Continuing threats in Ector County ISD schools prompted Superintendent Scott Muri to appeal to parents to remind their children that if they are confronted during the day, or feel concerned that they should reach out to an adult on campus for safety.
“We will continue to work on this. It is a concern that we have with the behavior of our children. Our schools have got to be safe places for students and adults and we will continue to work diligently to ensure that every single day every child is safe in our learning environments. But we need the assistance of our parents to help us do that. We have to continue to educate our students and children in how to respond appropriately to threats or intimidation, or just when they feel angry or upset some of our kids are obviously not equipped for the right way to address a situation,” Muri said during his Wednesday media call.
He added that violence is not the way to solve problems whether that is assaulting someone, using words that are violent or threatening someone.
“From the age of 3 when we have children entering school all the way up through seniors in high school — the teachers, our administrators, our counselors — no one in our system teaches our children to be violent. Instead, we teach children how to use our words to solve problems. How to use our actions that create peaceful environments and opportunities for civilized human beings whether it’s 3-year-olds, 10-year-olds whatever the age may be to engage in deep and meaningful conversation,” Muri said.
“We will continue to do that. We recognize that some of our students come from a pandemic situation in which isolation has exposed them to other ways of solving their problems. Perhaps they spent a lot of time playing violent internet games or they’ve experienced some threatening behaviors on social media. They’ve learned behaviors by watching television or movies that are not age appropriate, but our kids are exposed, some of them, to some ways of solving problems that are not ways that we solve problems,” Muri said.
He noted that jail is no place for children.
Five years ago, if a teacher or student heard someone making a threat like “I’m going to shoot you or harm you in some way,” they may have just told that person to be quiet and not to say that again.
“But in today’s society, we report those incidents so we have many more kids, many more reports of potential violent behavior or violent words being shared with adults. And as adults, we now take a different kind of action. We report those incidents to law enforcement, and unfortunately, we’ve had elementary students spend multiple nights in jail simply because they used words that were inappropriate,” Muri said.
Over the last week, he said, principals and teachers have spent an “inordinate amount of time” reminding children about appropriate behaviors and using appropriate words on campus.
“We’ve communicated with all of our families to do the same thing and I continue to encourage our parents to engage in conversations. By working together with moms and dads and those that care for our children, we can (be) healthy role models for them and show them how to handle these feelings that they’re having right now which are certainly challenging,” he added.
If parents see something dangerous, 911 is always the first response, Muri said. Dispatchers will make sure the call goes to the right agency.
Law enforcement agencies like the Odessa Police Department, Ector County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Department of Public Safety handle responses to off-campus incidents. ECISD police are responsible for on-campus incidents, Muri said.
Asked about students who agree to fight, Muri said the proactive side is working with students so that when conflict arises they know how to solve them.
“We all have conflicts with others. Violence is not the way that we solve conflicts and we have to educate and be role models to our children so they can see that violence is not the way that we solve problems. We have to teach our children to do that. We would never want two kids to agree to get into any type of physical, violent confrontation. We would want to talk to those kids and help them work through their differences through conversation,” Muri said.
On a separate item, Muri said ECISD has two new partnerships with Amazon and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.
Muri said Amazon has donated $100,000 to target students interested in computer science.
“We have that as a growing industry, not only within our own area but across the state and nation. We have an opportunity to develop students starting at the middle school and high school level. We are deeply appreciative of Amazon for this contribution so that we can build the next generation of computer scientists in ECISD,” Muri said.
“The second contribution that we have received is a $1 million donation from the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. They are also supporting computer science, but expanding it to STEM careers — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This particular investment is focused on our elementary schools. The 28 elementaries in ECISD will receive a brand-new STEM lab, thanks to the investment from the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation,” Muri said.
Friday there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the doors on the first of 28 STEM labs at 8:30 a.m. at Pease Elementary School.
On broadband, Muri asked Ector County commissioners to chip in to get federal funding for more widespread internet access.
There are areas of the county that don’t have access to internet, or it is expensive and poor quality.
“I feel that there are many residents, and certainly leaders, in our community that know and understand the importance of having all of our residents north, south, east and west having access to high-quality, affordable broadband. That is something that some of our residents have today, but not something that all residents have and all residents are deserving of that opportunity,” Muri said.
“I was very appreciative of the county commissioners for placing that on the agenda and engaging in the conversation. Several of them asked really good questions and you could certainly tell that there is some interest and a clear understanding of the need” for this type of infrastructure investment, Muri said.
He added that the county is really one of four areas in Texas that is leading the way in broadband.
The ConnEctor Task Force consists of 26 community leaders.
“We’ve developed a shovel ready plan so we are ready to spend the money. That plan would provide high-speed, affordable broadband to every resident and business within Ector County,” Muri said.
The federal government will provide 75 percent of the cost and the community would have to come up with 25 percent.
“This is one-time money,” Muri said. “We’ll never have this opportunity again, so now is the time for our community to act and take advantage of these dollars.”
Locally, he said, the plan calls for $89 million.
“We’re looking for a little over $20 million locally that we would need to raise,” Muri said.
There was no information on whether the teacher who was attacked at Bowie Middle School over a cell phone was back at school. There have been rumors that she could not get workers compensation.
“I will tell you there is law in the state of Texas that protects any staff member of a school system from an assault from a student,” Muri said. “We actually have access to a special kind of leave as school district employees. That leave is up to two years that school employees have should an employee be assaulted by a student.”
