Two Words: Press Charges

I was sickened when I watched a video of a student being sucker-punched, knocked to the ground, and then beaten with fists and kicks until he was unconscious.

Thankfully, I have spoken to my school board representative Kevin Adams and he reported to me that the student in the video is going to be okay.

And I know from my experience as a school board member that those that committed this battery on another student will face school discipline--which could potentially include reassignment or expulsion.

But after watching this and seeing it for myself----it is disturbing.  Really hard to watch.  I also believe the student (s) who filmed this from beginning to end, obviously knowing what was about to happen, these student (s) should be disciplined as well.  Will they be though?  We will never know but they should be.

Because the blows to a downed individual could have been lethal--this young man could have been killed in this attack.

That's why I have two words for the parents of the victim here--because that's what he was in this attack, a victim.   PRESS CHARGES.  I would strongly encourage the parents to press charges to get justice primarily, and to remove these violent students secondarily from the schools so that such attacks are not committed on other students.

I say this because I have seen, in my many years on the school board prior to joining the county commission, instances similar to this where  students that committed similar type assaults and or batteries come out of the school discipline process and return right back to the schools from which they were removed or are moved to different public schools once the often light school discipline (3-day, 5-day, or 10 Day suspension)-is concluded.  Sometimes this happens much too quickly--so far as I am concerned.  At least if charges are filed, a just penalty can be achieved for the families and the victim.

I tried hard to make discipline firm and meaningful when I was on the board, but the proclivity of the administration was always to defer to political correctness and discipline was watered down.  This was infuriating to parents, and frankly I do believe it is one of the reasons the population voted to finally move to the appointed superintendent model (which cannot happen soon enough!).  I also believe feckless, weak discipline is driving good parents and good families to flee the public schools--which is very sad to me as a staunch public school supporter.

Bring back firm discipline, remove and segregate the violent predatory monsters, protect the vulnerable, enforce board policy on bullying, and back up the teachers when they write referrals---and the school population will increase again.  I'm convinced of that.

(In case anyone is interested, here are some posts from the past on this topic, real incidents, real stories).

How to Lose Good Students and Good Families

The surveillance video was surprisingly clear, and it showed one student attack another student --and the victim fighting back.  The victim was pushed from behind and then jerked around by his backpack.  He turned around and a fight ensued, with most of the action unfolding outside of the view of the camera…  Nobody wants fights on campus, and certainly nobody wants students to be injured at school as the result of a violent fight.  That is what we can all agree upon.  But I also know that we all have the unalienable right of self-defense when we are attacked.  

Don’t we?

So it came as somewhat of a surprise to me to hear administrators and others whose opinions I typically respect tell me as we watched the video, “See, the student who was pushed turned around and started swinging, throwing punches.”  “Did he really have to do this, or could he have handled it a different way by talking his way out of the incident and not swinging at the attacker?”  Was the question one administrator asked me....

 

My answer:

 

We are asking the wrong question and focusing on the wrong student.  The only question that matters, so far as I’m concerned, is why one student physically attacked another.  Blaming the victim for defending himself and fighting off this attacker solves nothing.

In the incident in question, the one depicted on a video I recently viewed, the attacker was eventually punished appropriately in my opinion and the victim sustained a minor injury.  The parents of the victim chose not to press charges, and as best I can tell these two students have had no further issues.

At another school in our district, a High School,  the story did not play out with such a happy ending.

 In this school, the student who was bullied and physically slapped and taunted on multiple occasions tried to play it off.  He took it.  He walked away, and he turned the other cheek.  Eventually, he became depressed and confided in his parents about what was happening.  His parent contacted the bullied student’s coach, who assured the parent “he would take care of it.” 

That did not happen.

The bullying became worse and soon other students, somehow hearing that the victim’s parents had tried to intervene to stop the bullying, joined in the free-for-all of taunting this student. 

