SCSD Vice Principal Attacked by Student
Again, we implore the district to take a first step in trying stem the onslaught of violence in our schools. It could make a huge impact for the Superintendent and all, some or even one of the Board of Education members to spend next week visiting the schools and addressing each individual classroom - unannounced - to bring home the message that acting out violently (or threatening to) is NOT acceptable in our schools!
We have reviewed the Board of Education's Statement of Core Beliefs, which is posted on their website. It is posted in its entirety here, with a couple of items of particular interest highlighted...
Syracuse Board of Education
Statement of Core Beliefs and Commitments
Statement of Core Beliefs and Commitments
Purpose:
The purpose of this policy is to set forth the Board of Education’s beliefs about the potential of
our students, the purpose of public education, the impact of our teachers, leaders, schools and
district on student achievement and its duty to promote a culture of high expectations and
accountability. It also sets forth its commitment to act on these beliefs to achieve its vision to
become the most improved urban school district in the nation.
We believe that teaching and learning is our core business.
We will make district decisions in an equitable manner, including those related to resource
allocation, based upon our core business.
We believe that education is a means to eradicate poverty.
We will fully support and implement initiatives aligned with the Say Yes model.
We believe all students can learn and achieve at high levels.
We will prepare every student to graduate college- and career-ready.
We believe positive, supportive, and safe environments are essential to teaching and
learning.
We will create school communities in exceptional facilities with positive cultures and high quality
supports for students and staff.
We believe that teachers have the greatest positive impact on student achievement.
We will recruit, develop, support, reward and retain world-class teachers.
We believe that effective leaders produce excellent results.
We will recruit, develop, retain, and reward leaders who champion a relentless focus on high
student achievement and effectively manage teacher talent.
We believe that a high-performing organization produces a legacy of enduring greatness.
We will build a high-performing organization that values and strives for excellence at all
levels and is organized to support our core business.
We believe in data-driven decision making to ensure continuous improvement at all levels.
We will have accountability for performance at all levels of the system.
We believe in the value of parents as their children’s first teachers and that the
involvement of parents and community partners is vital to improving educational
outcomes.
We will develop and implement effective and sustainable partnerships with parents, families
and the community at both the school and district level to enhance student learning.
We are not promoting high expectations or accountability. We are not creating school communities with positive cultures. We are not providing high quality supports for staff and our high quality supports for students are inadequate to meet our needs.
But we can...
And we, educators and parents alike,
need to demand it.
And we need to be relentless.
Our kids' lives and our staffs' lives literally depend on it.
Yes it is true.
ReplyDeleteThe school is not allowed to handle this situation as it is of a criminal nature. The administrator had to receive medical treatment making this a case of assault. Maybe I am wrong, but I believe the district can't investigate this incident until it is turned over to them by the police. Remember when a principal was arrested for not reporting a crime a number of years back.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest getting a large group of people to attend the BOE meeting. Ask the people to be there by 2:30 p.m. to fill the front row of seats. You know Sharon will be calling upon her cronies to pack the house as well.
ReplyDeleteiZone employees can't make it until 4:45! Does anyone know when the opt-out date is?
DeleteA similar incident happened at Porter within the last two months. I think it might have been February. As I understand it, the principal himself was attacked by a fifth or sixth grade girl. She tried to choke him and as he was trying to release his tie she punched his head. I believe there were two actions there on two consecutive days. I agree the areas you highlighted in the behavior code are not being done. It's only a matter of time that something very, very serious will happen. This is due to an escalation of disruptive behavior and lack of respect being tolerated in the district. Teachers are told NOT to write referrals and to "deal with it". As long as the district officials bury their heads in the sand, this will only get worse. As much as I believe in the due process of the individual, it does not take precedence over the safety and learning conditions of the majority. There really needs to be an expansion of alternate programming slots (of which there are far to few ) for those that cannot function in the classroom. Realistically, 1000 to 2000 slots should be opened up. I think Bill Scott's action plan is spot on. The district will never get excellent results until it has followed through with the above highlighted commitments. I think the best thing to do would be to admit there really is a problem that is not just rooted in "perception", but in reality.
ReplyDeleteThe principal at Porter has been attacked many times. Each time, he puts his arm around them, asks how he can help and puts them back in class.
DeleteIts obviously working. Porter is just such a delightful place to work and learn. LOL
DeleteIt used to be - about 8 years ago. It's gone downhill - just like the rest of the district. It's sad. Nobody seems to acknowledge that behavior is an issue - except that there are too many suspensions. I don't think they've bothered to find out why. Apparently constant disruptive behavior is only seen as "minor" and not correlated with the uptick in violent behavior. The students know there will be little or no consequence for their poor behavior. The bottom line is there has to be a safe, orderly, and nurturing environment in which to teach and learn or else learning will not occur. It's a vicious cycle.
DeleteI agree - my elementary school ALSO used to be GREAT. 7 or 8 years ago (with a new WEAKER principal) it started going gradually downhill, as expectations and what was tolerated was lowered. HOW IS THIS NOT OBVIOUS!!!! When expectations for children are lowered and they know that there are LITTLE or NO consequences, those that have not learned behavioral expectations at home grab control and run amuck....So tired of people not acknowledging this. I have a GREAT idea - we NEED to get a well known (who has written some popular books) child psychologist to come here and make a presentation to our community about what lowering expectations and taking away consequences does to children. It's got to be someone from Outside our area. You know like bringing Judge Judith Kaye to tell people that the "school to prison pipeline" does exist. Like all the presenters they had at OCC talking about how our suspending too many students of color has created all these problems - NOT the students' behaviors...
