By attributing this specific incident to community violence, she continues to absolve herself and the district from the violence in our schools.
A teacher pointed out recently...
But...
Parent's Letter to Board of EducationThis situation appears to have been resolved in a way that supported ALL of the children involved. We hope that this is a sign of things to come from the Syracuse City School District. Maybe we are seeing some results from the fruits of our labors.
"Dear Superintendent,
I would be grateful if you would listen to me as I tell you about my horrible experience at Dr. King Summer School. A kid that I cannot remember his name was having a bad day and was thumping his desk in my classroom. Another kid named D*** was politely Asking him to stop the other kid was mad at D*** for telling him what to do and began to throw pencils and crayons at him. They then began throwing insults at each other the kid that was throwing pencils at D*** picked up a nearby chair and threw it across the room luckily it missed D*** and slammed against the floor kids and teachers were frantically dodging the chairs it was very intense.
My hopes of leaving alive were very slim. I couldn’t hear myself think with all The teachers yelling for the kids to stay in one place and talking about how To handle the situation and people screaming with fear .
I must be honest with you it was the scariest event of my life
Now things are calmed down I am home typing this on my computer.
Also I remember the image of children in my class curled up in the corner
Fearing a hit to the face. Five minutes or so later when we believed the chaos had ended our friend came back and had a basketball in his hand and threatened to kill D***. I am completely terrified to enter that school again I fear that that same kid will come back and nobody will be safe.
Just to inform you, M***"
We are still processing through the SCSD's June School Board meeting.
Never has it been so clear how divided our fair city is. And yet we all - parents, teachers, administrators, community activists - have the same goal...
EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN IN A SAFE, CHAOS-FREE ENVIRONMENT.
How do we come together, cut through the rhetoric, lay aside our baggage and preconceived notions, and sit down at the table to REALLY discuss how to best serve ALL children?
"Again -- NO one who refuses to vote is in a position to complain. The irrational fears of voting could well hamper extremely critical efforts to improve status quo. When we vote on election day in November, we must sign our names, but HOW we vote in the booth is confidential. The same holds for voting for STA issues. There is NO EXCUSE not to vote. None. Not a single reason. There is NO record of how any individual voted. And -- we cannot assume the votes of the (responsible and accountable) "others" will ensure the outcome. There is simply too much at stake to remain silent."Regardless of your position on the issues at hand, your vote counts! Make your voice heard!
"Good Lord! People are out voting in places where they face the threat of armed militias."
Ever watch Saturday Night Live? Back in the 80's the was a recurring character who had a cable access show called (I think) "Coffee Talk." The character's tagline?
"Talk amongst yourselves."
We admire and applaud your courage in refusing to support the status quo anymore. The Syracuse City School District Board of Education has an obligation to the students in this district to govern with honesty, integrity and independent thought. You demonstrated that independence this week, not only refusing to fall into lockstep with the plans of the only direct report of the School Board - the Superintendent is indeed the Board's direct report, not their boss - but openly and honestly expressing concerns that reflect those of the Board's stakeholders.
Board members please take note: Your job IS to manage the superintendent. When 3,000 teachers and SCSD staff members are speaking in unison - with parent and community support - begging for help, it is time for you to stand up and take notice. Something is going horribly wrong in this district and there is a profound crisis. Do you have the courage to stand up and ask questions or have you been infected the Broad Virus - perhaps contracted on Broad Academy-sponsored "retreats?"
But we will not accept that, while the District works on the long-range solution, our children and the dedicated that staff we value so deeply for their commitment will remain in danger on a daily basis!!!
Do YOU want to look back and wish you did more? Had more conviction? Believed that a group of people with a passion CAN make a difference?
Your voice matters! The children of the SCSD - all of them - deserve the best education we can give them. We all need to jump in 100% and do everything we can to be part of the solution. When you feel fear, let it be overwhelmed by the faces of the children who NEED us, who need school to be a safe place, who need the education that the amazing teachers in our district can provide.
BE THE CHANGE - BE THE SOLUTION!
It is with profound relief that we can report that the second weapon incident in the SCSD in less than a week (that we know of!) did not result in any injuries. As many of you may already know, today a second-grader at McKinley-Brighton brought a .22 caliber handgun to school and was showing it off at lunchtime to a friend when a staff member spotted it. We have avoided tragedy twice... Can we avoid it a third time?
Every single SCSD parent, staff member, and stakeholder should be demanding a statement from the Superintendent and the Board of Education, outlining how they will handle this escalating crisis!
There is an immediate need for our leaders to stand up and make it known to students and parents that WE WILL NOT TOLERATE weapons in our buildings! Where the heck are they? Why are they not on the news? Why are they not in our schools? Why are we getting robo-calls about the Latin school, but not a single district-wide robo-call advising parents and students that schools do not tolerate weapons on campus and providing guidance to students on what to do if they see a weapon in school?
While their silence is not surprising, it is disappointing - again.
SCSD LEADERS TAKE NOTE. NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE A STAND BEFORE A TRAGEDY OCCURS!
We have not received the number of reports that have come in today since the first week of the blog. So many, in fact, that we are compiling them all to be reported to the media. It will be impossible for the district to hide anymore... Keep the tips coming!
have NOT created better behavior or safer schools in Syracuse.
the opportunity to help students be accountable for the impact of their
actions and that they WANT to make changes.
HOW to make appropriate choices, we will be providing them
with the tools they need to make better choices in the future.
And that they WILL.
Powerful ideas... Thus far, poorly implemented. Abysmally implemented, actually. Why? Pressure from the Attorney General's office created an immediate need to do things differently. So, we created a wonderful, philosophically admirable document. But we did it without having the financial or human resources to implement it...
new Code of Conduct, does not magically make it so.
Without the necessary funds or personnel, we do not have an intervention team within the district that has been fully, professionally trained in Restorative Justice. In many schools, we do not have school-based personnel with even rudimentary knowledge of how to conduct basic techniques of Restorative Justice.
So instead, right now many schools deal (or more accurately, don't deal) with minor infractions by doing nothing. More severe infractions are dealt with by a "time out," reset, or trip to the behavior intervention center (BIC), with (in most schools) very little discussion of the impact of the undesirable behavior or how to make a more appropriate choice later. There IS no student accountability.
And because we are not teaching students the appropriate behavior nor are we applying a consequence - and we are certainly NOT holding them accountable - we have now fallen even deeper into the hole...
This district is not doing what they promised. We - parents, district staff and community members - need to look closely and critically at how the Code of Conduct, Character and Support is ACTUALLY being implemented and ask ourselves if we really believe that it will nurture and teach students in the SCSD how to behave in society at the level they need to be successful.
And if our answer is no, then we need to hold this district accountable for living up to the promise that was made to the Attorney General when they held the Code of Conduct, Character and Support up as the document that would guide us moving forward.