Friday, March 06, 2009
Parents outraged
KINGMAN - When Kristine and David Patrykus' 12-year-old son comes home from Cedar Hills School, they expect him to have homework. On Feb. 25, he carried an offer of a 9 mm handgun from his teacher.
"I'm absolutely shocked that she offered the gun," Kristine said. "Of course I was upset."
On Feb. 25, fifth- through eighth-grade language arts teacher Germaine Brockett offered the gun to a group of students in the class, Kristine said. The following day, Kristine called Cedar Hills Principal Brad Ellico to discuss the situation.
"He said he was shocked by it as much as we were," Kristine said. The parents said that Ellico told them that he had sent the teacher an e-mail regarding the incident.
The next day, Feb. 27, Brockett called David to ask if his son was allowed to have the handgun. David told her no and hung up the phone. "I feel if he (Ellico) had gone to her and said the family was upset, she never would have called," David said.
According to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, Ellico on Monday said he was aware of the situation. He told the deputy that he was investigating the incident and it would be taken care of.
When interviewed by Sgt. John Wilson on Tuesday, Brockett said she offered Patrykus' son the gun so he could take target practice and hunt like other boys in the class to "help him come out of his shell."
In a letter dated Feb. 27, Brockett apologized to the parents. She wrote that the 12-year-old had been helpful in the classroom, so she wanted to reward him. "By your reaction and the reprimand of my principal, I realize that I went outside this community's boundaries of how a teacher should reward a student," Brockett wrote.
Brockett told the MCSO that she never brought the gun to school and only meant the gun for Patrykus' son, not the entire class.
No law broken
Trish Carter, public information specialist for the MCSO, said there would be no arrest made because there was no criminal action. Had Brockett brought the gun to campus, she could have faced criminal charges, Carter said.
"There are certain places you do not bring a gun," she said. Had Brockett given the 12-year-old the handgun without the parents' written consent, she would have been guilty of a class 6 felony, according to Arizona Revised Statutes.
Ellico could not be reached for comment after repeated requests on Thursday. "Upon the advice of counsel, he does not speak to the press," said Lynda Runions of Cedar Hills School. Runions said Ellico handed down the policy to all teachers at the school.
A message was also left at a number listed for Brockett in the phone book. There was no response by deadline.
Kristine and David said they felt the situation was serious and deserved more action. Having brought it to the teacher, then the principal and then the MCSO, the parents want the Hackberry School District to review the incident and take action. The three-member district board oversees Cedar Hills. The school board meets at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Cedar Hills, 9501 E. Nellie Drive.
"All I can tell you right now, I know it won't be on the agenda," said Laurie Lawson, president of the board. She said she was aware of the incident. "That is all I can tell you," Lawson said when asked if the board was going to take any action in regards to the incident.
Poor judgment
As Mohave County School superintendent, Mike File oversees the Hackberry School District. He said he has "limited abilities when it comes to the direct action of the administration or in the board.
"I would say the next course of action is legal recourse if the district isn't going to take action," he said. "The whole thing sounds like poor judgment, in my opinion, on the teacher's part."
It is that poor judgment and lack of action by the district that has caused Kristine and David to pull their two sons out of the school until after the board meeting on Tuesday. File said the parents could petition the neighboring Kingman Unified School District for their children to attend, as other parents of Cedar Hills students have done in the past.
"Basically what it boils down to and why we're upset is the school did absolutely nothing," Kristine said.
Both parents expressed concern with the safety of their children, which is contrary to the mission statement of the school on its Web site,
www.cedarhillsschool.org.
"Our Mission is to ensure academic excellence for all students, in a safe environment, supported by parents and the community," the site states.
The parents also questioned the decision of a teacher to give a quiet kid a gun to help the student come out of his shell.
"He's a 12-year-old boy," David said. "There are so many different scenarios that could have happened."
Kristine and David said Ellico expressed anger toward them for going to law enforcement when they met with him on Wednesday. What they would like is some response from the board.
"At this point, I want them both fired," Kristine said. "Our kids are not being taken care of while they're there. They're not being taken care of in a manner that they should be."
A public records request from the Miner to the school for the e-mail sent by Ellico to Bockett had not been fulfilled by publication deadline.
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Topic: Cedar Hills teacher tries to give student a 9mm handgun (AZ) (Read 5025 times)