DeleteTeachers being told not to write referrals and to "deal with it" has been going on for decades. It was told to me my first year teaching in the district and has been reiterated in one strength or another for more than 20 consecutive years until my recent and blessed retirement. CYA is SOP. All teacher referrals MUST be accepted by the "office" and recorded with a resulting communication back to the teacher on the action taken (or not taken) and the reason. Then, we might be able to get real and accurate statistics on individual disruptions, reasons for the same, repeat offenders, interventions, etc. So far (since 1989) we have only had a shell gamne and kick the can down the road.
ReplyDeleteBoard members should be visiting the schools every week.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-political-commentary/2011/04/no-confidence-vote-in-rochester-lands-jean-claude-brizard-in-chicago/#.Uz_rhVdN0TU
ReplyDeleteIf the Rochester Teachers' Union and its teachers can push out a Broadie, why can't we? Here are the main issues involving Syracuse and our attempts to push out the seasoned politician, Sharon Contreras.
1) Kevin Ahern is a weakling, He writes a great memo, and that's about it. Violation after violation goes mentioned, but nothing is ever acted on. "We have contacted the Superintendent, but she..." is the most repeated phrase in his work. Mike Foley might be able to help, but our union dues aren't going towards this type of support. Why don't we vote on our confidence, like Rochester did?
2) The BOE. Body and Dorsey belong to Contreras. Cecile doesn't. Who does that leave on either side?
3) There will be school closings this year. Hughes is already being phased out and turned into the Latin School. There are other schools out of time, Fowler, Delaware and maybe one more. Has anything been said about these? A decisions has to be submitted to the state, yet I don't believe anything has been made public.But Brizard was pushed out finally because of closing schools with no public input.
Thoughts?
I am not sure where your information has vome from, but Delaware is definitely open next year. As a matter of fact, we are taking on an extra class in two grade levels. Please specify any sources you may have. Delaware needs to stop always being used as possible rumors. Despite everything that we have endured,it is really a nice school. There are a lot of great kids at this school and the staff tries really hard to acknowledge them. It makes the staff really frustrated when a select few are able to drag our name into the spotlight. What people don't know is that staff and students at Delaware are brought up as a crew or your home away from home. There are many kids who attend there that thrive on that belief. So please, any sources you have to Delaware closing would gladly be appreciated. Obviously, we are under the impression that we are open for business next year.
DeleteNorth Syracuse Central School District also has a union who is in it for more than the paycheck. They were able to push out a Broad graduate as well.
Deletehttp://dianeravitch.net/2013/08/15/meet-the-broad-superintendents/
ReplyDeleteHere's how you do it. Encourage the STA to put it to vote, so at least there is documentation that teachers have no confidence. Seems pretty simple to me. Wouldn't we hit 95% no-confidence too?
I am not 100% STA is strong enough to do so! Many people do not have the confidence in STA. Truthfully, STA has been aware of these problems. I think STA is scared of Sharon too. Truthfully, if STA was doing their job , we would not need this awesome blog or The Take Back our schools group. You guys are our only hope!
DeleteI completely agree, they are scared. Maybe we need to elect the new representative. But what are they scared of? They are not district employees. Again, the only people who can get Sharon out are the BOE. As long as she inundates them with trips, misinformation and fear, we're dead in the water until 2016.
DeleteRegarding the knife incident at Webster: this happened a number of weeks ago. The student brought in a huge knife (similar to a Bowie knife). A Teacher overheard another student talking about it. The knife was confiscated from the student's backpack. The student was suspended, had a hearing, and returned to his classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe general feeling at my school is that nothing will happen if a student is disruptive or violent. We have a number of students who clearly need help that they cannot get in an elementary school. Classrooms have been trashed, students run down our hallways cursing. When they're sent out of the classroom, they are actually rewarded (given a treat or allowed to play), then returned to class. We wonder if administrators have been threatened in some way by downtown to keep these incidents to themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe administrators are finally getting the back lash for not supporting their teachers. Tearing up referrals , sending kids back to class and accusing teachers of having poor discipline has caused a lot of these problems.
DeleteI'm sure they have but sending students back to class is a very dangerous course of action. You forgot to add to your list they get accused of not managing their classroom!
DeleteRemember Project SAVE legislation. You CAN refuse their return until the following day. Stand up for yourself. Even when STA or SCSD won't...
DeleteI plan to remove my kids from the district for there own safety. It's ridiculous that these things can even happen. A mother coming into a school with a weapon?? How did she gaget in??? A child sexually assaulted in the bathroom during the school day?? The bullying that happens? Where are the adults in the schools who are supposed to keep our children safe????????? Even the so called good schools in the district are going down the toilet....... Who can learn in this environment?
ReplyDeleteI was trying to help a student who was being bullied and mt administrator put a memo in my mail box telling me that I need to work on my classroom management! I know it sounds unbelievable but it is true.
ReplyDelete