Our Story with OSMS

(Oliver Springs Middle School) From the beginning we will list and document in detail the accounts that have happened between Jacob our son and OSMS principal Mrs. Wilson. I am adding this additional information as to mental condition Jacob was in the following months from this traumatic event where Jacob showed visual signs of post­traumatic stress disorder. Oct 16, 2013 a little after noon Jacob came running in the house SCREAMING.Jacob kept saying “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go!!!!!”I ask Jacob “Go where?”Jacob “There is a man that followed us from Dickys (the neighbor’s property) to our house and wants Vin and I to go to his house, MOM I DO NOT WANT TO GO!!!!”I say ”Jacob, you and Vin are going NO WHERE!!”I go out of the house and up the driveway. There is a man out of his truck walking toward Vin. The man looks down seeing me coming and I can see his lips moving asking Vin a Question. This man Ralph Roberts ask Vin “Is that your mom?” Vin tells Ralph “Yes, that is my mom coming”. At that moment Ralph turns quickly and gets in his truck. I yell at the top of the driveway to Vin and say “Get down here NOW!!” Ralph proceeds to drive away and yells back at me “I just wanted to give the boys something to do for a hour or so”. We have never met this man and immediately called the police. The following Saturday Ralph drives by our house and stops at the top of the drive. page 1

Ralph was watching Vin and Jacob playing in the yard. The boys yell to Ronnie, “DAD THAT IS THE GUY!!!!!” Ronnie jumps in his truck and chases Ralph down on

the road. Ronnie jumps out of the truck and proceeds to tell Ralph to NEVER come by our house again and that we have alerted the police. I was at this time at Ronnie’s mom’s house a few doors up from us. Ronnie comes in the house and tells me what just happened. I immediately call the police. While on the phone I see Ralph’s car speeding down the road. Turn on our road and down our driveway. I inform the police. I tell the boys to lock the house and do not come out. I rush down to the house and confront this man that has been terrorizing Vin and Jacob. I confront Ralph, the police come and inform him that he is not to come back. The next day after church Ralph drove by the house AGAIN. We call the police again. The following Monday I go to the courthouse and start an order of protection against Ralph. The judge awarded the order of protection for 1 year against Ralph Roberts. Jacob would not go anywhere by himself and showed tremendous trauma from this event with Ralph Roberts. November 19, 2013 I came to OSMS as normal to pick up Jacob from school. I was greeted and ask to come inside to speak with the principle about Jacob. My heart sank. As I go inside I was ask to sit down to have a conversation about Jacob. Mrs. Wilson proceeds to inform me that she believed Jacob is lying about what occurred in the bathroom that afternoon at the school. Mrs. Wilson believed that Jacob was involved and for that reason she is sending him to Midtown Rehabilitation Center (MEC). At that time we felt very uncomfortable about her decision but did not fight for an appeal. Jacob was adamant that he was NOT involved. Jacob proceeds to inform us on the accounts that happened in the bathroom.For obvious reasons I will not place the boys who were involved their names on this document but we will refer to them as letters. page 219th of November before the last school class of the dayChild A, B and C were involved in the fight in the bathroom. There were no cameras in this bathroom. *Child A on the football team ONLY received a detention for 1 morning*Child B received 5 days of MEC

