BY TED SHOCKLEY, Eastern Shore Post —
A parent said the superintendent of Accomack County Public Schools nixed a plan to ease the anxiety his first-grade son feels in a Pungoteague Elementary School classroom rife with “frightening behavioral incidents.”
Matt Hoffman, who lives near Melfa, is a 20-year educator and is the assistant principal of Pocomoke Elementary School. He told the Accomack County School Board during an Oct. 20 meeting that his 7-year-old son’s school environment this year includes “classroom destruction and aggression toward adults.”
The environment has upset his child, who has been disgnosed by a doctor with anxiety because of the classroom experience, Hoffman said. The physician also recommended the child not attend school for the time being.
Hoffman said a meeting with school officials yielded a temporary solution: The child would stay mornings in the nearby classroom of his mother, a teacher, and spend afternoons in his normal classroom with the “teacher he loves,” as he put it.
But he said Accomack school Superintendent Gennifer Miller would not allow the arrangement to take place.
“The superintendent stated she was not negotiating and this was no longer an option in any way,” Hoffman told the school board.
Subsequently, the child has not attended school in two weeks, he said.
The school board did not address Hoffman’s concerns during the meeting. None of the school board members spoke after he finished speaking. Miller, seated nearby, also did not speak to the issue.
Miller did not respond to an email seeking comment by press time.
Miller apparently did not respond to follow-up inquiries by Hoffman.
“We asked for (the) reasoning several times (and) never received a response,” he said. He said he also asked Miller for any school policies that would preclude the classroom arrangement, but Miller never responded.
He said the superintendent “chose not to attend” the meeting the school had concerning the child’s anxiety.
Hoffman said the child feared for his own safety in the classroom. He said his son asked for advice on what he should do if he is threatened by the classroom chaos.
“No 7-year-old should have to worry about protecting himself in a first-grade classroom,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman described his son as “easygoing” and said one of his son’s best friends is a child with Down syndrome. The child’s “kindhearted and compassionate” way even earned him an opportunity to attend a field day for special education students.
“My easygoing little boy has now been diagnosed with anxiety,” he said.
Hoffman’s appearance before the school board took place during National Bullying Prevention Month. Miller wrote about the month in her monthly newsletter, posted online.
“At Accomack County Public Schools, we are committed to creating positive school environments where kindness, inclusion, and respect are part of our everyday culture,” she wrote.
