By Megan McDonough
Editor's Note: The Valley Reporter asked Harwood Union co-principals Laurie Greenberg and Megan McDonough for comment on a story regarding an alleged assault at Harwood last month. Their response is printed here in its entirety and quoted in the story.
Maintaining a community that is safe for our community remains Harwood’s top priority.
We recognize that the concerning behaviors of a few have had a great impact on our community.
While we cannot share details regarding specific consequences and actions taken we want to assure families and students that we continue to actively address unsafe behaviors and create a community of high expectations for all.
Please note that not all misbehaviors fall within the ability to intervene and handle here at school. Student behaviors and/or choices that rise to a level of serious threat, damage or harm will be dealt with swiftly up to and including loss of privileges, suspension and involvement of law enforcement when necessary.
As community members -- staff, students and families -- we ask for your collective effort in supporting our children in making safe decisions by:
- discussing responsible use of social media.
- seeking support from adults as needed.
- promoting kindness and care by speaking up when something unsafe is seen.
To that end, over the last three months five skilled youth facilitators at Harwood have been providing dialogue facilitation training to 50 of their peers. The purpose of this is to continue building capacity to hold all school TA dialogues that are youth-led and supported by the adult TA partner in order to continue the collective discussions about how to collectively create a school community where all feel safe.
In order to be part of a community one must meet the expectations -- we will continue to have high expectations for our community and work to support ALL our students in meeting them.
Again, we understand the concern felt by our community anytime serious misconduct occurs at HUMS/HS. You continue to ask for further specifics and details. Such information cannot be released by the district. Any student's past or present disciplinary records are strictly prohibited from release by law. The administration has and will continue to follow and implement all the laws and HUUSD policies pertaining to this and any other situations regarding student misconduct. We have specific policy and procedures about how schools handle allegations of bullying and harassment. They can be accessed by parents on our website.
