Stokes sued for barring parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is funny to me. Stokes tried to walk the walk and serve in a super high risk low income area of DC - and they got what they asked for, to some extent. It’s freaking hard to run schools with high numbers of at risk. Families aren’t always easy to deal with or stable. Basically you invite in all the issues that DCPS knows all too well. It sounds like Stokes didn’t have a clue how to deal with this. I agree that counseling out the kind of parents you’ve patted yourself on the back for reaching out and serving isn’t a good look.

This. Even if everything Stokes says is true, it is part and parcel of operating over there. Children with a difficult parent need and deserve a good education as much as anyone else does. Find a way to deal with it or get out.

Sometimes HRCS are not so successful if they can't stack their classes with disproportionately high income kids and push out the hard-to-serve.

Your perception of Stokes EE is incorrect. Its at-risk percentage is around 10%, which is lower than Stokes Brookland.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/802369.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to see the video but the link was unavailable, right?

I watched it last night. The child was sitting on a bench with an adult. Another adult was crouched in front of the child, speaking face to face, and when the child tried to stand up the crouching adult pushed the child back onto the bench. It was not a particularly hard or violent shove but I could see how a parent, especially one who is already fed up with the school and is mad that the school denied it ever happened, would react negatively to it.

I thought it was on a small couch and not a bench.

[Anonymous]

Responding to a previous pp- if left alone dcps is not horrible but also great at Ece management. We get the kids are little & need strong peer models & restorative justice.
However- it’s the UMC parent who FREAK out @ smallest slight their kid may have endured (real or imagined). They start banging pots & pans around & everyone chickens out. So when low SES dark kid hits umc kid- we all brace for it. We know the sh*t Storm is coming.
Now- when the UMC kid acts out- a ‘sorry’ usually clears things up

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that the parent relentlessly harassed staff members and made more than one scene at school in front of other kids. I would want her banned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that the parent relentlessly harassed staff members and made more than one scene at school in front of other kids. I would want her banned.

If they were abusing your kid, wouldn't you make a scene too?

[Anonymous]

Email from Stokes director:

Greetings Stokes School Community,

I hope that your summer has been safe and enjoyable. It's hard to believe that the first day of school is just a few weeks away. In the next couple of weeks the school will send you communication about your children's teachers, parents' orientation and school priorities for the coming school year.

I am writing today specifically to provide an update on a matter that many of you were made aware of in January 2019 regarding a parent from within our school community. A civil law suit has been filed against Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School by Ms. Nykia Braxton , a parent of two of our students. The Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School family is deeply disturbed by the false allegations made by this parent. The school vehemently denies these allegations.

Since 1998, Stokes School has earned the right to be ranked among the very best in the District of Columbia. The school was founded on the promise that we would educate and provide a safe school environment to our students. Over the years, we have kept that promise and we have helped enrich the lives of thousands of children and their families.

In her very brief time as a parent of Stokes School students, Ms. Braxton has repeatedly disrupted classes during school hours and verbally confronted and attempted to intimidate school personnel. Her aggressive behavior and confrontations with staff left some of our parents, teachers, staff members, and board members feeling unsafe. As a result of her disruptions to school proceedings and in the interest of the safety of our students and staff, in February of this year the leadership of Elsie Whitlow Stokes served Ms. Braxton with legal notice, as provided for by the laws of the District of Columbia, barring her from entering school property. The child’s father’s ability and opportunity to attend all school events, as well as his access to the school, were not impacted or restricted in any way.

Though disappointed by the false allegations made by Ms. Braxton, we stand by our reputation for excellence and caring, and look forward to having the opportunity to prove these allegations to be completely without merit.

Nothing about this lawsuit will diminish our enthusiasm and excitement for the start of this new school year, and we look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Sincerely,

Erika Bryant
Executive Director

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Email from Stokes director:

Greetings Stokes School Community,

I hope that your summer has been safe and enjoyable. It's hard to believe that the first day of school is just a few weeks away. In the next couple of weeks the school will send you communication about your children's teachers, parents' orientation and school priorities for the coming school year.

