I wanted to make you aware of two incidents that occurred at school today that you may hear about from your children. While I cannot share many details due to student privacy concerns, I want you to know the BCMS administration is aware of the incidents. The two incidents are being investigated and the appropriate discipline and restorative work will occur for the students involved.

The first incident included two students making a racist gesture and a slur. The second incident involved a physical altercation between one of the students in the racist gesture and slur incident and another student who felt disrespected by the slur and gesture.

As stated in our Student Rights and Responsibilities, at BCMS, we believe all students share in the responsibility of developing and maintaining a climate that is conducive to wholesome learning and living. Students are expected to behave in a manner which will naturally bring praise and respect to themselves, their families and their school.

We will continue to work with students to build a climate of respect for all within our building.

Sincerely,

Amy Jenkins, Ed.D.

Principal

Dear BCMS Families,

First, I want to emphasize that hazing, bullying and harassment will not be tolerated in our school community. Any student who feels they have been subjected to hazing, bullying or harassment should report the incident to a trusted adult in the school, or use the LMSD Reporting Form to bring an incident to the attention of administrators.

Next, I want to follow up on the email I sent yesterday. Today, members of our administrative team conducted further investigation into what occurred and pursued additional actions with the students who were involved and their families. I have also spoken with several parents and guardians who were understandably concerned about what occurred yesterday, as well as with a separate incident involving a video and discussion in a social studies class earlier this year. In relation to that incident as well, I have spoken directly with the families of those students and with the teacher.

Again, I cannot share specific information about disciplinary consequences; however, I can share that in addition to more traditional means of discipline, our school and District affirm the use of restorative practices to turn negative interactions into learning opportunities. Restorative practices help students learn to resolve disagreements, take ownership of their behavior, and engage in acts of empathy and forgiveness.

As part of our ongoing efforts to address these issues, our Culturally Responsive Teaching team is meeting tomorrow and we are bringing in Victorious Hall from Sage Wellness Group to work with staff how to best handle difficult situations, conversations and issues to support the needs of our diverse student body and empower them to discuss concerning issues fairly and openly.

As always, if you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to me via the main office at the school. If your students would like to discuss their concerns, our counselors are available throughout any school day to meet with them.

Sincerely,

Amy Jenkins, Ed.D.

Principal

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5034497&forum_id=2#43986099)

Seems like we can solve this pretty easily with some restorative measures and no one gets kicked out and we all learn a valuable lesson.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5034497&forum_id=2#43986112)