Elvia Medina said Morton West High School administrators have left her in the dark during a disciplinary process that has her son facing a 10-day suspension and possible expulsion.

She said the school’s discipline system is flawed by not including parents in the process, and has gathered a group of Morton West High School parents to meet Thursday to discuss the problem.

“He has been suspended without explanation,” said Medina, a Berwyn resident with two children at Morton West. “They didn’t contact me at all until my son was actually suspended, and they are being very vague about the details of why he was. They suspend and expel students without reaching out to parents, when they should work with them and let them know what’s going on.”

According to the district’s suspension policy, students are notified orally or in writing of charges and evidence against them, and are asked to give their version of the incident.
The parents are informed after a suspension against their child is approved, according to policy.

“Just because your parents didn’t know you were (in trouble) doesn’t mean you aren’t guilty,” said Superintendent Ben Nowakowski.

Nowakowski said Medina’s son’s case is an extreme one, relating to thousands of dollars in damage to the school.

“We’ve been trying to catch this person since the beginning of school, and once we catch them we have to go forward with all of the evidence we have,” he said.

Administrators have to act quickly for the sake of both the school and the child, the superintendent said.

“The best thing for a child is to learn the consequences of their actions as early as possible ... and if this behavior isn’t stopped now it might become worse later,” Nowakowski said. “We want them to learn their lesson now and we would hope parents understand that.”

But Medina said problems could be better addressed with a slower process, involving closer cooperation between parents and the school.

“The waiting and not knowing is not good,” she said. “They should let you know about the problem immediately. Teachers and deans should call the parents to come in and meet and form a plan of how everyone can work together to help the child, instead of waiting until the last minute to tell us about the problem.”

But Nowakowski said school administration maintains open lines of communication with all parents, including Medina, during the disciplinary process. He said parents, too, must take some responsibility for students’ actions.

“Parents should be checking their students’ books and looking at what they are bringing to school and doing at school,” he said. “(Parents) should have worked with the child before it got to that point.”

Medina said she hopes the meeting Thursday evening will open a discussion between parents and administrators about the issue. She said she has talked with more than a dozen parents in the community who have faced similar troubles.

“It’s not only me,” Medina said. “There are other parents in the community that have the same problems and feel the same way I do, and the school should know that.”