DESOTO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – DeSoto ISD canceled classes on Friday, Mar. 11 to allow staffers to plan for big changes when students return at the end of Spring Break.
The changes come as the district responds to a disturbing video that went viral this week, showing a DeSoto West Middle School student throwing a chair at a substitute teacher. The chair appears to hit the teacher in the head before the teacher begins slinging chairs as well.
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“When I saw that video hit the airwaves, I was so embarrassed for the parents!” said Loretta Haynes of DeSoto. Haynes said her children are grown, but the video is all that everyone in the area is talking about — and they’re horrified. “Yes! Where do you get the audacity to think that’s okay? As a child?”
Others in the suburban Dallas district, which has been plagued by controversy in recent years, said cell phone videos and social media are now exposing classroom chaos that’s been happening for a long time.
“Had I not seen a Tik Tok video, I never would have seen a chair being thrown this morning,” explains Frank Bell, whose children attended DeSoto schools.
Bell says he’s not surprised, but as a taxpayer he is concerned. “Definitely a wakeup call. I don’t know what’s going on at that child’s home. I can’t speak to that. But that child came to that school with some issues to show total disrespect to an adult like that.”
“It’s not acceptable for that to happen!” exclaimed Haynes. “We need to put a stop to it. Truly we do.”
DeSoto school leaders have already announced changes that will take effect when students return to campus on Monday, March 21:
- Every school will have staff placed in all hallways & common areas to monitor activity
- Student Support Services will now be housed at secondary campuses to provide deeper, more responsive campus support
- Students will NOT be allowed to use cell phones, earbuds, and headphones during the school day. Violations could mean fines, confiscation of devices, and up to suspension.
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Some DeSoto taxpayers said taking away the technology could set off even bigger battles.
“I can’t even imagine what’s going to happen if they take the cell phones,” muses Haynes. “I think it’s going to be worse than chair throwing!”
Still, along with the concern, there’s compassion as well.
“What’s happening at that child’s home?” wonders Bell. “School districts can’t do it alone.”
Along with the changes already announced, DeSoto ISD officials say more could be coming; they’re reviewing everything from dress code to enrollment, pointing out that DeSoto ISD is not an open enrollment district. They call their policy “selective enrollment” — which means that students from surrounding cities who are not in good academic or disciplinary standing can be asked to leave.
Mandatory parent meetings are being planned for each campus for the week of March 21-24, when students return from Spring Break.
Taxpayers like Bell and Haynes both say they hear often from friends and family who refused to consider buying homes in DeSoto due to the poor reputation of the schools. Both see the success or failure of the schools as a community issue, and one that will take everyone working together to solve.
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“It always has,” says Haynes. “It takes a village to raise a child, and I don’t know where people got away from believing that, but it truly takes a village.”
