Infuriated Parents Demand Action on Discipline from Warren County School Board

Emotions ran high at the 6:30 p.m. meeting of the Warren County School Board (WCSB) on September 6 at the Warren County Government Center. The evening began on a positive note with an attendance award and quickly took a turn as parents stood up during the Community Participation portion of the meeting to report unaddressed misbehavior in schools and to question whether the school board and administrative staff have truly done everything within its capacity to solve the perceived problems.

Despite Kristen Pence’s efforts as Chair to maintain order, members of the audience often spoke without permission, reflecting the point to which their patience has been pushed by the circumstances surrounding recent alleged acts of violence, bullying, and substance abuse in Warren County Public Schools. The testimonies of parents electrified the room, even drawing tears from Melanie Salins, representative from the North River District.

Virginia Cram describes her son’s brutalization by a fellow student at Skyline Middle School

Although many of the testimonies elicited a visceral reaction from the audience, as well as the Board, the testimony of Virginia Cram, mother of a young man who was brutalized by a fellow student at Skyline Middle School, drew the strongest reaction from the room, subsequent speakers turning to Cram and expressing their sympathy.

Prior to Cram’s message, Amy Flora of the Warren County Education Association thanked the Board for their support, providing a stark contrast to the message that followed. “Every day, I send my children off to be educated, and I expect that my children are safe within the walls of their schools,” Cram began, then indicating her 12-year-old son Aidan had not been. On Thursday, August 24, in gym class, he was assaulted by another student in his grade. Cram received a phone call in which the school representative told her she needed to be at Skyline Middle School within 10 minutes or they would have to call 911 because Aidan was so badly injured. “I panicked,” Cram said, “and the woman whom I was speaking to had still not put eyes on him.”

Amy Flora of Warren County Education Association thanks the Board for their support

Still on the phone as she drove to the school, Cram was informed by the principal that Aidan had been shoved twice, and when he shoved back, he was punched. The principal was unable to describe Aidan’s condition. Arriving at the school and bypassing the pick-up line as instructed, Cram was met by the school nurse and the front office administrator, both of whom rushed Aidan out to her. They said they had just been able to stop the bleeding, and the nurse communicated that she believed his jaw was broken. Indeed, it was.

“He was rushed to emergency surgery to fix his broken jaw. He lost at least two adult teeth, and the oral surgeon is doing everything he can to save the third adult tooth. Aidan will be on a liquid diet for at least another month,” his mother told the school board. Looking back, Cram said she was astounded by how little information she received in the moments leading up to her arrival at the school. She said she lamented the bureaucratic language she confronted later when speaking to school representatives, receiving no assurance that her son would be safe if he returned to school.

When Cram told school representatives that Aidan might have to be homebound, she said they seemed relieved. Based on reports from other students, Cram believes that the attacker returned to school the next day. “If that is the case, then the school has violated its own code of conduct, and it has violated the trust of every parent in this community that the school is a safe place for their child.” Cram and her husband have been instructed to direct all their questions to the school system’s legal counsel. She indicated their attorney has been trying to contact the counsel for two weeks without a response.

The incident was caught on camera. Cram, who has seen the video, described her son’s attempt to shove back more as an attempt to remove the attacker’s hands from his body. Quickly becoming concussed, Aidan was in no condition to defend himself after being punched.

Cram asked the board what they knew and what they had done about the incident. She also asked what the Skyline Middle School had done. There were reports of Aidan being bullied prior to the day of the attack, so it would seem this incident did not come out of the blue, his mother believes. Did those reports at all serve as a red flag? Furthermore, she asked, if the nurse believed Aidan’s jaw was broken, why did the school not call 911 immediately? “We are expecting answers to our questions, and we are expecting them last week,” Cram declared in her closing remarks.

Responding to Cram and other outraged parents who spoke on Wednesday evening, several board members expressed their overall concern, Pence saying emphatically that the lack of discipline is “unacceptable.” Melanie Salins played a pivotal role in the remainder of the evening, introducing a vote of no confidence against Division Superintendent Christopher Ballenger, whose leadership she perceives to be severely lacking. However, in that vote, she stood alone. She also made a motion to leave the Virginia School Boards Association, who, in her judgment, have wasted Warren County’s money and provided no real results. Voting on that motion, all members said “aye” except Andrea Lo. Regarding the acquisition of electric buses to replace Warren County’s diesel buses, Salins was equally grim. The cost, in her mind, is prohibitive.

Asked before she went into the Board’s closed session if she at all felt that the Board was under unfair pressure to do something it could not possibly do, Salins’ response was an emphatic “No!” Despite what she agreed may appear to be a Titanic moment, “There is no excuse,” she said, adding, “We should absolutely take control of this ship, or it is going to sink.” One of the potential solutions she mentioned was the Regional Alternative Education Program described on Virginia’s Department of Education website. Some young people may need to pause their lives and enroll in a program where their unique behavioral issues can be addressed. Also, “pulling the parents back in more closely is really key,” Salins said.

Click here to watch the Warren County School Board Meeting of September 6, 2023.