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PISD VOTED AWAY MY PARENTAL RIGHTS? |
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PISD
Voted Away My Parental Rights. When
I Stood Up For Those Rights, PISD Came One
Mom’s Story
Chelsey
Edwards
I originally thought this saga started for my family on May 9,
2001, when a note was sent home with my son “informing” me that
Pearland would have a “standardized dress code” the following school
year. However, after many hours, weeks, and months of tireless
investigating and teamwork, other Pearland parents and I discovered it
apparently started much sooner (and that the policy was, in fact, a
uniform policy). The earliest
concrete evidence that we could find of this was a tape from an April 21,
2001 meeting of Pearland’s Board of Trustees (including board members
not yet elected). Please see
full transcript of this meeting attached as Exhibit “A”.
During this meeting, Pearland’s Superintendent, Ms. Cain, and the
board members voted to impose a “standardized dress policy” on
the parents and children of PISD. Why
is this significant? Because,
this is a direct violation of the Open Meetings Act; just one of many
unbelievable violations committed by PISD’s administration that I have
discovered over the past 18 months. During
the April 21st meeting, while the attendees were discussing parental
support and the implementation of uniforms, they said things such as: And
I appreciate how you want to phase this in and give everybody time to moan
and groan and bitch and whatever, but I think it’s just like the
employees. Just say, boom,
“We’ve talked about this”. (Trustee
Peggy Bittick references the employee dress code the district imposed,
then rescinded almost immediately due to employee dissatisfaction). And:
I’m
serious. I appreciate you
putting yourself on the spot for that.
I’m assuming that you mean that you’re going to put it together
with a minimum of other people’s input. (Board
President Garrison talking to Ms. Cain about the intentional lack of
inclusion of parental participation in the district’s decision to impose
a uniform policy.) This
next statement explains why Ms. Cain and the Board of Trustees wanted to
implement the uniform policy with little or no input:
I’m
for it. I was for it before.
We just had too much input from people and it screwed it.
We had so many variables. . . Well, it didn’t pass last time
because we asked, “Come, scare the hell out of us, and we can’t fade
your heat.” That’s what
happened. We crumbled. (Obviously
referring to a time when PISD actually put uniforms to a VOTE from the
parents, and it failed miserably.) Perhaps
the most shocking statement of all is the one that sheds some light on how
the Superintendent and Board of Trustees manipulated the announcement of
the new uniform policy so that people would not learn about it until after
the School Board election. They
intentionally mislead the voters, which is evident from the following:
It’s
still after the election, so it doesn’t matter.
They are going to ask you the question anyway. . . “Say, are you
for it or against it?” “I’m against it.”
“Me, too.” . . . But I voted for it.
Damn. (and
then they all laughed). I
would be more than happy to provide a copy of the tape of this meeting.
It is difficult to believe until you’ve heard it for yourself.
After that, it is simply hard to stomach. I have since discovered that the apparent lack of
consideration of the rights of the parents and children of PISD during
that meeting was not an aberration, rather, a common occurrence.
In fact, it seems to be the overall atmosphere and driving force
behind PISD’s administration, which is led by Ms. Cain.
Going back to the time when I received the note from
PISD,
informing me that my son would be required to wear uniforms the following
year, my reaction was one of utter disregard and disbelief.
It reminds me of the quote by Martin Niemöller,
“When Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore I was not
concerned. And when Hitler
attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not
concerned. And when Hitler
attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the
unions and I was not concerned. Then
Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church - and there was nobody left
to be concerned.” Why did I disregard it?
Because, I thought, this will not affect me. We are planning on moving by the end of the summer anyway.
The district we are planning on moving to does not have a uniform
policy. I simply thought,
this does not have anything to do with me.
I could never have been more wrong.
The summer of 2001 was an eventful one.
Between job layoffs and family crises, it became clear that our
family would be unable to move. The enormity of the impending situation began to sink in; or
did it?
A public meeting was scheduled in July, 2001.
Representatives from every local television station were there.
I’m not sure how large the crowd was, but the old PISD high
school auditorium was standing room only, and some people could not even
enter the auditorium. Parents
and children alike were in an uproar over the implementation of the
uniform policy and the deception by PISD in their process of implementing
it. The meeting went late
into the night. For me, the
most memorable part of the evening was when Mr. Garrison was
interviewed by one of the news stations.
