Testimony of Ms. Vicki Ware

United States House of Representatives
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Subcommittee on Education Reform

September 29, 2003
Denver, Colorado

To whom it may concern:

In the year of 2000 my son was followed home by a known GANG MEMBER and beat up horribly bad. He had to miss one week of school due to his injuries. MLK Middle School then filed charges with the Juvenile Court because my son had missed a week of school. I called the school everyday to let them know that my son was hurt and he wouldn't be in. So shortly thereafter, I removed my son from MLK Middle School and placed him in Gove Middle School. About three months later, after school my 12 year old daughter was followed home and was in a fist fight with another 12 year old girl. The next morning I took my daughter into the school to let her counselor know what was going on. As we sat waiting for her counselor, I noticed a boy in the next office pulling razor blades from the bottom of his shoe. All the while the counselor that was in the room with him said, "Your parents are going to be very upset when they hear about this." I feel that the police should have been called first, then his parents. My concern was about my daughter at the time. This was the 2nd to last day of school. I removed my daughter from MLK Middle School and placed her in Gove Middle School.