{"id":35395,"date":"2013-04-25T19:35:55","date_gmt":"2013-04-26T02:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=35395"},"modified":"2013-07-23T18:20:43","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T01:20:43","slug":"school-district-forum-sets-tone-for-moving-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/04\/25\/school-district-forum-sets-tone-for-moving-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"School District forum sets tone for moving forward"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Attendees<\/a>
Attendees heard from a panel of speakers that included (L to R) Westside Union Superintendent Regina Rossall, Hillview Middle School Principal Robert Garza, Not in Our School Director Becki Cohn-Vargas, Lancaster School District Superintendent Michele Bowers, Palmdale Sheriff’s Station Captain Don Ford, and Hoffman Hospice Branch Director Roger Doyle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 A community forum Wednesday evening to address questions and concerns following the suicide of Hillview Middle School student Nigel Hardy<\/strong> drew nearly 300 parents, school officials, and community members.<\/p>\n

\"Nearly<\/a>
Nearly 300 people attended the forum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Westside Union School District Community Forum featured a panel of speakers that included Hoffman Hospice Branch Director Roger Doyle; Palmdale Sheriff\u2019s Station Captain Don Ford; Not in Our School Director Becki Cohn-Vargas; Hillview Middle School Principal Robert Garza; and Westside Union Superintendent Regina Rossall.<\/p>\n

It was moderated by Lancaster School District Superintendent Dr. Michele Bowers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can make a difference. It\u2019s not just about the kids, it\u2019s about all of us coming together as a community, so thank you for making the first step and being here,\u201d Bowers told attendees.<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/a>
Nigel Hardy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The forum began with a brief moment of silence, and then each panelist addressed the crowd on various topics of concern, including school lock down procedures, grief, bullying and suicide prevention.<\/p>\n

Captain Don Ford<\/strong> outlined the sequence of events on Monday, April 15 that ultimately led to the school lockdown. Nigel was reported missing around noon on April 15, and deputies were at Nigel\u2019s home within eight minutes of the call, Ford said. He said deputies assessed the note found in Nigel\u2019s bedroom, and while the note didn\u2019t explicitly state that Nigel would commit suicide, it did leave the impression that suicide was a \u201cdistinct possibility.\u201d While investigating the case, deputies discovered that Nigel had been in a previous altercation with another student, and Nigel had brought a knife to school that he had not used, which caused Nigel to be removed from the school, Ford said.<\/p>\n

Once investigators learned of Nigel\u2019s past history and discovered that a gun was missing from Nigel\u2019s home, they consulted with Hillview school officials and a mutual decision was made to put the school on lockdown, Ford said, adding that 29 officers were dedicated to the incident. Further investigation revealed that Nigel was nowhere near the school from the time he went missing to the time he was discovered, but authorities couldn\u2019t have known that at the time they put the school on lockdown, Ford said. Ford also admitted that the process for releasing students from the lockdown could have gone smoother.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some things we need to work on and we\u2019re working with the schools,\u201d Ford said. \u201cWe realize the release took a lot longer than we would have liked, but our concern is always the safety of the children first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman Hospice Director Roger Doyle<\/strong> followed with a detailed discussion about grief, its common stages, and how parents and teachers can help children cope with loss, death and grief.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The death of Nigel Hardy needs to be a huge red flag for everyone, volunteer Kristin Petersen told the panelists.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not in Our School Director Becki Cohn-Varga<\/strong>s gave a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation on bullying, effective strategies to address bullying and intolerance, and how bullying correlates with suicide.<\/p>\n

The American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (https:\/\/www.afsp.org\/)<\/a> provides valuable information on understanding, preventing and coping with suicide, Cohn-Vargas said.<\/p>\n

Hillview Middle School Principal Robert Garza<\/strong> was emotional, even tearing up at times, as he explained the school lockdown and the services provided to his students in the wake of Nigel\u2019s suicide.<\/p>\n

\"School<\/a>
AVUHSD student board member Anthony Barros invited audience members to a Safer Schools Summit in November being hosted by the Outreach Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI know that many people called and said, \u2018gosh, that was the most unorganized event I\u2019ve ever seen,\u2019\u201d Garza said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an event that I ever saw coming. What I guarantee you is that from this, I\u2019ve worked very steadily with our Superintendent, Risk Manager, other principals\u2026 we\u2019re going to get better at this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garza admitted that mistakes may have been made, but he said school officials were working hard to set a positive tone for moving forward from the tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are things that we should have done better, we did not do better, we did not do good enough,\u201d Garza said. \u201cBut from this experience, I expect our entire district and hopefully our neighboring districts to improve from our situation. It\u2019s something we absolutely need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Westside Union School District Superintendent Regina Rossall<\/strong> encouraged parents and community members to get involved in the effort by joining committees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you haven\u2019t been part of safety committees at school before, maybe this is the time for you to step up and help us with that,\u201d Rossall said.<\/p>\n

About one hour into the forum, the panel addressed several submitted questions from the audience. Many of the questions focused on bullying. The panel also took live questions and comments from a few audience members.<\/p>\n

All questions and answers from the forum will be posted at the Westside Union School District website at http:\/\/www.westside.k12.ca.us<\/a>, Rossall said.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the forum, audience members gave Hillview Middle School Principal Robert Garza a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very happy and pleased with the tone of the forum,\u201d said Sandy Corrales-Eneix<\/strong>, Field Representative for Assemblymember Steve Fox. \u201cI thought the panelists were very transparent. They had to admit that maybe they took some steps that they would change the next time around, so I think that gave the forum attendees a sense that somebody was taking responsibility\u2026 we have to remember that what happened to Nigel Hardy didn\u2019t just happen at Hillview Middle School, it didn\u2019t just happen in the Westside Union School District, this is an issue that has affected the entire community,\u201d Corrales-Eneix continued.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Westside School District to host forum on suicide, bullying<\/a><\/p>\n

JetHawks to raise money for the family of Nigel Hardy<\/a><\/p>\n

Hundreds attend tearful vigil for teen who committed suicide<\/a><\/p>\n

School District responds to Hillview student suicide<\/a><\/p>\n

13-year-old dead, suicide suspected<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 A community forum Wednesday evening to address questions and concerns following the suicide of Hillview Middle School student Nigel Hardy drew nearly 300 parents, school officials, and community members. The Westside Union School District Community Forum featured a panel of speakers that included Hoffman Hospice Branch Director Roger Doyle; Palmdale Sheriff\u2019s Station Captain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}