“Our first responsibility is to provide safe schools for our children,” said Bill Smith, a former member of the Lancaster school board. “A child hiding from his attacker in the boys restroom is not a safe environment.”

According to principal Kim Hammond, an argument between two male students escalated into an assault inside the boys restroom between classes Monday afternoon. One child was transported to Rappahannock General Hospital before being transferred to another hospital.

Disciplinary sanctions took place following the incident, which is now under investigation by the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department, Hammond said.

School board chairman Patrick McCranie said he was not notified of the incident but that standard practice in such cases is an automatic 10-day suspension. The board will discuss further action at the December 10 meeting, said McCranie.

Hammond said preparations to notify parents about the altercation were delayed pending the investigation.

Smith is calling on the community to join a new organization, Community for our Schools (CFS), which will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 4, at the Dreamfields complex on Irvington Road.

“There has to be a voice coming from the schools and we don’t have that,” said Smith.

“Teachers are asked to feed positive information to the administration and school board. But I’ve seen a downward spiral in our school district over the past five or six years,” he said. “We are losing good teachers and parents are pulling their kids out and paying $2,000 to put them in other districts like Middlesex.”

The goal of CFS is to give teachers the authority to discipline bad behavior and ensure all students their right to an education, he said.

“It is a meeting about hiring capable and positive administrators who will enforce school board policies and support our teachers,” said Smith. “And it is a meeting where the voice of our teachers can be heard without fear of repercussion.”