Strollerderby : principal

Texas School Accused Of Student Cage Fighting

Brett Singer — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Next time you have complaints about your children's school, remember this story. Because things could be worse.

According to a report obtained by the Dallas Morning News, school officials at South Oak Cliff High in Texas (ironically known as "SOC", pronounced "sock", as in "sock it to me") had students settle their differences by fighting. In a cage. This did not happen last Tuesday. It happened back in 2003 and continued until 2005. And no one did anything about it.

Listen to this quote:

"Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told the newspaper that there were 'some things that happened inside of a cage' and called the fights 'unacceptable.'"

See, the only thing that should be happening "inside of a cage" at school is a hamster being fed. Maybe a little jog on the ol' exercise wheel. The hamster, I mean. Perhaps a bunny. I'm thinking cages at schools are for class pets. Students generally should not be doing ANYHTING in a cage. Especially at school.

In a blog entry at The Dallas Morning News web site, Kent Fischer digs up a few facts about former SOC principal Donald Moten. Moten allegedly "not only allowed [the fights] to take place, but that he egged on the participants." Hey, at least he wasn't just picking up a paycheck, right? Fischer points out that Moten's other "accomplishments" at SOC include "An athletic grade changing scandal, times two," "Allegations of credit card abuse," "Allegations of inappropriate sexual relations with students' mothers." Oh, and of course -- "Cage fights." The piece questions why Moten was even hired for the $92,000 a year job in the first place, since his employment history includes a stint as a police officer where he faked his own kidnapping.

When I was a student at a New York City Public School, people would always ask me how horrible it must have been. Sure, there were problems. But we never had anything like this. Well, as far as I know.

Source: Yahoo! News

Image: SXC (stock photo)

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Should Students Attend Parent-Teacher Meetings?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:30:00 GMT

In an effort to boost participation in parent-teacher meetings, many schools have started including an unlikely facilitator in the talks: the student. According to The New York Times, attendance at parent-teacher meetings at a middle school outside Chicago increased sevenfold after administrators started letting students sit in on the conferences. The principal speculated that parents from low-income and immigrant families are more likely to attend a discussion with their child and her teacher than a traditional meeting in which they listen politely to a 15-minute teacher monologue. I would guess that parents are also more likely to attend conferences when they don’t have to pay for childcare.

Candidly discussing your child’s performance and challenges in front of him may seem like a joke of a conference (and doubtless it sometimes is), but, if led well, such a conference does have the potential to improve more than just attendance. Allowing the student to present her own academic successes and concerns makes kids feel in charge of their learning process. As one parent put it, “My daughter is learning that the teacher is not responsible for her learning. Cierra knows that she is responsible for her own success.”

On the other hand, parent-teacher conferences can be vital times for both parent and teacher to fill each other in on important behavioral concerns that neither party would be comfortable discussing in front of the student—perhaps your child is having trouble sleeping, for instance, affecting her engagement in the classroom. To address this need for privacy, some schools offer parents the opportunity for closed parent-teacher meetings by appointment. Every school opting for a student-inclusive meeting should—quite clearly and vocally—offer parents this option.

Photo: New York Times

Students Suspended for Hair Dyed Pink in Honor of School Nurse's Battle with Breast Cancer

JeanneSager — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:27:00 GMT

It was a rare show of selflessness for a bunch of middle school students, but showing up with strips of pink in their hair last week earned a dozen Indiana pre-teens suspension. The kids said they were doing it in honor of the school nurse who recently passed away after a battle with breast cancer.

Their parents are refusing to make the kids wash the pink out of their hair, but the school is firm. Dyed hair, says the principal, is distracting.

No doubt the kids went about their impromptu remembrance - which for some kids was also a tribute to moms who've fought the battle and won - the wrong way. If you know hair dye is against the rules, why not slip on pink armbands or wear pink ribbons in your hair? Maybe approaching administration with the plan to begin with would have enabled a school-wide dispensation for the day to honor a faculty member who teachers must be mourning as well. Interviewed on camera, the principal expressed his regret for having to stick to the rules - he thinks it's a good idea. But the rules are the rules - no dyed hair.

You can't fault a principal for requiring every kid follow the same rules. But you can fault the rule.

It's just hair. Is it distracting in the morning when a kid shows up with blue hair? Yes. But show me something that won't get a bunch of hormonal pre-teens riled up. Exactly. Do we have to worry about kids flashing gang colors in schools today? Unfortunately, yes. But tell me how it's any different to have it in a hair streak than a barrette. It's just hair, which I'd rather kids were talking about then picking on the fat kid or spreading rumors that turn a girl into the class slut. It's just hair, which I'd rather my kid were playing with than drugs, booze or guns to get my attention.

