From the Belly of the Beast
Teachers and students in Tualatin spill the beans about the demise of school discipline. And what to do about it.
You may recall an infamous video…
…back in October of a student (the boy wearing the bra) beating the stuffing out of a female classmate while another student videoed the performance. The assailant had been videoed previously pulling the same stunt and had been allowed to cruise the halls of the school. It happened at Hazelbrook Middle School in the sprawling Tigard-Tualatin School District—but this stuff happens frequently at other schools in other places, as we discussed here and here.
There’s a reason for the breakdown in what used to be called “discipline” in the public school factories: behavior from petty to near-murder is now embedded in the progressive belief system as a “disability.” There are federally-mandated programs with the usual zoo of acronyms ( 501 programs, IEPs) that have enmeshed teachers and students in an overcooked omelet of rules, regs, meetings, paperwork, non-teaching “administrators” second-guessing teachers, lawyers waiting to pounce, racial nonprofits peering over shoulders…
And it’s a mess.
A group of Tigard-Tualatin parents decided to fight back in the wake of the assault and the district’s lame effort to offload its responsibility for creating the systemic failure in the first place. It caught the attention of KGW recently, which earns our “Better Late Than Never” prize…
The parents started a website soon after the brawl; you can view it here. It’s not full of the usual progressive word-salad. Instead it’s full of testimony from students and parents.
And you’ll be shocked. And saddened that we have allowed a progressive experiment to be conducted on our kids.
Here‘s some of the testimony, slightly edited for length…
‘It feels like there are two groups of kids…the ones that follow the rules and then everyone else that just gets to do whatever they want.’
Submitted 12/12/23. by a Hazelbrook Middle School student.
I am here today to share some of my experiences in our district. I am not on an IEP, or a 504 plan; and even though I was hoping at one point to qualify for TAG1 I did not; so I am here representing my experiences as a “regular student.”
I have never been written up. No administrator has ever called home because of my behavior. I have never been in a fight. I get good grades and stay out of trouble.
I have had incredible teachers. Teachers who have taken an interest in my activities and have made learning fun and engaging. I remember being heartbroken to say goodbye to my elementary school teachers who I loved and adored. During my time at Hazelbrook, I have found teachers like this again. Who create wonderful, creative, learning environments within their classrooms. Many of my friends feel the same.
Unfortunately, not everyone treats our teachers with kindness. We’ve had many classes where we don’t feel like we’ve learned anything due to student behavior. We are constantly having to listen to horrible language, disruptive pounding, actual tantrums, distracting behaviors, and comments every day.
The teachers try to push through but the students often get their way. This behavior makes It hard to focus. I have watched students cuss out teachers when they don’t want to follow the rules or they are “having a bad day.”
It sometimes feels like these students just get a “vacation” from school. Some students don’t even ask to leave class; they come and go as they please. The rules don’t apply to them. It feels like they are doing it on purpose, and it often ruins the entire class. We have all witnessed it almost daily, but don’t know what to do.
I know fights are talked about as well, yes they happen, and yes they’ve become normal. And this too is a problem. If I didn’t have good friends and teachers I wouldn’t want to come to school.
Recently I saw a student get bullied and knocked to the ground, and I was afraid to get involved because I didn’t want to get hurt as well. So I just waited until an adult came and helped them. I felt sick about it. I know the right thing is to help but at Hazelbrook it feels like it’s more right to just try and avoid it.
It feels like the students that are disruptive and fighting just come right back to class, and get treats to bribe them to be good. I’ve been good seven years, and haven’t gotten a treat.
My 8th grade brother who is ALWAYS hungry, just noticed that kids on attendance and behavior plans get “grub hub” lunches. He jokingly says he should just yell and be disruptive or skip school, and then he could have someone bring him food.
It feels like there are two groups of kids…the ones that follow the rules and then everyone else that just gets to do whatever they want. We talk about “equity” in all of our classes and I wonder if the things my friends and I are experiencing at school are equitable. I hide from helping people for fear of becoming a target, miss class time due to disruptive behaviors, and watch others who violate the rules get rewarded with treats. I may not understand everything, but I don’t think that’s equity. Thank you for listening.
