Parents disappointed with Greenport school’s response to student arrest The Greenport Board of Education responded Tuesday to often angry parents concerned about school security and other issues following the Jan. 3 arrest of a 16-year-old Greenport student who police said used his cellphone to take inappropriate photographs and video of three female students. The student, who has not been identified due to his age, was charged with two counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree, a felony, and one count of attempted unlawful surveillance in the second degree, a misdemeanor. The parents of one victim obtained an order of protection against the student, who has not returned to ... “ The Medinas weren’t the only ones to share their stories. Numerous other parents described incidents that have occurred in the school at all grade levels, including verbal bullying, violence and sexual harassment — many of which school board members said they were hearing about for the first time. Greenport parent Krista de Kerillis said she knew of girls in the district whose buttocks had been slapped by male students, and also described an incident in which a boy tried to grab a girl’s chest. “I hear all the time about the way the boys talk to them and the way they grab girls if they can,” Ms. DeKerillis said. “It’s not OK. And the thing is, [a female student] says teachers will see it and no one says anything. It can’t be ‘boys will be boys.’!” ” Parents called for change in the district regarding policies and procedures for all faculty, staff and administration and asked for further discipline when incidents like these do occur. Suggestions made during the sometimes heated public discussion included having the police department instruct students in safe use of the internet and devices such as cellphones; allocating reserve funds to increase security efforts in the school; and rewriting policies to more effectively discipline students and train staff and faculty. “Just today, I stopped by to check the mailbox for the PTO and there was nobody sitting at the front desk,” said Kim Moore, parent of a second-grader. “I walked into the building and could have gone anywhere I wanted. If I were a disgruntled student, a bullied student, I would have had free range of the school.” Mr. Gamberg said that some mistakes were made in handling the situation, which he called rare for the district, and said the district is looking at ways it can improve the school’s response to something like this moving forward. Meanwhile, he said, ... Continue reading... http://suffolktimes.timesreview.com...greenport-schools-response-to-student-arrest/