With an angry mob of parents and children surrounding him, and the
cameraman getting the shot, Mr. Garrison proceeded to tell the interviewer
that PISD had the “full support of the community” in implementing its
uniform policy. Arrogance and
deception at its best. There
was no resolution to the conflict as a result of this meeting.
It seems as though PISD was just attempting to let the parents
“bitch and moan”, but never intended to back off of their position
that they knew better for our kids than we, the parents, did.
In a weak attempt to appease the parents, PISD did announce that
night that they were adding two colors to the list of “acceptable”
colors: pink and green. In my
opinion, this was done on the advice of the district’s counsel, Ms.
Schneider-Vogel, in an effort to “side-step” TEC 11.162 and its
requirements as they relate to mandatory uniforms.
Please see letter written by Ms. Schneider-Vogel attached as
Exhibit “B”.
Even after all of this, I thought, there is a simple solution to
this. I am a competent,
mature adult. I will talk to
the Superintendent and work this thing out. I was ill-prepared for what I was about to face.
To give you an idea of the kind of person I was dealing with,
please look at these statements from Ms. Cain’s Proposal to the
Board for Approval of Standardized Dress Code (Impact/Rationale): It
has long been the philosophy of the Pearland Independent School District
that public school systems are responsible for the total development of
each child they serve. In PISD total development includes working with students to
develop social and moral standards, setting benchmarks for ethical
conduct, and having as a goal good manners and good grooming in addition
to the teaching of academic subjects.
. . . These guidelines
are requested in order that the schools may teach hygiene, instill
discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards and develop an
awareness in students that there are distinct occasions appropriate for
formal as well as for informal attire. Ms.
Cain is not a parent, yet she professes to know better for
our children than we, the parents, do.
Teaching such things as morals, standards, hygiene, manners, etc.
are MY responsibility, as a parent. I
take my role as a parent *very* seriously, and enjoy teaching my child,
along with the many other aspects of being a parent.
PISD’s job is to EDUCATE my child, not “totally develop” him.
Ms. Cain, in support of her proposal, misconstrues the law,
misrepresents the facts, and is unsupported by competent evidence. Worse, she is knowingly deceptive. Ms. Cain is pushing a social agenda, not an educational one.
She has overstepped her bounds, and must be stopped.
So, that is what I set out to do, even though I had no idea how I
was going to accomplish that goal.
I began researching the “local rules”.
I found FNG(local) on PISD’s website.
According to FNG(local), there were three (3) local “levels” I
had to complete prior to seeking remedy from the Texas Education Agency
(“TEA”). I had to first
have a meeting with the principal, then a meeting with the Superintendent
or his/her designee, then a hearing in front of the Board of Trustees.
If, at the end of this “local” grievance process, the final
decision was not satisfactory, I was to file a petition for review with
the TEA. I had never had to
do anything like that before. I
was very unsure as to how to proceed.
As you might imagine, I was denied at every “level” including a
denial at the board meeting on August 28, 2001; indicating that my appeal
was not properly considered, and therefore violating my right to due
process. This was argued in
my brief. I filed my Petition
for Review on October 12, 2001. Many
more pleadings and hearings would occur over the next eight (8) months.
In addition to the legal proceedings involved in pursuing my
grievance against PISD, my family and I would soon become victims of an
enraged administration seeking revenge.
One of the board members, David Watson, contacted the managing
partner, HR supervisor and technology supervisor of the law firm I work
for in a blatant attempt to get me fired.
Mr. Watson claimed that he was in fear of his family’s safety (as
a result of an e-mail I sent wherein I stated that I intended to seek
“full remedy under the law” in reference to my pending grievance
against the district). I am
blessed to work for such wonderful people and such a wonderful law firm.
They saw through Mr. Watson’s ridiculous claims and I was
not fired or reprimanded as a result of them.
This is the same David Watson that I served almost 4 years on Pack
466’s Cub Scout committee with. The
same David Watson whose family and mine had attended many scout campouts
and other scout activities for years.
The same David Watson who had generously transported my son to
scout events when I had a scheduling difficulty.