'“I wake up knowing that something bad will happen at school today and that nothing will be done about it.”
Submitted 12/12/23. by a Hazelbrook Middle School student.
I am an 8th grader at Hazelbrook and a student representative on the Hazelbrook site council. I want to speak today about the violence, aggressiveness, rudeness, tardiness, and hate directed at students and teachers every time other students and I walk into school. I want to give you some examples of what happens at my school.
Today, around school there is a picture of a naked student being Snapchatted around to everyone. Luckily, a friend had warned me to not look at it, so I didn’t see it.
Last week in my friend’s class, three students got in a fight, multiple students left in the middle of class, students were swearing at each other and the adult class helper. They were using all the swear words and saying terrible things.
In the bathrooms there is vandalizing, stealing, food like spaghetti in the toilets, things smeared everywhere, paint on the floor and the walls, and vaping. I hear other students tell people to kill themselves and use awful language to talk to each other. Students swear and yell at teachers when told to do their work. A pregnant teacher had students throw pencils and other garbage at her stomach while she was teaching.
I am in the Leadership class at Hazelbrook. Last year, we hosted a Halloween dance and half of our class worked on a Spook Alley. In the Spook Alley, my classmates got kicked, stomped, and punched. I was at the end of the Spook Alley. I got slapped, punched, kicked.
I jumped out to scare a group of students. One of the students grabbed my face and kissed me. I was wearing a mask, so I had some protection. I was so upset, I was crying, and if you ask my friends they know how much I hate crying in public and in front of others even members of my own family.
I talked to my vice principal about it, and he told me that it was dark and that he had no idea who did it, even though I told him exactly who did it and everyone in the school knew exactly who did it. The student was never punished.
A lot of kids are never punished. In fact, they are rewarded for their bad behavior. Kids skip class, are tardy, but then are rewarded with UberEATS and popsicles for barely coming to class.
Nobody should hear the things that I hear at school every single day. It is sad that I am used to it now. I hate going to school. I wake up knowing that something bad will happen at school today and that nothing will be done about it. Every single person I talk to dreads going to class because we never get work done, we never learn, and half of the class is mean to the other students and the teachers.
I am angry that nothing is changing. Please help everyone feel safe at Hazelbrook start doing what you say you do and take action to address these problems.
“We are at a breaking point.”
Submitted 12/13/23. by a teacher at Durham Elementary School.
I believe that we are at a turning point in public education. Fortunately, I believe that we are all in agreement that the goal of our schools is to provide a quality education for every student. But I think we will also agree that this can only happen if we have a functioning and safe learning environment for students and staff.
Sadly, when it comes to safety, we are at a breaking point at my school, Durham. We cannot offer the most fundamental part of a successful school anymore. Out of control behaviors, dysregulated students, and verbal and physical outbursts are daily occurrences.
Educational values such as the right of inclusive education for all is an idealistic value that doesn’t match the changes we are seeing in our student population. There are simply too many dysregulated students for our mainstream classrooms to absorb.
The language used by students, even the youngest of them, has deteriorated to the point of shocking even the most veteran teachers. And verbal abuse has evolved into physical violence directed at the staff and students. Staff members have begun to resign. As sad as that is, it is worse for the other students, students who cannot simply choose to leave and find a different school to attend.
The ideal system we created years ago, that of mainstreaming every child whenever possible, does not meet the needs of the students coming through our doors today. Durham is a prime example that this idealistic system is, frankly, outdated and needs to be restructured to take into account the needs of the whole school.
While we at Durham are thankful that we have gotten additional staff assigned to our building, that plan, for many reasons, is not working as our problems have only increased.
Maybe the “no consequences” model as practiced at Durham needs to be reconsidered. It is not serving anyone at this point and it is harming even the students it was meant to help. Room clears, verbal outbursts, physical attacks, destruction of property, racial slurs, bullying, and traumatic meltdowns are things that our students should not have to experience in the name of 100% inclusion and restorative circles.
“The district made a big deal about introducing a new hate speech policy, but if that policy cannot protect students from this, what is it for?”
Submitted 10/24/23 by a Tigard-Tualatin School District teacher.
