Reason #456554 Why This Country Needs School Vouchers

27 May, 2004 by John Hawkins

Print this article Font size -16+

Meet Courtney Glowczewski, a 13 year old kid with a small right arm and leg because of cerebral palsy. You can easily imagine how tough that would be for anyone to deal with, especially a 13 year old kid. But Courtney doesn’t sound like the type of person who’s using her disability as an excuse. To the contrary, Courtney gets good grades…

“I do really good in my classes. My teachers tell me, ‘Good job,’ and, ‘You’re doing very good,’ and ‘Excellent girl,'” said Glowczewski.”

However, unsurprisingly in this day and age, Courtney has been getting bullied. But she has dealt with it best she could, until things got way, way, out of hand…

“‘Last week, she said the bullying got worse when she said she was threatened and assaulted by a seventh-grade boy.

“He pulled out a knife, a silver knife, a pocket knife, and then he said ‘What!?’ So I was scared and didn’t know what to do,” said Glowczewski.

As she walked to her seat she smelled smoke and one of her classmates was patting her hard on the back.

“I looked and there was a black spot on the back of my shirt. And then I saw some black hair falling from my hair,” said Glowczewski.

Her hair was on fire and the other student said that she was trying to help put it out.”

What was done to Courtney Glowczewski wasn’t just despicable, it was a crime. The kid who did that do her deserved not just to be expelled, but to be arrested.

So what actually happened to this knife wielding thug who set Courtney Glowczewski on fire? Apparently, nothing of significance. And Courtney Glowczewski? She was told not to come back to school!

“Sherrie Glowczewski was outraged when she was told by the administration at Martin Luther King that her daughter didn’t need to come back and not to worry about the tests.

“I just wanted to go to a school that doesn’t make fun of me. I wanted to be treated with respect,” Glowczewski said, crying.

…I have no idea what they’ve done. That’s why I want to speak to her. I want to know what happened to (the bullying suspect) and what’s going on in that school,” said Sherrie Glowczewski.

KMGH-TV discovered that while Glowczewski was sent home, her alleged attacker is still in school, even though administrators confirmed he had a knife.

The principal has now admitted her staff did not call police, did not interview potential witnesses and did not conduct a proper investigation.

“He shouldn’t come back in school. I should be in school taking my education and it’s not fair,” said Glowczewski.”

To call that disgraceful and an outrageous is an understatement. What sort of school in effect punishes handicapped children for being assaulted while letting their attacker continue to go to school?

Not only does Courtney Glowczewski deserve better than that, her peers who are being forced to go to school with that animal deserve better than that. It’s just another reason why we need vouchers in this country. Why shouldn’t Courtney Glowczewski be able to simply go to another school where kids don’t make fun of her, where she’ll be treated with respect, where the teachers and the principal side with decent, law abiding, kids instead of knife wielding firebugs? If we had school vouchers in this country, kids who have been failed by our public education system, kids like Courtney Glowczewski, could get the education and the respect that they deserve.