Although physical altercations between students have dropped 58% in the Butler Area School District since September 2022, there still are instances of bullying, resulting in school board hearings that have led to suspensions, according to superintendent Brian White.

Among those affected was Debby Rodgers’ son, a ninth-grader at Butler Senior High School.

Rodgers said after her son attended cyberschool for three years to avoid being bullied, he was ready to return to class this fall.

The in-person return was short-lived. She said her son was suspended until January after he defended himself when another student attacked him in early October.

“He is being treated like he was the aggressor when he was the victim,” Rodgers said. “He really likes school; it's a really positive thing. Now they are taking him out and punishing him even though he defended himself.”

According to Rodgers, her son used a can he had been drinking out of to block punches from the student attacker, and her son still suffered a concussion and other bodily injuries in the altercation.

Rodgers said she hired an attorney to advocate for her son at a school board hearing, where they would be able to share her son’s side of the story. She said no security cameras or security guards witnessed the incident, but two other students who claim to have seen it provided written statements that back up her son’s version of events.

"They say it’s zero tolerance (for violence in the school district), but there has to be an exception to the rule,” she said. “The only kid who went to the doctor was my son.”

The student handbook for senior high students has several policies in place regarding fighting, hazing, terroristic threats and other kinds of violence. Consequences for violating those policies vary, but several involve intervention by the school board or administrators.

In 2022, between the beginning of the school year in August and Nov. 14, 261 students had disciplinary referrals — Of the students with referrals, 19 had at least six referrals and 15 had nine or more.

Administrators at Butler Area School District began addressing pressing behavioral issues last year. They did this through the implementation of an after-school intervention program, a lunch detention program and a hall pass phone application.

Additionally, Butler County officials created the position of school detective in January, with former state trooper and school police officer Gerald “Jerry” Markle taking the post in August.

White said the school board hearing process is offered to students and parents when an incident calls for it. The school board then may decide consequences for the student.

“Anything above (a 10-day suspension), the board can conduct a hearing,” White said. “The student and parents have a right to say their side of the story. If they are found to be responsible, the school board can impose whatever they feel is the appropriate discipline on that student.”

According to White, “the vast majority” of school board hearings don’t include an attorney on the side of the student, but the family sometimes brings one. The school board makes a decision based on the opinions of its members. Therefore, White said, every case is different and there is no template for the board’s decision-making process.

“They may place a student in an alternative setting,” White said. “You can get a waiver and just agree to the consequence, which is extended exclusion from school followed by a reentry process.”

School police officer Markle said Oct. 30 school administrators can call on his services to investigate instances that could rise to the level of a misdemeanor crime. He said he goes about his investigations in schools in a way similar to how police investigate crimes.

“I'm interviewing students as victims, or persons of interest ... whoever knows something or saw something,” he said. “It would be highly unlikely for me to investigate something the schools already know about.”

Rodgers said her son was the victim of bullying and is being punished for it, and she plans to speak again at her son’s reentry hearing in January.

Rodgers said she hopes to see the school district change its rules on physical altercations, and worries other students who defend themselves from attacks may face similar consequences to her son.

“I'm just seeing my kid depressed right now,” Rodgers said. “It could be the whole year he is out for being victimized.”