It’s a psychological cliche that bullies are really insecure, immature
cowards. The students of Jamestown, NY, are getting a good lesson
in the pathology of bullying from their very own Board of Education. The
courageous “victim” has just returned to finish her assignment, but the
bullies on the Board have more mischief in store for her.(scroll to the end
of this news story from the Jamestown Post-Journal, April 27, 2006)
As we reported in our post on Feb. 1, 2006, the object of the school
board’s bullying for the past few years has been their fellow Board
Member Deann Nelson, Ed.D (who was represented by Your Editor’s
brother, Arthur J. Giacalone, in the federal first amendment suit,
Nelson vs Board of Education, WDNY, Jan. 27, 2006). What set off
Board President Joseph Pawelski and his posse (Members Timothy
Thomas,Joseph DiMaio, Laurel Lucas, Thomas Pope, and Christine
Schnars) was the insistence by Dr. Nelson that the Board do more than
merely rubber-stamp special education placements.
The proper placement of students has been a primary focus
of Dr. Nelson her entire time on the Board (see, e.g., Buffalo
News, “New Board Member Puts Focus on Special-Ed Students,”
July 24, 2003.)
Deann Nelson had the temerity to claim the right to actually read each
Individualized Education Plan [IEP] before voting to approve or reject it.
The custom of the Jamestown Board, however, is to take action on each
IEP based solely on a one-page summary — called a “board action sheet”
— prepared and forwarded to the Board by the Committee that prepared the
Plan.
could only be read by Board Members at the School Board
Offices, during normal working hours, with no copies being
made.
Dr. Nelson complied with these restrictions and read hundreds of IEPs.
However, she also started to object to individual Plans and voice concern
over various systemic problems and irregularities in the evaluation process.
here, they passed a resolution on September 14, 2004, prohibiting
any board member from reading the Individualized Education Program
(IEP) of a district student, in the process of deciding whether to approve
or disapprove the IEP. The Board Member must rely solely on the brief
summary written by the Committee that prepared the IEP.
Dr. Nelson also asked to see Board records on amounts spent on outside
attorney fees. Denied that request, she filed Freedom of Information requests,
which were repeatedly refused over many months. The State Secretary of State
finally intervened on Deann’s behalf, telling the Board it had the legal duty to dis-
close that information. The Board again stalled and stalled. Finally, they called
Dr. Nelson and made an appointment for her to come to their offices, where she
would only be allowed to read the materials. Dr. Nelson, a diminuitive grand-
mother, arrived for the meeting, bringing a bagged lunch and expecting a long
day of reading.
She kept Dr. Nelson waiting for hours and then told her the
papers would not be ready that day. When Nelson asked what
was going on, Peterson started screaming that she was being
“intimidated.” Dr. Nelson then followed Peterson into her office,
attempting to calm Peterson down and get an explanation.
Peterson continued yelling and other personnel called the police,
who came and arrested Dr. Nelson, charging her first with harass-
ment and then with felony unlawful imprisonment of Peterson
in her office (because she had closed the office door when enter-
ing the room).
The Board immediately held a press conference, charging Dr. Nelson with
causing a fight that required her arrest. As a result, Jamestown and Buffalo
media gave one-sided coverage blaming Dr. Nelson for the incident. See, e.g.,
wgrz.com, “Jamestown School Board Member Arrested, Nov. 4, 2005; and
WKBWNews7, “Member of Jamestown of School Board charged faces charges,”
Nov. 7, 2005, which began: “Police say a member of the Jamestown School
Board, needs to learn a hard lesson, in the law.”)
The Board Bullies managed to soil Dr. Nelson’s reputation, without ever letting
her see the materials mandated to be disclosed under the State’s Freedom of Infor-
mation laws.
a disciplinary hearing charging Dr. Nelson with official misconduct.
Among the enumerated charges, in addition to the arrest, was
the claim that Dr. Nelson takes too many notes at Board meetings,
thus intimidating other Board members [there’s that “i-word” again;
somebody must have had it on a spelling test last semester].
Originally scheduled for December, the hearing was postponed
to await action on the criminal charges.
On March 23, 2006, the county grand jury refused to indict Dr. Nelson on the
charges of false imprisonment, and the charges were dropped. (Jamestown Post
Journal, “Nelson Not Indicted on Criminal Charges,” March 24, 2006). Yesterday,
April 23, 2006, Dr. Nelson attended her first Board meeting since December, having
recused herself from Board activities until the criminal charges were resolved. (See
Jamestown Post-Journal, “JPS Names New Bush Principal,” April 27, 2006)
“Joseph Pawelski, Jamestown board president, said Wednesday
the public [official misconduct] hearing will now be rescheduled,
but no date has been set.”
But, of course she’s misbehaving: Deann Nelson is still asking questions, taking
notes, reading relevant documents (when allowed to see them), and generally
making her fellow School Board members feel insecure and inadequate, and —
yes — intimidated, by doing the job she was elected to do. We would understand if
Deann decided to resign from this intolerable situation. But, we hope she’ll stand
up to the bullies.
afterthought (April 29, 2006): Is this just another example of the local/schmocal
phenomenon we discussed in January 2005 — with local government bodies being
populated by far too many fools and knaves? If you’ve got stories, feel free to share
them with us.
reading and taking to heart:
– “Bullying Recognition & Response for School Employees” from Safe-
Schools.com
– “Bullying in Schools: Adult action can improve school safety;” and
“When our own children are bullying, what can we do?“, from the extensive
online Library of KidPower.org. The reply to the question, “What if my
child is the bully?,” begins:
“Children who bully in this way need safer tools for getting what they
want, better skills for handling the disappointment of NOT always
getting what they want, clear boundaries about what the rules are for
behavior, and consistently enforced consequences for breaking those
rules.”
stepping on
sidewalk ants the boy
everyone bullies
in the howling wind
under the full moon
the snowman, headless
on the bus
the teenager pulls out a mirror
and adjusts her pout
from Almost Unseen (Brooks Books, 2000)
Stifling heat
a palm frond suggests
there is a breeze
George Swede – The Heron’s Nest (Dec. 2005)
