OAN’s Avril Elfie
12:20pm – Thursday, March 28, 2024
A Missouri high school is refusing to turn over records and additional information about two students who participated in a fight outside the school grounds, about a five-minute walk away, according to witnesses who spoke with police.
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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has issued a statement in connection with an incident in which a teenage girl was knocked unconscious and hospitalized after sustaining repeated blows to the head after another girl repeatedly slammed her skull into concrete. Requested access to records.
Bailey (R-Missouri) said. fox news digital He said he would launch an investigation into the Hazelwood School District and its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. (DEI) programs contributed to safety deficiencies following violent attacks.
“Mr. Hazelwood owes the district parents and the community at large an explanation of what role these radical plans and safety deficiencies played here,” Bailey’s staff said in a statement. , emphasized that this is the focus of the investigation.
The Hazelwood School District then retaliated against Bailey, saying his investigation was “replete with errors” after it could not be reached for several days.Mr. Bailey disclosed only his email correspondence. fox news.
“It’s unfortunate that we have an attorney general who deliberately disrespects public school district administrators and elected officials by sending out false communications designed to intimidate their leadership.” “It is astonishing that an investigation is being launched based on lies that could have easily been confirmed had we taken the time to fact-check,” wrote Hazelwood School District attorney Cindy Rees Ownsby.
Ownsby also argued that the presence of an SRO (school resource officer) on the school grounds would not have prevented the fighting from occurring off school grounds that day. Witnesses told police the brawl broke out on a road about a five-minute walk from the school.
The lawyer further argued that the fight did not take place “during class,” but after school, more than 400 meters from the school grounds. Ownersby went on to point out that other matches in the area received less coverage than this one, and questioned Bailey’s sincerity.
“Is that because you assumed March 8th happened without any official verification?”th The altercation was between a white student and a black student, but were the other incidents black-on-black student or student-teacher encounters? Do you value the safety of white students over the safety of black students? Again, without any official verification or concrete knowledge, the fight on March 8th is a sign of diversity, equity, and equality for all. Do you seriously believe that this is the result of racial tensions among female students caused by HSD’s belief in the importance of inclusivity? ” Ownsby said in an email. “We are deeply concerned that the schools where these teens were students have a history of promoting divisive racial ideologies surrounding student safety.”
Ownsby questioned Bailey further and attacked his character.
“Which community do you represent as Missouri Attorney General? Do you represent all Missourians? Or just the white people? The combination of false assumptions about the security provided can lead to the belief that you are not the Attorney General for all Missourians, but rather that you are the Attorney General for all Missourians. Believe me as you will,” Ownsby wrote.
Bailey responded to an email saying the district misunderstood the nature of the investigation after initially pointing out irrelevant details.
“In my letter, I cited several sources of information, including publicly available news reports and the district’s own policies. The most egregious ‘error’ you identified was incorrect dates reported in local media. This is a reference. As with any investigation, my office seeks to uncover the facts regarding the incident at issue. The incident you publicly admitted involved students at Hazelwood East,” Bailey responded.
“I would like to clarify that my letter does not indicate that your “most egregious error” is the incorrect date (and time) of the incident. Your most egregious errors are your baseless assertions that race was a factor in the incident and that school personnel would have been at the scene of the incident, which occurred half a mile from school grounds, after school. Mr. Ownsby sent in a reply. Email.
Mr. Bailey highlighted Section 610, which requires public government agencies to produce a record or send a letter within three days stating why the requested documents are not being disclosed.
In response, Ownsby said the district has received the Sunshine Act request and will do its best to provide the records by April 15.th.
Bailey said the investigation aims to determine whether the district ignored the Missouri Human Rights Act, which “guarantees the right to freedom from discrimination and the right to full public accommodations for all Missouri residents.” It is said that it is something to do.
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