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Friday
September 2010
3
Community Blogs
Kim is 34 years old, married for 16 years with three kids that all attend West Allis/West Milwaukee Schools. She was born and raised in New Berlin, but spent most of her time as a child in West Allis with her grandpa. After getting married, she stayed in West Allis for three years, went away for four years, and returned to West Allis for the past 8 years. Her hope with this blog is to raise awareness of what is happening, the good and the bad, within the school district.
Theft in our Schools
My focus this week is on theft in our schools. My son contacted me last week and informed me that his $80 Nike shoes were stolen from him in gym class. He set them down, turned to his locker, turned around again and they were gone. Luckily for him he had an extra pair in his locker, unlucky for him he didn't tell the gym teacher right away!
His gym class is at 9:30AM and he finally reported it to one of the asst. principal's at Noon. Needless to say the VP told my son go back to the lockers, look in them and if they are not there, well that is that. I requested to speak to the asst. principal. 45 minutes later he called me back and told me he could do nothing because my son waited too long to report it. After some arguing and threatening to inform the West Allis Police Department, the asst. principal said he would do what he could but also stated I was over reacting to the situation!
After school my son called and informed me that HE found the shoes on another students feet. This students locker was right behind his. The other student tried saying he bought the Nike's at Walmart, funny i don't remember EVER seeing Nike's at Walmart! My son was able to note special marks on the shoes and got them back.
After speaking with some other parents, I found this situation to be a common occurence. Also to find that schools don't do much in lines of trying to solve the problem. When I spoke to the asst. principal later in the day, he tried implying that it was my son's fault the shoes had been stolen. The other student claiming that my son left them out during the full class period. That is not like my son with thos shoes, I swear they are his life! Besides, isn't stealing wrong?
Now the other students will be receiving some consquences for this situation,however I am legally not allowed to know what that is. How can that be right? My son was a victim to a crime and we have rights to know what is going on with the other student. The situation will be turned over to the police officer that works in the school and he will decide if theft charges should be brought on to the student. Once again, isn't that OUR decision?
My son was a victim of a theft crime and the school is telling us we have no rights in seeing how the other student gets punished. My belief is nothing will happen to the student and we will never be told what happened to the stealing student. This also makes me wonder how many other theft cases have been dismissed because parents don't fight the schools. I know Central has a huge theft problem and it is reported to the police and is in the police blotter. However, Hale keeps theirs under wrap and few cases are reported to the police, but Hale has a theft problem as well.
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7 Comments
StubbornOldMan - Nov 01, 2009 10:13 AM
The following Monday morning, I asked a friend of mine who was in the same homeroom as the suspected thief if he would let me know if the watch was on this kid's wrist. It was!
I called the other school where my 8th grade neighbors went and pretended to be his dad (I had a fairly deep voice and fairly convincing adult mannerisms even back then), told him the story, and told him to pass the word around that we were going to confront the 9th grade punk who stole my watch. We confronted the punk after school at the bus stop and threatened to beat the snot out of him unless he returned the watch. He did, under the threat of a beating. The punk didn't steal anything from me ever again. See, the threat of force works wonders.
Tell you son the next time it happens that he should call all his buddies on their cell phones to arrange a little 'meeting' with the thief to scare the h_ll out of him. Don't bother calling the Principal or the cops, because as you have seen with your own two eyes, the authorities won't even let you know the consequences of this thief's actions. If your kids THREATEN to smack this kid around a bit, it'll probably do the trick. Tell your kid and his friends to just push the punk around a bit. I never threw any punches in my particular incident, but I definitely did get in the kid's face until he forked over the watch that he stole from me. It worked like a charm.
Daughter of motified west allis resident - Nov 01, 2009 9:18 PM
Theft is a crime of opportunity (most of the time) and the best we can do is remind our kids not to take anything of value to school with them and if they do make sure to keep a close eye on it and lock their stuff up.
skatemom. - Nov 02, 2009 8:21 AM
I would hoping calling the police would teach this kid a lesson. But next time, I would also say, don't let your kid take the $80 shoes to school unless he is never taking them off his feet.
gonzalbc - Nov 03, 2009 10:05 AM
As far as what Stubborn Old Man is suggesting lets be realistic. Kids carry weapons now a day. You never know who has a gun. This kid may be in or hanging around with gang members. Your kid could get his friends to help rough him up but this other kid could also get his. Then what? Back in the stone age days that solution may have worked but not anymore.
StubbornOldMan - Nov 03, 2009 12:36 PM
http://www.jsonline.com/news/39091967.html
jgwriter - Nov 03, 2009 3:02 PM
The Thief - Nov 10, 2009 12:30 PM
Now, I don't have it easy. This is not an excuse for what I did. I made a poor decision. I will have to live the community consequences, which are severe. My assistant principal has been very fair and extremely stern in dealing with me in this matter.
Once again, I do apologize for what I did. To Mrs. Cameron, please get the story straight before you blog because sometimes you can get the wrong message out to people and make others look bad when they really shouldn't look bad at all.