That evening, after I left the office, I went directly to the
Watson’s home. I was understandably upset and shocked that David Watson
would make such claims. I
rang the doorbell at approximately 9:45 p.m.
Faye Watson, dressed in her night shirt and socks, answered the
door. (not the sort of thing you would do if you are “afraid”
of someone, I thought.) I
asked Faye if she was afraid of me. She
told me absolutely not, and she didn’t know why David would say such a
thing. The only thing she
could think of was that David was “upset” and didn’t understand why
I did not just “come and talk to him” about what was going on in the
district, including my grievance. I
explained to her that I did not want to cross the line between friendship
and David’s position on the board.
I felt it would be inappropriate to use the friendship I thought we
had as a tool in my grievance. I
felt it best to address the grievance to all board members while they were
serving in that capacity. I
also told her that David had crossed the line, and was bordering on a
lawsuit for attempting to get me fired because he was “upset”.
In addition, anyone who claimed to be my friend would surely not
attempt to get me fired knowing that I was a single parent and therefore
the only income-earner in the household.
I was shocked and saddened by the extent to which PISD’s
administration would obviously go to “shut me up.”
However, I was prepared for whatever they might do to ME.
After all, this grievance was brought by me, and pursued by me. However, I was definitely NOT prepared for what they were
going to do to my son, Jordan.
Jordan was 11 years old when this whole process began. When he first learned that we were not going to be able to
move and therefore he would have to attend the school which had adopted a
uniform policy, he said to me, “Mom, why do they think it only matters
what’s on the outside, when you’ve always taught me it’s what’s on
the inside that counts?” I
thought this was a very profound statement coming from a child his age. From that moment on, he was the driving force behind my
pursuing the grievance in an effort to retain my parental rights and
protect the rights of my child. School
administrators do not have the right to teach my child moral or religious
beliefs. Yet, in this
instance, that is exactly what they were doing.
And they were not teaching just any belief, but a set of beliefs
that directly conflicted with those I had instilled in my child from a
very early age. My belief
system would be continually tested from that point on.
As I said in my Level 3 hearing before the board, PISD children
have been taught, by the Policy, that if someone dresses different from
them, they are not as good as they are, they do not belong, and to
pressure them by any means to conform.
Jordan did not “buy into” PISD's philosophy of “the clothes
make the man” and he was very outspoken about it.
I am so very proud of him for that.
For the first week of school, Jordan wore his own choice of,
appropriate for school, clothing. As
a direct result, beginning on August 9, 2002, my son was subjected to
daily harassment, discrimination and physical attacks by his fellow
students and the PISD administration, for being “different.”
Although he later conformed to the uniform policy, albeit under
protest, he continued to suffer, while PISD administration did nothing to
help or protect him. In fact, PISD administration and staff participated in the
harassment and retaliation.
Jordan was punished for everything from the “wrong shade of
blue” to running water in the bathroom; and, not just “mild”
punishment, either. Jordan
was subjected to days on end of detention and in school suspension (“ISS”)
for these severe (according to PISD) offenses.
He was even punished for pronouncing PISD phonetically (even
though, after repeated requests, Ms. Cain could not show me in the student
handbook where this was an offense).
In short, when it was clear that PISD could not scare me,
Jordan became their defenseless target.
When detention and ISS did not get the desired results (the end of
the grievance process), PISD raised the price of poker. One day, when PISD attempted to make
Jordan serve an 8 hour ISS that he had already served, I refused to let
him. I demanded that I be
allowed to talk to him. When
he came to the phone, I told him to gather his things and walk home.
He had already been counted present for the day.
He did as I instructed. On
his way home, PISD had him arrested and charged with truancy.
This would be the first in a series of ridiculous charges PISD
would file against Jordan. These
charges were eventually dropped, but not before we spent thousands of
dollars and countless hours defending these baseless charges.
After this incident, I asked that Jordan be transferred to another
PISD campus, in hopes that a “fresh start” would change his outlook.
However, every PISD campus is run by the same administration.
Therefore, we could not escape the abuse. At the new campus, Jordan was again
“picked on” by kids for being “different”. Jordan reported these incidents, as instructed, to no avail.
PISD’s retaliation escalated to new heights in January, 2002.
