The Southwest Voice

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Nearly every child who competed to be an eighth-grade Stonecreek Junior High School graduation speaker mentioned how safe he or she felt on our campus. That’s notable in this world of mass communicated violence at schools and among students. I think the sense of safety is due to our school’s high percentage of drug/violence suspensions.  A couple weeks ago Robert Price, associate editorial page editor for The Bakersfield Californian, reported that Panama-Buena Vista Union School District suspension rate comes in at a healthy 12 percent, which tops Kern High School’s 11 percent rate and Bakersfield City School’s 8.5 percent. That does not mean our kids are into drugs and hurting each other more than other areas of town, but it indicates to me a lack of tolerance for that type of behavior. Our administrative team does not put up with much.

On one of his last days at school, a student came up to Vice Principal Brian Malavar and said, “I don’t know why people don’t like you. I think you’re a nice man.”

We all chuckled, but many students at our school dread a call slip from Mr. Malavar. He is a man who doesn’t tolerate gang behavior, rule breaking, or intimidation, and we staffers love him. Principal Darryl Johnson says he would rather sweat the small infractions and communicate to all that our school will not put up with lousy behavior, and that seems to be the philosophy of many PBVUSD administrators. We have had parents pull their children out of our school because of such a tight reign, but the bottom line is that we have kids who feel safe at school when many across our nation live in fear.

Our district is not one that fears the suspensions we have on record — we fear kids having to attend class in an environment where they do not feel safe. I like teaching at a school with a high percentage of suspensions because I feel safe, too!

— Peggy Dewane-Pope is a teacher at Stonecreek Junior High School in the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District. Brian Malavar is the new principal at Panama School, and he (and his suspensions at SJHS) will be missed.