BLAIR, NEBRASKA (2024 December 9, Monday)
Don Harrold, Writer / Editor
blairtoday@mail.com – Facebook
Read our complete coverage on this issue HERE.
At tonight’s Blair Public Schools Board Meeting, at approximately 7:10 PM, the floor was opened for public comment. Among those in attendance, only one member of the public chose to speak. Ben Smith, a parent, took to the podium and delivered the following statement:
My name is Ben Smith. I live at 1232 Pinewood. My kids have been in school here for, you know, one is a senior and the rest of them are down, all the way down. For the last few years, I’ve had an issue with a teacher.
And like I said, I’m not going to name any names. I’ve called, I’ve talked to the superintendent, I’ve talked to the principal of the school, everything else. We thought this last year that the teacher would be gone, but they’re not.
This year, my youngest daughter is there at the school. And I’ve called and I’ve blatantly asked because my daughter is terrified – to have her removed from his class, and to date, she has still not been taken out of his class.
I’m irritated with it. My wife and I have both said something about it. There’s supposed to be a W-9 person, Title IX person, that’s supposed to be involved when all this is going on. We’re supposed to be notified of who they are. Still don’t know who they are. Haven’t been told who they are. And they’re mandatory reporters. And it’s, we haven’t heard nothing.
The lack of communication is ridiculous. So, I just want to note it, that I’m done with it. I’m tired of all the crap. It needs to be fixed. Thank you.
No other parents spoke during the public comments section of the meeting. Notably, at the last two board meetings, Ben Smith has been the only parent to address the “bullying” issue. BlairToday welcomes and will publish any comments or responses from Blair Public Schools officials.
Mr. Smith definitely has a concern, and he is being kind about not naming out the teacher in question. This is, apparently, the second time he has spoken, and in my opinion, he is justifiably unhappy. Why is he being ignored?
Because the schools don’t care! They like to claim they do but in reality, I’m pretty sure they don’t. I had issues with one of my kids in a bullying situation and it never got better. I’m so happy I no longer have kids in school. There’s an ongoing issue at one of the Gretna schools right now too and it’s been on the news on at least two occasions that I’m aware of. The way schools handle things now isn’t on a case by case basis. It’s ridiculous! Every case and every child is different! They need to handle the situations that way! And if this is an ongoing issue with a teacher that’s a whole new level of, DO SOMETHING!!!
If people care about their kids, they should find a way to home school.
We used to have our kids go to Blair, my daughter was being bullied by the kid that now ended up hurting another kid at a Super Bowl party and facing criminal charges. I told my daughter since Blair doesn’t do anything about the bullying, she needed to stick up for herself but I told her to make sure teachers were not present. So the next time she saw him walking up to her locker she looked around for teachers and then shoved him so hard he fell into the locker just like he always did to her. He said what did you do that for, she said that’s for always doing it to me. Guess what, he didn’t bully her again after that.