The senior class of Bridgeport High School did an outstanding job at honoring his memory. Principal LeClair said to me tonight…” gone but never forgotten”

I have to commend and congratulate “Our Boys”, that’s what we call them. Dustin’s best friends for many years before he past away, our sons. Nick, Brandon, Johny and Marc… they all graduated tonight and with the help of a very special teacher, Mrs. Michelle Tolles they did an incredible job honoring his memory.

The senior class did a fundraiser to purchase a bench in Dustin’s memory and it was placed in the courtyard of the high school today. The best part is, they had $500 left over from the fundraiser in which they placed as a scholarship in Dustin’s name. A young man that was one of Dustin’s best friends received the scholarship to pursuer his goal of being a pediatrician. Nick received the scholarship and he also released the balloons in his honor for graduation.

You see, the school actually went above and beyond much more than we expected. At commencements tonight they placed a chair where Dustin would have sat with a ribbon on it and they called his name as they would have if he would’ve been there. When his name was called, Nick released two balloons in Dustin’s memory…incredible.

This was bitter sweet for us because as much as we loved seeing “Our Boys” receive their diploma in their cap and gown, it was heartbreaking to see that empty chair with a simple bow instead of seeing our son sitting there.

As much as I love those boys and as happy as we were, we waited to go down on the field after graduation. We wanted to take the bow as our memory but in no way did I want to spoil their happy day, considering the fact that I was not happy like they were.

Bitter Sweet…we could never thank anyone enough for the tremendous support of remembering Dustin, yet we could not be as happy as they were that they had a whole life ahead of them.

We miss you Dustin and we thank the Bridgeport High School Senior Class for giving us that little minute of glory in our son’s memory. We wouldn’t have had that without Nick, Brandon, Johny, Marc and Michelle…Thank you.

Some schools have just become way out of hand, our children are suppose to be in a learning environment with mentors they look up to. What student is going to look up to the staff if they are sending 10 year old to jail for eating their lunch.

The really bad part of this story is that while I was reading this article another headline caught my eye. It read Mother Upset After School Doesn’t Report Slashing Incident to Police. This took place in a Middle School in Deltona, Florida which is approximately 73 miles southeast of Ocala. One student that cuts himself due to mental issues, took out a piece of glass and cut another student.

The student that was cut, states

I walked up to him he had eight or ten cuts on his arm. I said, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ He goes, ‘Nothing,’ and he pulls out a glass out of his pocket and he cuts me, Aaron said.

It was just a scratch, but it did bleed. Now I am not saying that warrants arresting this student, but the school did not even call the Aarons parents to tell them about the incident. When Aaron showed up for school the next day the boy that cut him was sitting in the classroom. A school counselor states that their concern was for the boy that cuts himself, as it should be, but they should also be concerned with the fact that he is cutting other students.

The school staff considered Aaron’s wound minor and not an attack with a weapon.

When asked by the reporter

He did go after a fellow student, so why wouldn’t this fall under a weapon?”

The counselor stated

I can tell you, we’re not talking about a knife here, we’re not talking about anything that had a jagged edge,

So one school sends a 5th grade student off in a police car for cutting a steak and another school 70 miles away sends a student to counseling for cutting another student. What is going on in this country! This is so insanely ridiculous!