Parents, state board members respond to report on MPS disciplinary issues
MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - This week, we brought you a special report on last year's discipline issues inside Montgomery Public Schools.
We followed up with parents and state board members to get their reactions to the report.
When we last spoke to Shatara Lee she said she plans to home school her children next year. She says she was disappointed by the lack of concern from officials in the story.
"Everybody should just kind of get together and say 'alright, what can we do now? how can we fix this?' And I saw just a lot of passing the buck. The parents should be made to stand up and step up and be more responsible for their children and their actions. It starts at home. But it also takes a village. And if I can't see it, then it your responsible to let me know what's going on," Lee said.
District 3 State Board of Education Member Stephanie Bell praised WSFA 12 News' reporting. She released a statement saying:
"During this state intervention and in the future, we must do everything possible to ensure MPS students, teachers, and staff are guaranteed a truly safe environment for learning. We will implement and enforce a no tolerance policy for dangerous and unruly behavior that applies to all who walk through the doors of any Montgomery public school. I commend WSFA for reporting information that must continue to be provided to parents, teachers, and taxpayers."
Fellow board member Ella Bell says there are many issues with MPS, but watching our report and talking to her daughter gave her new insight on the importance of discipline.
"I had to rethink my whole thing. My daughter made sure that I understood teachers were of the essence in this matter. And it is teachers that we must pay attention to and incorporate in our planning to reduce the numbers of disciplinary issues that we have in our schools each and every day," Ella Bell said.
Ella Bell says she plans to reach out to teachers in Montgomery schools and host a dinner so that she can hear directly from them what the problems are in their classrooms and schools.
She's also invited WSFA 12 News to be a part of that conversation.
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