By Ryan Yuenger
ryany@wsjm.com
The topic of bullying took center stage at a local school board meeting this week after a violent incident between students.
A seventh-grade student at Dowagiac Middle School has been expelled from Dowagiac Union Schools after the school board voted 5-1 to deny an appeal made by the student’s mother at Monday’s school board meeting.
According to Dowagiac Superintendent Jonathan Whan, video and testimony from the accused student (Student A) showed she violently attacked another student from behind, grabbed their hair, shoved them into a locker and repeatedly punched them in the face.
“The other student did not fight back,” Whan said. “Student A was in total control of her actions and emotions. It was a deliberate attack.”
According to Whan, Student A alleged the other student had been saying Student A had herpes.
The mother of Student A was given a chance to speak to the board during the appeal, and she used the opportunity to claim her daughter was the victim of bullying by the student she assaulted throughout the 2021-22 school year, over the summer and again into the current school year.
“She had reached out to the counselor several times about things that were happening,” said the student’s mother, during the appeal. “Nothing happened throughout all the times she was bullied in her sixth grade year. … Countless times she came home crying because nothing was done.”
The expelled student’s mother said her child is an “A” and “B” student, and this was her first time getting in trouble at school.
“I just feel like my daughter’s education is being ripped away,” said the mother. “I understood she should have taken a different route. … but because of the situation that happened in her sixth grade year, she didn’t feel comfortable going to the adults because when she did, nothing happened.”
Both DMS Principal Dr. Sean Whiteman and Whan said they were not aware of any interactions Student A had with school staff.
“I’m not sure is she went to any of her other teachers, but I know she reached out to the counselor several times about things that were happening,” the mother insisted. “They would go and talk to the student and make it 10 times worse.”
The board upheld the expulsion, citing a new zero-tolerance policy for violence or threats of violence. Three other students were expelled during Monday’s meeting.
A ‘situation’
Several board members acknowledge their is an issue with bullying inside Dowagiac schools. School Board Secretary Terry Groth even shared his experiences with bullying while attending Dowagiac.
“Clearly, we do have a bullying situation in our district,” said Groth, who was the only member to vote against the expulsion. “We’ve had it for a long time. I was a victim of bullying back in high school. It wasn’t until I got into sports and lifted weights that it turned the tide. I understand this student’s situation and people making it worse. I had a cousin in this district that had to leave the district because of a bullying situation we couldn’t resolve.”
Trustee Carrie Freeman responded by saying students are also leaving the district because of violence. Trustee Brent Brewer added that he hates seeing a student with good grades be removed from the district.
“That kills me because I have students in the middle school and I can picture myself in her shoes and what she has to go through,” Brewer said. “At the same time, we have put out numerous zero-tolerance letters because we are tired of losing students because they’re scared about their safety and security in these buildings. We have to put a line in the sand.”
Trustee Tracy Hatcher said the district could have prevented this situation.
“We’re letting too many of these bullies get away,” he said. “She said her daughter went to a counselor. This information should have been passed on to somebody else, so something could have been taken care of. Then we wouldn’t be in this situation. … The students that’s caused the trouble, we’ve let too many of them get away, and students like her daughter have to take the brunt of it.”
Hatcher added that the situation isn’t just at Dowagiac, but around the country.
“Wherever your kid goes, there’s bullies,” he said. “But because we’re in this district, we only get the reins on [this district]. So we need to do better with the bullies.”