*Child B received 5 days of MEC Bystanders­ there were 9 other boys and football players in the bathroom at the same time in addition to Jacob.NO other bystander had any disciplinary action assigned to them other than Jacob. On this day Mrs. Wilson was told by several of these boys that Jacob was in no way involved with the fight but she proceeded to tell them, “she did not care what they said Jacob is going to MEC”. We have several witnesses to this statement. We did not learn this till after the event. Now on to the event that has caused the current situation. I will need to back up some so you will be able to see the entire picture of the events. The last of November we received our 4H pigs in from Indiana. The pigs were ill when they arrived. We immediately called the breeder and administered medication. This medication did not resolve the illness. Then we were on the phone consulting with specialist all over the county. We had our personal veterinarian out to evaluate the pigs’ illness. In all we administered several medications. During this time the pigs were not gaining the weight needed to make it to the state competition and we were desperate to not only get the pigs well but to make our rate of gain. Our hauler suggested we feed the pigs beer. Well, we do not drink but out of pure desperation I went out and bought two six packs of beer. I go to the store and buy the cheapest beer I could find and the more expensive beer in hopes that the pigs would find one of them tasty enough to start eating normally. page 3 That night I poured the beer in the bowls, one brand at a time, to see which one they prefer. Well apparently our pigs joined AA and do not drink; so the beer sat in the barn for weeks. December 12th: Ronnie proceeded to tell the boys that they could shoot the beer as target practice the coming weekend. We do not drink so we did not think anything about the beer sitting in the barn all those weeks.

Thursday, December 13th, Jacob proceeds to go to school and tell his friends what he will be doing over the weekend, including shooting the beer as target practice. Another boy standing by approaches Jacob. This boy asked Jacob to not waste one of the beers and let him have it instead. The next day Jacob brought the beer and gave it to him before school. The beer was never opened. Later that day this other boy was caught with the beer. It was not until Monday that we were called in to the office. December 16th: At this point Ronnie and I both came down to the school. We come into Mrs. Wilson office where she proceeded to ask us if that was Jacobs’s beer he brought from home? I look at the can and said, “Seriously?” This is the beer for the pigs that has been sitting for weeks in our barn. Up until that point Mrs. Wilson has NO witnesses or video to prove it was Jacob. It was only because of our HONESTY that she then had proof. Then Mrs. Wilson proceeds to inform us that Jacob will be suspended for 1 year to MEC. Let’s take a minute to review MEC, (Midtown Education Center). Funding for MEC was cut in half the last fiscal year. The director of schools voted to shut down the center but was overruled. MEC is OVER 100 miles round­trip to drop Jacob off and pick him up each day. So we have a center that is over 100 miles a day, funding has been cut in half, no adequate education and we are being forced to have our son attend. Now back to the events. page 4 We are in Mrs. Wilson office and I started asking questions.I ask, “Is there anything we can do?”Mrs. Wilson emphatically replies, “NO”.I say, “Can we home school or go to a private school?”Mrs. Wilson says, “NO, if you do not attend the MEC program you can NEVER come back to a roane county school again, without attending the MEC program.”I reply, “Can we appeal?”

Mrs. Wilson simply replies, “NO.” By Tennessee law we are granted the right to appeal. Mrs. Wilson kept saying “I am so sorry, I wish there was something I could do. This decision is completely out of my control. I just wish I could help in some way, but it is in the hands of the school board now.” We were stunned. We went home and immediately started doing research on the law. During this time we get a call from Mrs. Wilson and she tells us that the board reduced the sentence to the end of the year time frame. After calculating the mileage, combined with the additional funding cuts to MEC; we knew we had no choice, but to find another alternative.

Miles to MEC one­way

Round Trip Daily

Number of days

Total Miles

Total gallons of fuel assuming 14 MPG

Cost of Fuel (not including wear and tear)

27.2 108.8 90 9,792 700 $5,532.48

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I call the school board to see if there are any other. I am informed at that time that we do, in fact, have THE RIGHT TO APPEAL. I inform the board we will be submitting a letter to appeal. During this time we were not advised that Jacob was required to attend MEC during the appeal. We were told by Mrs. Wilson that MEC would be contacting us for an appointment to transfer Jacob. We never received a call from MEC. December 19, 2013 we received the letter from the Roane County Board informing

