mod2-prep-leader

Scenario    -­‐  clevelandboy  

All  scenarios/case  studies  for  this  course  are  based  on  real  situations  and  have  been   written  by  former/current  assistant  principals  and  principals  in  California  schools.   Schools  are  purposefully  NOT  identified  and  all  names  have  been  changed.  

Setting:    

You  are  a  Dean  of  Students  at  a  smaller  comprehensive  high  school  in  the  San  Diego   area.  Since  it’s  a  smaller  campus,  with  less  than  1000  students  enrolled,  you  know   pretty  much  all  the  faces  of  students,  and  also  have  a  good  handle  on  the  gossip  and   happenings  of  the  campus.  Your  role  is  to  support  the  Principal  in  disciplinary   actions,  special  education  IEPs,  and  organizing  events  like  Prom  and  graduation.  

You  feel  lucky  to  be  on  this  campus  where  there  are  few  major  disciplinary  issues,   and  those  that  do  occur  are  connected  to  kids  stealing  alcohol  at  the  local  market   down  the  street  and  showing  up  to  school  buzzed.  But,  maybe  because  the  campus  is   so  small,  you  do  have  kids  living  in  a  world  heavily  defined  by  cliques.  And  you   spend  a  lot  of  time  counseling  kids  that  it’s  OK  to  not  be  part  of  the  ‘cool  kids,’  and   that  they  will  find  their  role  and  niche  in  the  school  and  world.  

Event:  

You  have  a  student,  Mike,  who  has  been  struggling  with  a  poor  self-­‐image  and  low   self-­‐esteem.  He  is  physically  much  smaller  than  other  students  in  the  11th  grade,  and   he  has  the  knack  of  saying  the  wrong  things  at  the  wrong  times.  He  has  struggled  to   fit  in,  but  until  recently,  grades  were  good  and  attendance  solid.  

In  the  last  month,  however,  Mike’s  teachers  have  come  to  you  repeatedly  about  his   lack  of  turning  in  homework,  his  tardiness  to  class,  that  he  is  struggling  to  stay   awake  in  class,  and  that  he  seems  to  be  aggressive  in  his  responses  to  questions  or   expressions  of  concern.    

Because  of  Mike’s  rapidly  declining  grades,  you  met  with  him  and  his  parents  about   a  week  ago.  In  the  meeting  he  had  been  sullen  and  quiet,  sitting  with  arms  tightly   folded  across  his  chest.  He  seems  to  have  lost  weight.    

At  the  start  of  the  meeting,  Mike’s  parents  were  on  the  defensive,  trying  to  make  you   feel  like  you  were  wasting  their  important  time,  and  that  pulling  them  away  from   work  for  a  meeting  when  he  still  has  time  to  improve  his  grades  is  inconvenient  to   them.  After  you  explained  that  you  would  rather  have  this  meeting  now,  while  there   IS  time  to  improve  grades  before  the  end  of  the  semester,  versus  a  meeting  to  sign   him  up  for  summer  school,  they  were  more  open  to  hearing  things.  

When  the  bell  rang,  you  excused  Mike  so  that  he  would  not  be  late  for  his  next  class.   In  reality,  you  wanted  a  chance  to  talk  to  his  parents  without  him  present.  You   wanted  to  bring  up  the  possibility  of  drugs  or  alcohol  abuse  –after  all,  Mike  was   exhibiting  classic  symptoms  of  a  student  who  was  experimenting,  and  his   psychological  profile  would  make  him  a  good  target  for  someone  pushing  drugs  or   peer  pressure  to  drink.  

The  parents  were  of  course  furious  at  you  for  suggesting  such  a  thing.  You  had  to   remind  them  that  you  are  there  as  a  resource  and  that  you  are  not  sure,  and  that  you   have  no  evidence,  but  that  you  encourage  them  to  be  watchful.  That  included  a   suggestion  to  place  parental  monitoring  software  on  Mike’s  computer  so  that  they   would  get  a  better  sense  of  what  is  happening  in  his  world  via  his  online  chats,  etc.  

Since  that  meeting,  Mike’s  been  avoiding  you.  When  you  pass  him  in  the  halls  or  on   the  quad  he  doesn’t  make  eye  contact  or  say  hello  like  he  used  to.  You  assumed  that   his  parents  shared  with  him  your  concerns  –  although  you  were  disappointed,  you   felt  that  at  least  Mike  now  knew  someone  is  watching.  Sometimes  that  was   important.  