Many of these students began calling this freshman student their “Little White Bitch”

Finally, the exasperated parent approached the principal about the physical and mental abuses, and she was essentially blown-off with a “boys will be boys” sort of nonchalant response.

“I have never felt so rushed out of a meeting before in my life, like he did not want to hear anything I

A First-Hand Account of Terror on Campus--A Pensacola Connection to the Story....

With what appears to be increasing regularity—it is all too often we hear about suicidal maniacs taking innocent lives.  Many on the left want to use these tragedies to take guns from law-abiding citizens.  But the larger issue is lunatics with weapons—whether it is crazy people using their cars as a weapon, or the lunatic that stabbed a random stranger to death in a Maine grocery store last week.  It is a mental health problem—not a gun problem!  But after the tragedy in Virginia on Wednesday with two reporters being murdered on live TV---everyone is talking about these insane people killing innocent victims.

With the Virginia killings fresh on everyone’s mind--yesterday it was a lunatic on a college campus in Starkville, Mississippi that garnered attention.  A friend of mine has two children attending school there, and one of her children was in the hall where the intruder, a gunman on campus, was arrested.  She wrote the account below about her firsthand terror on campus yesterday at Mississippi State—and how law-enforcement agencies intervened at just the right time……

August 27, 2015

It Was Never Going to Happen to Me

                You watch on the news of school shootings and think about how sad you are for that town and those families, but it would probably never be something that happens to you. But they resonate with you. Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia, etc. Everyone can remember something about that event whether by word of mouth or by watching it unfold live on a local TV channel. So then even yesterday, August 26, when the reporter and cameraman were killed because of a mentally unstable man, it resonated with me. I’m going into a communication field in a few years. It hit hard. But surely it was never going to happen to me.

                My high school wasn’t in the best area of Pensacola but I did learn a lot more than school while I was there. I learned that economic status only mattered on a tax form, not in friendships. I learned to be comfortable but aware of my surroundings. And then one day in the spring, I learned something about life…to cherish it. Because that thing that wasn’t going to happen to me, seemed like it might happen. A person on a car chase ditches his car outside the school while we were doing our routine fire drill and files in with us into the building carrying a gun. We had no idea. It’s a school of 1500 students. The police came in and knew, as they had been chasing him. We were on lock down for about two hours but it seemed like all day. So although no shots were fired and no one was injured, the fear was real. The threat was real. We could’ve been the next big news story.

                Fast forward three years and it’s a normal Thursday in Starkville, Mississippi. Normal in the routine, except the weather was a little cooler. I had Public Relations writing at 8am and went across campus to the drill field in McCool for Spanish 2 at 10am. We aren’t supposed to have our phones out during class. But in a class of about 30 young adults, it’s inevitable someone would have their phone nearby. I’ve never been so thankful someone disobeyed the teacher’s rule. At 10:16 a campus wide emergency alert, a “Maroon Alert” was sent to phones everywhere. A girl in my class who had her phone out exclaimed some explicit phrase I won’t restate. The teacher of course was appauled at the outburst. The student read aloud, “Starkville Campus. Active shooter report at Carpenter Hall. Seek safety immediately.” Suddenly the lecture on informal commands in the usted and ustedes form was irrelevant. I pulled out my phone already trembling to see for myself. Immediately screenshot it and sent it in my family group message, especially to make sure my little brother, a freshman on campus, was out of harm’s way. He was on his way back to his dorm at the time which was far from the incident. But I was right across the way from Carpenter.  This was not supposed to happen to me.

                10:19 alert: “Starkville Campus. Active shooter last seen in vicinity of Lee Hall. Seek safety immediately.” The trembling turns into tears as that is the building in between his original 

Violence and Bullying in Schools: More Must be Done

While the overall national trend on reports of bullying are headed lower, there are still unacceptable levels of bullying reported in our Nation's schools.  Laws and rules written by well-meaning lawmakers and school board members must be followed with fidelity--otherwise such regulations are not worth the paper they are printed on.

