Student murder threat incident highlights Mashpee's need for change
This e-mail was sent to the Mashpee Enterprise, Cape Cod Times and a number of other media outlets over the weekend. For background, please read this blog entry.
The recent furor over a fifth grade Mashpee student's threats to murder his classmates -- idle or otherwise -- ought to be a clear call to residents of Mashpee to affect major change within the schools, starting from the top on down. And I heartily encourage the media, local and regional alike, to continue to shine a spotlight on what's happening in the town of Mashpee.
The incident isn't just about school safety: It's about the Mashpee school administration's lack of public accountability. Mashpee school superintendent Ann Bradshaw says the recent incident has been "blown way out of proportion" and said that the school system has been "very open and forthright," according to the Mashpee Enterprise, but the administration's actions demonstrate otherwise.
Problems with Mashpee schools have been simmering for years, but they've been exacerbated under the current administration. Many parents were upset at what they saw as a lack of action and lack of leadership at the high school when, last year, several bomb threats were made and acts of vandalism took place.
There have been incidents of student-on-student violence at the high school, and the administration has done precious little to defuse the concerns of parents and students alike, outside of paying lip service.
Parents of children with special needs have long complained about the school system's lack of support and resources, right down to an absence of parent advisory councils -- which, by the way, are required by state law -- and special education parent training.
Looking at this specific incident, please consider that it took the teacher and an anonymous parent to contact the media before this news became widespread, and that teacher has now demanded union mediation before she'll return. That suggests to me that there's a serious breakdown in communication between the school administration and faculty -- Lord knows how far that goes, because you won't hear anything from the Mashpee school administrators about it, and I suspect, based on my own anecdotal experience talking with a few of them, that Mashpee teachers are too scared to rock the boat themselves. Perhaps Ms. Gannon's actions will give them more courage to speak up.
Consider that no attempt was made to let the parents of other children in Ms. Cannon's classroom know what happened, or what sort of counseling services those students are receiving to help process the trauma they experienced.
Consider that Principal Jeffrey Lynn Dees did not send a letter to the parents of Quashnet kids ostensibly until after he was contacted by the media for comment. I guess being "open and forthright" is easier when you know you're being scrutinized by the media. Even so, Dees' letter to parents -- which we received a week after the incident happened -- said nothing more than, in essence, "something happened, we can't tell you what or who or where, but we took some action, so trust us." (Feel free to get in touch if you want a copy of that memo.)
It took reading the paper or watching the evening news on television before most of us found out what had happened.
And consider Jeanne Cannon's claims of being bullied and mistreated by Dees and ignored by Mashpee Superintendent Ann Bradshaw.
Consider, finally, and perhaps most importantly, that the school has said absolutely nothing about what's being done to help the fifth grader at the center of this debacle with clinical or therapeutic assistance. All we've learned, courtesy of WCVB news, is that the school took punitive action against him: The child reportedly was given an in-school suspension. But again, according to Dees' letter, that isn't our business to question or to know. We're just supposed to trust them.
Well, many of us don't, and with good reason.
The Mashpee school administration does a great job of support parents when they're involved in PTO association bake sales to raise money for playground rehabilitation at the schools or other fund-raisers and feel-good efforts that have a positive net return, but that same administration turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to parents who actively advocate for their children or challenge their decision-making processes. And then they have the audacity to complain about media scrutiny or public criticism when they're taken to task for their failures.
Mashpee residents should demand better accountability and more transparency from a school administration that exists at our sufferance. And if we can't get it, we should demand their immediate resignations.