A recent disciplinary action at Cook County High School (CCHS) has some community members upset. One Saturday night in October, several students and a recent grad let themselves into the school so they could play basketball in the gymnasium. A parent who had previously been involved in the athletic program gave them the key, following a long tradition of CCHS athletes practicing in the school gym outside of regular school hours.
When the young people were on their way out of the school, they were met by a police officer, who told them that they were not supposed to be in the school without proper supervision, although the recent graduate with the key was an adult, and that this would be reported to the school. On the Monday following the event, the students were called into Principal Adam Nelson’s office and told they had violated school rules and would be suspended from school the following day.
Four students were suspended for one day. All of them were on a basketball team. At the November 7, 2013 school board meeting, one of them was suspended from two games as well, which required approval from the school board according to Minnesota State High School League rules. Principal Adam Nelson said student athletes sign a contract to hold themselves to a higher standard than other students. Athletic Director Pam Taylor said this was the first time since she’s been athletic director that they have had a consequence to a student athlete requiring approval by the school board.
At that meeting, one parent spoke up, saying she was unhappy with how the incident was handled, saying the punishment was inappropriate and the tone had been “threatening.” The parent had also sent an email to her child’s teachers, Superintendent Beth Schwarz, Principal Adam Nelson, and all five school board members telling them what she thought of how things had been handled. At the school board meeting, she said she felt it was inappropriate that the only school board member who responded to her was the one in her district.
School board member Deb White said, “The school board’s role is not to micromanage our administrators.” She said they only directly supervise Superintendent Schwarz and do not deal directly with disciplinary actions but added, “I’m really sorry things transpired as they did. …Open gym has always been a great thing for our kids.”
School board member Sissy Lunde said they had been cautioned by the Minnesota School Board Association not to “reply all” to emails because of possible Open Meeting Law concerns. “Just because I don’t respond doesn’t mean I don’t care about the situation,” she said. “No one of us can speak for the entire board,” White said.
“It’s critical that we discuss things in an open meeting,” said school board member Mary Sanders.
The Minnesota Open Meeting Law prohibits elected officials from holding serial meetings via email, but it does not prohibit elected officials from responding to constituents.
Reached later by phone, that parent said her student had never been told that going into the school as students had done in the past was no longer allowed. She thought maybe one student knew they were not supposed to be there, but the others had no idea, especially because it was a trusted adult who gave them the key. She said this adult did not know of the rule, either. Since they were on the basketball team, she said, they would not have wanted to risk being suspended from games. “The last thing they need is to be suspended,” she said.
The parent told the Cook County News-Herald that another parent had said, “It’s Cook County. We’ve got some traditions here.”
Another parent at the meeting, who did not have any children involved in the incident, said he was one of the people who fought to create open gym back in the 1970s when he was a CCHS student athlete. Kids used to go into the school at night, although they usually had at least one parent with them, he said. “They’re better off playing buckets than getting into trouble,” he said. “Hopefully it’s going to be something that can continue– for kids to use the gym.”
School board member Jeanne Anderson said the school handbook says students can use the gym when it is available as long as they are supervised by a staff member. It can be any staff member, including custodians or cooks.
A memo handed out by Principal Nelson stated that page 3 of the student handbook outlines the policy prohibiting students from being in the building without staff supervision. The memo also says the student suspended from two games had been in the building unsupervised last year as well, entered the opposite sex’s locker room both times, was disrespectful toward the staff when discussing the incident, and forcibly entered the locked gymnasium the night of the incident as well as the morning he returned to school after being suspended.
Principal on rules
Principal Adam Nelson said they are doing their best to consistently enforce school rules. Juniors and seniors coming back late from off-campus lunch have been told that any further lateness would result in suspension of their off-campus lunch privileges and that any reports of reckless driving during the lunch period would result in a two-quarter suspension.
Nelson also said students were trying to drop classes mid-quarter but were being told they could only drop a class within the first week of a semester. He said some students want to drop because they don’t like their teacher or they don’t like the grade they are getting.
Leave a Reply