The Nashua school district is grappling with a conflict over rights.
Every student has a right to go to his local school.
But one Nashua student wants to enjoy the right of going to school without fear of another student.
The court has stepped in to try to keep the two apart.
But that solution has not been working.
NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich Kern has more.
(sound)
At the bell, Nashua High North students flood the corridors heading to the next class.
(sound: hallway conversation…principal saying “can you take those earplugs out of your ears…â€)
Principal David Ryan, two police officers, and other staff patrol the crowd.
(fade out sound)
But all those monitors and school officials don't do anything to make one student feel safe.
Charlene: Jared came home and said Bruno had approached him in the lunch room, put his fist into the table, and said he was going to kill him.
That’s Charlene Salesky. Her son Jarad is a senior at Nashua High North.
With a six-foot build and a self-assured grin, Jarad Salesky doesn’t fit the profile of someone who’s easily intimidated.
But fear of another student, Bruno Dos Santos, has kept Jarad Salesky out of school the last three weeks.
Jarad: When I walked through the halls, him and a group of friends would be standing there, crowding the doorways of trying to get through. I’d come into basketball practice, and they’d be at the doors lined up.
A long-standing tension between Salesky and Dos Santos came to a head that day in the lunch room a year ago.
The school suspended Dos Santos for five days.
The Salesky family filed charges in Nashua district court.
Attempts to reach Dos Santos were unsuccessful.
In January of 2006, Dos Santos was convicted of criminal threatening, and received a suspended sentence.
The terms of his probation included (quote) “no contact†with Salesky.
But the court did not specify how Salesky and Dos Santos could avoid each other while both at Nashua North.
Salesky’s mother wants Dos Santos sent to another school.
Charlene: When he was found convicted and guilty of criminal threatening with intent to harm, Bruno lost his rights.
Hottel: 7:15 All students have rights and we have an equal obligation to the rights of students.
Nashua school Superintendant Christopher Hottel
Under New Hampshire law, any person--even one convicted of a crime--is entitled to a public education up until the age of 21.
But Hottel adds that the school is doing what it can to protect Salesky's safety.
"We would not allow two students to be in the building if we did not believe that we could keep the building, the environment safe."
Hottel has offered Salesky protection while on school grounds.
And he is encouraging the two young men to sit down with a mediator.
But the Salesky family says it is too late for that.
Jarad: 8:56 If someone threatens to kill you, are you really going to want to sit down and talk about it?
His mother agrees.
Charlene: 2:39 I was not going to sit at a table where they presented the same options over and over again. They can say they won’t move Bruno, but they’ll move Jarad.
But Jarad Salesky doesn't want to go to Nashua High South either.
What the Saleskys do want is for the school to enforce the court's "no contact" order.
But School Board Member Sandra Ziehm points out the court didn't order the school to keep the boys apart.
It ordered the boys to stay apart.
Ziehm cut:
Charlene Salesky has petitioned the Nashua district court for a stalking order.
It was denied.
However, the court scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to clarify the original sentencing.
Meanwhile, Salesky meets his teachers after school hours, and does his work at home.
For NHPR news, this is Sheryl Rich Kern.
