From what I keep hearing out of local middle, primary and high schools, is that there is a whole lot of fighting and bullying going on in District 150. (see recent reports below)I know, I know, we have always had knuckleheads that fight in school, but I think this current breed of knuckleheads appears to be particularly reckless and could potentially hurt someone if they felt like it. I'm sorry - I'm saying it - but it's true.
I could give you reports from my school of children being VERY mean spirited, bullying and just generally taking everything for granted. People are posting that there are regular fights at RICHWOODS - yes - RICHWOODS.
This conflict resolution thing that the administrators are doing to resolve issues hoping people will learn to do better, takes too long. By the time progress is made on the bULLY - the good kid - the good teacher - the good parents will be gone.
Anonymous said...
I'm sorry for this whole unfortunate situation but, as a teacher in a D150 school, I see substitutes in my building every day. I will be honest, I have NEVER EVER been so embarrassed as I have been this year by the behavior (off the wall) of the children in the classrooms with subs. Its like a free for all. Students being plucked out by administration one at a time for unbelievable disrespect towards an adult. I have been told over and over, I will NEVER come back to a D150 school. It is a huge problem. Please come visit any school and walk past a classroom with a sub and it is utter chaos, no matter the age of the children or subject matter being taught. It is shameful to say the least.
Carri W said...
I am a parent of a student at Rolling Acres-Edison where 7th grade students were made to feel as though their behavior toward a substitute teacher played a role in his untimely death over the weekend.
Sharon Crews said...
From a very reliable source--4 or 5 fights at Richwoods today.
13 comments:
I know that the mild-mannered, caring principal at Rolling Acres under normal conditions would never have done what reports say that she did in blaming students for the death of a sub.
I am hearing that this kind man was mistreated throughout the district. Students are especially cruel to subs. While I would never go so far as to make such a blanket statement blaming students about this particular situation, I have no doubt that this sub was treated badly. Yet, I believe, you will find that many students actually loved this particular man.
I fear and hate to say it but believe that many children are bullied at home--maybe by adults and maybe by their siblings. It just has to be learned behavior or behavior borne out of extreme frustration and lack of self-esteem. Average, well-adjusted children do not bully.
Again, as I keep harping, District 150 has done these children so much additional harm by allowing them to continue with these behaviors with few consequences. Now, for the first time, a principal has actually accused students of bullying a sub.
I taught until I was 67--till I knew for sure that I was finished with that phase of my life. One of the main reasons was that I knew that I never wanted to come back to work as a sub. Many early retirees do that. I had watched how subs were treated--kids hunt for weakness and subs by the nature of their jobs have many. For one thing, they don't even know the students' names, they might be unfamiliar with the material to be taught on the spur of the moment on any given day, etc.
I wasn't immune (in the later years of my career). A few students on occasion tried to break me down (it's a great game for kids). I was fortunate because there were always enough students in my corner that shamed the others to stop their behaviors. Also, I wasn't as susceptible to these taunts as are younger teachers with little experience, etc.
I sort of made it my own rule that ordinarily I would not send a student to the office for behaviors directed at me--that I would handle the situation in a way so as to eliminate the problem. When I saw that my own efforts weren't working, I would go to the next level.
My favorite story was years ago about a young man, who called me an ugly bitch. That was in the days when kids didn't want to go to the deans' office. I threatened the office and just said, I will give you a few minutes to take a better look at me and tell me what you think. He said, "you're getting better looking by the minute." But those simple methods didn't work as well in the last two decades.
Sharon, I will certainly direct other RAE parents to read your comments about the principal at the school, because very few parents I know would ever describe her like you.
As I shared in an email I sent, the specifics of what was said is somewhat irrelevant at this point. The bottom line is how her comments made those children feel. Interestingly, many of those students were extremely upset Tuesday afternoon and then expected to do their best on the ISAT tests the following day!? It will be interesting to see if the school's scores reflect her "caring" attitude when they are published next school year.
the tv stations are saying it was Ms. Warr-Hightower that said it......not Mrs. Turner. who in my opinion is an extremely classy woman.
Anonymous: Who are you saying is extremely classy Warr-Hightower or Turner?
Delores Turner is a very upstanding Woman. Very Classy. Don't even know the other one.
Agreed--Delores Turner is, indeed, classy and very kind and mild-mannered.
Steve Ptacek is officially at Trewyn as an assistant principal.
Carrie, I readily admit that I had not been around Turner since she was a dean at Manual and have seen her more recently at board meetings. I don't know anything at all about how she conducts herself as a principal. I just have never heard any complaints about her until now. However, I have heard that Rolling Acres has its share of discipline problems--and I don't even know how Delores handles them. Therefore, nothing I say is meant to contradict what you know from your experiences. Being a principal with all its stresses sometimes changes people.
Sharon, I will agree that Rolling Acres has certainly had its share of discipline problems, just as every other middle school in the district.
What I know is that Mrs. Turner has been a primary reason for many families choosing to either leave Rolling Acres-Edison or not transition from Northmoor-Edison to Rolling Acres, even though it is the feeder school.
I understand that middle school is a whole different playing field than primary school, but being honest with families and respectful of all types of children should be expected and witnessed at every school. It is pretty sad when a child describes their school as a "prison," which I have heard a number of times.