us that our appeal hearing was set for January 16, 2014. The letter stated that Jacob was in violation of TN code (TCA)79­6­340­ (g).No such code exists. We searched for the relevant state law and found: TN Code Annotated49­6­3401(a)(1) Suspension of students – Expulsion of students. In this law it lists the reasons that a student can be suspended. Alcohol is not listed and the only section of the law that could apply to Jacob is under (a) 1 which says “Willful and persistent violation of the rules of the school or truancy” If we consult a legal dictionary on the meaning of willful it has multiple meanings but one that stands out is “voluntary as opposed to the compelled.” Jacob was compelled by this other boy to bring the beer and this is the first time he’s been in trouble so persistent violation does not apply. While at the hearing we sighted the above law and argument. We ask the board to prove how is this is “willful or persistent violation of school rules” when this is Jacob’s first offense. This is when Mrs. Wilson interjected saying, “Jacob was sent to MEC not 30 days prior to this offense.” We stepped forward and let the board know Mrs. Wilson mistakenly sent Jacob to MEC for being a bystander.

page 6If we would have known that Mrs. Wilson would use that in her favor back then we would have fought against her targeting Jacob at that time. Then Mrs. Wilson proceeds to tell the board “I will not tolerate this in my school and I am going to make an example of Jacob.” I interjected by saying, “You, Mrs. Wilson, will NOT use my son to set an example!” This is when we find out from the board that Mrs. Wilson is the one who was fighting to have Jacob sentenced for one year. The board overruled her and changed it to a 6 month sentence.

We then sited TN Code Annotated 49­6­3401(c)(3)(3) If the suspension is more than 5 days the principle shall implement a plan for improving the behavior, which shall be made available for review by the direct of schools. We ask “Was this done?”NO it was not. We ask “is sending Jacob to MEC going to improve his behavior? Are you setting an example or trying to improve Jacobs behavior?” Section (B)The principle, principal­teacher or assistant principle shall immediately give written or actual notice to the parent or guardian and the student the right to appeal the decision to suspend for more than (10). We make the statement that at the time of the council in the office with Mrs. Wilson we asked if we could appeal and we were informed there was NO option for us. That statement was in clear violation of 49­6­3401(c)(4)(A). Furthermore, 49­6­3401(c)(4)(D) states the hearing shall take place no later than 10 days and you can see from when the suspension started to appeal date was greater than 10 days. We then sited TN Code 49­6­4216 School policies and procedures – Zero Tolerance policy which has no mention of alcohol. page 7 January 18, 2014 we received a letter from the board stating the ruling stands. I make a call and the director informs us that Mrs. Wilson highly advised that they stand with the original ruling. The following week we attempted to take Jacob to MEC. We were only able to make the time frame on 3 out of 5 days. The 3 days we arrived only 1 minute after MEC closed and locked the doors at 8:30am. We drive Izaac and Vin to school. Vincent’s school does not open the doors until

7:45am. Izaac’s school does not start until 8:20. So when we are in line to drop Vin off and leave to drop off Jacob the earliest we can leave Vin’s school is 10 til. After driving in excessive speed, and possibly injuring ourselves and or someone else on the road, we decided it was not worth it. With the fact Jacob was not going to receive a education, the millage and possible risk to our lives we called once again to the school board. We requested the option to move to Anderson County. The director said he would do what he could to help us with the move. We now go to Norwood Middle School and fill in all the paperwork to start the transfer. I travel to the alternative program in Anderson and I was impressed with their professionalism. The mileage was 20 miles less per day. Then I was advised to go to the board of Anderson County, which I did. The Anderson County board reviewed the case and advised us to homeschool for the calendar year and then we can transfer back into the school system. This is where it gets interesting. Each county is allowed to create their own version of the TN state Law. They are not allowed to remove, but they allowed to make additions to the baseline law. So for Anderson County they will allow you to home school during the infraction time and return to their school system after one calendar year. Whereas Roane County says that if you do not attend their alternative program, you will NEVER be allowed to return to a Roane county school again. Remember, that their alternative program is underfunded and has already had an attempt to shut it down completely.

