The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Students voiced concerns about Hunt
By Kathleen Conat, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: May 10, 2007
According to teachers and students, former principal Layne Hunt’s behavior during his time at Ypsilanti High School rang alarm bells starting at the very beginning of the year.
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In documents obtained both through Freedom of Information Acts requests and confidential sources, concerns about Hunt’s behavior toward teachers, students and other administrators began to surface before the end of the first marking period.
A number of petitions and letters, obtained by The Courier through a confidential source, addressed problems at the high school.
In one petition, sent to “members of the School Board and the Superintendent of Ypsilanti Public schools,” one student wrote, “This year there have been countless fights. There needs to be other methods to control the amount of fights. Maybe the punishment should be greater.
“Another way is to have more security people during lunch and assemblies to control the students. This is a place of education, not hostility. Students need to feel safe and right now they do not.”
The petition is signed by 33 high school students.
In another petition, obtained through the same confidential source, addressed to “Superintendent, and or School Board Members” the student says, “The amount of fights that occur each day is absurd. I see on average two or three fights a day. I’m not even exaggerating this. With so many fights occurring it makes me feel a little fearful to even walk down the halls at the high school.
“Last year I saw on average two or three fights a month which was not totally bad. But 30 or more in a month is horrible by far. That is a way too big of an increase from one year. I think that there should be a different policy for fighting in school (be) cause evidently the students could care less if they are missing school or not.”
That petition is signed by 17 high school students.
In a letter dated March 8, a female student, who identifies herself as a junior, writes, “There’s been a huge increase in fights this year, even just compared with last year. There are several fights a day and some classrooms even have the school liaison officer in and out of their room every day.
“This increase in fights makes many students feel unsafe. Fights increase the tension between students. And everybody knows that when there’s a fight, everybody wants to watch. So then people run over and clog the hallways which makes it difficult to get to class, which just increases the number of tardies our school has. It’s ridiculous that our school has this many fights.”
In yet another attempt to let authorities know what was happening in their school, 14 students signed a letter in which they stated, “It’s statistically proven that school is the safest place to be. I do believe this to be true, but for the high school this can be the contrary. With our loose, laid-back administration, students could come and go easily. Many times I have seen students let in other students from side and lunchroom doors.
“If this continues to go on, there will definitely be potential for an in-school shooting. Although many things are inevitable, I feel that tightening up will significantly decrease the rate that something this traumatic will happen.”
Students also expressed concerns about a prevalence of poor attitudes not just from students, but from those who should have been role models.
From another student-based petition, signed by 33 students, “There also seems to be a lot of disrespect at out school. Not just students to administrators but vise (sic) versa as well as administrators to teachers. As a high school student we should be treated with trust and respect. Everyone in high school is old enough to be trusted. We should be allowed to go to the bathroom with a pass. We also should be allowed to run quick errands for teachers.
“If a student does something to lose that respect and trust then rules can be created to deal with these certain students. We feel like we haven’t even been given the opportunity this year to prove that we are responsible. School feels like a jail. We are treated like criminals and given no trust or respect.”
The petition continues, “There also is a lack of respect towards the teachers. Administrators and students will walk in and out of class while a teacher is talking without introducing themselves, acknowledging the teacher, or asking the teacher to have a couple of minutes of their time. This is exceptionally disrespectful in every way. People learn from what they see, and if this is the example of ‘respect’ we see everyday then what are we learning from it?”
From the 17-signature petition, “Our current principal is disrespectful, rude and unfriendly. I thought that this year the high school would get a change with having a new principal. A good change that would help the high school to gain a higher reputation and make students want to be enrolled in Ypsilanti schools. I thought that a more educated principal with a doctoral degree would actually do the trick.
“But evidently I was wrong. We hoped for better and ended up getting worse. Our current principal Dr. Hunt is not any more qualified than any other principal that we have previously had. If anything he is less qualified.
“Some of the necessary policies that principals are supposed to create and make sure that they are being enforced are not even existent. Our school has no tardy policy or any attendance policy that I am aware of.
“Every policy so far that Dr. Hunt has started does not or has not followed through. The ‘No coats’ policy lasted a week, the ‘no electronic devices’ is a joke, the ‘hall sweeps’ aren’t working. The dress code has been unsuccessful. Nothing so far has been successful.”
And later in the same petition, “The majority of the staff have no respect for Dr. Hunt because he has offered no respect to anyone except the people that he has for his backup. Dr. Hunt does not follow the ‘Golden Rule’ at all. The rule that states treat others how you want to be treated. He just expects everyone to ‘bow down’ before him.”
From the March 8 letter written by the female student, “The principal doesn’t respect the students or teachers and bullies them. Dr. Hunt pressures people and makes them feel uncomfortable. He has also said inappropriate things to students and often hands out money to students.”
The letter continued, “Dr. Hunt walks into classrooms, which wouldn’t be so much of a problem if he’d acknowledge the teacher. He will walk into a classroom without knocking, without a hello, without a glance at the teacher. Sometimes he’ll go up to a student and just start talking with them, but either way, it’s disrespectful and disruptive. A few of the best teachers at the school don’t plan on returning if Dr. Hunt does next year and that is a scary thought.”
The student concludes her letter by saying, “In conclusion, I’d just like to say that our school has a lot of problems currently and I hope we can get these fixed. I am not satisfied with our school, and as a student, I have every right to the good education that I’m not getting.”
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