By Erin Delmore
Correspondent
It made national headlines and residents say a laughing stock of their town when a teacher called police to respond to a third-grader’s comment about brownies. As the story goes, another student called that comment racist. The third-grader’s parent said it’s just dessert.
“I can tell you this: I can tell you that what’s been reported all over the country is not what was said. That what was said was a comment that was much more incendiary, was much more of a concern,” said Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley.
Collingswood’s mayor, superintendent, police and county prosecutor stand behind the decision to call the cops. In interviews, they cited the Memorandum of Agreement — the statewide policy that outlines what student behavior warrants a call to the cops.
“Let’s put it this way: Everyone that it’s been expressed to has said, ‘Whoa!’ It’s a little bit of a shock,” Maley said.
We don’t know exactly what was said. The mayor would only tell us it’s a juvenile matter under investigation. It all stems from an incident six weeks ago, when the mayor, superintendent and police chief say representatives from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office told them in no uncertain terms to report every instance of student misbehavior to the cops, right down to the elementary school.
“I think it’s a conservative estimate to say that there probably have been some days where it was five times a day,” said Collingswood Public Schools Superintendent Scott Oswald.
“I know of one instance for sure where say there was roughhousing between some kids — actually between best friends who were just goofing off. It did prompt a call to police because it was potentially a crime — an assault — but that won’t happen any more,” Maley said.
Now they say the policy change — enacted just three weeks before the end of the school year and never relayed to parents — was a misunderstanding. The mayor, superintendent and police chief met again Tuesday — this time, with the prosecutor herself — for five-plus hours of “he said, she said”. Notably, no one from the prosecutor’s office who attended the first meeting — and supposedly handed down the directive — was present.
“We could spend the next 10 years pointing fingers at each other. I don’t know that we’re ever going to point in the same direction. Sometimes adults have to agree to disagree about what happened. There was a message that was delivered. There was a message that was received. And certainly those two things didn’t come together,” Oswald said.
“I have no disagreement with our school officials. I heard what I heard. But apparently once we made, I was out of town for a little while, once I made contact with the prosecutor’s office, it was very clear immediately that there had been a miscommunication. That was not what they meant to communicate but that’s what I sure heard,” Maley said.
The town reversed the policy, but parents say they’re owed an explanation.
“I’ve thought about how I’d feel if my kids had been involved in something and had been interviewed, and I think I’d be very upset. I know a lot of those parents also found out about it by the police either calling or showing up at their house. For me, I think my heart would just fall on the floor, terrified of what awful situation had happened and it’d be hard for me to even think beyond that,” said parent Pamela Gessert.
Officials say there was never any change in how police interacted with children. And the school will return to handling disciplinary matters the way it had be doing — in line with the state guidelines — when the new school year begins.
Maley said he would like to get all parties involved to sit down with parents to explain what happened and to answer any remaining questions.