Mother of autistic boy levels charges of bullying at Malverne school

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Copyright of LIHerald.com
Joel Luna Menjivar is a gifted musician who excels in his math classes, but has trouble socializing.

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on Jan. 18, 2012. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]

Bullies at the Malverne middle school have kicked, taunted, chased and harassed autistic eighth-grader Joel Luna Menjivar, according to his mother, Ana, who called the Herald in a desperate attempt to get help.

School administrators have given Luna Menjivar plenty of lip service, but taken little to no corrective action, said the Guatemala native, who is not a fluent English speaker. She said the problem has persisted throughout her son’s time in the middle school, but in recent months it has escalated. Two incidents in particular, both occurring in the Howard T. Herber Middle School cafeteria, stand out for her because they resulted in either physical injuries or trauma. In one case, she said, a student struck Joel in the face with a glass bottle and in another, a student tried to pull down his pants.

“He did not take it off … because Joel run away,” Luna Menjivar said, “but I don’t know where is the one-to-one [aide], where is the security, where is everybody, where is the teachers? For 20 or 25 minutes he [was] very scared.”

Joel speaks English well and can communicate at a relatively high level despite his autism, but he is still a special-needs student who has trouble socializing, his mother said, adding, “He is a good boy, he listens, he is respectful.” She praised the Malverne school district, its special education program and its teachers, who have helped her son achieve high grades. Joel is particularly gifted in math and takes an honors class. Luna Menjivar’s daughters, Angie, 11, and Giovanna, 8, also do well in school. But while the classrooms are safe places, Joel is subject to bullying in the hallways, the cafeteria, outside and after school, she said.

She and his father, Bernardo Luna, said they have reported to school authorities each incident their son has told them about. At one point, Luna went directly to the Malverne Police Department to file a report. The department sent a detective to Herber to investigate, but referred the matter back to the school. “We really can’t do anything if we don’t witness it,” Chief John Aresta told the Herald, adding that when it comes to children being bullied in school, the police generally have little power. Herber’s dean of students, Dan Nehlsen, did, however, tell police that the student responsible for that incident would be suspended, Aresta added.

The incident with the bottle was never reported to police, but had it been, it would be considered assault with a weapon and the department would have taken action, according to Aresta.

Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund said that Joel’s parents never reported the bottle incident to the school. Instead, seeing that the “child looked disturbed,” a school psychologist spoke with him and discovered what had happened. Administrators took immediate action, Hunderfund said, adding that school initiated a superintendent’s hearing and issued the responsible student an “extensive penalty” that was “beyond typical action.”

“The situation was addressed very conscientiously and immediately,” Hunderfund said. “We follow policy, we take very seriously any form of bullying, we have an absolute anti-bullying policy and we do have anti-bullying programs in the school, including character education, and we don’t tolerate it.”

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Copyright LIHerald.com
Ana Luna Menjivar, right, demanded that the Malverne school district protect her son, Joel, 14, from bullying. Her husband, Bernardo, and daughter Giovanna, 8, said they feel helpless.

Hunderfund said that through behavioral-modification and character-education programs, which include assemblies and guest speakers, “treatment of others and values are very well-reviewed with students in the curriculum and practiced every day.” But, he added, Joel’s situation is unique — he already has constant adult supervision, yet he is still subject to bullying.

The district, however, is not authorized to provide one-to-one aide services “24/7,” which might be what Joel needs, the superintendent said. So the district suggested taking Joel out of the typical school setting and putting him in a placement school instead. His parents refused the offer, which left the district between a rock and a hard place, Hunderfund said.

Still, it’s the district’s job to keep not only Joel, but all students, safe, according to Luna Menjivar. “I’m very frustrated, very angry,” she said. “It’s too much. The school is making too [many] mistakes and I’m not happy right now.”

The bullying has affected Joel’s every action, she said: He has trouble eating and sleeping and he is constantly nervous, finding it difficult to speak at times and often wringing his hands. Although he is not reluctant to tell his parents about bullying incidents, his cognitive disability sometimes impedes him from doing so, which then makes it difficult for his parents to report an incident to the district.

Concerned for her son’s well-being, Luna Menjivar said she has reconsidered the special placement. “I don’t want him to go to the [Malverne] high school,” she said. With the Herald’s help, she was able to secure a meeting with Hunderfund in which they would discuss Joel’s options.

“No matter what happens with this situation, I want to get to the bottom of the problem,” Hunderfund said, adding that, if needed, he would even invite his wife, who speaks Spanish, to the meeting for translation help. “I’m frustrated because I want the school district to move forward and not be bogged down with individual circumstances. … And I understand the parents and their frustration, and I’m glad to look at every incident they’re referring to.”

Hunderfund was expected to meet with Luna Menjivar this week.

While special placement might be a good solution in Joel’s case, it does not solve the district’s problem, said Mor Keshet, coordinator of the bullying prevention center of Long Island’s Child Abuse Prevention Services. “If this has been an ongoing series of events — and it appears to be so — and there is a chronic pattern of behavior from either one child or a group of children, then it really speaks to the overall school culture,” she said. “And that is certainly something that the school can and needs to address.”

It is important for the district to put in place a comprehensive safety plan for all of its students, not just those like Joel who are protected, according to Keshet. “I’m certain that the school knows, being that this is a repeated behavior, who the students are that are doing it,” she said. “Those students need support — a very different kind of support — in helping them learn and understand what the implications of their choices are and how they can make different choices that don’t hurt and humiliate another child.”

Developing a comprehensive safety plan, designating a number of adults in each school building as “safe adults,” offering staff development and creating dialogue with parents would help the district address its problem, Keshet said. “That’s really the kind of language that these parents need to be empowered with,” she said.
Parents and children affected by bullying are encouraged to email the CAPS Bully Helpline at bullyhelpline@capsli.org.