Editor’s Note: It has been more than 48 hours after the March 25, 2019 School Board Meeting-Workshop and I still doubt I can write up this article to appropriately describe the stupidity of the CCS school board on such important issues as Honor Roll students being expelled because of simple things and the school board refusing to admit to the fact that young girls at Shelby Middle School are slitting their wrists in class and bragging about it. And the school board and administration are in a foolish denial when faced with the facts. The truth!!!
First of all, the March 25, 2019 School Board Workshop meeting started off well with a Christian Prayer delivered by the Senior Pastor of the Mount Zion Baptist Church, Rev. Leslie Davis. A good Christian Prayer is needed often at CCS Board meetings. Unfortunately, that good Christian Prayer wore completely off by the time the School Board got to the Public Participation part of the Workshop agenda. When the Board was faced with the truth. Something the school board clearly did not want to hear. Refuses to hear.
But they heard it anyway. But only after School Board Chairman Shearra Miller told the speakers they could not “personally abuse” School Board members.
1. The first speaker was the father of an A-Honor roll student who was expelled for four days over a “Stress-Ball” incident. Somehow this “Stress Ball” was accidently dropped by the honor roll student and he was expelled from school for four days for disrupting the class.
The father went on.
According to the father school policies 5100, 5105, 4302, 4303 and 4340 were violated by CCS, documents were omitted that should have been there and documents were altered “out of spite” to cover-up for the initial violations by CCS. The father stated that there was NO disruption of school, that it had been made up and he wanted something done about it. Then, four days after the stress ball incident, CCS sent stuff home for the student to sell for a school fund raiser. The father asked if the Board had any questions and Chairman Shearra Miller wouldn’t allow it.
The father said he would file formal grievances against CCS. And, if that didn’t resolve the issue, his next step was to go to the media. I suspect the Shelby Star will refuse to pick this up.
2. The Second speaker was a student at Shelby Middle School who, on October 30, 2018, had been traumatized when a student beside her in class took a razor blade out of another girl’s purse and slit her wrist with the razor blade. The girl who cut herself was taken out of class and bandaged up. But was back in class the very next day like there was nothing wrong. (The School was in denial.)
The student told about other girls at school who also cut themselves for attention or because they had things going on and nobody at school does anything. The student is afraid that if these girls carry weapons to school and cut themselves, that they might cut her too.
3. The third speaker was the father of the second speaker; the student who witnessed a classmate take a razor blade and slit her wrist during class. This speaker started out with a simple question. His family had received a letter from School Board Chairman Shearra Miller, dated March 11, 2019 (attached at the end of this article) that called the wrist cutting incident an “allegation.” The father noted that the incident was a well-known fact and was anything but an “allegation.” School Board Member Danny Blanton spoke up stating that the father “deserves an answer.” Miller called down Blanton by foolishly saying that it was against board practice and policy to answer questions, they were supposed to hear comments from the public. But Miller kept up with her foolishness again stating they were listening to an allegation in their phony closed-door session where the school board voted to accept and approve falsified documents as previously noted in other articles. Also note that Speaker No. 1 described CCS “made-up” accounts, altered and omitted documentation to cover-up CCS initial mistakes. An apparent pattern at CCS.
But the father was not interested in hearing such hokum as this from CCS Chairman Shearra Miller. And as he had some time left, he again asked how the school board could make a factual happening into an allegation and then rule that it didn’t happen? But stupidity on the part of Chairman Miller took over. Caught in a lie as she was in her March 11, 2019 letter and only seconds after Miller had called down Danny Blanton, Miller broke her own ruling, in front of God, the County Commissioners present, me and all of the 450+ citizens who have viewed this meeting broadcast so far, Miller totally engages her mouth and disengages any common sense that she might have ever had. (Folks, you gotta watch this video too.)
Miller tells the father that his family had their hearing and the decision had been made that CCS had NOT violated any policies of procedures. How the man’s daughter’s safety in her classroom was assured was not mentioned. Also, the girl who slit her wrist, according to Miller, “her needs were addressed too. But no specifics were given. All unbelievable on it’s face. With More coming at the end of this article.