree and Assistant Superintendent Eaton plan to address recent concerns the community has expressed, including medical emergency protocols, harassment and bullying, gun threats, and proactive safety measures. Parents concerned about safety are encouraged to participate in this public forum.