Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP
As a fellow CMI parent let me tell you, you have far more things to be upset about than the bullet incident. I'd be willing to bet the kid found it on the ground and brought it in. I think the school handled it more than throughly enough (getting MPD involved!) if that's indeed the case.
You might want to begin to concern yourself with things that are going to impact your child on a day to day basis such as teacher retention, administrative oversight and execution of IEP's, consistency/ quality in student services, and general academic rigor.

Why do parents put up with Golnar. I have never heard a single parent say they like her. In fact most seem to actively dislike her. Its a charter, how hard is it to get her removed?

The only way for a charter director / principal to be removed is if that charter's board of directors decides he/she has to go.

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP
As a fellow CMI parent let me tell you, you have far more things to be upset about than the bullet incident. I'd be willing to bet the kid found it on the ground and brought it in. I think the school handled it more than throughly enough (getting MPD involved!) if that's indeed the case.
You might want to begin to concern yourself with things that are going to impact your child on a day to day basis such as teacher retention, administrative oversight and execution of IEP's, consistency/ quality in student services, and general academic rigor.

Why do parents put up with Golnar. I have never heard a single parent say they like her. In fact most seem to actively dislike her. Its a charter, how hard is it to get her removed?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where there are bullets, there is at least one gun. It’s time for CMI and schools in general to have a larger conversation about gun safety in the home. Guns, bullets and weapons must be properly locked. This bullet was indeed innocent. What’s horrifying is the possibility of a student innocently bringing a loaded gun to school. It happens.

I am the PP who suggested that one bullet is minimal.

I would absolutely love if we had a broader conversation about guns. Can we maybe start with allowing the CDC to do research about this public health threat? If not, maybe we could start with common sense gun control regulation. You can talk about guns coming into schools until you're blue in the face. If you do not address this country's broader fetishization with firearms, you will get nowhere.

+1

Because the NRA/Rebublicans wont even allow pediatricians to ask about guns in houses even though accidental gun death is a leading cause of childood death. If anyone on this board is concerned about CMI and you vote repbulican, you are total hypocrite.

The only concern I have is that I hope that the MPD spoke with the child's family and made sure that if there are guns/bullets that are accessible to the child in question, they are now secured in such a way that they are not accessible and that everyone in the school community who owns firearms double checks the same thing. In fact since its been brought to the attention of a wider audience- we should all do the same if we own firearms. Its ridiculous to expect that the school should release the name of this child or their family, what are you going to do- march to their home and inspect it yourself? I'm actually concerned about the 'punishment' aspect of the conversation-kids do dumb stuff to act 'tough' especially in a sheltered community like CMI and I'd hope that the situation doesn't escalate. I would really appreciate it of Golnar would reassure us that MPD has taken steps to insure that there are no loose firearms accessible to said child and perhaps do a gun safety assembly in the near future for all of the kids in the school. Frankly, in a country with such passion for firearms- we should offer gun safety instruction in schools the same way that we should have sex education in schools. the guns are around- the least we can do to prevent accidents is to educate our kids instead of just saying 'guns are bad- ignore them' that is the same thing as abstinence education for sex and we know how poorly that works.

Hi OP
As a fellow CMI parent let me tell you, you have far more things to be upset about than the bullet incident. I'd be willing to bet the kid found it on the ground and brought it in. I think the school handled it more than throughly enough (getting MPD involved!) if that's indeed the case.
You might want to begin to concern yourself with things that are going to impact your child on a day to day basis such as teacher retention, administrative oversight and execution of IEP's, consistency/ quality in student services, and general academic rigor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what are you personally doing to protect children from gun violence? What do you think your school should do to be more proactive?

They discovered the incident. They addr she’s it. Is your concern that there was not a school assembly to discuss gun safety?

My child’s DCPS has had two lockdown drills this year. Does CMI do those?

Thank you for your empathetic response.

I am not sure if CMI has had lockdown drills. I haven’t received info about it. They have indeed had fire drills.

I am attempting to start a discussion about gun safety. I agree the child innocently made a mistake bringing a bullet to school and it was handled by admin. To me, this is a wake up call — regardless of innocence, that we need to talk about guns in the home. I am researching advocacy groups. It’s never too early to empower the school and family-body with information to be proactive for the safety at home and school.

What you need to be doing, as a person who lives in the city, is teaching your child how to handle city hazards. I grew up in a small town in the Midwest. Kids knew how to handle guns and hunting knives. They recognized that those tools were primarily intended for that activity. We learned about car safety and gun safety and farm animal safety. I am raising my child in the city. She knows not to pick up weird stuff she finds on the ground at the playground - the one near our house sometimes has drug paraphernalia (e.g, needles, baggies, bottles, etc.) on the ground - and she knows if she sees a gun or a bullet or a knife or something to stay away from it and come tell me immediately. She knows how to cross streets in the city which is something I didn't learn until I was a teenager because we drove everywhere and basically only ever walked from the car.

I think that what you are having a hard time with is the actual risk to your child posed by guns and bullets. Overwhelmingly, the risk of gun violence is guns in the home. Do you have guns in your home? If not, your kid is already a lot less at risk. Do you ask about guns in the home at playdates with unfamiliar families? If not, maybe consider doing that. You need to figure out a way to do it in a way that is not rude, but as a parent who is familiar with guns who has a child who did not receive that training because we don't have guns in the house, my biggest gun-related fear for my kids isn't from a kid bringing a bullet to school. It's if she goes on a play date and I'm not there and her friend wants to show her his dad's gun or whatever.

