Shepard Patrick Rd
Spencer, IN 47460

I normally don’t post things like this, but I feel like other parents deserve to know our experience with Spencer-Owen Community Schools at the elementary level.My child has had multiple issues this year, and the way they’ve been handled has been extremely concerning. At one point, my child was jumped in the bathroom by three boys. When it was reported, the school said that because the boys denied it and there was no witness inside the bathroom, nothing could be done — even though cameras showed all of the kids going in and out of the bathroom around that time.My child has also been suspended without any prior communication between administration, teachers, or us as parents. I actually sent my child to school the day of his suspension because there had been no communication with me whatsoever about him being suspended. I had to get the superintendent involved to figure out what was even going on.Another issue we ran into was when my child began struggling academically later in the year. We asked about tutoring or additional help, but we were told he could not receive tutoring services because he had previously scored proficient on testing earlier in the year, even though he was clearly struggling and his grades proved that.There was also a situation where a student came to school trying to fight my child. My child refused to fight back even after being hit several times. That same student then tried to fight two other kids. The first one also refused to fight back, and the second one defended himself. My son stepped in and kicked the student away from the other child to break it up, and my son was the one who ended up suspended. The student who started all of the fights was not suspended and, from what we were told, was not even in the office. The child who defended himself spent the day in the office while my son was suspended.Situations like this make it feel like discipline is not handled fairly and that certain students are singled out while others are not held accountable. On top of that, communication with the school has been very poor, which makes it extremely difficult for parents to address problems or work together toward solutions.I’m sharing this because I’m honestly wondering if other parents have had similar experiences, or if this has just been our situation. I believe schools and parents should be able to work together for the good of the kids, but that hasn’t been our experience.