We have the issue of bullying and harassment here locally as well, and I believe a mandatory, confidential student survey administered to all children in grades 3-12 could stem the tide.  Many districts have utilized such surveys with great results to curtail incidents of bullying/harassment on school campuses---as well as a means to identify other potentially hazardous issues students may be experiencing..

Sadly, bullied students often take their own lives.  The story of Steve Wesener is heartbreaking.  As a nation we have to do better, we have to do more.

A few months back the idea of confidential, mandatory student surveys was discussed at our school board workshop---- and the board was told such a survey plan was in the works, it is/was being bargained with the teacher's union.  I intend to follow this closely and advocate for implementation as soon as it is practical to do so.

We are not alone in this issue, and parents in Escambia County are not alone in the frustration over bullies apparently getting away with their outrageous misconduct not only in person, but online as well...

From Yesterday's Modesto Bee:

"The old days of cornering a kid in the bathroom were bad, but the danger stopped at the front door, noted Sylvan school board member David Collins, who works with the Center for Human Services. “Now, with social media, it follows them until they go to bed,” he said.  Social media was the weapon of choice for bullies who went after Breanna Mendoza, an eighth-grader at Dutcher Middle School in Turlock. Mendoza has a facial deformity and was bullied so badly her parents took her out of school and spoke out publicly. Students at the school, speaking informally, said it “got ridiculous.”Nina Gatton, mother of a Modesto second-grader, wanted her son’s tormentor gone. “The school did nothing about it; you can’t have a zero-tolerance policy to bullying and then do nothing,” she said in exasperation after seeing the bully at school the next day. “He beat up my son,” Gatton said. “He spun him around and round three times, grabbed a handful of dirt and grass and shoved it in his mouth, and then punched him in the eye.” The school told her the bully had been disciplined, but could not give her details or promise to guard her son at all times."

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/eye-on-education/article25131931.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/eye-on-education/article25131931.html#storylink=cpy

Bullying in Schools: What We're Supposed to do When a Report of Bullying is Made...

The approach to managing and controlling incidents of bullying/harassment on Florida's school campuses has become very prescriptive with the passage of the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act in 2008.  This law's passage gave Florida some of the toughest sanctions against bullying and harassment in schools in the nation.  

Our school board rules regarding Bullying mirror the statute.

But a law is useless if it is not enforced with fidelity.

I have concerns that our district may not be adhering to this law and the associated school board rules regarding the way these incidents are handled once a bullying complaint has been made.  I've seen incidents, including one that occurred in one of our district's middle schools on December 2, 2014, for which I do not have confidence the rule was followed.  The classroom teacher who knows the alleged bully and his victims and had taught them all year wrote that the infraction was bullying, and she was not going to tolerate it.  She wrote "Bullying" twice on the referral.  Did we follow our school board rule?  I have requested the investigative report to figure out if we did.

I'm zeroing in on this and I intend to make it my mission to ensure we are following this law and these rules.

Read the complete chapter 7.18 here, or see an excerpt of the investigative language from 7.18 below

(From Chapter 7 of the School Board Rules)

"C. Any written or oral reporting of an act of bullying or harassment shall be considered

an official means of reporting such act(s). Reports may be made anonymously, but

formal disciplinary action may not be based solely upon an anonymous report.

(4) The investigation of a reported act of bullying or harassment is deemed to be a school-related

activity and begins with a report of such an act:

A. The principal or designee will select a designee(s), employed by the school, trained

in investigative procedures to initiate the investigation. The designee(s) may not be

the accused perpetrator (harasser or bully) or victim.

B. Documented interviews of the victim, alleged perpetrator, and witnesses shall be

conducted privately, separately, and are confidential. Each individual (victim,

alleged perpetrator, and witnesses) will be interviewed separately and at no time

will the alleged perpetrator and victim be interviewed together.

