Black ministers to speak out about Warren schools policy

By Tim Yovich

WARREN — About a dozen black ministers say they will take to the pulpits Sunday in an effort to gain support to oust the school district superintendent and board president over the district’s implementation of a zero-tolerance policy, which can lead to expulsion because of fighting.

Members of the Trumbull County Ministerial Alliance voiced their dissatisfaction during a press conference outside the board offices Wednesday with Superintendent Kathryn Hellweg and board president Robert Faulkner. The members had been ordered out of the Monroe Street offices by the school administration, backed by city police.

“We are incensed because our children are being hurt by a policy that is unreasonable and unjust,” said the Rev. Alton Merrell Sr., pastor of New Jerusalem Fellowship.

The Rev. Frank L. Hearns, pastor of the Second Baptist Church, said the expulsion rate has been a concern, “but it’s never reached this level.”

The Rev. Mr. Hearns said that the group’s actions are not racially motivated but that the issue has come to a head because of the expulsion of three black high school senior girls for fighting. Many of the ministers also attended Tuesday night’s school board meeting and tried to express their concerns.

Hellweg countered that the ministers have never asked for a meeting with the administration about the zero-tolerance policy for fighting.

The district’s student code of conduct states that pupils can be expelled for fighting, assault on a school employee or pupil, or inciting a fight.

“We need to work together to make the schools safe,” Hellweg said during an impromptu press conference in the school board’s meeting room.

Faulkner said he knows that the ministers are looking to change the policy. “All of a sudden they want it done, and do it now. I feel bad, but we can’t just change a policy,” he said later in the day.

Faulkner explained that the ministers should meet with school officials and then call a press conference to express their position. “This seems backwards to me,” he added.

“I’m willing to meet with them. I told them that. I’m willing to be reasonable about it,” the 18-year board member said.

The girls, the ministers argued, were good students with no disciplinary problems. They fought during a weightlifting class at the high school about a month ago and were expelled.

“They have really hurt these ladies as far as education,” Mr. Hearns said.

Mr. Hearns, who was a Warren teacher and administrator for 30 years, explained that by the time the former students go through the appeals process, the school year will have been competed — the last day of school is June 3 — and they won’t graduate.

The district won’t release their records, so they can’t enroll in another school to complete the year, Mr. Merrell said.

Janet Jarrett, the mother of one of the three expelled students, said her daughter lettered in basketball and baseball and played in the band. Her daughter wasn’t a discipline problem and planned to join the Air Force after graduation.

“She was just defending herself,” Jarrett said of her daughter’s actions. She noted that there were no weapons used in the fight and no injuries.

Rhonda Bennett, whose two nieces were expelled with Jarrett’s daughter, termed the expulsions “death sentences.”

“We are incensed because our children are being hurt by a policy that is unreasonable and unjust. In America’s court of law, we are innocent until proven guilty. What message are we sending when we simply punish without compassion?” Mr. Merrell asked.

“We can understand suspension as a just consequence for a fistfight that resulted in no bodily injury and involved no weapons, but an expulsion during your senior year when your record is void of any violations is incomprehensible,” Mr. Merrell said.

Hellweg said that students who are expelled can appeal to the school board and then through the courts. “If students fight, they will be suspended and then expelled,” she added.

She suggested that the ministers don’t have the whole story.

“Maybe they [the students] had been warned,” the superintended said, but she wouldn’t discuss the particulars of the fight.

When the ministers showed up at the board offices about 11 a.m., they asked the receptionist if she could find them space to conduct the press conference. They then were confronted by Mark Donnelly, executive director of business operations, who told them that the district doesn’t allow press conferences on school property, telling them they would have to find another location.

“This is serious, you’re going to fluff us off,” Mr. Merrell argued.

“Let the police come and kick us out,” Mr. Hearns told Donnelly.

Before the police arrived, the ministers moved to the outside sidewalk on district property and then were told to move onto the public sidewalk.

During her press conference, Hellweg said she would meet with the ministers “in a respectful way.” She said the ministers had made no prior arrangements to use district property.

“We just don’t do things that way,” Hellweg said.

yovich@vindy.com