I think that your posts are getting scoffed at because you come off as a person who apparently just realized the threat posed to children by firearms this week because a child brought a bullet to school. Your attempt to "start a conversation about gun safety" comes off as naive. The conversations have been going on for years, more loudly since Sandy Hook of course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what are you personally doing to protect children from gun violence? What do you think your school should do to be more proactive?

They discovered the incident. They addr she’s it. Is your concern that there was not a school assembly to discuss gun safety?

My child’s DCPS has had two lockdown drills this year. Does CMI do those?

Thank you for your empathetic response.

I am not sure if CMI has had lockdown drills. I haven’t received info about it. They have indeed had fire drills.

I am attempting to start a discussion about gun safety. I agree the child innocently made a mistake bringing a bullet to school and it was handled by admin. To me, this is a wake up call — regardless of innocence, that we need to talk about guns in the home. I am researching advocacy groups. It’s never too early to empower the school and family-body with information to be proactive for the safety at home and school.

I'm curious. Has this always been an interest of yours? Have you given a second thought to those students in this city that deal with gun violence as a part of their daily lives? Or just now because a student in your child's school brought a bullet to school?

Anonymous wrote:I'm so sorry that you even have to be concerned about this at your child's school. You absolutely should be upset and start more dialogue on the issue. Calling the parents and talking to the police are the minimum a school can do. You have a right to know what the plan is for the school going forward. Is this a student already receiving some sort of behavior intervention services? Is there a social worker that can do a home visit and see the child intermittently at school. I wholehearted disagree with previous comments that people should not be privy to the outcome of this case. Every school community should discuss concerns so a disaster doesn't happen. It's called prevention. Previous posters said that DC has very strict gun laws, but most provisions were striked down in recent supreme court case. Don't be afraid to talk about your concerns it might just give the school the impetus to give this child and the cause more attention and resources.

You literally do not have the right to know this. In fact, it would be against the law.

Anonymous wrote:I have worked in schools and have had my kids in public schools and have never heard of FERPA. Sounds like something about education records. My point is to continue to address broad concerns within the school community and not to be shut down by people who say don't worry the cops were here. Does the school have appropriate systems in place and the resources to deal with this? Kids have been suspended from a DCPS school for pretending to play with guns with their fingers.

It is about records, which include information about disciplinary actions. That information must be shared with teh child's parents, but kept private from anyone else.

What is FERPA? https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/brochures/parents.html

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal privacy law that gives parents certain protections with regard to their children's education records, such as report cards, transcripts, disciplinary records, contact and family information, and class schedules. As a parent, you have the right to review your child's education records and to request changes under limited circumstances. To protect your child's privacy, the law generally requires schools to ask for written consent before disclosing your child's personally identifiable information to individuals other than you.

The following questions and answers are intended to help you understand your rights as a parent under FERPA. If you have further questions, please contact the U.S. Department of Education's Family Policy Compliance Office using the contact information provided below.

I have worked in schools and have had my kids in public schools and have never heard of FERPA. Sounds like something about education records. My point is to continue to address broad concerns within the school community and not to be shut down by people who say don't worry the cops were here. Does the school have appropriate systems in place and the resources to deal with this? Kids have been suspended from a DCPS school for pretending to play with guns with their fingers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have a right to know what the plan is for the school going forward. Is this a student already receiving some sort of behavior intervention services? Is there a social worker that can do a home visit and see the child intermittently at school.

Nope, you have no right to know anything about an individual student who is not your child. Federal law (FERPA) is very clear on this. Which is why most of the people posting here have said the school appears to have acted correctly.

It is absolutely insane that PP said you have a right to know those things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where there are bullets, there is at least one gun. It’s time for CMI and schools in general to have a larger conversation about gun safety in the home. Guns, bullets and weapons must be properly locked. This bullet was indeed innocent. What’s horrifying is the possibility of a student innocently bringing a loaded gun to school. It happens.

I am the PP who suggested that one bullet is minimal.

I would absolutely love if we had a broader conversation about guns. Can we maybe start with allowing the CDC to do research about this public health threat? If not, maybe we could start with common sense gun control regulation. You can talk about guns coming into schools until you're blue in the face. If you do not address this country's broader fetishization with firearms, you will get nowhere.

Why do you suppose so many DC residents (overwhelmingly Liberal) like to own guns?

Anonymous wrote:You have a right to know what the plan is for the school going forward. Is this a student already receiving some sort of behavior intervention services? Is there a social worker that can do a home visit and see the child intermittently at school.

Nope, you have no right to know anything about an individual student who is not your child. Federal law (FERPA) is very clear on this. Which is why most of the people posting here have said the school appears to have acted correctly.

Anonymous wrote:I'm so sorry that you even have to be concerned about this at your child's school. You absolutely should be upset and start more dialogue on the issue. Calling the parents and talking to the police are the minimum a school can do. You have a right to know what the plan is for the school going forward. Is this a student already receiving some sort of behavior intervention services? Is there a social worker that can do a home visit and see the child intermittently at school. I wholehearted disagree with previous comments that people should not be privy to the outcome of this case. Every school community should discuss concerns so a disaster doesn't happen. It's called prevention. Previous posters said that DC has very strict gun laws, but most provisions were striked down in recent supreme court case. Don't be afraid to talk about your concerns it might just give the school the impetus to give this child and the cause more attention and resources.

Registration, online training, background checks for private sales are all still required

New CMI parent-- is there always this much drama, or... is this a special case?