C. The investigator shall collect and evaluate the facts including but not limited to

1. description of incident(s) including nature of the behavior;

2. context in which the alleged incident(s) occurred, etc.;

3. how often the conduct occurred;

4. whether there were past incidents or past continuing patterns of behavior;

5. the relationship between the parties involved;

6. the characteristics of parties involved (i.e., grade, age, etc.);

7. the identity and number of individuals who participated in bullying or

harassing behavior;

8. where the alleged incident(s) occurred;

9. whether the conduct adversely affected the student’s education or

educational environment;

10. whether the alleged victim felt or perceived an imbalance of power as a

result of the reported incident; and

11. the date, time, and method in which the parent(s)/guardian(s) of all parties

involved were contacted.

(5) Whether a particular action or incident constitutes a violation of this policy requires a

determination based on all the facts and surrounding circumstances and includes

A. recommended remedial steps necessary to stop the bullying and/or harassing

behavior; and

B. a written final report to the principal.

(6) A maximum of ten (10) school days shall be the limit for the initial filing of incidents and

completion of the investigative procedural steps. The highest level of confidentiality

Getting Better Numbers Part III: Coding Infractions Incorrectly

When a discipline infraction occurs in our schools, if it rises to the level that consequences must be administered, a certain code is assigned to the infraction.

This coding drives the discipline consequences.

Politicians in Tallahassee and in DC have over the last several years made bullying a high priority issue.  It is for this reason that Florida DOE puts a school district's Safe Schools allocation (for Escambia County it is about $1Million dollars) on the line if a district does not accurately report and code bullying in the system.

I know that school administrators don't want to have bullying be an issue on their campuses--nobody wants that problem.

But when a teacher uses the word bullying in a written referral, and the corresponding coding is not utilized, I have an issue with this.  This month there are instances of this and I am going to ask about this.  In a particularly blatant instance--the classroom teacher writes the referral on a student she has witnessed bullying and harassing her students in her class.  She uses the word "Bullying" two times in the referral.

"[he is] bullying another student.. XXXXXX Knows he is on thin ice.  He tries to control his behavior but I do not tolerate bullying against another student who is trying to learn"

In this instance, the bullying was then coded to "disruption,minor, instigating trouble, refused to follow instruction"  but no bullying listed.

Our board rule stipulates, in 7.18, as does the state law, that once the term bullying is used a specific set of steps must be taken to address the behavior, generating an incident report of the findings.  Within ten days an investigation must be concluded and a report generated.

I have asked the superintendent today for a copy of that report as it relates to this student's infraction from 12-2-2014.  I hope it was completed and the process was followed, because this infraction was not the one that led to this particular student's removal from school;  that infraction happened later in April and was much worse, leading to his arrest on a Felony charge.

But why was this behavior not curtailed after all the earlier transgressions, the bullying, and other infractions this student committed?  Why?

Having the greatest reporting system in the universe and a magical "Discipline Intervention Matrix" does nothing if they are not both properly utilized and aggressive, abusive, and violent behavior is not swiftly addressed.

School board rules have a specific set of steps that must be taken when bullying is alleged and I'm going to push and push on this until I know these steps are being followed.

Are these reports being completed as board rules dictate?  I do not have complete confidence that this board rule is being followed.

I certainly hope it is not being done deliberately in order to get lower numbers.

If so, it is not right and it will jeopardize, potentially, not only student safety but also our safe schools allocation.

Getting Better Numbers, Part II

Everyone involved in schools wants fewer student expulsions and suspensions.

Everyone wants lower numbers, just like the cholesterol commercials.

But like the pharmaceutical statins that reduce cholesterol and also have significant side-effects like turning livers into shoe-leather---lowering numbers of suspensions just to get “lower numbers” has side-effects, trade-offs, and unintended consequences as well.

For example, in the Escambia County school district for the months of May and June 2015—there are only (4) students being expelled.  Considering we have just over 40,000 students—this 4 expulsion stat is a small number, right?

