Despite two high-profile incidents involving weapons at Odessa and Permian high schools recently, ECISD police and administrators believe they’ve created a safe environment for students and teachers.
According to statistics obtained by the Odessa American under the Texas Public Information Act, the vast majority of infractions recorded at Ector County Independent School District schools involve such things as dress code violations, tardiness and truancy. During the ‘21-‘22 school year, the school district documented three incidents in which students brought knives to school and one in which a firearm was brought. Twice knives were brought to Edward K. Downing Elementary; the other incidents took place at the high schools.
On Aug. 24, a student was arrested at OHS for inflicting a non-life threatening stab wound on a fellow student and two days later a Permian student was arrested for bringing a gun on campus.
Additional ECISD counselors went to both schools to provide extra support for students and teachers traumatized by the events.
Violations
Statistics obtained by the Odessa American for the ‘18-‘19 and 21-‘22 school years indicate that after student code of conduct violations, students most frequently get in trouble for fighting and marijuana possession. The five schools with the highest number of incidents are, in order, Odessa High School, Nimitz, Bonham and Crockett middle schools and Permian High School.
ECISD Police Chief Todd Hiner said school violence is always a concern, but he believes the schools are safe and he doesn’t worry about sending his grandchildren to them.
“I don’t think that their whole job is inundated with violence all day,” Hiner said of school staff. “I think that there are some isolated incidents that happen.”
To help mitigate the number of fights on campus, Hiner encourages his officers to maintain a high profile on campus.
“I know that parents hear the bad, but there’s a lot of really good that goes on with all the resources that ECISD supplies to a multitude of kids,” Hiner said.
Hiner, ECISD Executive Director of Guidance, Counseling and Wellness Chelsea Reyes, ECISD Chief of Schools/Executive Director of Leadership Keeley Boyer, Bonham Principal Juan Dominguez and Odessa High Principal Anthony Garcia agree there are a multitude of reasons why kids find themselves in trouble, but topping the list is immaturity.
Studies have shown the critical parts of the brain involved in decision-making are not fully developed until age 25 or so.
“Kids are kids. Especially in the middle school, they do a lot of horse play, and sometimes it gets a little bit rough. That’s why it’s important that we talk to the kids about being safe, responsible and respectful. Everything we do and everything we say to our kids is about those core values. It doesn’t matter if it’s ECISD, or MISD or any other ISD, kids are going to be kids and I don’t think anything has changed since we were kids,” Dominguez said.
Most days run smoothly, Garcia and Dominguez agreed.
“I think the reality is that schools on an average day run as normal, but there are things that occasionally occur and just depending on that circumstance, that’s what could disrupt the school day,” Garcia said.
On Wednesday, a video of a Bowie Middle School eighth grader attacking his teacher because she seized his cell phone went viral. Those who saw the video on Facebook were appalled by the boy’s actions and many questioned why no other students came to the teacher’s aid.
Earlier in the week, a fight broke out amongst students at Burger King on 42nd Street and another assault happened at Taco Bell.
ECISD released the following statement on Thursday:
“This is shocking and terrible, and will not be tolerated. We have been dealing with fights and violence recently, and want our community to know that behavior is unacceptable and we will do all we can to prevent it. The student was arrested and charged with a first-degree felony and will also face disciplinary action through the Student Code of Conduct.
“We have watched violence among children on the rise here, around the state and across the country; we know our children are hurting and need us to address mental health challenges, while we also hold them accountable for their actions. Our district will continue to address these concerns with students and families,” the statement said.
According to ECISD statistics, 1,855 incidents requiring disciplinary measures took place at Bowie in the ‘18-‘19 school year, but dropped to 396 last year. Statistics show there were 125 fights at the school last year and 210 student code violations.
ECISD records show that in the ‘18-‘19 school year, 30 district employees or volunteers were the victims of assault. Two dozen were assaulted in the ‘21-‘22 school year.
Social media
Officials agree the advent of social media means we’re hearing a lot more about kids’ transgressions, whether it involves a TikTok challenge or a fight on Facebook.
In addition, those postings often lead to an emotional response, Boyer said.
“We live in a world with social media so things get posted intentionally to get a response out of each other in terms of our teenage adolescent group, so I think it’s just adolescence and learning how to self manage, how to respond to conflict, how to be proactive,” Boyer said.
Unfortunately, because of social media, misinformation is being spread and misperceptions are being created.
“So many times I’ve had people come in and say, ‘Well we’ve heard this and we’ve heard that’ and then we talk (about the incident) they say, ‘It’s not like I thought it was going to be,’” Dominguez said.
There are also many times when teachers and school administrators are completely unaware of increasing tensions between students until it results in a viral video fight.
“Honestly, more times than not whenever we have an incident whether it be bullying or something has happened to a student on campus, when we talk to the parent and we talk to the kid, ‘Hey, have you told anybody?’ That answer’s ‘No.’ The answer is, ‘No, I haven’t talked to anybody about the situation,’” Garcia said.
One parent was so frustrated by what she saw as ECISD inaction, she began a Facebook group, West Texas Parents Against Bullying, in March. More than 250 people have since “liked” the page.