page 8 So we have been implementing a homeschooling program since Dec 17, the day after Jacob was home. My brother has a Master’s Degree from Georgia Tech and has a lot of experience with distance learning and has helped put together a curriculum for Jacob using the Core Curriculum as a guideline. It became obvious very quickly how ill prepared OSMC had prepared Jacob, especially in writing. In the last 3 months he’s been home schooled I’d estimate his writing has improved by 2 or 3 grade levels. My brother asked Jacob what he was learning in social studies class and he sarcastically said he learned to count to 8 because that’s how many teachers he’s had this year. Math was another problem

area, however working with KhanAcademy.org he’s made amazing strides and actually seems be enjoying learning math. We informed the school board that we did not want Jacob to fall behind and were implementing a home school program until we could come to a resolution about the direction. January 27, 2014 we started a request for Jacobs’s records and transcripts from OSMS. We signed under Christian Academy of Knoxville (CAK) umbrella home school program. We wanted the protection of the school so we could adequately teach Jacob. The month of February was relatively uneventful. March would be another story. March 5th I receive an email from CAK, stating the records have still not been released from OSMS and CAK has made several attempts to retrieve Jacobs records. I immediately call OSMS and voice the fact we are demanding our records and they have no right to refuse the records to Jacob’s new school. I tell OSMS let to us go; we are trying to move on and move forward. March 8, 2013 a sheriff’s officer arrives in our driveway that Saturday morning. We meet him in the driveway. He was a very nice man and I could tell he didn’t want to do it but he handed us a summons for TRUANCY court. page 9I proceeded to tell him the facts and he just shook his head. This same officer informed us he home schools his own children because of the school system. March 10, 2014After many requests for Jacob’s records and now being served by a police officer we had no choice but to call the director of schools and inform him of the records not being released as well as the truancy court hearing. We are within the law of homeschooling. The director, Gary, was very nice and said that CAK would have the records by the end of the day which they did and I thank him for this. Gary also said we should not have been served and it was a mistake. We will follow up with the court to make sure the charges are dropped.

March 15, 2014Mrs. Wilson hires an attorney and we are served with a letter stating if we do not remove everything from our Facebook in regards to her that Mrs. Wilson will file suit and use whatever means necessary to do so. At this point I would like to stateTennessee Bullying, Harassment, Cyber­bullying LawsTitle 49 EducationChapter 6 Elementary and Secondary EducationPart 10 Curriculum Generally We have been consistently and continually harassed. My question is this: On what bases does she have to make this claim that we have stated defamatory statements?All statements we made on Facebook were from our accounts of the situation that happened. There’s substantial precedent in regards to defamation of character against public figures, which Mrs. Wilson clearly is. In the case of New York Times v Sullivan the Supreme Court placed an additional requirement on public figures trying to prove defamation of character that the statement was made with “actual malice.” She has no case and her attorney must have advised her of that.

page 10This leads me to believe that the letter was sent in an attempt to scare us. Let’s look at a few sections of the above mentioned law in regards to bullying and harassment. TN 49­6­1014(3) “Students learn by example. School administrators, faculty, staff and volunteers who demonstrate appropriate behavior, treating others with civility and respect and refusing to tolerate harassment, intimidation…”. 49­6­1015(a)(3) “Harassment, intimidation or bullying means any act that substantially interferes with a student’s education benefits, opportunities or performance…” and in section B “If the act takes place off school property or outside of a school­sponsored activity, it is directed specifically at a student or students and has the effect of creating a hostile educational environment or otherwise creating a substantial

disruption to the education environment or learning process.” Don’t those sound like descriptions of what Jacob has been through? Sending an officer to the house and not promptly handing over school records has substantially interfered with his education. I ask you in this situation what would you do? Do you feel lead to make a change against a broken system? Get involved and contact me for a change in a system that is in desperate need of reform. Sincerely,Michelle FrenchMother of Jacob

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