Lancaster Superintendent in hiding again

[Lee Chowaniec]

Neubs, this is only just an educated guess: I am assuming that the initial complaint is brought to a building administrator. If the issue is satisfactorily resolved at that level, the issue's life is expended.

However, again, IMHO, if the remedy or redress is deemed unsatisfactory, I assume an established appellate procedure is available.

Since the aggrieved party now has an intervention channel through the NYS A.G., I assume that there must be an established "circuit" to be completed before a referral or an appeal can be made to the NYS A.G. for review and/or investigation.

In the way of personal concern, while I am gratified that the news report shines light on an issue which I deem very important, I am troubled that the report, without reference to personally identifiable specifics, lacks clarity regarding the status of both matters. If in fact there are no outstanding issues requiring District action, I simply do not see why the cases were resurrected, and brought to the journalistic forefront.

Perhaps another, more learned commentator can enlighten me.

Aye, but there’s the rub: why indeed was it resurrected by two families who left the school district and were the ones to contact the media; a media that in today’s world is all too pleased to report on anything of controversy and without any facts/data to ascertain the credibility of either side in the report.

I really felt bad for the 18 year-old who cried his heart out without so much as a comforting arm around the youth’s shoulder. To have publically exposed him to making a point and thereby putting him in the public eye for possible further abuse is shameful in my opinion.

[mark blazejewski]

Aye, but there’s the rub: why indeed was it resurrected by two families who left the school district and were the ones to contact the media; a media that in today’s world is all too pleased to report on anything of controversy and without any facts/data to ascertain the credibility of either side in the report.

I really felt bad for the 18 year-old who cried his heart out without so much as a comforting arm around the youth’s shoulder. To have publically exposed him to making a point and thereby putting him in the public eye for possible further abuse is shameful in my opinion.

That is what troubles me Lee.

If there are truly no outstanding issue(s) to be resolved, or remedial applications to be made by the LCSD, why not just a report on "Bullying," period?

A report a comparing and contrasting the LCSD's approach to that of another, perhaps more/less skillful District, is understandable, but absent any outstanding direct LCSD problem-resolution issues, I am troubled that, together with the overt "gotcha" moment I mentioned in a previous post, this report carried the water for some other journalistic endeavor, at the expense of the victims.

As I said, the "Bullying" issue is far too important than to be used as a political football, or a cheap attempt to get media ratings. It is real, it is by far not new, is highly troubling.

Sure, it happens in the LCSD, and EVERYWHERE else. It happens it very wealthy suburban districts, in city school districts, and in small cliquey parish schools. TRUST ME.

[gorja]

That is what troubles me Lee.

If there are truly no outstanding issue(s) to be resolved, or remedial applications to be made by the LCSD, why not just a report on "Bullying," period?

A report a comparing and contrasting the LCSD's approach to that of another, perhaps more/less skillful District, is understandable, but absent any outstanding direct LCSD problem-resolution issues, I am troubled that, together with the overt "gotcha" moment I mentioned in a previous post, this report carried the water for some other journalistic endeavor, at the expense of the victims.

As I said, the "Bullying" issue is far too important than to be used as a political football, or a cheap attempt to get media ratings. It is real, it is by far not new, is highly troubling.

Sure, it happens in the LCSD, and EVERYWHERE else. It happens it very wealthy suburban districts, in city school districts, and in small cliquey parish schools. TRUST ME.

There were 133 WNY schools who reported zero incidents of harassment, discrimination or cyber-bullying to the state for the 2015 -16 school year. This would indicate that the other school districts were following a similar protocol that Lancaster used regarding reporting these incidents.

The question is why was Lancaster singled out? Was it because it has the largest high school population?
Or was this report driven by those anti-school administration folks?

[mark blazejewski]

[QUOTE=gorja;1767979]There were

133 WNY schools who reported zero incidents of harassment, discrimination or cyber-bullying to the state for the 2015 -16 school year.

Ms. Gorja, "reported" is the operative word here.

Going back to 1976, I can personally tell you that "Bullying" is an issue that ALL schools, public and private, never really come to grips with, and will jump through hoops to marginalize. It is a disgusting, heart-wrenching atrocity and I could tell you of incidents that would make you sick. And, BTW, those incidents WERE NOT in public schools.

Frankly, IMHO, if 133 districts did not "report" such incidents, many of those districts may either be manipulating the defined terms of "Bullying," ect., or simply got away without reporting the incidents.

Not "reporting" the incidents is not the same thing as having an incident-free district.

I find it very hard to believe that Lancaster stands alone as the "Bullying" crime capital of New York.

