5th-grade Parents Bring Concerns to School Board

–by Margie Doyle–

Concerned parents of fifth grade students addressed the school board and administrators at the board meeting on May 26, following the announcement that 5th grade teacher Bob Ingram was on academic leave.

District Superintendent Eric Webb said in his written report: “This month, Orcas Island School District retained an attorney and outside investigator to conduct a comprehensive investigation into allegations that an OISD teacher left bruises on the arm of a student while redirecting the student back into the classroom. The district has placed the teacher on paid administrative leave to provide separation and time for the investigation to be conducted. The district has hired a substitute teacher who will be working closely with Elementary School Principal, Teresa Mayr to provide the best learning experience for our students.”

Parents and grandparents spoke of the difficulties of the class, which consists of 26 boys and 6 girls. This is the first year the student have all been in one class together; in previous years they were divided into split-grade classes.

Ingram who returned to Orcas Island after years teaching in the Tacoma school district, was hired at Orcas Island first as an OASIS alternative education teacher.

Grandparent Mike Douglas said he’d observed a lack of consequences to bullying and other adverse behaviors. The school is “long on policy, short on consequences,” he said. He added that with the “teacher new to this level,it’s a perfect storm in a way.”

Douglas had observed that the teacher was well-organized and prepared, but only able to get in 5 to 8 minutes of class instruction at a time before he had to turn to an individual situation. “The kids can’t afford to lose friends, the school can’t lose students, and the community can’t lose faith in the school,” he said.

Parents Deb Jones and Tom Rubottom emphasized that the parents were eager to help what they described as a difficult classroom situation. Rubottom, who himself is a teacher at Orcas Montessori School, noted that as a teacher, it’s difficult at times to have other parents in the room, “but there are ways parents could help the situation.” His family had found challenges in communicating with the school. “Parents are firmly committed to the public school and kids and administrators, and feel we weren’t used to our potential. Now there is a teacher on leave, without communication [to the students’ parents]. We’re a tough group of parents to build trust with — where are we going in the future?”

Parent Tiffany Kay said that the class was too much for one teacher to handle.Parent Jennifer Brennock read from a list of incidents that she felt showed a lack of leadership from school administrators and counselors. She said that her son was re-doing work he had done in the third grade. She described situations where her concerns were not addressed

Bruce Dallsio said that his son had been bullied, but added, “We’ve seen successes, we’ve seen bullying, we’ve seen the administration working hard to resolve the problems, but there’s been a lack of support for the teacher who was thrust in that role,

“My wife and I want to lend our absolute full support for Bob Ingram. It’s quite a shame to see what’s going on, given this latest incident, as the vast majority of parents are supportive, and [those who aren’t] — you never see them in the classroom.”

The Board heard the parents speak for nearly an hour and expressed their appreciation to the parents for coming forward. Board President Tony Ghazel said he would be meeting with Superintendent Webb on Friday to address the situation.

A high school senior, who said that she had recently transferred from San Juan High School because of bullying there, suggested that juniors and seniors with free class time may be used to work with the grade school children as mentors.

She said that Orcas High School was “amazing” when asked if she’d experienced bullying herself. Deb Jones seconded the suggestion to have the younger children work with high school students: “Some good role models would be awesome.”