I’m a middle school teacher at TTSD. Last year, two of my black students told me they were switching middle schools. When I asked one of the students why, he told me that there was a white student, who was continuously calling him the N-word. I was aghast.
I later learned that student was the reason that six of our black students transferred to other schools. The district made a big deal about introducing a new hate speech policy, but if that policy cannot protect students from this, what is it for?
Teachers who have this student tell me that he has a history of violent and aggressive behavior beginning in elementary school. I have observed this student roaming the hallways during my prep period. When I ask him where he is supposed to be, he just blows me off. I report this to the office and an administrator escorts the student to class, but the next day he is back at it again. I’m told he had over 40 discipline referrals last year.
“I still have the picture of the bruise on her face.”
Submitted 10/9/23 by April Griner, a mother of a Tualatin High School Student
On April 27th, 2022, my daughter was crying in the bathroom at Tualatin High School having an anxiety attack. When we found out why, my husband went to the principal's office.
My daughter was at lunch with a bunch of her gay friends. Her friends thought they would be funny and chant my daughter's sexuality loudly!!! The boy across the table took my daughter’s metal hydro flask from her and hit her upside the head in the eyebrow and temple. She grabbed it away as he went to strike her again.
The school wanted to know the names and what the kids were wearing and the time so they could review the video. They deemed that it didn't look that bad and he was never even suspended.
She and her friends had to hide at lunch for weeks because they were afraid, he would beat on them. He had a history of slamming them into vending machines and walls. There was never a police report, or I would have seen one!! I wish someone would have had a video of it so the school could control the narrative. I still have the picture of the bruise on her face.
“The good kids were made to feel crappy and started acting out as well because they saw the lack of discipline in our classrooms.”
Submitted 10/9/23 by a teacher in TTSD.
I am a current teacher in the district, with over 16 years of experience. Over the last 5-7 years, our district has changed and not for the better. I used to be proud to call myself a TTSD employee and now I am incredibly embarrassed and disheartened by the current administration and leadership.
TTSD used to be the district that you wanted to work for. They promoted from within, touted teachers as being the leaders of the district and for three years straight I would receive a letter from former Superintendent Ernie Brown praising my teaching abilities in the classroom. It made me feel proud to work for a leader who valued me as a teacher/educator.
However, that all changed when Dr. Sue Reiki-Smith arrived. I had a family member who worked under her direction in the Eugene/Springfield area and they told me in great detail how her leadership failed their district and they were thrilled to see her go. I made the decision that I was going to wait to see how she would do starting off [in her new position].
Dr. Sue changed our district. What once was a district that prided itself on student behavior, leadership, and scores is now diving deep into the dumps.
I almost quit five years ago. I had the toughest class of my career, felt incredibly unsupported and watched kids behave so poorly, while all [the school administration] did was give them breaks and snacks and the reason behind this was that they were hungry and dysregulated.
The good kids were made to feel crappy and started acting out as well because they saw the lack of discipline in our classrooms. We had kids tipping desks over, throwing pencils, calling teachers horrible names, getting into physical altercations and this was in third grade. Teachers weren't allowed to intervene because we weren't "trained" to physically touch students so we had to watch students become physical. It was awful.
I know so many teachers who are currently struggling with behaviors in their classrooms and can't do anything. All they want us to do is fill out more and more paperwork. They also want us to continue to implement a program called PAX that one kid said "they felt that they were being trained like a dog". This is their answer to bad behaviors. Blowing a harmonica and playing games that are not age-appropriate.
Three years years ago, I watched a board meeting that discussed getting rid of our SRO program2 and wanting a shift in how we report discipline. They told us in staff meetings that we were over-referring kids of color, etc. We needed to be mindful of what kids we were filling out reports for because their data showed a picture that was "inequitable".
Staff stopped reporting and NOW they are telling us we aren't reporting enough. What is it? This is all from Dr.Sue and the board's leadership. They didn't want the data because it would shine a light that they weren't prepared for and they wanted to look good in the spotlight. However, now they are blatantly blaming us for not reporting enough.