Just  after  school  started  today,  you  get  a  very  upset  phone  call  from  Mike’s  mom.  She   would  like  to  come  in  and  see  you  immediately.    

When  she  arrives  at  your  office,  she  is  not  her  normal  self  –  she’s  disheveled,  seems   harried  and  upset.  As  soon  as  the  office  door  closes,  she  pulls  out  stacks  of  paper   from  her  oversized  purse  and  shoves  them  at  you,  demanding  that  you  read  them.  

It  seems  that  the  meeting  with  the  parents  had  created  enough  concern  that  they   HAD  followed  your  suggestion  of  placing  internet  monitoring  software  on  all   computers  in  the  household.  What  you  hold  in  your  hand  is  screenshots  from  the   software,  documenting  Mike’s  activity  on  Facebook.  

Most  of  it  is  the  usual  teenage  chatter.  Mike  was  mostly  responding  late  at  night  to   other  people’s  comments.  But  there  was  a  chat  conversation  with  someone,   username  ‘clevelandboy,’  that  immediately  created  concern.    

Mike:  “I  told  you  I  can’t  show  up  then”   Clevelendboy:  “u  aint  got  much  choice,  gotta  be  there”   Mike:  “I  have  class  until  3”   Clevelandboy:  “pussy”   Mike:  “I’m  not  afraid  of  u,  asshole”   Clevelandboy:  “u  shud  be  by  the  time  im  done  wt  u  they’ll  have  to  find  u  in  a  Tijuana   grave  and  nobody  will  be  able  to  id  your  bod”   Mike:  “Look  I  don’t  have  enough  cash  right  now”   Clevelandboy:  “so  steal  it  ur  parents  have  plenty  of  $$”   Mike:  “they’ll  know  I  took  it  I’ll  get  allowance  at  the  end  of  week”   Clevelandboy:  “no  way  by  then  u’ll  be  dead  Tomorrow  or  else”  

(Let’s  just  say  there  was  a  lot  more  text  that  had  to  be  edited  out  due  to  the  nature  of   the  language.)  

You  are  shocked.  This  is  not  the  nature  of  interaction  of  kids  on  your  campus.  Who  is   this  ‘clevelandboy’?  Why  isn’t  he  using  his  real  name?  And  why  does  Mike  owe  him   money?  Is  it  drugs?  Regardless,  the  threats  in  it  are  not  to  be  ignored.  

According  to  Mike’s  mom,  she  was  made  aware  of  the  situation  when  he  refused  to   come  to  school  today.  She  was  concerned  and  logged  into  the  software.  After  she  

had  shown  him  what  she’d  been  reading,  he  shut  down,  left  the  breakfast  table  and   shut  himself  in  his  room,  refusing  to  come  out.  

You  ask  the  mom  to  give  you  copies  of  the  pages,  and  tell  her  to  go  home  and  check   on  Mike.  You  promise  that  you  will  be  in  touch,  but  that  you  have  to  look  into  this   first.  

The  threats  need  to  be  taken  very  seriously  –  even  if  they  were  just  meant  to  scare   Mike.  From  a  previous  situation  involving  a  death  threat  over  a  cell  phone  voicemail,   you  know  that  a  threat  made  via  cell  phone  voicemail  or  SMS/text  message,  is   considered  by  the  police  to  be  a  felony  level  ‘terrorist  threat’  since  it  involves   making  a  threat  using  federal  communication  lines  and  resources.    Using  the   internet,  you  are  assuming,  is  going  to  be  the  same  thing,  if  not  worse.  

You  log  onto  Facebook  and  search  out  ‘clevelandboy.’  When  you  find  him,  you  click   on  his  profile.  His  profile  picture  doesn’t  tell  you  anything,  but  the  other  pictures  do.   He  is  a  student  from  your  school  and  you  recognize  him  as  someone  who  has  had  a   history  of  petty  bullying  in  middle  school  –  typical  stuff:  shoving  smaller  kids,  taking   other  kids’  belongings.  In  high  school  he  has  flown  under  the  radar,  but  his  name  has   still  crept  up  a  few  times.  It  seemed  that  he  has  ‘expanded’  his  interests.  

Questions:  

1. What  are  your  top  three  concerns  in  this  situation?   2. What  are  your  first  three  action  steps  in  this  situation?   3. What  disciplinary  action  will  you  take  against  ‘clevelandboy’?  Explain  your  

answer.