Stats show fights fewer than averages, but mom says bullying still prevalent
By Vicky Wedig
Editor
Since getting punched in the neck at Delavan-Darien High School in November, junior Alex Villarreal has an escort to each of her classes, said her mom, Rachel Jutz.
“It’s just ridiculous how I have to have my kid walked to class all the time,” Jutz said. “She doesn’t even feel safe being in that school.”
Jutz said her 16-year-old daughter was involved in two incidents that she considers bullying at the school within two weeks in November.
On Nov. 12, Jutz said, a girl called Villarreal “filthy names” and accused her of having sexually transmitted diseases. After administrators viewed a videotape of the incident, the girl was suspended from school for one day, Jutz said.
Jutz pulled Villarreal out of school for 2½ days after that incident. Villarreal returned to school Nov. 15, and on Nov. 20 another girl accused Villarreal of calling the girl offensive names and punched Villarreal in the throat as she walked into class, Jutz said.
After that incident, Jutz went to police and intended to send her daughter to school elsewhere but wasn’t able to do so.
“I can’t afford to put her in a different school and drive her back and forth every day,” Jutz said.
So, Jutz said, Villarreal returned to Delavan-Darien High School with an escort for each passing period.
“It’s a shame because she doesn’t even want to go to school,” she said.
Charges against the girl involved in the Nov. 20 incident were referred to Walworth County juvenile court, said Police Chief Tim O’Neill. The girl also received a suspension for the incident, Jutz said.
Fights
O’Neill said the Delavan Police Department refers matters to juvenile court that it considers more serious than those that are handled in municipal court.
The department has two school liaison officers at Delavan-Darien schools – David Markley at the high school and Brad Schroeder at Phoenix Middle School.
O’Neill said aside from the November incident involving Villarreal, few physical fights are reported from the school.
“That type of thing happens very rarely,” said Markley.
He said the school has had, at most, five physical altercations between students this year.
According to information from the district, six students at D-DHS have been involved in fights at school this year. In the 2012-13 school year, 19 students were involved in fights at the school.
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey taken by 545 Delavan-Darien High School students this school year shows the school is below the state and national averages for the percentage of students who report being involved in fights. The survey showed 18.7 percent of D-DHS students reported being in a physical fight within the year before the survey compared with 25.3 percent of students statewide and 32.8 percent of students nationally.
The survey showed 7.9 percent of D-DHS students reported being in a physical fight on school property within the prior year compared with 9.1 percent statewide and 12 percent nationally.
Delavan-Darien school administrators and the mother of the girl involved in the Nov. 12 incident declined to comment.
Superintendent Robert Crist issued a statement that reads, in part, “We take seriously all reports of bullying and harassment, and we do not tolerate such behavior at D-DHS or in any of our schools.
“Any report of bullying or harassment is thoroughly investigated on a case-by-case basis. Students who participate in bullying, or who are found in violation of our school district policies, receive appropriate disciplinary consequences, up to and including possible recommendation for expulsion by the school board and police involvement.”
The district has had one documented case of bullying at D-DHS this school year. It defines bullying as “deliberate or intentional behavior using words or actions intended to cause fear, intimidation or harm. Bullying behavior is typically repeated over time and involves an imbalance of power.”
Discipline
To date, the district has issued 28 out-of-school suspensions and two in-school suspensions and expelled one student this school year.
Board President Jeff Scherer said the expulsion resulted from “a culmination of lots of things.”
“Ten out of 10 districts would have expelled him for his behavior,” Scherer said.
But, Scherer said, he has seen or heard of few physical fights at D-DHS. Scherer has been on the School Board for seven years and said he tries “to keep my ear to the ground.” Last year, he said, he continually asked his son whether he observed any violence or fighting at school, and the answer always was no.
“I have not heard any significant problems,” he said. “I’m not stupid enough to say that there’s nothing.”
But, Scherer said, he does not believe Delavan-Darien High School’s problems are different or worse than any other high school in the area.
Markley agrees.
“I would say that our situations here are really no different than any other school district, especially in Walworth County,” he said. “All the schools are dealing with social networking stuff.”
Markley said the problem he deals with most frequently has to do with comments students make on social media outside of school, and then bring those conflicts to school.
He said students impulsively made negative comments on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that they wouldn’t otherwise say to someone’s face. The comments can be seen by hundreds of people, involving others in the conflict, and can’t be taken back.
“They don’t even know 500 kids, and they have 500 friends (on Facebook),” he said.
Markley said the district can’t control what is happening online but tries to advise students about their online behavior and urges parents to monitor their kids’ social media use.
“We try to resolve the issue as best we can inside the school,” he said. “I try to tell them what they’re doing on the Internet is wrong.”
He said students can be cited with harassment, disorderly conduct or unlawful use of electronics for comments they make on social media.
Markley said the school has had no weapons violations this year.
“We haven’t had any drug issues either,” he said.
Markley said school officials occasionally receive information about students using drugs, particularly synthetic marijuana that is sold as incense, but kids are smoking it. But, he said, they have not found drugs in school.
Ultimately, Scherer said, he believes any reputation D-DHS had as an unsafe or violent school was unfounded.
“I think maybe it was perception, not reality,” he said.
Jutz is not convinced things are improving. She said she doesn’t believe the environment at Delavan-Darien High School has changed since she was a student there more than 20 years ago.
“I got bullied, now my daughter is,” she said.
Jutz said she finished high school at Gateway Technical College in 1992 after receiving a death threat at D-DHS.
“I think it’s the whole school system,” she said. “It was like this when I was in high school. It hasn’t changed.”
