Monday, June 23, 2014

A Singular Achievement

ARHS graduate Dylan Akalis receives diploma via Holyoke School Committee member Erin Brunelle yesterday in the backyard of this grandfather's house

As graduation parties go it was all wonderfully typical:  Proud parents, lots of extended family, friends, classmates;  well wishers both young and old, with enough variety of race and ethnicity to make the United Nations proud. 

But the b-i-g difference is this party started before the diploma was issued, with the party's guest of honor the only person present in a cap and gown.   And the person who handed him his hard earned diploma was indeed a public school official, but from another city.

Yes for Dylan Akalis it's been an up and down senior year, but the final outcome -- graduating from Amherst Regional High School in spite of being banned from the June 6 graduation ceremony at the Mullins Center -- was still sweet.

Dylan you may remember was bullied by three black youths (physically assaulted by one of them) for use of the supposedly hip version of the N-word to congratulate a black friend for a stellar basketball performance.

School officials did nothing to stop the harassment, so in self-defense Dylan anonymously posted to a Facebook confessions site a threat about bringing a weapon to school.

As a result the High School was closed for a day (even though authorities identified Dylan many hours before the start of the school day) on Monday, January 27th.  Dylan was handed a 12 day suspension for use of the N-word and invoking a weapons threat.

Most hurtful, however, was the erroneous allegation that Dylan was a racist. 

Feeling betrayed by the Amherst schools the family kept Dylan out for the rest of the year, assuming since he had enough credits Dylan would be allowed to graduate and march with his friends at the graduation ceremony.  Wrong.

Amherst school officials did say they would send a high ranking administrator to the planned June 22 party to officially hand him his diploma.  So that was something.  Sort of.

But when Superintendent Maria Geryk fired Dylan's dad a few weeks back for using the common electrician term "master and slave units" in front of a black school employee, Dylan decided he wanted nothing more to do with Amherst school officials.  Ever.  

Thus no official representative from Amherst Regional Public Schools attended the Sunday graduation celebration.

Too bad, because they could have learned a thing or two about family values. 

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hence the title of this blog "Only in the Republic of Amherst". Nowhere else cold a young adult be so emotionally abused and learn how to immediately and forever distrust the people he was told he could trust to protect him. Amherst culture works from fear. Fear-based admonitions only prevent everyone from finding their best in life.

Anonymous said...

wow. very embarrassing for Amherst Public Schools. I was unaware his Dad was fired as well. that is much more embarrassing, how they got away with that is beyond me.

Larry, do you know if/how he fought his firing? Is he part of any unions with the school or privately hired?

Larry Kelley said...

His union was a tad too timid to take on the almighty schools.

He is a dedicated skilled worker, so he was not out of work for very long.

Anonymous said...

I see that the Amherst schools & the town just started advertising for a new
"Media and Climate Communications Specialist". Maybe they (understandably) think they need some better PR.
(http://www.schoolspring.com/jobs/job.cfm?jid=874472)

Larry Kelley said...

They're going to need a lot more than one part-time PR flack to cure the problem.

Anonymous said...

Larry,

"They're going to need a lot more than one part-time PR flack to cure the problem."

Like a really good spring cleaning of administrative staff, that would do it.

But wait, this is Amherst and the people who support the schools do it blindly. Nothing seems likely to ever change. I support your attempts to sanitize in the sun, but year after year it is just more of the same. Hypocrisy, lies, misdirection, obfuscation, and wasteful spending all with a smile.

May you have more success in sanitizing in the years to come.

Larry Kelley said...

Thanks. (At the moment the issue is in doubt.)

Anonymous said...

Well, they really need to change a lot of the administravtive staff and a lot of other things. Everything the school has done this year has ended up being wrong. But they just want it all to go away and I hope this is one time that it doesn't and that it won't get swept under a rug like they hope for.

Anonymous said...

If anyone read the two letters, the one from Kathy Mazur describing the incident and the ones from the family accused of bad behavior, it is clear that the two do not match. It is also clear that Mazur never got both sides of the story and sided with a high up administrator with out even talking to the electrician, utter incompetence. Though, I expect nothing less from a person who seems like a narcissist bully.