Amanda Provence, who has three children, including a 12-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter, recently took over the page. She’s also begun holding gatherings the second Wednesday of the month at Connection Christian Church.
“I think bullying is a pretty in-your-face problem. I couldn’t give you statistics per school or anything, but I really believe that most kids are going to experience bullying in some shape, form or fashion at some point in their school life.”
Unlike some posters on Facebook, Provence doesn’t believe ECISD is the only school district with a bullying problem and she doesn’t believe administrators are the root of the problem. In fact, she empathizes with teachers who are having to deal with unruly and troubled kids.
In fact, now that she’s taken over the group, she hopes to expand their mission. In addition to being a support group, she hopes the group can come together with policy makers who can actually implement change.
She was encouraged to see Boyer at a recent group meeting, Provence said.
“I know there are some people who will say ECISD is all talk and no action. I understand that sentiment, that frustration, but at the same time, if we don’t keep fighting, we’re not going to see that change,” Provence said. “We want teachers held accountable, of course, but that is not our primary goal. It’s to prevent bullying from happening in the first place.”
Boyer said there is no question ECISD takes student safety seriously.
“I would say that our school leaders prioritize student safety. It is their number one priority that every student in their school is safe,” Boyer said. “Also, we want students to feel comfortable reporting an incident or a situation that makes them feel unsafe or that they believe it’s unsafe for other students and so we have a lot of the posters in schools, you know, ‘See something, say something.’”
In addition, Boyer said the Crime Stoppers tip line number is posted on the district’s website.
“In terms of school leaders and school staff, if they don’t know about it, they can’t do anything about it. A lot of the times they are depending on students to come and tell them when something unsafe is happening. When they are told that they take it seriously and they investigate and address immediately.”
Good communication amongst students, parents, teachers and principals is key, Garcia and Dominguez said.
Communication
If parents are aware of issues between their student and others, for example, if an incident has taken place off campus and they fear things may escalate, they should give someone at the school a call, Garcia said.
Dominguez also noted that negative news spreads faster than good news.
“I always tell parents, ‘If you like what we’re doing, tell everybody and if you don’t like what we’re doing, please let me know so I can fix it,’” he said.
Dominguez, a 26-year veteran educator, took over Bonham last spring. He’s issued a standing invitation to parents who are concerned about student safety to visit the school. He’s also started a program called “Watchdogs” that allows parents to help out during classes, morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up.
Parents are always encouraged to reach out if they have questions.
”I want all our parents to know that every student matters,” Dominguez said. “We use every single minute as possible to teach our kids not only about instruction, but to be safe, responsible and respectful.”
In addition to immaturity, teachers often see students who are dealing with self-esteem and mental health issues, problems at home and substance abuse issues. Students struggling with such things often end up frustrated and acting out.
Counseling
The district works to address those issues through social/emotional learning lessons provided by teachers, school counselors and outside agencies, Reyes said. The counselors also work hard to refer families to outside agencies when students need more intensive help.
Students continually receive age-appropriate lessons about such things as making friends, dating violence, bullying, personal safety, self-confidence and suicide prevention, Reyes said.
Some “bullies” don’t actually realize they are bullying, they think they’re joking and often times they are “joking” with more than one child, Reyes said. Counselors work with them to develop better communication skills.
“Ultimately, I think the reason that they bully sometimes is because they’re having self-esteem issues or their communication skills need to be worked on,” Reyes said. “So some of the things that we work on are self-esteem, communication and the proper way to communicate with others. (We also) work on how to ask someone to leave you alone and things like that.”
Chief Hiner said he and his 27 officers work closely with each school to make sure they are well aware of ongoing trends and individual students who may be struggling.
“We have a good working relationship with all of them. Each campus is almost kind of like its own little city of resource with the teachers and with the parents. With any of the social issues that are occurring outside of the campus that are coming onto the campus, parents will come in and talk about their social issues and the counselors are very busy with helping with those social issues.”
While safety is their number one priority and ECISD police officers enforce the law, Hiner said his officers also work hard to develop relationships with students.
“That helps us out in a multitude of ways because the kids at that age, they’re just looking to find somebody to look up to and so if we build relationships that are built on trust and they see that person day in and day out there to protect them, they get to a comfort level,” Hiner said. “They’ll not only get help for themselves, but they’ll also report incidents…Most of them want their campus to be safe.”
Discipline
What happens when a student gets into trouble on an ECISD campus depends upon the infraction. Since most students get into trouble for violating the student code of conduct, they are only disciplined by school administrators.
Those who are accused of committing crimes face disciplinary action and consequences within the criminal justice system.
Unless the offenses involve weapons or drugs, most kids aren’t physically arrested, Hiner said. They are identified, released to their parents and their cases referred to the court system.
Teaching the students about accountability and responsibility is the goal in both realms.
“I want these kids to know, ‘This is your school, you need to take ownership of the school,’ and it has really changed the culture on this campus,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez uses his own experiences to teach the students, he said.
