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Page 14 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, MArCH 15, 2024 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler Good morning, Saugus! Several former and present Saugus town and school officials have been telling me since our front-page headline “I Need to Protect My Daughter” broke last Friday (March 8) that there’s a lot more to the story than what we’ve reported. For those who missed the story, it began with the lead paragraph “A 13-year-old girl with a learning disability was bullied and beaten by another girl in a gym class at the Saugus Middle-High School on Monday while classmates cheered and videotaped the incident on their cell phones, according to the girl’s mother.” “‘Nobody aided her or protected her – nobody did anything to help her. They all just cheered and took pictures and video,’ the girl’s mother told The Saugus Advocate this week,” the story continued. The mother quoted in the story went on to say that she was not satisfied with the way school officials responded to the incident and she vowed to go to the Juvenile Department in Lynn District Court to file criminal charges against the 13-year-old girl who beat up her daughter. I conceded in my column last week and still concede today that I would not have written the story, except for the fact that it was videotaped by several students who just watched instead of coming to the girl’s assistance. The video was later shared on social media. Some grownups, including town officials, also participated in its dissemination – some of them unwittingly making the matter worse by putting the spotlight on the two 13-year-old girls involved in the incident. They are entitled to privacy as juveniles After reflecting on the situation, I would have done the same thing if I were a town resident and received a copy of the video. I would have made sure that the public and some reporter got to see it. Of course, there is a lot more to the story to be told. There are always two or more sides to a story. We only reported the side of the girl who got beaten up through an interview with the mother. We didn’t get the other side – of the alleged offender. Nor did we get the side of school staff who witnessed the incident during the gym class. School officials declined comment last week, saying they were prevented from talking about the matter because both teacher dead at the hands of two 12th-grade students who later killed themselves – and a number of other tragic school shootings that followed, an SRO serves the role of being a security blanket that gives many parents, students, school staff and administrators peace of mind. But some look upon it as providing a sense of false security and say it should not be considered a cure-all. And it’s just a small piece of ensuring that the halls of Saugus Public Schools or schools in any community are safe places for learning. There will be more stories and more public discussions on this important school safety issue between now and the time the Annual Town Meeting convenes in May. Stay tuned. A “Shout Out” to a valued volunteer We didn’t receive any nomST. PATRICK’S DAY ART: Lorenzo Dellheim, 5, of Saugus, had fun crafting a Leprechaun while attending a Creation Learning Station at the Saugus Public Library. Sharing a moment with the boy is Janice Nelson, a Saugus resident who led the program. She works at the Tower Day School in Lynnfield. (Courtesy Photo of Amy Melton, Head of Children’s Services at the Saugus Public Library) children’s privacy needs to be protected. But in an interview this week, the mother of the girl who got beaten up modified her earlier comments, backing down from her initial criticism of how school staff and officials responded. There was one major detail that she omitted in her initial comments: that staff did respond and come to the girl’s assistance. “Both gym teachers broke up the beating and helped aid her,” the mother told The Saugus Advocate this week. “Those were my daughter’s words. She said you can’t see it in the video because they stopped recording,” she added. The mother also said her view has changed on the way school administration and staff have responded and that she no longer plans to press criminal charges. “Yes, the school has been on top of everything. I can’t press charges because of the age factor – that the girl is 13,” the mother told the newspaper. The mother said the alleged perpetrator has been removed from her daughter’s classes and added that her daughter “has been happy being back at school.” Some of the town and school officials I spoke with this week said there may be more information about the incident coming out someday. “It’s my understanding that the School administration and School Committee did an investigation into this matter and handled it fairly and promptly,” Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta told me this week. “Please know there is zero tolerance for bullying,” she said. A number of town officials – including Selectman Anthony Cogliano – have been citing the videotaped incident as another reason that the School Department should hire a School Resource Officer (SRO). They have apparently swayed the mother of the girl who was beaten up. “I still would like to attend the Town Meeting to chat about things and push for a school police officer for the school,” she said. “I will even speak at Town Meeting if that can make change and help others, too.” The mother might want to reconsider that because once she steps up to the microphone at the podium in the second floor auditorium at Town Hall and introduces herself, that would constitute an invasion of her daughter’s privacy. The girl’s mom would be going public and leading to an easy identification of her daughter. It’s a risky move that would be unnecessary. People already know about the incident. School Committee members have already said they plan to introduce an article at the Annual Town Meeting in May requesting that the position be funded by a Supplemental Student Support Reserve Fund created by Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree and approved by the Annual Town Meeting two years ago. Some officials have questioned whether that’s a proper use of the fund. The Finance Committee will offer a recommendation on that article, which could determine its prospects for passing Town Meeting. Meanwhile, some officials are questioning the merits of having an SRO stationed in the schools. A large number of school and town officials do support having an officer in the schools. In the aftermath of the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, which left 12 students and a inations from our readers this week to publicly praise citizens whose selfless acts lead to the betterment of Saugus. So, I will use my editorial discretion to recognize one such person – a very talented and kind town resident who dedicates her life to various noble causes. I believe a huge “Shout Out” is in order for Joanie Allbee, aka “The Sketch Artist.” Joanie is a fellow writer and frequent contributor to The Saugus Advocate. For several years, she was the anonymous sketch artist who entertained Advocate readers with the “Sketch of the Week Contest.” She has also contributed articles and photos. I heard through the grapevine that the Parson Roby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) last Saturday presented Joanie a “Service to America Certificate” in recognition of more than 600 hours of volunteer work over the past year. Those 600-plus hours average out to 1.6 hours of volunteer work daily. That is an exorbitant amount of volunteer work, no matter what the cause is. These include hours that Joanie has volunteered at the local DAR, the Saugus Senior Center, the Saugus Historical Society, the Saugus Garden Club and other community organizations. Her other volunteer projects include personal goodwill projects, like her Cross Outreach, Shawl and Scarf Ministry, writing articles for causes and donating art for fundraisers. Many local residents are probably familiar with Joanie’s Hope Ring project, where she leaves THE SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 15

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