What is disgusting is that no one on any level of authority ever stood up for the truth. Not Mr. Communication "Rich Hood", not Shabazz to see if the racism runs deep, not the chair of committee and certainly not Maria Geryk. These people are a disgrace to Amherst and to all leaders who claim justice and fairness for all. I hope the national media never gets wind of this hypocrisy or the how embarrassed many of us who live in Amherst are by this whole event.

Dr. ED said...

"All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for the good to merely do nothing."

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know why the School Committee is going into Executive Session before tonight's meeting?

Larry Kelley said...

"Collective bargaining."

But it's pretty obnoxious of them to go into Executive Session at the beginning of the meeting rather than at the end.

Anonymous said...

The Wildwood secretary that is unfamiliar with electric terminology got an administrative award this year.

Is lack of tolerance one of the criteria?

Anonymous said...

Is this a new title for Kim Stender?Her position used to be paid by Amherst College but the district took it on their budget without anyone knowing:
https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/cce/about/news/node/534665

Anonymous said...

oops- I meant to reference the advertised position
Media and Climate Communications Specialist
in my prior question about Kim Stender

Anonymous said...

At today's SC meeting, the new appointed chair Mr. O'Brien reviewed the school committee's guidelines for public comment & made it clear that per the guidelines & the posted agenda, the public comment period would be limited to no more than 15 minutes in total, or 3 minutes each for up to 5 speakers. No one else would be given an opportunity to comments during the public comment period. In announcing the return to this written policy, Mr. O'Brien indicated that he was following the approach used at Town Meeting at which each speaker's time is limited & these time limits strictly enforced. It is unfortunately that this change in the School Committee procedures as implemented occurred (1) on a night when many members of the public were in attendance and interested in speaking, and (2) on a night when the superintendent's evaluation was being made public.

Dr. Ed said...

Well, you could always play hardball. Call a special town meeting and amend Team Maria's allocation to "zero dollars>"

I *believe* that would put the district into DECE receivership -- there would still be schools as it is a state mandate, all this would really do is get rid of Team Maria.

What the schmucks don't realize is that you have the power of the purse and even THREATENING TO yank the funding would be a forum much bigger than the one they denied you tonight. So get ten signatures and they don't have a choice but to listen to you...

Steve akalis said...

And I bet they will give her and Kathy Mazur awards and a big raise for getting rid of me ms doing nothing for my son except tell lies

Anonymous said...

Someone asked the School Committee member tonight whom the Executive Session was about, and was told that was not public information. Doesn't the School Committee have to disclosure whom was being discussed in the Exec. Session at some point (or is that never public?). I thought that even some basic minutes of the Exec. Session are subject to public information requests.

Anonymous said...

So if O'brien, a super pro-teacher union guy is in charge of the SC, is limited the voice of the 4 towns during public comment, and the administration has been doing whatever the hell it wants, then I guess we have finally reached utopia. A school system that is truly above reproach. Watch the sucking sound begin. We as residents of the 4 towns are truly screwed.

Walter Graff said...

Seems I'm no longer alone in speaking out against this sad sad school administration. These are your children. How much longer will you allow this crap to go on?

Anonymous said...

Poor leadership fuels a culture of bullying that leaves those who are considered 'outsider's' isolated, targeted, and unprotected. The Geryk, Jackson, and Mazur administration has thrown many bodies under its bus. Finger pointing, blaming others for their mistakes and CYA leadership will be their legacy.

Dr. Ed said...

Doesn't the School Committee have to disclosure whom was being discussed in the Exec. Session at some point (or is that never public?). I thought that even some basic minutes of the Exec. Session are subject to public information requests.

You are right. They must explicitly vote to go into ex ses for a specific reason and announce it.

It's all on the State homepage -- www.state.ma.us I think,.

Anonymous said...

They did announce it. Properly I might add. There is no requirement to announce who you are talking about.

Larry Kelley said...

Not really. The published agenda said it was for. "Collective bargaining" but during the meeting Mr. o'Brien said "Collective bargaining OR litigation."