“What’s been effective for me is me sharing my story. I come from the same type of background the majority of these kids do and when I started telling them my story they start to realize like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize that you came from all that.’ It makes a huge difference because as I tell them, ‘Look if I came from where I come from, why can’t you? I want to make sure I remove all barriers to make sure you’re successful,’” Dominguez said. “I never want students to ever think, ‘Nobody ever gave me a chance.’ If anybody’s going to give you a chance, it’s going to be me.”
While the punishment for some infractions are “non-negotiable” under the Texas Education Code, Dominguez and Garcia stressed that when they have some latitude, they strive to base their decisions on the totality of the situation.
They can expel students to a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program, impose an in-school or out-of-school suspension or place students in a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program. The length of time each student spends being disciplined is also contingent upon the various factors.
Boyer said administrators often look at the impact the incident had on the school environment, if it’s happened before and the chances of it happening again.
Garcia agreed he looks to see if the student has been in trouble before, but also whether they are trying to be suspended, if they have any stressors, if they’re remorseful.
“Sometimes there’s more to it than their misbehavior,” Garcia said. “Things do come up that’s out of their control, and then they react in a different kind of way than they’d normally react so you take into consideration with those things. But, also sometimes you do have a student with a lot of disciplinary actions that is not necessarily a bad kid, but he’s going to be going through something that we’re not aware of so we trying to get them involved with counseling and things like that.”
In fact, Garcia has helped create voluntary weekly group counseling sessions for struggling kids who need additional support. It’s been well-received, he said.
“There are kids that want someone to listen to them and pay attention to them and understand where they’re coming from,” Garcia said.
Success
Prior to becoming the head principal at OHS this year, Garcia spent three years as principal at Wilson & Young Medal Honor Middle School.
ECISD statistics show the number of out-of-school suspensions at Wilson and Young decreased 48% from the ‘18-‘19 school year to the ‘21-‘22 school year and the number of in-school suspensions decreased 33% during the same time frame.
Although Garcia said he was unaware of those statistics, he was aware there were issues at the school when he arrived.
“I was basically given that campus to turn around because testing scores were low, high teacher turnover rate and students were not being held accountable for their actions,” Garcia said.
He, with the help of his teachers, set out to create a culture that emphasized accountability, not only among the students, but their parents. They let both students and parents know what their expectations were.
“I take everything as a growth mindset. I think we’re all growing all the time. Every day that I have an opportunity to learn something new to help me and my profession, that’s what I’m doing,” Garcia said. “Sometimes that includes educating parents on what our expectations are for their students and sometimes help them raise their student because there have been situations where parents don’t have control of their student.”
They’ve reached out to parents to make sure their students are prepared for tests, adhere to the dress code, come to school with the proper supplies. And of course, they’d contact parents about disciplinary issues.
“Communication helps us be more proactive because we can catch a lot of things before they get out of control,” Garcia said.
When students are held accountable, even for little things, it helps them build a sense of responsibility, Garcia said. It also makes them aware people are paying attention to them and becomes a deterrent.
He wasn’t too popular when he started out at Wilson & Young, Garcia said.
“I did get pushback from parents when I began there, because of the new expectations that I set forth,” Garcia said.
However, that faded away after awhile.
“They saw their kids were excited about coming to school and their kids weren’t getting in trouble and their scores were increasing,” Garcia said.
Garcia said he’s taking the same approach at OHS.
Evaluations
Boyer said ECISD’s Executive Directors of Leadership evaluate every principal, in part, on their disciplinary track record.
“They’ll look for anomalies and see if there’s a school that’s got four times the suspensions of a school the same size because that would beg the question of why. Is it culture? Is it expectations? Is it system? What is it? To help the principals address the issue,” Boyer said.
Changes in leadership wouldn’t be made solely because of poor numbers, however, Boyer said.
The numbers are evaluated all year long, so if there are concerns, they’re addressed immediately, she said.
The number of infractions recorded annually could be due to a variety of factors, including changes in leadership, changes in the dress code and cellphone policies, Boyer said.
“They could have changed their lunch transition, so that it’s just sixth-graders going to lunch instead of mixing them with seventh and eighth-graders,” Boyer said. “There could be a lot of variables. Usually it’s linked to some sort of change, whether it be staffing, system, expectations, something along those lines.”
Garcia said he also has taken pains to give his teachers all of the support they need. In addition to regular training sessions, he also ensures newer teachers have mentors.
“Coaching teachers is big, because if you coach teachers up, and they can be successful in the classroom, guess what? It trickles down to the kids, the kids can be successful in the classroom,” Garcia said.
The support he’s received from district administrators has been “amazing,” Garcia said.
“It’s like a phone call away whenever you need something or there’s a concern or you need a question answered,” Garcia said. “There’s plenty of individuals that come in to the campus to help and support what we’re doing here.”
Boyer said she’d like parents to feel their kids are in good hands.
“I would say that our teachers and principals show up every day and give us 100%. They’re committed to their kids. They’re committed to their schools and are committed to the community. We appreciate everything that they do and the success that we’ve experienced would not be possible without them,” Boyer said. “I will tell you the highlight of my week, every week, is when I go spend time in schools and I see teachers teaching and kids learning.”