In PE class, one boy pushed another boy into Jordan, knocking him
down. Again, as instructed, Jordan reported this incident to the PE
coach. The PE coach’s
response to this was to send the boys to run laps.
Jordan ran his laps, while the other 2 boys walked.
Each time Jordan passed them, they would taunt him and dare him to
“fight them”. Jordan
refused. When Jordan finished
running his required laps, he went off to the side of the track, alone, to
play in the dirt with some sticks. The
other two boys came up to Jordan, threatening him, saying things like
“we’re going to kick your ass,” “you’re chicken if you don’t
fight us,” and “we’re going to punch you in the stomach.”
Jordan was very frightened. He
was outnumbered. He knew
better than to get into a fight with them.
He had already reported the earlier assault by these to boys, to no
avail. All he knew was that
he wanted the boys to go away, without incident.
So, Jordan told them, “No you won’t, ‘cause I’m gonna hit
you with this stick.” The
boys ran away. Jordan achieved the desired result, without resorting to
violence, or even offering to swing the stick in his hand.
He thought he had done the right thing, and so did we.
We could not have been more wrong.
The two boys went to the coach and told
him that Jordan was threatening them. Jordan was called to the principal’s office, where he was
given a punishment of 3 days SAC (an off-campus isolation). The other boys received nothing.
We were very upset with this punishment. However, we felt as though we could do nothing about it.
The cards were stacked against us.
Jordan was a target. PISD
was not going to stop coming after him unless I stopped pursuing my
grievance. We explained to
Jordan that, while this punishment was unfair, it was the way things were
going to be until we could resolve this grievance.
I asked him if he wanted me to stop fighting.
He said emphatically, “NO!”
He would take this punishment, and make every effort to avoid any
situations that might be harmful to him in the future.
Apparently, this would not be satisfactory to PISD.
Jordan served 2 of his 3 days of SAC
without incident, completing all his assignments.
He was serving his third day (Friday, February 1, 2002) when a
police officer came to the SAC building and arrested him.
I did not know about this, and would not have known if not for the
kindness of a stranger. God
bless that man. The SAC
teacher called me at work to tell me that the police had come and picked
up my son. As you might
imagine, I was in SHOCK. I
could not believe what I was hearing.
For what? What had
happened? For thirty panicked
minutes, I attempted to locate my child.
I finally found him at the Pearland Police Station. Jordan was being interrogated without a
parent present. God bless him
for not telling them anything, not even his name.
He was terrified. He was crying. He
was shaking. He was
hysterical. The police
officer questioning him was angry, and threatening him with keeping him
there much longer if he continued to refuse to answer their questions.
I told the police officer that I had instructed Jordan not to talk
to strangers, not even policemen. I
told the officer that if he had any questions, he needed to direct them to
me. The officer was very
upset by this. He then told
me that he was transporting Jordan to Brazoria County Juvenile Detention
Center for processing. My
heart dropped. I demanded to know why.
The officer told me that Jordan had been charged with terroristic
threat and assault. The
officer also told me that it wouldn’t do me any good to come down there,
because I couldn’t see my son until they were finished “processing”
him. I sent someone anyway.
My boyfriend of 3 years, Doug Browning, went straight to the
facility and waited to see Jordan. Doug
was finally able to see Jordan, sometime after noon.
However, we were told then that Jordan might be held over the
weekend. We were
panic-stricken and very scared for Jordan.
Even the parole officer processing him agreed that Jordan did not
belong there. Thanks in part
to her kindness, we were able to get Jordan out of there that day, just
before five o’clock. I withdrew Jordan from PISD the
following Monday, February 4, 2002. I
had finally conceded that Jordan was not safe on any PISD campus.
For Jordan’s safety, I rented an apartment in a neighboring
district. Jordan started
school in his new district on February 5, 2002.
Also that week following his second arrest, Jordan was diagnosed
with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”).
We have been in counseling ever since.
Still, we knew this saga was far from over.
While PISD was asserting these false
charges, I was still pursuing the original grievance.
The local grievance process, followed by the TEA process is
arduous. One would have to be
an administrative law professional, or partner at Bracewell &
Patterson, to navigate those troubled waters.
My understanding of TEC 11.162 and TEC Chapter 26 paints a very
different picture. Maybe I am
naïve, but it was my understanding of those statutes that one does not
have to be a legal professional, or hire expensive legal counsel, to seek
remedy under those statutes. However,
that has not been my experience at all.
