After what was spoken about last night, the powers that be can no longer hide their heads in the sand and pretend that those who have spoken out in the press and at board meetings are reporting on isolated incidents. Because what we heard last night was the tip of the iceberg. For every one employee who was brave enough to come out and tell their story, another nineteen stayed home.
We hope that this is the beginning of an open and productive dialogue, focused on making our schools safe for ALL students and teachers.
Post Standard 2/14/14:
Syracuse teachers gather to speak out on school violence, disruptions
We WILL take back our schools!
I am sorry I missed the meeting but I am so glad it happened! Thanks to Mr. Bill Scott, Mr. Cecile, Ms. Body as well as the teachers! This is a positive, much needed step in the right direction to correct the course that the SCSD is currently on. As a retired teacher from the SCSD, I constantly hear from my hard-working friends that the schools are out of control and basically nothing is being done. The staff is left to deal with all the problems (there are many of them) and they are overwhelmed and very stressed (not to mention their jobs are on the line). There is no respect for the teachers period. Whatever plan is created, it must ensure the schools are safe and positive environments for both students and their teachers. Many students and their families are in crisis and social/mental health services need to be expanded. If the appropriate parties come together in good faith in an environment of trust, I think much can be done. It will take some resources, however! The teachers and the students deserve better. It can be done. Just an aside for Ms. Body, I think many instances of adults being sworn at, threatened, etc. are not reported. You are better off to meet with teachers in a neutral, safe environment to find out the truth. The survey/response idea was a good one, too.
ReplyDeleteThere were two incidents that I know of at Porter where staff was injured by students this school year. Both people were out of work for a while. The Board and the Common Council can use that for starters if they're surprised about these kinds of things happening.
ReplyDeleteSeems hard for the Superintendent to deny she knows about stories at Porter, seeing as her Executive Director of Talent Management's (Jeremy Grant-Skinner) husband is a kindergarten teacher there.
DeleteWas a condition of Jeremy coming to Syracuse, or so the rumor mill has it, that his husband must also be given a job.
So he was.
As an uncertified kindergarten teacher with a smaller-than-usual class size, if rumors are correct.
Mr. Skinner-Grant (K teacher at Porter) spoke at the meeting about "educating the whole child..."( Of Course!!) as well as what he seemed to take away from the discussions... "I hear you all commenting about how BAD the kids are, kids aren't bad...we have to teach them..." or something to that effect. I'm scared to death if he goes back to his husband and the Super to report that all the teachers did was complain about how bad the kids are! Was that his take-away from this meeting? I have heard that he has 17/18 students in K with an assistant, most K teachers have 25+ with an assistant. Hardly fair...
DeleteThe other thing that needs to be a focus is the class sizes. Elementary disruptions in the classroom (many times) come from confusion/frustration of the student. Better to act up then be proven "dumb" in class. It then becomes a pattern and we heard MANY horror stories that night. Teaching kids to break the code in reading early on will, in my opinion, lead to less problems later in school. Large class sizes, especially in the primary (PreK-3) have the result of less children getting their early educational needs met. So many slip between the cracks only to be socially promoted to the next grade... frustration builds and builds until we see the blowups in late elementary and beyond. As I've said, a pattern emerges.
We MUST do everything in our power to demand smaller classes AND TA support in the lower grades. We will be able to reach the needs of all students by ensuring ALL can read by second grade at the latest and maybe, just maybe, this will help contribute to a calmer situation in the schools. The Super is destroying MY district, (graduate of, kids graduated from AND work in) and it's truly time we take our school back from someone who either doesn't understand or has a secret (charter) agenda and clearly understands... how to destroy an urban district. I suspect the latter.
What about our escalating class size? First grade, 29 students (9 ESL and 6 identified- both groups supported for only a small portion of the day) and one teacher! TAs have been cut drastically while our ass sizes sky rocket. This seems to be a recipe for disruptions.
ReplyDeleteJust another piece of the elementary problem.
The stories from Thursday night were pretty horrific. Middle school, high school scary... But it does start with the babies... Small classes, proper support, break the reading code early and watch behaviors improve! IMO
I am aware of two instances at HW Smith where teachers were out due to being injured by kindergartners I believe. One was ISS teacher and other K teacher.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about the role STA is playing in keeping our schools safe. They are offering another discipline workshop on Monday, February 27, 2014. Until there are REAL consequences for students and REAL support from administrators what is the point of the workshop?
ReplyDelete