Board petitioned to address bullying

A Menominee Reservation parent is demanding that the Menominee Indian School Board take immediate action to more adequately address bullying in the school district. Tonja Wilber presented the board Monday with petitions containing 275 signatures from people wanting the district to better enforce consequences for bullying in the school district. Wilber also provided copies of more than 100 letters from parents and other community members who are concerned that bullying is out of control in the district. Wilber said she recently pulled her daughter out of Menominee Indian Middle School because she was bullied almost daily. Wilber said her requests for action from school officials went unheeded. “I have called the school many times since September about my daughter being bullied. No report has ever been written,” she said. “The people that I talk to get the same answer: ‘We’ll take care of things.’” Wilber pointed out that, based on a 2011 survey done by the tribe, only 11.3 percent of high school students felt safe in school. She noted that another 11.3 percent of the students admitted skipping school due to not feeling safe and that 11.7 percent admitted to carrying a weapon on campus. “This is not good,” Wilber said. Wilber asked board President David Miller when the board was going to take action. Miller said he was not willing to give a timetable until the board heard from administrators. The board went into closed session later to discuss the complaint with administrators. Miller said the district regularly addresses bullying. “We’ll find out how many people are not being recognized (for bullying),” Miller said. “Trust me. We’ve been working on this for years.” Wilber said that if the board did not take steps to ensure student safety, she would take the matter to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. She said she was also willing to help parents pull their children out of school if they felt safety was an issue. “If I do go (to the DPI), I’ll take my followers with me,” Wilber said. “That will not look good for the school district.”