KALAMAZOO, MI — Kalamazoo Public Schools is reminding community members about district discipline practices after a student went viral for body slamming another player during a football game.
Superintendent Darrin Slade hosted a community meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 1, where parents and staff could ask whatever questions they had about discipline.
The district could not confirm what disciplinary actions the 15-year-old student, Player No. 73 on the Kalamazoo Central junior varsity football team, received for the incident because of student privacy laws.
About 30 people attended Wednesday’s meeting. Several KPS staff members and board members had questions ranging from elementary school discipline to what is due process when a student is suspended.
Melrose Hensley, the father of Player No. 73, was also in attendance. Hensley said his family saw a lack of communication and support from the district after the incident.
The other student from Stevenson Lakeshore, Colton Comer, 15, suffered a spinal fracture in two places after No. 73 jumped on his back after getting up from a tackle.
Comer returned to the sidelines of a Lakeshore game on Friday, Sept. 26, watching from a wheelchair. Comer’s mother, Courtney Mims, declined to comment on the severity of her son’s injury.
Assaulting another student causing injury is considered an “egregious offense” and is met with out of school suspension, transfer to the district’s alternative program or exclusion (an 11-180 day removal from the regular school setting), according to KPS’ discipline practices.
Expulsion will traditionally only be used as a punishment if a student is found with a gun in a school building.
Only one student has been expelled since Slade became superintendent for bringing a gun into Kalamazoo Central, Slade said.
“We have never even discussed expulsion since I’ve been here, since that one time,” Slade said. “We have not discussed expulsion for anything else.”
Serious misconduct like fighting, repeatedly leaving the classroom or building and repeated disruptive and disrespectful behaviors can be met with a range of responses like phone calls to parents or out-of-school suspensions.
General misconduct like school policy violations and initial disruptive behaviors are met with parent phone calls, detention and restorative practices.
Community members rallied in support of Player No. 73 on Tuesday, Sept. 30, fearing he would be expelled for the incident. They also started a fundraiser to raise money to pay for therapy for the student.
The student and his father, Melrose Hensley, were in a meeting inside the district administration building while supporters rallied outside. When they walked out, Melrose Hensley gave a thumbs-up to the crowd and said, “Education restored!”
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