Jackson Free Press

Speaking to Jackson Public Schools board members last night, Jacqueline Willis called for the district to improve conditions at its alternative school and stop handcuffing students.

Willis claimed that staff members frequently handcuffed her son, Anthony, for minor infractions. Willis and several parents and students presented a petition to the board with 12,000 signatures demanding that the district end the practice of handcuffing.

"If we cannot protect our own children when they are in school, and if they are all treated like they are bad, then we are not giving our children a chance," Anthony Willis read from a statement.

Two national advocacy organizations, Alternet.org and Care2.com, launched the petition, which includes signatures from individuals from around the country.

Drodriquez Williams, who recently graduated from Wingfield High School, also claimed that faculty members handcuffed him when he attended Capital City alternative school for talking out of turn.

Jackson Public Schools board members did not offer a response to the matter. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court June 8, claiming that JPS unconstitutionally punished students for minor offenses. JPS has less than two weeks to respond to the claim.

"The JPS legal department will respond to the lawsuit in the appropriate legal manner," a statement from the district reads. "JPS is totally and fully committed to providing a safe learning environment for all students."

Board members also spent more than two hours in executive session last night, but did not make any decisions regarding the district's superintendent. Superintendent Lonnie Edwards' contract expires July 1, and the district has not named an interim superintendent or voted on renewing Edwards' contract.

Also see: Edwards' Days Numbered? and Shackling Kids for Sass