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http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=31596.78

MCEA Slams School System
In reaction to an recent alleged poisoning attempt, association says MCAS is ‘not a safe environment for students or employees’ Friday.

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Without offering details of a specific issue, Phyllis Stark, president of the Michigan City Education Association, on Friday issued a statement about student discipline.

"The MCEA believes this school system now is not a safe environment for students or employees," it read.

Stark would not comment on details about the apparent attempted poisoning of a teacher at the A.K. Smith Career Center. However, on Wednesday, Stark said the MCEA was conducting its own investigation into the incident.

On Oct. 26, Diane Britton, 48, a computer teacher at the A.K. Smith Area Career Center drank water from a bottle she had put on her desk. It may have been tainted with what has been described as a caustic substance that caused her lips and inside of her mouth to blister.

Michigan City police are investigating, but Britton has said the school administration has not been supportive.

The statement from the MCEA said, "For years, at least since the early 1990s, teachers, through the Michigan City Education Association, have been placing the issue of student discipline on building discussion agendas, system discussion agendas, negotiations agendas, and every other forum possible to try to get administrators to be serious about the out-of-control student discipline issue.

"This problem of 'out-of-control' student behavior is not unique to the community of Michigan City; student discipline is an issue that must be addressed by every school system in the country," said Stark in the statement. "What is unique, however, is the method by which the MCAS has chosen to address student discipline problems - ignore those problems and they'll go away.

"They have chosen to coddle, psychoanalyze, and grant last chance after last chance in an effort to not hurt anyone's feelings and to ensure that everyone graduates from high school at any cost."

Stark said it seems apparent to the union that the "chance after chance after chance model" is an effort to improve suspension and expulsion numbers for which the administration has been severely criticized.

"What teachers have been asking for is a 'get tough' approach, one that deals with discipline issues swiftly and severely," the statement said.

She said the union wants to get the message out that egregious behavior will not be tolerated and students will be held accountable for their behavior.

"This request has always fallen on deaf ears," said Stark. "The fallout from years of this approach has finally caught up with us. This year, school system employees have been spat upon, punched, and allegedly poisoned. Teachers have attempted to rectify this situation over the years by filing grievances, which have been won, but the behavior of administrators never changes: Ignore it and it will go away.

"The school system's employees are suffering from this gross negligence on the part of administrators, but what about the students who come to school to learn, behave, and get their education?" said Stark in the statement.

She said it is the union's view that students also suffer from "the extremely permissive system of allowing offenders to return to school over and over and over."

"It's time for every single person in this community to express their own feelings about the lack of discipline to Michael Harding, the superintendent of schools, and the Board of School Trustees," said Stark. "They have been elected to carry out the wishes of the community. Is it the wish of this community that bullies run our schools? We know it is not - and it's time to do something about it."

Contact Deborah Sederberg at dsederberg@thenewsdispatch.com.