Recent Address by Chancellor Rhee to Wilson PTSA Meeting on Changes
to Address Security Incidents

Below is a summary of the presentation by Chancellor Rhee at the
recent Wilson PTSA meeting,in which she described plans to address
recent security incidents at Wilson. (Woodrow Wilson High SchoolPTSA
Meeting, March 19th, 2008, 7:00 p.m.)

Chancellor Rhee: Thank you for having me. I wanted to discuss some
changes that will be implemented after spring break. These changes
are in response to recent events at Wilson, including 13 arrests this
week in the school. A letter will go out to Wilson families during
spring break to announce the changes.
1) Mr. Thomas Whittle will serve as the advisor and administrative
point person on safety, security, and discipline on the site at
Wilson.
2) Jeff Schultz will help communicate with parents about safety and
security issues.
3) The lunch period will be changed. The cafeteria holds only 350
students. All students will eat in the classroom. This change will be
implemented immediately.
4) There will be a zero tolerance policy. Students with chronic
discipline problems will be notified that if they commit one
infraction, they will no longer be at Wilson.
5) There will be three police officers here during the day. An
administrator will be posted at each door so that if a child has been
suspended or expelled, he or she will not be allowed in.
Administrators know the students.
6) Wilson will be staffed to the right level. Six teaching positions
will be filled, especially ESL positions.
7) We are going to close enrollment for the school for the rest of
this year. When you have a school that is over capacity, enrollment
must be closed off.
8) Students coming from alternative settings will be given help to
transition into Wilson. Across the District we are working to put
together a transition program for children from alternative settings.
This program will be in place for next year. For now, we are using
zero tolerance and working with families of students from the
alternative settings.

Parent: What type of incidents are we discussing for zero tolerance?
Chancellor Rhee: Violent incidents. Fights.
Mr. Whittle: We will have a program in place to help the kids.

Parent: Lunch - Is it a good idea to keep children confined to the
classrooms for the entire day?
Chancellor Rhee: In the short term, we need to have a very structured
lunch. All the violent incidents have happened during lunch. Know
that I understand that it is hard that the children cannot go outside
at lunch.
We will review the lunch program and begin to lighten up on the well
behaved children.

Parent: I want to emphasize the positive experience at lunch. Clubs
meet, such as debate team, it*s academic, other clubs, it is very
positive.
Rhee: I do not want children who are well behaved to be penalized.
The students who cannot be responsible will be identified.
The students will stay in the classroom and eat in the classroom.

Assistant Principal Miller: We used to have even more activities for
the students at lunch. We had basketball. We would like to have more.
Chancellor Rhee: Right now we have a group of students who are not
able to act appropriately during lunch. The vast majority of students
are well behaved.

Parent: We will need more custodians as we will have to clean all the
classrooms due to students eating in all the classrooms.

Chancellor Rhee: This is a short term plan only.

Parent: Will the teachers be paid for the supervision time during
lunch?
Chancellor Rhee: This will be discussed.

Parent: Can we start with the 9th grade, and then use the lunch
period to meet with troubled kids or kids from alternative schools?
Chancellor Rhee: It has to be school wide. We have to send a message.
There have been 9th graders in every fight, but other grades have
been represented, too. It is not just 9th graders.

Parent: What will the discipline process be?
Chancellor Rhee: Kids will be put on notice, then, zero tolerance.

Parent: There have been incidents on Metro involving Wilson students.
Chancellor Rhee: We have been in touch with MPD and we have a plan to
address the problems on Metro. Here is my contact information. I am
good on e-mail. Michelle.rhee@.... Or call my office at 202-502-
4004.

Metro Transit Police
Principal Williams: Now the Metro Transit Police will tell us about
guidelines.
Metro Transit Officer: We are plain clothes officers. We were put in
place in 2003. We meet with high school and junior high school
students to gain the children*s interest. We give them t-shirts with
the logo and the laws. We educate the students on safety and behavior
on the metro.

Parent: Thanks for doing the educational bit. But what about attacks
on metro after school? There are things happening between here and
the metro.

Metro Transit Officer: We used to have a detail at the Tenley metro.
The school resource officers say we need the detail. Today, there was
a detail there. There is an officer upstairs and one down in the
tunnel.
If you see anything on metro, call 202-962-2121, this is the metro
police communications number. If there is a complaint, uniformed
officers will go, but if it is ongoing, we will send a detail.

Metro Transit Officer 2: We have MPD officers walk with the kids
after school to the metro, then we take over from there, when the
kids come on the metro. We do not get a chance to talk to parents a
lot. Thank you for having us. I would like you to know what I am
doing before any trouble arises.
When a student does something wrong on the metro, we can give a
warning notice or we can lock the student up if they are not going to
change their behavior. We have more problems with safety, such as
train-surfing. The train surfer rides the outside of the train
through the station. Some kids walk between the cars. You cannot eat
on metro.

Principal Williams: We have Wilson staff at the metro. We want to
have the school resource officers (MPD) on the paths at Wilson. Thank
you, Metro Transit Officers. Metro Transit Officers handed out t-
shirts.

END