I am writing today specifically to provide an update on a matter that many of you were made aware of in January 2019 regarding a parent from within our school community. A civil law suit has been filed against Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School by Ms. Nykia Braxton , a parent of two of our students. The Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School family is deeply disturbed by the false allegations made by this parent. The school vehemently denies these allegations.

Since 1998, Stokes School has earned the right to be ranked among the very best in the District of Columbia. The school was founded on the promise that we would educate and provide a safe school environment to our students. Over the years, we have kept that promise and we have helped enrich the lives of thousands of children and their families.

In her very brief time as a parent of Stokes School students, Ms. Braxton has repeatedly disrupted classes during school hours and verbally confronted and attempted to intimidate school personnel. Her aggressive behavior and confrontations with staff left some of our parents, teachers, staff members, and board members feeling unsafe. As a result of her disruptions to school proceedings and in the interest of the safety of our students and staff, in February of this year the leadership of Elsie Whitlow Stokes served Ms. Braxton with legal notice, as provided for by the laws of the District of Columbia, barring her from entering school property. The child’s father’s ability and opportunity to attend all school events, as well as his access to the school, were not impacted or restricted in any way.

Though disappointed by the false allegations made by Ms. Braxton, we stand by our reputation for excellence and caring, and look forward to having the opportunity to prove these allegations to be completely without merit.

Nothing about this lawsuit will diminish our enthusiasm and excitement for the start of this new school year, and we look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Sincerely,

Erika Bryant
Executive Director

How can you vehemently deny the allegations and insist that they're false when there's video? I don't know if this lady was rude to staff or not, but I do know that a teacher pushed her kid. I watched it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from Stokes director:

Greetings Stokes School Community,

I hope that your summer has been safe and enjoyable. It's hard to believe that the first day of school is just a few weeks away. In the next couple of weeks the school will send you communication about your children's teachers, parents' orientation and school priorities for the coming school year.

I am writing today specifically to provide an update on a matter that many of you were made aware of in January 2019 regarding a parent from within our school community. A civil law suit has been filed against Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School by Ms. Nykia Braxton , a parent of two of our students. The Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School family is deeply disturbed by the false allegations made by this parent. The school vehemently denies these allegations.

Since 1998, Stokes School has earned the right to be ranked among the very best in the District of Columbia. The school was founded on the promise that we would educate and provide a safe school environment to our students. Over the years, we have kept that promise and we have helped enrich the lives of thousands of children and their families.

In her very brief time as a parent of Stokes School students, Ms. Braxton has repeatedly disrupted classes during school hours and verbally confronted and attempted to intimidate school personnel. Her aggressive behavior and confrontations with staff left some of our parents, teachers, staff members, and board members feeling unsafe. As a result of her disruptions to school proceedings and in the interest of the safety of our students and staff, in February of this year the leadership of Elsie Whitlow Stokes served Ms. Braxton with legal notice, as provided for by the laws of the District of Columbia, barring her from entering school property. The child’s father’s ability and opportunity to attend all school events, as well as his access to the school, were not impacted or restricted in any way.

Though disappointed by the false allegations made by Ms. Braxton, we stand by our reputation for excellence and caring, and look forward to having the opportunity to prove these allegations to be completely without merit.

Nothing about this lawsuit will diminish our enthusiasm and excitement for the start of this new school year, and we look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Sincerely,

Erika Bryant
Executive Director

How can you vehemently deny the allegations and insist that they're false when there's video? I don't know if this lady was rude to staff or not, but I do know that a teacher pushed her kid. I watched it.

Well, the video arguably shows excessive discipline or restraint of a child. The parent has alleged corporal punishment, child abuse, and criminal acts, which are something entirely different.

[Anonymous]

Letter is silent on the separate, due process complaint alleging failure to evaluate the child for learning disabilities. I don’t think they can or should comment on this lag, but keep in mind there are 2 suits in play.

I find this letter really inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

The letter is completely inappropriate! Schools have a responsibility to not to divulge confidential, personal information. By naming the parent, the school is harming the children involved. They don't have a right to do that. They should have said a parent of child(ren) at the school. It is completely unprofessional. Now I believe the mother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from Stokes director:

Greetings Stokes School Community,

I hope that your summer has been safe and enjoyable. It's hard to believe that the first day of school is just a few weeks away. In the next couple of weeks the school will send you communication about your children's teachers, parents' orientation and school priorities for the coming school year.

