SCHS community ready for healing

Public comments at Tuesday night’s Indian River School Board meeting at Sussex Central High School never directly referenced the recent arrests of two SCHS teachers on sex-related charges involving students at the school, or last year’s dismissal of then-principal Dana Goodman following his arrest on charges also involving a sexual relationship with a SCHS student. But comments from those who spoke on June 23 did focus on bringing pride back to the school, the necessity for structure, rules and consistency, and the need to heal.

SCHS history teacher John Thompson was arrested June 2 for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 10th grader, and full-time substitute teacher and assistant girls’ basketball coach John George Rainis was arrested the following day on charges of sexual extortion and unlawful sexual contact with a student.

Goodman was charged in 2008 with 30 counts of fourth-degree rape and continual sexual abuse of a child, in connection with a consensual relationship with a 17-year-old student. He pleaded guilty earlier this year on a lesser set of charges and was sentenced to 32 years in prison, with all but four years of that sentence suspended if he completes rehabilitation.

While all three teachers were removed from the classrooms, concern about the deeper issues underlying the incidents remains in the SCHS community, and parents and faculty addressed some of those concerns before the school board this week.

SCHS secretary Kim Collins – also a parent of an upcoming senior at the school – said at the June 23 meeting that the lack of consistency with the school’s discipline policy “sends the wrong message.” She said it seems that the students have more control than the teachers and administrators at times.

Parent Bonnie Hummer went through a list of words and their definitions, including “pride,” “boundaries,” “teachers” and “students.”

“Nowhere in the definitions of ‘teacher’ or ‘student’ do I hear ‘friend,’” she said. “There are plenty of students in the school — 1,300 — they can make friends with.”

She also expressed frustration on Tuesday, saying that feeling is where she is at this point with the “lines being crossed, and staff and students not knowing boundaries.”

She finished with the word “respect,” asking, “Where is that word in this school? If we don’t lead by example, where does that come from?”

Gayle King, also the mother of a student at SCHS, expressed concerns about the school’s dress code, saying it was not clear.

“The dress code says not to have ‘excessive cleavage.’ What’s too much? And to answer Mr. Marvel’s question, I have an answer for it, and it’s called a school uniform. And if it’s a money thing, I’d even go for a modified uniform of a T-shirt that says, ‘Sussex Central Pride,’ because that’s what we need back.”

Dave Marvel, a history teacher at SCHS, had questioned earlier in the public comment period whether it was possible to have a protocol for teachers concerning dress-code violations.

“If a young lady is showing a little too much, I didn’t know what to say to her,” he said. “I do now. But if there was a ‘If you see this, you say this,’ then we could all be on the same page.”

King also questioned the dress at school-sponsored events like the prom and homecoming, saying, “Some of those dresses are completely inappropriate. Some are transparent, cut way low or cut way high. There has to be something we can do.”

Karen Filrogers, another parent, took a different approach, saying she was more concerned with academics that the dress code. She said her daughter was ill-equipped for science courses at the collegiate level.

“There should also be more emphasis on the average student. The students also should be encouraged to go away to college,” she said. “Not just Del Tech or the Parallel Program.”

Parent Anna Miller also expressed frustration and said structure and discipline need to be revisited. Miller was a 1981 graduate of SCHS and said, “I was proud, and I want them to be proud.”

Staff member Adele Jones said the past two years have “taken a toll,” and the school board and teachers need to meet again. “I can get the staff together, just let me know when and where… to help the staff to heal,” she said.

“We all want the same thing,” said parent Amy Wheeler. “But it has to start at the top. Be very careful when you hire people. We can’t handle much anymore.” She also said she was glad her youngest is almost done with high school but that she has considered home-schooling in light of the past two years’ events.

Board member Randall Hughes said that the board and the parents and staff all have the same goal, and the frustration is real with everybody.

“The answers are here, and we are here to find them,” he said. “The potential to be a great school, a fantastic school, is here. And there is a word that keeps coming up — consistent. And if we can be consistently fair and everybody work together… this is the start of something great.”

Board member Robert Wilson said he had heard things on Tuesday that he had never heard before and thanked the parents and teachers for keeping them in the loop, saying he has children that are slated to attend SCHS in a few years.

“It hits home when you have kids,” he said. “We’re embarrassed, we are disgusted and we are frustrated, too. My number is in the book. I want teachers to call me. You guys need to tell us. We can’t fix what we don’t know. I’ve heard things tonight I’ve never heard before. You are not alone. Please keep in touch.”

In other news from the June 23 school board meeting:

• The board will know after the June 30 budget meeting if the (Jobs for Delaware Graduates) JDG program will be eliminated.

• The board voted unanimously to increase 2010-fiscal-year tax rates by 8 cents. The debt-service tax rate will remain the same. The tuition tax rate, which helps fund Special Education and the ILC programs, will increase 6 cents, and the minor cap for maintenance and repairs under $500,000 will increase by 2 cents. Because there will be no funds from the state allocated to asbestos abatement, that money will go to asbestos abatement at John M. Clayton School, a project that was deemed to be going well and about two weeks ahead of schedule.

• The board voted unanimously to accept second readings of the policies GBCB Staff Conduct Drug Free Workplace and GCBD Professional Leaves and Absences.

• The board voted unanimously to accept first and second readings of JE Student Attendance, IKA Grading Systems, JFCA Student Dress Code and JG Student Discipline.

• The 2010 proposed budget will total $35.7 million, an increase of $1.3 million, with salaries and employment costs being a large part of the increase.