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Derby student tells board she was wrongfully marked truant; requests action
Summary
A Derby student told the school board she received a truancy notice she said stemmed from absences tied to school activities and an opinion expressed in a staff comment; she requested the board address the incident.
Vivian Stanton, a Derby student who identified her address as 725 North Bell Arbor, told the Derby Board of Education during the public comment period that she received a truancy letter in July she says was incorrect and caused her anxiety.
"I was told that I needed to go to court and attend a workshop due to this," Stanton said. She told the board her absences were from school activities — band, cheer, yearbook and others — and said a staff member had left an opinion on the attendance record stating, in effect, that she "does way too many activities and is under a lot of pressure" and "does need to attend a workshop but needs to slow down at the same time." Stanton called the comment "outrageous and unprofessional."
"I was very distraught, frustrated, upset, and hurt that the school and administrators I was supposed to trust had done that," she told the board. Stanton described the timing of the notice as particularly troubling because she learned of it the night before leaving for a national taekwondo tournament, adding the letter caused her stress and anxiety prior to an important event.
Stanton said she felt "outcasted" by staff and argued the school’s daily announcements urging students to "be present, be respectful, and get involved" were inconsistent with how she was treated. She told the board she had been active in many school programs and said the treatment she described left her unable to trust staff.
Stanton concluded by saying she was not dropping the issue: "Change is not optional. It's overdue."
The board’s public-comment rules were read before her remarks; the meeting record shows no formal board response or disciplinary action announced during the meeting. The transcript does not indicate an immediate administrative reply to Stanton’s allegations during the public comment period. Board procedure notes read aloud at the meeting instruct citizens to address issues rather than personalities and state that personal complaints about employees should be handled through administrative channels.
The board did not take further action on the record at the meeting; Stanton said she planned to continue pursuing corrective steps if the board and staff did not respond.
Speakers quoted in this report spoke during the public-comment portion of the Sept. 8 board meeting.
