Discipline Policy Concerns Sulphur Elementary School Parents

Some Sulphur Elementary school parents complained to the school board that some 2nd grade students were denied recess because their fellow students had voted that their behavior was "bad."

Friday, March 12th 2010, 2:38 pm

By: News 9


By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

SULPHUR, Oklahoma -- Among school controversies, recess usually ranks near the bottom. That's not the case in Sulphur, where some parents have raised concerns about who got to play at recess and who didn't, and just how that was decided.

In Sulphur, elementary students get two recesses each day; one at 10 a.m. and one at noon. Recently some parents heard that some 2nd-graders were denied recess privileges for disciplinary reasons.

Shawn Terry has a daughter in 2nd grade. He got concerned when he heard how those recess decisions were being made.

"The 2nd-graders were voting on who the bad children were, who were causing the problems during recess and, you know, causing them to lose all their privileges," Terry said.

Terry said he heard the so-called "bad" children got to go outside, but couldn't play.

"The children that were voted, had 10 votes from all the students, were essentially in a roped-off area, or I think it's concrete slab on the playground that they had to sit on during recess," Terry said.

Other parents heard the same story, and earlier this week a couple of them went to the school board meeting to complain. The board went into executive session and talked to the elementary principal about the policy. The Superintendent says she learned the students' vote was only one factor in the decision to deny recess. But she says there will be no more of that.

"It's very important that our children do report to us if, like, there's a stranger on the playground or some other form of danger," said Sulphur Public Schools Superintendent Paula Crawford. "They need to understand they do need to report that to us, but we don't want to have a tattling-type based discipline."

The parents hope that's the end of it, but they'll be keeping an eye on the situation.

"If it continues, some of the parents are talking about filing a petition to have the principal removed," Terry said.

No disciplinary action has been taken against the elementary principal.

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