"A person is bullied when he is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself. " "The definition includes three important components: It is aggressive behavior that involves unwanted and negative attention. It involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time and involves an imbalance of power or strength." (http://www.olweus.org/public/bullying.page)
Devon is the epitome of a bullied victim. He was bullied by the coaches, players, and administration of the schools in which he attended. He is being bullied by the School Board, including chair Steve Quigley, which has chosen to ignore his parents pleas for the bullying to stop. All of them chose to ignore or participate in the bullying of a child.
Matter of fact, I believe there is an attorney that is representing Devon and we will keep the public informed of the lawsuits being filed. We hope that the attorney files them as "personal" lawsuits, as failure to act on bullying was not covered under tort laws or the VVSD attorneys, since it was a "personal" choice to participate or not act upon this situation.
Devon has been working hard behind the scenes to continue with his life. It is alleged that he was able to sign onto a school for the fall and we will write a follow up to verify this story. If so, we want to issue a congratulations to Devon for being a tough cookie with against childlike adults!
For our audience, we wanted to post the IL statues that schools were "suppose" to follow, yet acting on behalf of Tressler LLC, had chosen not to follow....
105 ILCS 5/27-23.7
No student shall be subject to bullying during any school-sponsored education program or activity, while in school, on school property, on school buses or other school vehicles, at designated school bus stops waiting for the bus, at schools-sponsored or school-sanctioned events or activities, or through the transmission of information from a school computer, school computer network or other similar electronic school equipment. Bullying make take various forms, including without limitation one or more of the following: harassment, threats, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, sexual harassment, sexual violence, theft, public humiliation, destruction of property, or retaliation for asserting or alleging an act of bullying.
105 ILCS 5/27-23.7 (2010) requires each school district and non-public, non-sectarian elementary or secondary school to create and maintain a policy on bullying. The policy must be communicated to the students and their parent or guardian annually, updated every 2 years and filed with the State Board of Education. The statute also creates the School Bullying Prevention Task Force and outlines its responsibilities.
Dear Parents, http://www.vvsd.org/district/anti_bullying.php
The Valley View School District has created an Anti-Bullying Task Force to address issues of bullying and harassment in our schools and community. This Task Force is also the result of recent state legislation mandating school districts to create such a team.
Why did Devon enroll at Romeoville HS in the fall? Why has he attended so many high schools (3)?
ReplyDeleteDevon has committed to Bradley University in Peoria to play for new Head Coach Geno Ford
ReplyDeleteNow it is up to Devon to expand his game and obtain playing time at the college level.
Good Luck to Devon .........................John Phillps
Al Capone had his attorneys. Claar and Quigley have Boan and the Tressler gang--augmented by ring leader Kavagnagh when needed.
ReplyDeleteDevon Hodges has accepted a Basketball Scholarship to Bradley University in Peoria .....and will play for the new Coach Geno Ford..................John Phillips
ReplyDeletePart1....Devon's family never enrolled him in Romeoville HS in the fall. Devon was enrolled in Bolingbrook HS and that's where he was when school started in August. So, your first question was incorrect. Yes, Devon was enrolled at Nequa Valley his freshman year.However, I bet you didn't know that someone from the Romeoville paper as well as the Romeoville Athletic Director as well as others called the Athletic Director for Nequa and made such a stink about him being there. Devon's parents at the time where not together. The Nequa AD told the parents that Devon had met residency requirements to be at Nequa. However, because there was so much of a mess raised that an investigator would be put on Devon for the whole year. As well as Devon not being allowed to come over and visit his mother whom he did not live with but she did stay within Romeoville's school boundry.However what parent would accept someone saying that their own child can not visit them just to keep down the mess. Therefore, Devon's mother then enrolled him in Romeoville HS his freshman year. Last year due to financial issues the family moved to Bolingbrook in Devon's junior year. Therefore, Devon then went over to Bolingbrook HS. The parents did provide information to the district inregard to their finances to show that they weren't lying. However, the Head Coach and AD at Romeoville then started harrassing this family. So, the family then submitted a complaint against them to the District. The family did move back into the Romeoville School District in the summer which the District was notified of. However, since there was several complaints aganist these 2 individuals from Romeoville by that time the parents did not want Devon going back to Romeoville. Therefore, they allowed him to live with a reletive and he was allowed to remain at Bolingbrook HS that way. However, since the parents would not stop their complaints the District got mad and Devon was then kicked out of Bolingbrook HS in the middle of September. Devon was forced to go back to Romeoville HS where he was harrassed.
ReplyDeletePart2...The parents do have something from Mr. Mitchem ,the School Board,and District Attorneys that said that the residential violation was retracted and that Devon WAS harrassed while at Romeoville HS. Now with all of that being said Devon should have never been put back in Romeoville in the first place. He would have been fine where he was at. The parents had to end up renting out an apartment just to have Devon put back into Bolingbrook HS. (they did this prior to receiving the letter retracting the violation etc.) The parents had to get the police involved and go before a judge to try and stop these men from harrassing this kid. This is just sad! I wonder would the district tolerate your child if they had to get the police involved and go before a judge regarding your kid. I betcha your kid would be kicked out faster then you could blink. Why are these people even allowed to keep their jobs? How much would you take inregard to someone harrassing your children? It's funny because these cowardly coaches are walking around Romeoville telling the students how they bet Devon doesn't even go to college at all. How proud should we be of these people and they are the ones over our children. You are suppose to be an educator and yet you wish for the failure of a child. Do they not think that the things they say would get back to this kid or not. Lets not forget about the coward coach at Bolingbrook. This man didn't just dog this kid's game to college coaches that called him in hopes of recruiting Devon. He said that this kid was a thug, a trouble kid with a bad attitude. Did he not think that any of this stuff was going to get back to Devon's family? The family had to get letters of recommendation on Devon's behalf. Not about his skill on the court but on his character. Please, to these lying cowards if you are so proud of dogging this kid stand up and take your just credit. Too all of this young man's haters it must hurt like hell to know that even though Devon didn't play his senior year that he was still able to walk away with a scholoship from Bradley University. That in itself says alot about Devon's potential. I told the family they should do some type of interview on youtube or something just to get everything out there and expose these people for who and what they are. Why don't people start calling the District and questioning them for thier involvement. Sooner or later they are going to pay for what they have done to this kid. The family is very upset at how this whole situation was handled and they are not going to rest to these people are held accountable! Because if it's not thier child it would be someone else child. Someone has to do something.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the commitment that he gave to Wisconsin?
ReplyDeleteHe decommitted his junior year.
ReplyDelete