Even with a dogged pursuit of what I consider to be justice for my
family, I have still fallen short. We
have spent thousands of dollars, countless hours, taken unpaid time off
work, and have yet to have resolution.
We have had an enormous amount of support from friends and family.
There are so many people that have assisted this effort that it
would be impossible to name them all.
PISD (according to records we have received so far) has spent in
excess of $30,000 defending their seemingly defenseless uniform policy. For a district that is supposedly “financially strapped,”
I cannot fathom why they would support such spending. Yet, even now, as I document my story to this point, we are
still awaiting a decision from the Commissioner of Education; and our
outlook is bleak. If you are
attempting to do the math in your head, that is 15 months of suffering for
my family, with no resolution. In October of 2002, the Brazoria County
District Attorney’s Office finally dismissed the baseless charges
against Jordan of terroristic threat and assault.
But, only after we hired a criminal defense attorney, and prepared
for trial. The D.A.’s
office offered several ridiculous “deals”. However, when it was apparent to the D.A.’s office that,
not only were we not going to settle (which meant admitting guilt), but
that we were ready and willing to take this case to trial, they
immediately dismissed the case (less than a week from the trial date).
These charges should never have been brought in the first place.
In my opinion, PISD is guilty of malicious prosecution and a whole
host of other charges. When
asked why she filed the charges against Jordan (who had already served
what we thought was his punishment in SAC), the principal told me that she
had to “teach him a lesson.” As
I told her then, her job was not to teach.
She was an administrator, not a teacher. I also told her, and still believe now, I’m not sure what
lesson she wanted to teach, but I know one of the lessons she did
teach. She taught Jordan that
sometimes he could not trust the very people he had been taught to trust (i.e.
policeman, school administration and staff).
I have done everything I know to do.
I have protested silently with buttons and armbands.
I have picketed. I
have had meetings with PISD administration, staff and Board of Trustees.
I have participated in petition drives.
I have participated in campaigning for School Board elections (even
managing to successfully remove one of the board members that arbitrarily
imposed the current uniform policy).
I have met with State Representatives.
I have followed FNG(local) to the letter, only to find out that if
you don’t know everything there is to know at the time of your level 1,
2 and 3, then that is all you can present to the TEA.
In other words, it is unlike any other litigation, especially where
the discovery process is concerned. I
have met with the Mayor of Pearland.
I have spoken to countless reporters and media personnel.
I have contacted the ACLU. I
have contacted my local representatives, and never received a response.
I have been robbed of hundreds of hours of quality time with my
son, yet there is still no resolution.
I want so much for this ordeal to be
over, but I fear so much that it won’t be (anytime soon).
All I ever asked for was what was fair and just under the law.
I asked for PISD to follow the law, respect my parental rights, and
the rights of my child. I did
not ask for my family to be attacked, retaliated against, and to spend the
last 15 plus months fighting to protect the rights I thought were
guaranteed. I never wanted to
engage in costly, time-consuming litigation.
I still don’t. However, I honestly do not see any other way to ensure that
our rights will not continue to be violated.
That is, unless the legislation is revised. The Governor and our legislators have the ability to right
this terrible wrong, enforce TEC 11.162 as the authors originally
intended, and send a message to school districts that trampling on
parental rights is unacceptable.
School districts across Texas continue
to ignore the intent of TEC 11.162 by calling their mandatory uniform
policy a standardized dress code in public, all the while continuing to
refer to them as uniforms in private.
In fact, many school districts use the terms interchangeably while
continuing to thumb their noses at the legislature. To borrow a phrase, if it walks like a duck, and talks like a
duck, it’s a duck! This is just one family’s story. I am praying that the Governor and the legislature consider all the families in similar situations as ours, and that they follow the law and their conscience. I believe if they do, they will implement a checks and balances system to ensure that school districts are following the laws that are in place to protect parents and their children. They should provide parents with an advocate to inform them of the procedures involved in pursuing a grievance and they should revise the grievance process to include reasonable deadlines in order to ensure parents resolution to their grievance within the current school year. When these changes are made, they will undoubtedly end our suffering at the hands of our local government and restore our faith in the system.
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