Viral bullying video continues to be debated

Video of a Shawano Community Middle School student attacking another student that has made the rounds on the internet and news outlets has tarnished the Shawano School District’s reputation, officials reported at the Shawano School Board meeting on June 5.

The meeting also saw community members and board members express their anger at what happened, but the board is planning to look over school policies on bullying to see what needs to be changed.

David Kranjac has a granddaughter at Shawano Community High School, he said, and he fears for her safety as much as the students at the middle school. He noted he’s a retired high school educator, so he has experience handling children in classrooms.

“What I saw on that video that many of you saw, that just stunned me,” Kranjac said. “The recent events outraged me. I just need to do something. I feel compelled as a grandfather to do something.”

Kranjac said he had sent an email to Musolff with his specific concerns two weeks ago but never received a response.

“I’m a citizen trying to engage my school board,” Kranjac said. “I don’t know about a white board. How do I do that?”

Musolff said he was on vacation for the week prior to the board meeting and only saw the email that day.

Kranjac said he doesn’t hold the school board responsible for the bullying incident, as “you cannot control, minute by minute, the behavior of children.” What he wants the board to do is to improve the district’s reaction to such matters, noting that families were informed the district had a zero tolerance approach to bullying.

“Students are not feeling safe, despite what you may think,” Kranjac said, noting that a maximum enforcement approach might discourage bullying more than zero tolerance. “Your policies cannot ensure that if they’re not being enforced.”

Parent Jake Kern has three children in the school district said transparency and better communication are needed when disciplinary action. Reaction needs to be swift and harsh for infractions like the one that happened, he said.

“For me, if this happened to my child, and I didn’t find out about it by any means other than a social media post, I would be irate,” Kern said. “I can’t even tell you how angry I would be. That’s on the school district. If you guys aren’t communicating with the parents, that’s dead wrong.”

By the same token, Kern said he’s tired of lazy parents not doing their jobs and expecting the schools to teach their children proper behavior. He said teachers and administrators shouldn’t be responsible for “terrible kids” who aren’t taught right from wrong by parents.

“If you’re raising a butthole child, that’s on you,” Kern said. “That’s not on the school, and I want every parent to hear that.”

Superintendent Kurt Krizan said in his report that he wants people to realize that the schools are not out of control, in spite of having reduced staff numbers. Even though he said the video “tarnished” the district’s reputation, he wanted to make clear to those in attendance that the incident does not reflect the overall atmosphere of the public schools.

“As a parent and educator myself, my heart goes out to the victims in this incident and other instances like it,” Krizan said. “Safety is our number one priority. No student should come to school in fear. These types of incidents hurt students both physically and emotionally.”

Krizan noted that almost 92% of students for the entire district got through the school year with less than two major behavioral referrals. He noted that suspension and expulsion rates have increased from previous years but did not provide specifics.

Krizan reiterated the importance of reporting bullying incidents, noting that if a parent hadn’t contacted him about the video, it might not have been possible to identify everyone involved with the attack. He encouraged students and parents to continue to come forward and report when assaults and other behavioral issues occur.

School board president Mike Musolff said he believes it’s going to take forward-looking community members and district officials coming together to solve the problem. He noted that some people on Facebook and other social media have responded with bullying comments instead of looking at how to resolve matters.

“What we have to do is realize that sometimes we, as adults, are bullying also, and that’s not teaching our kids anything,” Musolff said.

Musolff added that the board plans to address the matter over the summer and come up with better ways to address bullying.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com