The reality—we had during the same period 87 “disciplinary changes of placement” which is the dandy new term we use for what used to be called expulsions just two short years ago. Drugs, weapons, fights, abusive conduct—yeah, now all of these infractions are handled with “disciplinary reassignments”

We get lower expulsions by changing what we call punishment, and everybody golf-claps—but in reality the discipline problems are getting worse but because we are expelling fewer students than ever, the illusion is that things are “better.”

But things are not better.

  Things are getting worse. 

I recently spoke to an administrator who showed me pictures of physical injuries she has sustained in

Getting Better Numbers, Part I

A common metric being used around the country to show that school districts are "taking misbehavior seriously" is the lowered number of suspensions and expulsions.

We do this locally as well.

At one school locally, those charged with managing the discipline are keenly aware that the numbers must be kept low, and these staff members know there is the potential for a lawsuit if too many students, particularly those of color, are suspended or expelled.

So different punishments are being utilized.  Teachers are told to re-direct misbehavior up to as many as four or five times and to "handle the misbehavior in your class, deal with it!"

In some cases this is appropriate--if the behavior is minor and can be corrected.

But what about students that bully and harass their classmates?

One middle school teacher I spoke with recently told me straight up he gets "cussed at all the time, the students get away with it and they know there is no meaningful consequence."  he continued "They know I have to fill out a behavior incident form, and even if I fill in all four parts in a day--it is still no guarantee the student will receive a written referral"

It is not just happening here.  Instead of having real "courageous conversations" about strict enforcement of discipline, many districts are weakening the ramifications of bad behavior to make "numbers better."

Tacoma, Washington is changing the way they handle discipline.  They are being pressurred into lowering their suspension and expulsion numbers.  They are also, apparently buying in to the flawed notion that in order for minority students to learn, they need to have minority teachers teaching them.  (I think that is garbage, good teachers come from all cultures and backgrounds, and are good whether they are White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, or any nationality.  There should not be a racial quota system in hiring teachers.) 

From today's  News Tribune:

"If a student uses profanity, for example, she believes there are alternatives to suspension. In some cases, Santorno said, students might try to use that kind of language to goad a teacher into suspending them because they want to be out of school.  Another factor: While more than half of Tacoma students are students of color, 86 percent of its more than 2,000 faculty members are white, as are the vast majority of teachers statewide.  Last year, Tacoma began a new program called the Tacoma Whole Child Initiative which uses positive discipline techniques. Instead of telling kids what they can’t do, it spells out what they can and should do. The goal is to make sure schools meet the needs of students not just academically but also socially and emotionally. That often requires understanding a student’s cultural background.  If a student is disrespectful to an adult, Franklin staff use the episode as a “teachable moment.” Instead of sending the child immediately to the office, teachers instead review their expectation of how to behave respectfully."

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/06/07/3829049/new-state-data-on-student-discipline.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/06/07/3829049/new-state-data-on-student-discipline.html#storylink=cpy

An Interesting Take on Fixing Urban Schools...

The American Spectator has an intriguing and provocative article out on fixing inner city schools that have largely failed across America.  Of course the common-sense solution, which more and more inner-city students/parents are demanding, has a lot to do with school choice and letting the free market fix the problem.  from the article:

 "a father, concerned about his son’s attendance there, walked in past “two police cars…[an] everyday routine…. There was violence. Fighting. Disrespect and drugs.” The father complained to the principal about what he saw, and she “shook her finger” at him, admonishing “don’t tell me how to run my school ” That is precisely the response I would have expected from a modern-day unionized public school principal. The father would have been received more cordially if he had complained not about the chaotic environment of the principal’s school but about the police presence out in front..should the public tolerate an educational system that is “destroying any hope or possibility” of its students being prepared to live normal lives? What is more, Moore has the answer, to wit, increased state support for vouchers which would allow the unions to maintain their failing system, but provide for alternatives for parents interested in their children’s well-being."