When kids want to get attention, I'd like to see them doing it in positive ways - like joining up to dye their hair pink for breast cancer awareness. So maybe we could stop telling kids what they can't do and start telling them what they can do?

Image: WSBT

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Principal Resigns Over Pregnancy Pact Controversy

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:00:00 GMT

The so-called teen pregnancy pact may have fallen off the radar screen of mainstream news, but the saga continues for the city of Gloucester.

In case you living under a rock during the last two weeks of June, here's the background: Principal Joseph Sullivan drew worldwide attention when he told Time that he believed the spike in teen pregnancy at his high school was an intentional choice by girls who had entered a pact to get knocked up before graduating. The mayor responded with a press conference in which she forcefully denied Sullivan’s claims. Sullivan stood by his version of events and complained that he had been slandered.

Apparently, neither party was able to let bygones be bygones. After 10 years at Gloucester High, Sullivan abruptly resigned this week. He said that without the support of the mayor and the school superintendent, it was impossible for him to do his job.

While many Gloucester residents expressed regret at Sullivan’s departure and faulted the mayor for keeping the controversy under wraps, others maintain that Sullivan was wrong to publicize such a sensational account of teen pregnancy in his school. Which side do you fall on?

Photo: daylife.com

How to Fire Bad Teachers

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:03:00 GMT

When Anthony Lombardi took over as the principal of a below-average public school in Queens, New York, he began a controversial practice to improve student performance: he fired bad teachers. Within a few years, the percentage of fourth graders in Lombardi’s school who could read at grade level went from 37 to 90.

According to Slate, studies show that predicting whether a teacher will be effective in the classroom based on his or her résumé is nearly impossible. And once teachers are hired, teachers unions essentially ensure them a job for life. Lombardi’s approach to ridding his school of bad teachers was to implement new standards for teacher performance, including comprehensive class outlines and random classroom visits from the principal. Incompetent teachers were given an option: either request a transfer or receive an unsatisfactory rating and the subsequent (wildly unpleasant) two-year review. Lombardi weeded out a third of his school’s teachers in this way.

The obvious problem with this method is that, while Lombardi improved his own school, other below-average public schools picked up the teachers he had deemed unsatisfactory. So, how to improve the whole system so that every school is stocked with good teachers?

Lombardi suggests an apprenticeship program: instead of granting teachers union membership their first day of class, make them go through an in-school training program, followed by a rigorous evaluation. Only teachers who pass the evaluation will be granted union membership and lifetime employment. Researchers have already prepared a detailed proposal of this plan.

The difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher can mean the difference between going to college or dropping out of high school. It is high time we subjected teachers in all public schools to rigorous evaluations.

Photo: Reason.com

School T-Shirt Controversy: "N the 'N' Word"

Kelly Mills — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:38:00 GMT

Eight-year-old Jaiden Haber was sent to the principal's office for wearing a shirt that said, "N the 'N' Word" and below that, "It's time!" The principal of the Amityville school told Jaden to change the shirt. The executive director of the Nassau chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union says that violated Jaiden's First Amendment rights. The district superintendent says, "To send a little white girl wearing this shirt into a very diverse district that is almost 90 percent nonwhite was not the way to address this word. It's a lightning rod." Jaiden's mom says the school should have used this as a teaching moment, and that Jaiden innocently made history. But you know what really bothers me about this story?

What Jaiden says. "My mom picked it out. She thought it would look nice on me. I don't know why they made me take it off." See, her mom didn't explain the shirt to her, saying she wanted to "keep her innocent." So while I'm with the New York Civil Liberties Union on the fact that she should have the right to wear the shirt, I am really, really bugged by the fact that her mom sent her to school in a controversial shirt without telling her the significance of it. Frankly, I think it's totally unfair to her kid, and her comments make it sound as though she wanted to start something, in shades of lamb to the slaughter. What do you think? And how does this stack up against political onesies and the like?

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Facebook Fighting: Kids and Online Bullying

Kelly Mills — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:32:00 GMT

In general, I'm suspicious of hysteria surrounding how kids use the latest technology--nine times out of ten, they just do the same things kids have always done, but in a more high tech way. However, I'm a little torn as to whether social networking sites are bringing changes to interactions on middle and high school campuses. The Washington Post had one piece on a few fights that started on Facebook, and later became physical confrontations, prompting the principal to ask parents to monitor their kids online.

Frankly, that doesn't seem much different than an argument starting in any off-campus physical space. But Facebook and MySpace have brought some changes to bullying. See, it used to be only the kids with social or physical power over other kids could do big-time bullying. But now, kids can post things about classmates anonymously, and that stuff can spread quickly across a campus. In some ways I suppose it creates more equal opportunities for cruelty, but I have to tell you, nowadays many kids who gets seriously picked on find some of the worst stuff comes from webpages that can be viewed by tons of people. Trust me, we'll be hearing about this one for a while to come.

