Mom alleges son was choked unconscious at O’Fallon High School by another student

The mother of a former O’Fallon Township High School student alleges a surveillance video shows her son being choked by another student and rendered unconscious in the school gym.

Marjorie Yancey of Belleville filed a complaint with the O’Fallon Township High School District 203 school board and met with board members in closed session regarding the incident, which occurred on Sept. 27. She says she is upset with the level of disciplinary action taken against the other student and alleges that the district didn’t consider the matter important because her son is Black. She also complained that she learned about the incident independently on Oct. 9 and was not informed by the district.

The Belleville News-Democrat requested an interview with Superintendent Beth Shackelford and 10th Grade Assistant Principal Kimberly Coley, but a statement from the district stated that district officials could not comment on the specifics of Yancey’s complaint.

A report taken by the O’Fallon Police Department stated the other student told officers he was “just messing around and he was not trying to hurt” Yancey’s son. The report said the officer could not take further action since Yancey did not want her son to be questioned because it “would cause trauma for him. “

Yancey’s grievance is being investigated by the school district’s law firm and a report is expected to be completed by the end of January. Adam Henningsen, the attorney conducting the investigation for the Kriha Boucek law firm based in Oakbrook Terrace near Chicago, has interviewed Yancey.

“Unfortunately, the complaint revolves around both student and personnel matters and the District is unable to respond to Ms. Yancey’s specific complaints based on student and personnel privacy laws,” the school district’s statement said.

Surveillance video

Yancey said the district did not tell her until Nov. 3 that there was surveillance video of her son being choked more than a month earlier.

“And I know they knew about this video prior to them giving me knowledge of it,” she said. “I got to watch the video and not once did the superintendent say, ‘I apologize for what happened to your child in my school’ or ‘Are you OK after seeing a video such as that?’”

Yancey said district officials did not allow her to keep a copy of the surveillance video after she watched it.

The News-Democrat asked that a reporter be allowed to view the video to confirm Yancey’s account of what it shows, but the school district denied this Freedom of Information Act request. The BND then asked to be shown the video with the faces of students blurred out, but this request was denied as well.

The BND has appealed the school district’s denials to the Public Access Counselor of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. A ruling on the appeal is expected to be made later this month, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

District 203 said it denied the Freedom of Information Act request because the video depicts students and student records are exempt from disclosure.

Issues raised by mother

Here are details of Yancey’s complaint:

▪ Yancey said her son was not given medical treatment after a male student put his arm around her son’s neck and choked him, which rendered him unconscious. After her son collapsed to the floor, the other student stepped over her son and walked away, according to her description of the surveillance video.

“My son could have been seriously injured without medical being called to check on a child,” Yancey said. “And they sent him back to practice with the kid who did this to him.”

Yancey’s son and the other student were both members of the school’s football team. Her son has since left O’Fallon Township High School and now attends Belleville East High School.

▪ Yancey said she was told by O’Fallon Township High School’s former football coach, Byron Gettis, that the other student’s punishment was to run extra laps in football practice. Gettis, who resigned from OTHS last month, declined to comment on Yancey’s complaint. Yancey said the other student should have been taken off the football team and suspended or possibly expelled.

Gettis admitted in his resignation letter that he allowed two students to enroll in the high school when he knew they did not live in the district and allowed them to participate on his football team.

Yancey, however, believes Gettis resigned because of what happened to her son and how the school district handled that incident. She noted that the entire coaching staff of the Eldorado High School boys basketball team in southern Illinois was fired earlier this month after a player elbowed an opponent during a game in December.

“Honestly, they tried to put this whole situation under the rug from the beginning,” Yancey said. “They don’t want the public to know.

“Everyone that played a part in my son not getting the proper care that he needed needs to be addressed. They need to be addressed.”

▪ Yancey believes that race played a role in the district’s handling of the case.

“I honestly feel that because my son is Black, that he was treated this way,” Yancey said. “Because I’m a single, Black mother, they just basically handled us the way they wanted to.

“There was no urgency about this matter.”

Yancey acknowledged that two of the school officials, Gettis and Coley, the 10th grade assistant principal, are Black.

▪ Yancey said Coley told her that if the other student was suspended, then her son would have to be suspended for his actions regarding a previous incident.

“So that I took as a threat,” Yancey said.

▪ Yancey said she was not informed by school officials of what occurred to her son on Sept. 27. She later heard about it on Oct. 9 and then reached out to the district.

Yancy is upset that Gettis had called her earlier in the school year to discuss with her an issue about some protein shakes that were missing but that he did not call her after her son was choked.

Yancey also criticized Coley, whom she says was the first school official to which Yancey’s son reported the incident.

“When Dr. Coley told me when my son told her this, she said your son was emotional and I comforted him. Well, I’m his mother and I should have been contacted to comfort my own son,” Yancey said.

Yancey said all of the school officials “were OK” with “excessive running as a punishment” for the other student.

“You don’t get to run laps when you commit actions such as that,” she said. “There’s consequences for that and they should be learning that in school. That’s what the administrators are there for.

“I just feel like your child should be safe at school and he was not.”

School district policy

Though it could not comment on the specifics of Yancy’s complaints about its efforts to discipline the other student involved, the district’s statement referred the BND to policies written into its student handbook.

“All disciplinary issues are addressed on a case-by-case basis by designated personnel,” the district’s statement said. “A number of factors are considered when determining appropriate discipline, including State law, which prohibits zero tolerance policies and discourages exclusionary discipline.

“While a parent or guardian will be informed of the discipline issued to their own child, the school district cannot inform a parent of the discipline issued to another child because of strict state and federal confidentiality laws. This at times may lead some parents or guardians to be dissatisfied or to make incorrect assumptions regarding how a matter was handled.

“With regard to parent notification, the District requests that parents or guardians provide contact information to the school district at the time of registration,” the statement said. “The District uses the information provided to notify parents or guardians when incidents occur at school. Parents and guardians are always contacted first, and other emergency contacts are utilized only if needed.”