Dr. Sue was given a NO VOTE of confidence by the Teachers Union in the spring of 2023. This was in part due to her lack of leadership. There were 17 bullet points of why she was not considered a real leader in this district. The school board told us we were "cruel" and didn't know our true intentions behind someone who leads this district in a great way. They should also be fired and recalled for turning a blind eye to the growing behavior problem in our district.
One of my memories of Dr. Sue and her lack of leadership and being a true superintendent is that last year, she walked into my classroom for the first time. I invited her into our circle so she could introduce herself, she waved me off and left my classroom. For someone who cares deeply about children and her staff, that sure left a mark on me that she doesn’t care about me or the students in this district.
And for the record, we haven't seen her {or any school board member] walking the halls at my school as well. They are not in the buildings like they say they are.
Final note: this is the petition being circulated by the Tigard/Tualatin Schools Alliance for Safety and Education…
TTSD to establish and enact a clear tiered response policy to physical violence by December 31, 2023.
TTSD to enable and encourage principals to take swift action to safeguard students against physical violence in alignment with new policies.
TTSD to prioritize the safety of all students against the learning needs of a few violent individuals (especially in the case of repeated acts of violence).
Denounce physical violence in our schools in a clear and concise email to all families in the district, and direct them to the new policies as noted above.
An outside audit of all TTSD policies and procedures. Audit to include comparison to the policies and procedures of the West Linn, Lake Oswego, and Sherwood School Districts and analysis of implementation of policies within TTSD.
If these demands are not met with sustainable improvement to the safety of the school environment, we will pursue the following remedies:
Resignation of Superintendent Sue Rieke-Smith.
TTSD School Board will be held responsible for the neglect of our children and teachers & safety.
Transparency in the hiring process for a new Superintendent.
Godspeed Tigard-Tualitin parents and teachers. You’re about to get an education in the power of the progressive machine.
Talented and Gifted (TAG) offers rigorous and accelerated academics along with additional extracurricular activities for high school students.
School Resources program: “SROs are sworn law enforcement officers responsible for safety and crime prevention in schools. A local police department, sheriff's agency, or school system typically employs SROs who work closely with school administrators in an effort to create a safer environment.” One of the casualties of the Floyd Riots and defunding the police..
Ollie's comments resonate with me. Unfortunately my first response is to hit violence back with violence. As a parent and now grandparent if I need to form a star chamber of like minded parents and grandparents to give these thugs and their family a dose of their own medicine I would probably do so. I was involved as a parent helper back in the late 90's in my daughter's Science class at the middle school. The teacher had two boys who were not bad kids they just were never disciplined. I liked both kids but not their behavior. And she had not a clue. One of those two died at age 21 due to a drug deal gone bad and his woke parents of the time IMO were certainly unaware or incapable ... Dad was a psychiatrist. The physician could not see to heal his own kid.
We have allowed discipline to die. No one is ever going to have self discipline without complying to discipline over all. These stories are happening every day in every school in this state. Maybe not to this degree but definitely outside of being acceptable.
These stories are horrifying. Unfortunately, it all continues. Why?
1. The superintendent. She is an employee of the school board (their only employee, in fact), and they are all in her pocket. They are unwilling to fire her; instead, they sing her praises.
2. The school board. They have yet to make any effort to actually listen to parents and make changes. Sure, they had “listening sessions” after the video was posted in October. However, they had little breakout rooms for parents to vent their concerns (each was only allotted 90 seconds), and those were not recorded so parents felt “safe” to share. When they all came back together, the district representatives for each group gave a synopsis of the breakout, but I heard from many people that the synopsis was not a good representation of what was actually discussed.
3. The parents. The parents have repeatedly voted for the same awful candidates and policies that come with them. They are unwilling to see that the violence is caused by not giving swift and decisive consequences and eliminating the “restorative justice” or “social justice” that they are in favor of. Until the parents actually have the courage to vote for something different, nothing will change.
And as for those saying “pull your kids out” - most families in this district have two working parents just to afford to live in this district. And that doesn’t leave room for private school tuition or for one of the parents to homeschool the kids. We need school choice, but the parents see that as evil and anti public schools (and the homeschool parents are concerned that it will allow the government to dictate their children’s education). Sadly, improving the schools will require the parents to make a major paradigm shift, and most are unwilling to do that work.