I am writing today specifically to provide an update on a matter that many of you were made aware of in January 2019 regarding a parent from within our school community. A civil law suit has been filed against Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School by Ms. Nykia Braxton , a parent of two of our students. The Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School family is deeply disturbed by the false allegations made by this parent. The school vehemently denies these allegations.

Since 1998, Stokes School has earned the right to be ranked among the very best in the District of Columbia. The school was founded on the promise that we would educate and provide a safe school environment to our students. Over the years, we have kept that promise and we have helped enrich the lives of thousands of children and their families.

In her very brief time as a parent of Stokes School students, Ms. Braxton has repeatedly disrupted classes during school hours and verbally confronted and attempted to intimidate school personnel. Her aggressive behavior and confrontations with staff left some of our parents, teachers, staff members, and board members feeling unsafe. As a result of her disruptions to school proceedings and in the interest of the safety of our students and staff, in February of this year the leadership of Elsie Whitlow Stokes served Ms. Braxton with legal notice, as provided for by the laws of the District of Columbia, barring her from entering school property. The child’s father’s ability and opportunity to attend all school events, as well as his access to the school, were not impacted or restricted in any way.

Though disappointed by the false allegations made by Ms. Braxton, we stand by our reputation for excellence and caring, and look forward to having the opportunity to prove these allegations to be completely without merit.

Nothing about this lawsuit will diminish our enthusiasm and excitement for the start of this new school year, and we look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Sincerely,

Erika Bryant
Executive Director

How can you vehemently deny the allegations and insist that they're false when there's video? I don't know if this lady was rude to staff or not, but I do know that a teacher pushed her kid. I watched it.

Well, the video arguably shows excessive discipline or restraint of a child. The parent has alleged corporal punishment, child abuse, and criminal acts, which are something entirely different.

The video arguably shows a teacher shoving a kid. If you think it was because the teacher was disciplining the kid with a shove ("excessive discipline"), that's corporal punishment. If you think it was to "restrain" the kid, that's child abuse, which is a criminal act. "Something entirely different" doesn't mean what you think it means.

[Anonymous]

The Stokes letter came out after the washlaw.org post linked at the beginning of this thread. The school didn’t make the woman’s name public; her counsel did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow-- a five year ban seems awfully long.

Former charter school administrator (not Stokes) here: 5 years is what is on the MPD template. In most cases, schools re-evaluate the barring after a shorter amount of time and consulting with the parent. I generally held a conference 30 - 60 days after the barring and if the parent was willing to modify the problematic behavior, we'd lift it. (Link to MPD circular with template: https://go.mpdconline.com/GO/CIR_16_04.pdf)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow-- a five year ban seems awfully long.

Former charter school administrator (not Stokes) here: 5 years is what is on the MPD template. In most cases, schools re-evaluate the barring after a shorter amount of time and consulting with the parent. I generally held a conference 30 - 60 days after the barring and if the parent was willing to modify the problematic behavior, we'd lift it. (Link to MPD circular with template: https://go.mpdconline.com/GO/CIR_16_04.pdf)

It is still a functional permanent ban, even if it is in the template. Parents don't know that you might lift it. It is designed to make them leave. Knowing it is in the template makes me even more cynical about charters pushing difficult families out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow-- a five year ban seems awfully long.

Former charter school administrator (not Stokes) here: 5 years is what is on the MPD template. In most cases, schools re-evaluate the barring after a shorter amount of time and consulting with the parent. I generally held a conference 30 - 60 days after the barring and if the parent was willing to modify the problematic behavior, we'd lift it. (Link to MPD circular with template: https://go.mpdconline.com/GO/CIR_16_04.pdf)

It is still a functional permanent ban, even if it is in the template. Parents don't know that you might lift it. It is designed to make them leave. Knowing it is in the template makes me even more cynical about charters pushing difficult families out.

You can also cross out the time limit on the template and write-in another number.