Nevertheless, all districts must necessarily act, to the maximum extent possible, to end this sin, without political horses****t.

[Greg Sojka]

Readers of Speak up wny at the top of the thread I posted a report of the victims story of being left behind and finding no help from the Superintendent Vallely. The spin rinse spin circus being put on by Lee ( the all knowing) and Gorja ( I value honesty but have no issue with omission.) try to give the school district a pass. Here is another link to the bullying reports at Lancaster schools https://www.facebook.com/2onyourside...55712878630359 Judge for yourselves . Ask yourself What if it was my child? Child abuse should never be normalized especially by the superintendent of Lancaster schools. For the last two years Lancaster schools report zero bullying . Yet there are many people speaking of bullying at Lancaster schools. There are now two brave people who came forward to tell their story on camera after getting no help from the schools. A wise man once told me FIGURES DON'T LIE, BUT LIARS CAN FIGURE! Please watch the 2 separate links and judge for yourselves.

[mark blazejewski]

Readers of Speak up wny at the top of the thread I posted a report of the victims story of being left behind and finding no help from the Superintendent Vallely. The spin rinse spin circus being put on by Lee ( the all knowing) and Gorja ( I value honesty but have no issue with omission.) try to give the school district a pass. Here is another link to the bullying reports at Lancaster schools https://www.facebook.com/2onyourside...55712878630359 Judge for yourselves . Ask yourself What if it was my child? Child abuse should never be normalized especially by the superintendent of Lancaster schools. For the last two years Lancaster schools report zero bullying . Yet there are many people speaking of bullying at Lancaster schools. There are now two brave people who came forward to tell their story on camera after getting no help from the schools. A wise man once told me FIGURES DON'T LIE, BUT LIARS CAN FIGURE! Please watch the 2 separate links and judge for yourselves.

Greg, I'm am getting a FB page post with a still picture, but no video. I would like to watch such a video, or even a transcript would suffice.

[Greg Sojka]

My apologies, https://www.facebook.com/2onyourside...55712878630359

[Greg Sojka]

LOCAL
Lancaster HS officials explain 'zero' bullying reports
A recent report out from New York concerned a lot of parents. It revealed the fact that lot of schools aren't reporting any incidents of discrimination, harassment or cyber-bullying to the state.
Author: Emily Lampa
Published: 7:30 PM EST November 9, 2017
Lancaster high school is one of 133 schools in Western New York that reported zero incidents for the 2015-2016 school year.

What stands out about Lancaster High School is that, with nearly 2,000 students, it is the largest school in Erie County, and this was the second year in a row it had no incidents to report.


"I think that the piece of this is the investigation and semantics," Principal Cesar Marchioli tells 2 On Your Side. "Every one of the incidents that is reported to us is investigated thoroughly by our assistant principals and a lot of times incorporating our school resource officer from the Lancaster Police Department."

The principal and assistant principal admit they get roughly 100 reports a year from students and parents. The vast majority of those reports are cyber-bullying.

But they claim it doesn't get reported to the state because it either get resolved, is found to be a back-and-forth situation between two students, or it doesn't make it past the investigative phase for lack of evidence.

Assistant Principal Terry Adamec blames social media and apps like Snapchat, where messages and pictures disappear shortly after they're viewed.

"It happens all the time where kids are mean to each other and we have to deal with it," Adamec said. "We do occasionally have instances where someone will call someone a derogatory name and we will deal with it because that's wrong and we're not going to allow that to happen. However, if that behavior stops and it doesn't go on and we're not aware that it happens again, is that a bullying incident? Because it hasn't happened over time. It hasn't been repeated over time, to our knowledge."

But the state says an incident which falls under the Dignity For All Students Act, New York's anti-bullying law, doesn't have to happen more than once to be reportable.

It can be a single act that substantially interferes with education, well-being, or fear for physical safety.

"I think the disconnect is how we've been trained what bullying is, the definition of bullying, and what we're expected to report to the state education department," Adamec said.


Marchioli adds, "I think, the number, the sheer number of schools you have with zero reporting, will tell you that that's what many of us are dealing with at the end."

Channel 2 spoke with some Lancaster students about the school climate and the resources available to them should they encounter harassment, discrimination or cyber-bullying.

They showed us the reporting forms they have readily available, the easy access they have to the school resource officer, the programs and support groups in place, as well as the teachers they trust to reach out to should they have something to report.

DASA requires that all schools/school districts have a reporting form available on their website.

© 2017 WGRZ
by Taboola Sponsored Links From The Web

[mark blazejewski]

My apologies, https://www.facebook.com/2onyourside...55712878630359

Thanx Greg.

