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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 Vol. 77 No. 30
THE student voice since 1960
Community members blame superintendent for safety concerns three consecutive years. This is done by analyzing district reports at the end of the school year to determine if the problem While students fight in the bath- has improved. However, if the district fails to imrooms at some Edwardsville district schools, community members say Super- prove, the state has no specific action to intendent Patrick Shelton and the Board remedy the situation, according to a repof Education have done nothing to stop it. resentative from the Illinois State Board Shelton was hired as the new of Education. Scott Ahart, a newer member of the superintendent in 2021 after the departure of Jason Henderson. Since then, ac- District 7 Board of Education, tried to cording to multiple district parents and bring these issues to the board’s attenemployees, some schools in the district — tion in October 2023, before he became a board member. Ahart told particularly Edwardsville the board that their inacHigh School — have tion was “emboldening seen a decline in safety. The Alestle attempt- I grabbed his bookbag, these kids to do more.” The district’s reed to reach Superinten- and he turned around sponse to being put on dent Shelton three times and punched me the Discipline Improvefor an interview. The first time, Shelton redirected in the face repeatedly.” ment Plan was the implementation of Responsibilthe request to Public Reity-Centered Discipline. lations and Communica- Matt Breihan Responsibility-Centions Coordinator Mary Former District #7 School Ann Mitchell. There Resource Officer Coordinator tered Discipline is a concept that centers on “stuwas no response from dents taking responsibility for their own Shelton at all the second or third time. In addition, The Alestle tried to con- behavior as well as their own academic tact Board President Jill Bertels for an in- success,” according to its website. Responsibility-Centered Discipline is terview. Again, the request was redirected meant to allow students time to “cool off to Mitchell. and prepare to move forward” before discussing a disciplinary measure with an edA district with a discipline problem District 7 is currently under a Disci- ucator. According to its website, Responpline Improvement Plan from the Illinois sibility-Centered Discipline has resulted State Board of Education due to a dispro- in a 40 percent reduction in discipline portionate number of students of color referrals after just one year. The Edwardsville Education Associbeing suspended or expelled over a threeation, a union representing educators in year period. According to the Illinois Report the district, addressed perceived issues Card, in 2022, almost 9.5 percent of all with Responsibility-Centered Discipline students of color in the district were sus- in an April 22 letter to Shelton and the pended or expelled, while just under three board. The number of suspensions and percent of all white students received the expulsions has decreased since the implesame disciplinary measures. In 2022, mentation of the approach, but members there were 5,771 white students and 1,476 of the union said the plan has been rolled out ineffectively. students of color. “A number of staff members have While these rates have somewhat improved since then, the district is still under not fully completed RCD training at this state supervision for racial disproportion- point … Staff members know that consequences are rarely assigned, and those ality across the district. Schools in Illinois are automatically that are assigned are often not enforced,” put on the Discipline Improvement Plan the letter said. “Staff members are actively if they are among the top 20 percent of avoiding writing referrals, as they know schools that use exclusionary discipline such a referral will likely only create more and have done so for three years. To move work and headaches for them, the student past the Discipline Improvement Plan, the will likely not receive or serve any conseschool district must get off this list for quences, and ultimately, the only outcome
DYLAN HEMBROUGH editor-in-chief
is an erosion of that teacher’s authority in [the] classroom.”
Unpacking the safety crisis
Matt Breihan was a sergeant with the Edwardsville Police Department, as well as the district’s school resource officer coordinator when Shelton took over as
them refused to get searched and walked away. So, I grabbed his bookbag, and he turned around and punched me in the face repeatedly.” Breihan reported this incident to the Board of Education after sustaining a black eye. This incident was two and a half years ago, and Breihan said he was never
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superintendent. Breihan resigned in the summer of 2022. During his time with the district, Breihan said he overhauled outdated active shooter plans, trained over 1,000 teachers and staff in safety procedures — such as the Homeland Security-endorsed “Run, Hide, Fight” plan — and regularly presented safety reports. Breihan said he witnessed safety issues, including physical violence, at Edwardsville High School daily. “It’s the culture — in my opinion, the lack of responsibility [on the part of the district] that makes it dangerous,” Breihan said. “Everything that police officers deal with in the real world happens inside of District 7.” In Dec. 2021, Breihan got caught in the crosshairs. “The assistant principal had caught a bunch of students in the bathroom using drugs,” Breihan said. “We had them out in the hallway to search them all. One of
contacted by the district and nothing has changed following the incident. In his departure report from July 2022, Breihan said that he had filed numerous safety audits for a few years leading up to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of the reason for discontinuing the audits, Breihan said, was “finding the same unresolved issues,” such as weak points in the district’s safety plans, that were never addressed by the district. Police calls for potentially violent crimes increased drastically after Shelton was appointed, according to police reports between 2016 and 2024. There have been six battery reports in the 2023-2024 school year alone, as opposed to just three between 2016 and 2020. Calls marked as “disorderly,” which Breihan said typically mean fights, numbered roughly five per year between 2016 and 2020. In the 2021-2022 school year, that number see SAFETY on page 2
SIUE to host inaugural Civil Rights-era Freedom School, historical literacy camp BRANDI SPANN opinion editor Beginning June 10, SIUE will host a six-week Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School experience for 50 local middle school students. “The entire premise of the program is not to teach students how to read, but to teach them the love of reading,” Program Director and Assistant Professor of Literature Cindy Reed said. Reed said that the visionaries for the Freedom School wanted to create a summer camp that was both intellectual and engaging. The target scholars for this experience are those who come
from traditionally under-resourced communities. Anyone can participate, and the goal of the Freedom School is to provide participants with positive role models, aid in food insecurity and stimulate intellectual curiosity during the slump of the summer months. “They [the visionaries for the original Freedom Schools] call the program participants ‘scholars.’ You gotta love that, right? It gets them to see themselves as intellectuals,” Reed said. “I want to speak to you in a way that I want you to respond in and model for yourselves. You’re thinkers, you’re scholars.” This methodology is meant to encourage young people to
recognize their own potential. “We want these middle schoolers to see themselves as people who could be in college one day. What better way to encourage them to think of themselves and their academic futures than hosting at SIUE?” Reed said. Vice Chancellor for Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Jessica Harris shares this enthusiasm for investing in young scholars. “I think it’s a showcase of how important it is for the university to invest in young people in our communities and the need to expand our educational mission beyond the students who are directly enrolled at the
institution,” Harris said. “The way that I see it, we’re investing in your future Cougars, and I definitely think it’s well worth the investment.” The Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools began during the Civil Rights Movement. “The lineage of the Freedom School concept goes back to the 1960s — particularly the 1964 Freedom Summer project in Mississippi — when you had college students and activists from across the country go to the state of Mississippi not only to register African Americans to vote, but also to provide educational programming for the students and the young people in those com-
munities,” Harris said. The Freedom School was created as a response to the racial inequalities in access to education that persisted despite the Brown vs. Board of Education decision to eliminate the “separate but equal” segregated school systems in 1954. Days traditionally begin with Harambee at Freedom Schools. Harambee is a Kiswahili word meaning “let’s pull together.” This is a dedicated time for singing, chanting and read-alouds. It is an opportunity for Student Leader Interns and participating scholars to energize in a fun, comfortable environment. see SCHOOL on page 5