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Parents urge Franklin Township school board to act after reported classroom threat and alleged supervision failures
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Summary
Two parents told the board that their children were physically harmed or threatened, that required safety protocols were not followed, and that district communication was delayed; the superintendent said the district will investigate and Dr. Solomon will follow up.
At the Franklin Township Public School District Board of Education meeting on Nov. 20, two parents described recent safety failures at district schools and urged the board to ensure consistent crisis response and supervision.
Joseph Rudolph, a Franklin Park resident, told the board his second-grade son was attacked on Nov. 14 at Franklin Park School and that the family believes there has been a pattern of inadequate supervision. "My son comes home from school, he has knot on his head," Rudolph said, describing repeated injuries and what he called a lack of meaningful follow-up by school staff. He said he was shown some video of the incident but not the full footage and asked the board to review photos of his son's injuries.
Alicia Thompson Overby, a Franklin Township resident, PTO board member and class parent, said that on Nov. 19 at about 2:30 p.m. during reading instruction a student told her 6-year-old daughter, "he was going to kill her." According to Overby, the assisting teacher was informed but no safety procedures were immediately initiated; she later received a non-urgent ClassDojo message that described the event in non-urgent terms. "Administration acknowledged that proper safety protocols had not been followed," Overby said, and asked, "What measures are you putting in place to ensure that staff members across all schools in Franklin consistently follow required safety protocols when a threat is made?"
Superintendent Dr. Avali apologized for the families' negative experiences and said the district would follow up with building administrators. "We will follow-up with the building administrators and we'll use the information that you shared to further investigate the goings on," Dr. Avali told the meeting. He said Dr. Solomon would take notes and the families would be contacted with findings through Dr. Solomon's office. The board president also asked the parents to leave written statements with Dr. Solomon so the district would have a complete record.
The board did not take formal action at the meeting. Members said administration would investigate and report back through Dr. Solomon; no timeline for a formal update was provided at the meeting.