[gorja]

Originally posted by mark blazejewski:
Ms. Gorja, "reported" is the operative word here.

Yes Mark, you are correct. I did NOT write zero incidents 'occurred'. I wrote zero incidents were 'reported' in Lancaster schools as well as 132 other schools which indicates to me (just me) that there must have been some miscommunication from the state ed dept of what type and degree of incident should be reported.

[mark blazejewski]

LOCAL
Lancaster HS officials explain 'zero' bullying reports
A recent report out from New York concerned a lot of parents. It revealed the fact that lot of schools aren't reporting any incidents of discrimination, harassment or cyber-bullying to the state.
Author: Emily Lampa
Published: 7:30 PM EST November 9, 2017
Lancaster high school is one of 133 schools in Western New York that reported zero incidents for the 2015-2016 school year.

What stands out about Lancaster High School is that, with nearly 2,000 students, it is the largest school in Erie County, and this was the second year in a row it had no incidents to report.


"I think that the piece of this is the investigation and semantics," Principal Cesar Marchioli tells 2 On Your Side. "Every one of the incidents that is reported to us is investigated thoroughly by our assistant principals and a lot of times incorporating our school resource officer from the Lancaster Police Department."

The principal and assistant principal admit they get roughly 100 reports a year from students and parents. The vast majority of those reports are cyber-bullying.

But they claim it doesn't get reported to the state because it either get resolved, is found to be a back-and-forth situation between two students, or it doesn't make it past the investigative phase for lack of evidence.

Assistant Principal Terry Adamec blames social media and apps like Snapchat, where messages and pictures disappear shortly after they're viewed.

"It happens all the time where kids are mean to each other and we have to deal with it," Adamec said. "We do occasionally have instances where someone will call someone a derogatory name and we will deal with it because that's wrong and we're not going to allow that to happen. However, if that behavior stops and it doesn't go on and we're not aware that it happens again, is that a bullying incident? Because it hasn't happened over time. It hasn't been repeated over time, to our knowledge."

But the state says an incident which falls under the Dignity For All Students Act, New York's anti-bullying law, doesn't have to happen more than once to be reportable.

It can be a single act that substantially interferes with education, well-being, or fear for physical safety.

"I think the disconnect is how we've been trained what bullying is, the definition of bullying, and what we're expected to report to the state education department," Adamec said.


Marchioli adds, "I think, the number, the sheer number of schools you have with zero reporting, will tell you that that's what many of us are dealing with at the end."

Channel 2 spoke with some Lancaster students about the school climate and the resources available to them should they encounter harassment, discrimination or cyber-bullying.

They showed us the reporting forms they have readily available, the easy access they have to the school resource officer, the programs and support groups in place, as well as the teachers they trust to reach out to should they have something to report.

DASA requires that all schools/school districts have a reporting form available on their website.

© 2017 WGRZ
by Taboola Sponsored Links From The Web

Thank you for posting this Greg.

My suspicions, as I indicated in post #19, are somewhat confirmed by your written post. I find these words very troubling:

I think that the piece of this is the investigation and semantics," Principal Cesar Marchioli tells 2 On Your Side. "Every one of the incidents that is reported to us is investigated thoroughly by our assistant principals and a lot of times incorporating our school resource officer from the Lancaster Police Department."

The principal and assistant principal admit they get roughly 100 reports a year from students and parents. The vast majority of those reports are cyber-bullying.

But they claim it doesn't get reported to the state because it either get resolved, is found to be a back-and-forth situation between two students, or it doesn't make it past the investigative phase for lack of evidence.

Assistant Principal Terry Adamec blames social media and apps like Snapchat, where messages and pictures disappear shortly after they're viewed.

"It happens all the time where kids are mean to each other and we have to deal with it," Adamec said. "We do occasionally have instances where someone will call someone a derogatory name and we will deal with it because that's wrong and we're not going to allow that to happen. However, if that behavior stops and it doesn't go on and we're not aware that it happens again, is that a bullying incident? Because it hasn't happened over time. It hasn't been repeated over time, to our knowledge."

But the state says an incident which falls under the Dignity For All Students Act, New York's anti-bullying law, doesn't have to happen more than once to be reportable.

It can be a single act that substantially interferes with education, well-being, or fear for physical safety.

"I think the disconnect is how we've been trained what bullying is, the definition of bullying, and what we're expected to report to the state education department," Adamec said.

I am speaking as a credentialed professional. "Semantics," "lack of evidence," "procedure" is the speak of the lawyer and the technocrat, not the educator committed to lifting the human condition. It is BS to me. Schools are charged with the protection of young lives, period.

