parents raise concerns about alleged ‘inappropriate boundary violations’ toward boulder hill elementary student

Parents at Boulder Hill Elementary raised concerns of alleged ‘inappropriate boundary violations’ at the April 13 SD 308 board meeting.

Two parents of a fifth grader at Boulder Hill Elementary School raised concerns about alleged “inappropriate boundary violations’ at the Oswego Community Unit School District 308 meeting on Monday night at Oswego East High School.

Pat and Kate Fish each spoke for about five minutes during the meeting’s public comment section of the agenda.

“We’re here to represent our daughter,” said Kate Fish, “and we stand before you tonight because we have exhausted every appropriate administrative channel available to us, and we have not received what we believe is adaquate action in response to our concern. Since November, we have been raising documented concerns about a pattern of inappropriate boundary violations towards our daughter by one of her fifth grade teachers.”

Kate Fish noted the teacher is not tenured and is part of the Aurora University Residency Program.

Kate Fish raised concerns about times where the teacher allegedly touched her daughter’s hair and back. “He would lean over her to touch her computer without her consent,” said Kate Fish. She repeatedly asked him to stop. She repeatedly asked him to step away from her. So when she brought that concern to us, and said that she didn’t feel safe in her classroom, we began to get involved.”

Kate Fish continued to talk about options that her daughter had to leave the classroom when needed or to speak with a social emotional teacher. “This is all about what she’s been doing wrong,” said Fish, “and the focus has been on what our daughter should be doing. The focus has been on what we could be doing as far as taking our daughter out of the classroom.”

Pat Fish, who said he is a coach and a pastor, said that he and his wife tried to do it the right way, by working with the [Boulder Hill Elementary] principal and Dr. [Markisha] Mitchell. “The reality is my daughter hates going to school,” he said

Two other parents spoke in support of the Fish family

Per Robert’s Rules of Order during or after public comment, the board did not respond. The April 13 board meeting can be viewed on the district’s YouTube channel.