Hundreds rally for Grand Rapids school safety
Grand Rapids Education Association President Paul Helder addresses the crowd of about 300 at the May 3 school safety rally.
Students need safe schools in order to succeed.
That was the clear theme of a rally held Saturday in Grand Rapids, where about 300 Grand Rapids-area teachers, support staff, parents and community leaders gathered to advocate for an end to violence in the city’s schools.
Dennis Branson, a teacher at Ottawa Hills High School, spoke about the various occasions where he’s needed to step in to break up fights, including one instance where a girl had her shirt ripped off during a melee outside of school.
“I had to literally take the shirt off my back to cover her up,” Branson said. “Teachers are asked to make a split second decision about whether or not they’re going to get involved in a potentially life changing situation for these students and themselves. I think that’s wrong."
The Grand Rapids Education Association has worked with school employees, parents and community leaders in trying to address the problem, including requesting and reviewing copies of school safety documents from the district to get to the bottom of what is going on.
“Kids and parents of this city deserve a whole lot safer schools than they’ve been getting,” said GREA President Paul Helder. “We want to work together to end violence in our schools.”
Grand Rapids Education Association President Paul Helder addresses the crowd of about 300 at the May 3 school safety rally.
Unfortunately, Helder and others recounted tales of how the school district has been unwilling to work collaboratively on safety issues, including how the district responded to the Freedom of Information Act request for safety documents by handing over 26,000 pages of reports and a bill for approximately $11,500.
MEA Director of Field Services Donna Lutke spoke to the crowd about the importance of having the school district at the table with employees, parents and the community to develop solutions to the safety problems. She and others expressed hope that the May 6 school board election in Grand Rapids would bring new direction to the board and the district.
“It is my hope that the district will become a partner in these important conversations about making Grand Rapids schools a safe place for students to learn and excel,” Lutke said.
Ottawa Hills high school teacher Dennis Branson on safety issues in Grand Rapids schools.
All the speakers at the rally made it clear that safe schools are essential to student success.
“All these things are distracting to the educational process,” Branson said. “All these things inhibit teachers from really being effective as educators.”
“Students can’t learn if they feel threatened,” Helder said. “They can’t learn if they’re worried about what’s going to happen to them at lunch later. They can’t learn if they can’t use the bathroom because they’re afraid of what’s going to happen to them in there.”