IMHO, no school, public or private, should content itself with technical, minimum compliance to some bureaucratically-generated State guideline. That is why we have local school districts. and school boards.

I am totally uncomfortable with the responses of the principal and assistant principal.

[mark blazejewski]

Yes Mark, you are correct. I did NOT write zero incidents 'occurred'. I wrote zero incidents were 'reported' in Lancaster schools as well as 132 other schools which indicates to me (just me) that there must have been some miscommunication from the state ed dept of what type and degree of incident should be reported.

Gorja,

Lancaster has a good school district. There is no question about that.

But I am disturbed by the words of one poster who observed, "Clearly. Students are thriving in our schools...surrounded by dedicated and committed professionals at all levels...from support personal on up."

When these same "dedicated and committed professionals" speak of "semantics" and "lack of evidence," they, IMHO, reveal the darker side of their professional personae: a need to overtly communicate a self-congratulatory tribute, made possible by their embrace of a bureaucratic needle-threading, while in fact, they simultaneously enable a covert, rather indifferent, shunning of some young lives.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Readers of Speak up wny at the top of the thread I posted a report of the victims story of being left behind and finding no help from the Superintendent Vallely. The spin rinse spin circus being put on by Lee ( the all knowing) and Gorja ( I value honesty but have no issue with omission.) try to give the school district a pass. Here is another link to the bullying reports at Lancaster schools https://www.facebook.com/2onyourside...55712878630359 Judge for yourselves . Ask yourself What if it was my child? Child abuse should never be normalized especially by the superintendent of Lancaster schools. For the last two years Lancaster schools report zero bullying . Yet there are many people speaking of bullying at Lancaster schools. There are now two brave people who came forward to tell their story on camera after getting no help from the schools. A wise man once told me FIGURES DON'T LIE, BUT LIARS CAN FIGURE! Please watch the 2 separate links and judge for yourselves.

I did walk in their shoes, Greg; I already made that quite clear. To make matters worse my daughter passed away at an early age, as was predicted because of her neurological genetic defect. I also had two other children that attended Lancaster schools through graduation and were bullied/harassed as well; as a family we resolved the issues.

Sad to say, bullying was and always will be a part of everyday life; especially in today's world of cyberbullying. Until proven otherwise, your statement, “Child abuse should never be normalized especially by the superintendent of Lancaster schools “is despicable and unfounded. The man has three of his own children attending schools and you would charge him with insensitivity to bullying/harassment; normalizing it as a parent?

Your hatred for the man and wanting his dismissal supersedes your objectivity and good intentions. I openly stated that I abhorred bullying/harassment as much as you and would have supported your position and attempt to seek enlightenment and truth.

However, this was supposed to be about the kids but once again you have poisoned the well with one-sided allegations and no substance – and testy/snarky character quips to boot when challenged. Stay focused, Greg. Is it possible the district did not respond because by State Education policy and guidelines they can't publically speak on such private matters. I will wait to see if there is an investigation and what the outcome is; and surely not base any decision on a media story.

Lastly, I would have never put my daughter on TV as a pawn. That was outrageous!

[shortstuff]

I watched the video, my observations:

1. It was a very emotional segment to view, it also spoke of a systemic issue that has plagued students for generations, as seen still exists.
2. Social media has grown to become a sideshow for anything that has an emotional component to it, and the media sensationalized it.
3. In viewing this video, the report was specifically targeted IMO without a litany of other incidents, the two focused in the video no longer attend the district.

With the aforementioned my concerns are mostly with the reporter trying to gain access to the Superintendent for any comment. The fact that he was unavailable was more troubling to me than the clip on the students bullied. If it is stated that within the districts policy they have a format to mitigate bullying that surrounds students as well as teachers, this incident should have been resolved. What transpired and failed these students? That would be the question of the day. If by chance that the system was not successful in helping these students, what other students were left behind? And with that notion, only two students were reported on this video clip, are there truly other incidents that are going unreported to reach a certain quota or are these students intimidated by their own district and will not report this in the proper fashion?

I was bullied, and pretty much everyone else throughout their elementary years, we took it to the streets and dealt with it. Parents today do no equip their children with the defense mechanisms they need to adapt to these life long skills. Instead, parents are providing safe spaces....sad...

[mark blazejewski]

If it is stated that within the districts policy they have a format to mitigate bullying that surrounds students as well as teachers, this incident should have been resolved.

Thank you Shortstuff for the observation highlighted in red.

I taught at one city school district where I observed one teacher literally backed into a corner, crying and shaking, as half the class threw objects at her, while the other half went on a room-wide rampage. Thank God for mean short teachers.