I know that families complained to administrators in the Hinton era and even before to no avail. Even the Edison management got an earful and couldn't do anything about moving her to a different school.
I certainly can appreciate how being a principal can be very stressful, but I am hard pressed to believe that the environment at White Middle School could have been too terribly different than it is at Rolling Acres. With someone with as many years of experience as a principal, I expected much more from her.
In this situation, the LEAST she can do is own up to her lack of judgment and publicly apologize to those students. If we expect our kids to take responsibility for themselves, she needs to model that. A letter with one simple statement, "I apologize if any statements made were misinterpreted." is not good enough for me. It shouldn't be good enough for the district either.
I find it very interesting that in all the years Mrs. Turner has been the Principal at Rolling Acres, people are NOW complaining about her, literally WEEKS before she retires. Carrie, if she is and has been that horrible of an administrator WHY has no one complained before NOW?
Anonymous - parents have complained about Mrs. Turner in the past. As I said in my earlier post, issues of her leadership style are not new, but have not been acted upon.
This particular situation, unfortunately, affected more than just 1 or 2 students/families......kind of like hitting a bee's nest rather than swatting at one or two bees. When something happens to a large group, it is more difficult for administrators to ignore or cast aside.
Even though I definitely don't believe any principal should lay blame for a death on 7th graders, etc., I hope that all parents involved take this opportunity to explain to their children not to support (laugh, etc.) at the actions of children who are cruel to teachers--and I believe there is evidence that students in several schools treated Mr. Sam badly. It is very difficult for 7th graders not to go along with those students who can be so very cruel. As long as this has happened, I hope parents take the opportunity to talk to their children about respecting their teachers and adults, in general--not to make fun of them, etc. Of course, parents need to let their children know that they are not to blame for a death--but not to make them think that the actions of some children are acceptable.
Sharon, I certainly empathize with the plight of substitute teachers district-wide. I can only imagine how difficult it is for someone to try and maintain a level of consistency and structure in a place that is not "theirs" so to speak. My daughter shared that there were students who did not treat Mr. Sam respectfully, which is unfortunate, but I'm afraid all too common.
While I appreciate your point of using this tragic situation as an opportunity for parents to impress the importance of children showing respect towards adults, etc, I must impress my point of the lack of administrators being held to the same standard as it pertains to showing respect for students. To quote Carl Cannon, "respect is a two-way street," and the students in this particular situation were, in my opinion, bullied by their school leaders. Two adults showed a true lack of professional judgment and when the hell gates opened up by parents calling administration, the principal made a feeble attempt at apologizing in a letter for statements being "misinterpreted".
Like you said earlier, children model what they see. If their principal or other high level administrator acts like a bully towards them, what type of behavior should school personnel expect in return? The difference is, the students are held accountable for their actions, as they should be. The question is...will the principal in this situation be held accountable for her actions?
Carrie, your child and those who were innocent should not have been spoken to in this manner. Now that you have mentioned that other students had been disrespectful of Dr. Sam, that's the most important point.
You said that students are held accountable for their actions. What consequences did those students suffer in the past? If the principal did not mete out the approriate conequences in the past, then she is to blame for the situation getting out of hand. I know that disrespectful comments to teachers, in general, are not considered major by District 150. More often than not administrators don't want to deal with these "minor" infractions.
When I was still teaching at Manual, I know that if a teacher sent a referral about a student who had called the teacher a bitch, etc., the deans would question the teacher by asking such questions as "Are you sure the student was speaking directly to you? or we were told something about the student having a bad day, etc.
It is common knowledge that students mistreat subs (and teachers) on a daily basis in many schools. I know there is a shortage of subs--I'm surprised there are any at all willing to go to some schools.
As to respect, it is a two-way street. But students went through a phase when they were constantly telling me (because they had heard the cliche from other adults) that they didn't have to respect me until I respected them.
I had a little speech to try to clarify their misconceptions. I told them that as a person I would have to earn their respect and that might take a while--not respect at first sight or that they might never come to respect me (although to their credit so many gave respect very easily and even gave love). However, because I am the teacher, students have to respect the teacher as an authoority figure. In other words, students can't say, I can misbehave all I want because you don't respect me. Of course, I told students it was my duty to respect their right to an education and to do everything that I could to see to it that they have that opportunity--and sometimes that means that disruptive students have to be sent out of the room at times.
Also, students don't learn respect at school--they learn that at home. Those sudents walk into the classroom from the getgo respecting their teachers. And I have a strong feeling that those students, like your child, are the ones who did not treat Mr. Sam badly or encourage those who did.
I still would like to hear (and probably won't) exactly what was said to the 7th graders and who said it. The adults used poor judgment--no doubt about it. Did they say that all the 7th graders were to blame or something to the effect that "some of you know you treated Mr. Sam very badly." Even that wasn't appropriate at the time, but "some" does change the message a bit.
It's an unfortunate situation, but I hope District 150 handles this situation appropriately in terms of the adults, but, also, that 150 learns how important it is for students to be held accountable for the way their treat teachers in the building, etc., and for the words they use to deride teachers.
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