How is Devon Hodges doing?

Devon is a bright kid.  He started college this month on a scholarship at Bradley.  We look forward to attending his games and watching him play. 

This kid endured some of the meanest teachers, coaches, and school officials that one must endure.  His last three months in Bolingbrook were just as bad as the few before, with the coaches STILL punishing him AFTER we exposed the story.

Devon was taking a class with the book keeper of the basketball team for his teacher.  Low and behold if this teacher did not do his best to push Devon to fail in the last quarter, attempting to hold him back from graduating.  He did this by withholding assignments and marking them as not turned in, and using public ridicule and humiliation in front of his classmates.  He went from a B-C student to straight F's.  The teacher refused to return calls from the parents asking what was going on, so when they probed, they found out his affiliation to the basketball mess that Devon was going through.  I mean, how much abuse did the school system allow this boy!

In any other school district, bullying is NOT accepted behavior.  In Valley View, it is the norm for the teachers, coaches, and school board/ administrators to bully kids.  We just saw this recently with Casson Hale, who lost his scholarship opportunity so that the school secretary and the Valley view Superintendent could ensure their kids would get the scholarships. 

Had it not been for Ms. Breen and Ms. Cowie's help and assistance, Devon's parents would have gone unheard and the teacher would have prevailed in the continuation of the bullying. Thank you to these two wonderful educators!

So the light at the end of the tunnel is that Devon graduated this month, went on to fulfill his dreams, despite the hurdles of our local authorities. 

However, consequences will arise for these bullies.  No bad deed goes unpunished, and this young man and his family will ensure that this injustice will not happen to another child again.  I can hear it in their convictions and I believe in them.