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Parents tell school board their children do not feel safe, allege unreported incidents
Summary
At the May 19 Des Moines school board meeting, several parents described safety and reporting problems — including an alleged lunch aide grabbing a kindergartner's cheeks, an uninvestigated knife threat, and a fractured wrist they say was not reported — and asked the board to investigate.
Several parents told the Des Moines Independent Comm School District board on May 19 that their children have experienced safety problems at school and that the district failed to document or notify families about those incidents.
At the public forum, Aris Hawkins described multiple episodes involving her 5‑year‑old, saying school staff did not file incident reports or consistently follow up. "All children should feel safe at school and 1 of mine does not," Hawkins said, adding she had provided written accounts for each board member and asked the district to investigate.
Another parent who identified herself as Lena said her children have faced repeated disciplinary and safety issues, including a report that one child was "physically shoved, against the bathroom wall by another student" and that staff were not present. Lena said her son was later suspended in a case she contested and described what she called inconsistent responses from principals.
Caitlin Hanson, speaking about the FOCUS program, stressed that therapeutic services are individualized and clarified that not all students placed in the program receive identical therapy.
A public speaker who identified as a "good citizen" urged the board to address violence in schools and criticized the district's opening reminder that speakers avoid personal attacks, describing it as a potential chilling of free speech.
Board members did not directly engage with speakers during the forum; the board had earlier read a public‑forum protocol reminding attendees that the board will not engage in discussion with public forum speakers. The protocol also advised speakers to state their name and ZIP code and noted Iowa law prohibits discussing specific employees' job performance in public forum.
The board did not make any immediate policy changes at the meeting in response to the comments. The district indicated matters requiring attention would receive appropriate staff or board follow‑up after the meeting.
