Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Staff and parents describe daily violence at Hogan Cedars; ask board for more behavioral specialists and structured supports
Summary
Hogan Cedars staff and a PTSO representative told the board that aggressive incidents (punching, property damage, frequent room clears) are traumatizing students and staff; they urged hiring more trained behavioral specialists and immediate bystander support routines.
Multiple staff and parents described repeated violent and disruptive behavior at Hogan Cedars Elementary and urged the board to provide more immediate, specialized support.
"Students are being traumatized by the behaviors happening in the building," Brooke Bowles, a special‑education educational assistant at Hogan Cedars, told the board during the public‑comment period. She listed incidents including staff being punched, daily destruction of the school library, and repeated room clears affecting kindergarten and first‑grade students.
Samantha McWilliams, representing the Hogan Cedars PTSO, urged the district to "increase the number of highly trained behavioral specialists available to immediately support students with critical incidents" and to implement structured bystander care such as restorative check‑ins and dedicated counseling time for witnesses.
Board members acknowledged the seriousness of the reports. Chair Blake Peterson thanked speakers and said district staff would report back on outcomes of prior engagements and on options to support schools through policy changes or budget priorities. District staff discussed data‑collection changes, including adding room‑clear counts to monthly forms and revamping a district safety committee to improve reporting consistency.
Why it matters: Staff describe physical harm to both adults and students, regular disruptions to instruction and a pattern of psychological harm among bystanders. Speakers said some incidents involve very young children and that current in‑building supports are insufficient to keep classrooms safe and learning on track.
What the board committed to: Staff said they have begun tracking room‑clear incidents more systematically and that specialized training models (a shift to the MANT model) and targeted staffing are part of ongoing efforts. The board did not adopt an immediate staffing motion at the meeting but asked staff to continue engagement and to bring findings and recommendations back to the board.