Update: School Reinstates Tag After "Reorientation"

Kelly Mills — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:32:00 GMT

The Virginia elementary school that banned tag may again allow kids to be "it". A few weeks ago, principal Robyn Hooker outlawed the game, saying it had gotten out of hand, with students being tackled and piled on and dragged into games unwillingly. Some outcry among parents ensued, and so school administrators instituted a week of "reorientation lessons on playground safety" (sounds so ominous, like "reprogramming") in P.E. classes, and should be allowing the game to begin again today.

Now clearly we are a blog divided on this issue, and I have the feeling Jen will not condone my practice of tackling each Strollerderby writer at the annual holiday party and administering either a noogie or a wet willy. But I am the crotchety libertarian again, it seems, and I couldn't get behind the ban. I mean, it doesn't seem like tag is an inherently violent game, and I imagine you could outlaw tackling and dogpiles instead. But I think the real problems rest in our understaffed schools, with minimal supervision at recess, and in our inability to work on constructive solutions with kids that don't involve making big, sweeping rules. And this is coming from someone who, as a kid, would so have been at the bottom of that dogpile.

Happy Birthday kids. Have some carrots.

Brett Singer — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Despite what Adrienne pointed out about chubby kids having fewer cavities, a school principal in New Zealand isn't taking any chances.

Megan Bowden of the Oteha Valley primary school has issued a decree: no more cake. With a large number of kids having birthdays in September and October, every day was a birthday cake day, and that's just too damn much cake! The New Zealand Ministry of Education (ooo, sounds ominous, doesn't it?) has been trying to reduce the amount of sugary snacks being served at school, but they also issued a statement that, "schools did not need to monitor food brought in from outside." So they're probably cool with the cake.

As much as the principal's policy seems draconian, I have to admit that a part of me agrees with her. I'm far from a health nut, and Kelly is right when she tears into the London lunatic who criticized a heavyset beauty queen. But it does sometimes feel like kids are given a tremendous amount of junky food during the school day. I know of two elementary schools that have "sundaes on Friday" once a month at lunch, and I've seen lunch menus that offer waffles and bacon, with chocolate éclairs for dessert. According to the article, parents began to think that bringing a cake for the child's birthday was a school rule. Then there's the issue of allergies, which means checking the cake for nuts or another offending substance, and whoever brings in the cake might be expected to provide an alternative for any child who can't partake of the treat. Maybe it's not completely unreasonable to say hey, have your cake at home.

Vice Principal Makes Kids Eat Off the Floor

Kelly Mills — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:28:00 GMT

Sometimes I feel like a bit of a tool for reporting on all these wretched teachers and school administrators when there's plenty of decent ones who don't make the news, but I find these stories strangely compelling. Maybe it's the sense of anxiety I have as a parent, sending off my kid and telling her to listen to other adults who I may or may not always agree with. And I can guarantee you I would not agree with anyone making my child eat off the floor as punishment, as one vice principal at a Philadelphia elementary school did.

Part of what makes this story particularly wretched is that it sounds like these kids were particularly vulnerable to the unfair treatment because they were ESL students, many from other countries, and in some cases the families were unaware of the punishment. The incident that prompted the vice principal to make an entire elementary school class eat their lunches off the cafeteria floor? One kid was changing the water cooler jug and it spilled. The good news is that the woman was put on administrative leave while the matter is investigated.

Principal Pulls Awesome Stunt To Boost Grades

Kelly Mills — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:33:00 GMT

What can I say? I'm a sucker for serious dedication to kids and a flair for showmanship. In an effort to boost grades and win better behavior from students, Principal Bob Vicari has basically made students offers they couldn't refuse: Improve, and I'll take one for the team. In his six years as a middle school principal, he's rewarded students for meeting his challenges by lettting them peg him with water balloons and smash pies in his face, and he's moved his office to the roof--twice.

So how do you top that? Well, this time he promised to eat bugs if students stepped up. And actually a record number of them made the honor roll, so he chomped down live crickets three times, one for each grade. "I was told you have to floss afterwards because the legs get caught between your teeth," he quipped to students. It's truly a nice story to read, and he sounds like a helluva guy.

Irate Italian Parents Beat Up Principal Over Bad Grades

Karen Murphy — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 12:07:00 GMT

So...maybe it's something of a free-for-all in Italy's education system? First teachers go postal, now it's parents. A family of a middle-school student, including the father and the gradnfather of the student, beat up the school's principal in protest of recent low grades and a ban imposed on cell phones. Yeah, those are a good reasons to send a guy to the hospital with contusions, isn't? Principal Ugo Castorina has been running the school for 22 years; you think he's jonesing for early retirement about now?