Read more here

Selected Schools Nationwide "Report" Fewer Violent Issues on Campus than in Previous Years

A very non-scientific poll was recently conducted among a "representative" sample of 1600 schools nationwide, and the results are in.  And multiple media outlets are rushing to report the good news, that incidents of violence are decreasing in the nation's schools. According to the Washington Post:

"Nearly four in 10 schools reported that student bullying happens at least once a month, and 5 percent reported that student sexual harassment happens monthly. It’s difficult to compare those figures to previously published data, which showed the number of schools that reported such problems at least once a week. Federal education officials cautioned that there are methodological differences between the last survey, in 2009-2010, and the new report, which could have influenced the results. The earlier survey was conducted by the Census Bureau, and it was completed with pen and paper, for example, whereas the newly released data comes from a survey conducted online by contractors for the NCES."

Is there an Epidemic of Bullying, Violence in our Schools?

In the lead up to the vote on the Newpoint closure, I received numerous emails, phone-calls, and other correspondence about that school.

But one recurring theme, particularly from the students who contacted me, was an intense fear, a worry over being bullied in traditional schools if Newpoint closed.

Bullying is a huge problem nationwide, with students around the country being subjected to a non-stop barrage in person, over the internet, and on social media.  Sadly—often these students end up depressed and they hurt themselves or become bullies themselves.

Bullying, harassment, abusive and oftentimes violent behavior is common at our traditional district schools too—according to many who wanted us to keep Newpoint open and also according to the frequent, almost semi- regular complaints I receive from parents whose students attend our traditional schools and are aware of these same issues.

I also read about the bullying that is a hallmark of the infractions committed by those students who end up on our "disciplinary reassignment" lists monthly....

Something has to change, we have got to get this dysfunctional violent and abusive behavior under control, no matter what. I don't think Kohlberg or Flip Flippen programs are fixing this huge problem.

 I brought the idea of mandatory student climate surveys—a method that has been successful at countering violence in other schools---where students can confidentially report bullying and force district staff into action.  I’m aggressively staying on this; I’m told staff is pursuing it

One parent at the Newpoint meeting stated her daughter was harassed and bullied so badly at Workman MS that she pulled her child out.  “One student was beaten down, his nose broken and his leg broken” was a claim made by this parent.  “Nobody investigated and the students who did it were not punished—nobody would listen and everybody at that school ignored the problem!”  (at that point in the meeting I interjected that I wanted to talk with her, I would follow up, I would not ignore her.  She and I have talked and emailed back and forth since the meeting)

One young student recently wrote this to me

“i want to keep this school open because it makes me feel very safe it's the only school that takes care of bullies really quick so please keep the school open”

Another wrote:

“dear school board members this school gives us great education.those other thing about alcohol and stuff were also at other schools like at ransoms dance. They listen to our ideas and we can work at our own pace. Some people come here to get away from bullying and if you take that away people will get bullied again like some people I know.”

Another wrote:

“I have a lot to gamble with the new school stuff we all go through, I went to Woodham Middle School and I was sadly bullied. I found Newpoint, I am no longer bullied”

A parent wrote:

“My name is XXXXXXXXXX and my son's name is XXXXXXXXXXX. He is a XXXXXXXXXXXX. XXXXX attended Holm Elementary for his entire elementary education. His grades were good until about fourth grade. He was being verbally bullied by his classmates. His teachers did what they could to stop it, but the bullying continued. By sixth grade, I put him in karate classes hoping to give him some self defense skills and boost his self esteem. Unfortunately, this did not work. During his sixth grade year, the verbal bullying escalated to physical bullying. XXXXXXXX was attacked more than once at school. He was so stressed about going to school that despite walking to and from school, taking p.e. everyday, and karate class twice a week, he gained over 20 lbs that year. Seventh grade did not improve either, I ended up taking legal action against another student who was caught attacking XXXXXXX. I was on the verge of putting him in counseling because he was becoming so depressed and withdrawn”

Another parent wrote:

“I live close enough to Bailey Middle School to see it from my house. But after the actions of their faculty and staff, it is more than worth it to commute [our daughter] to a school that is over thirty minutes away! Last year she was bullied by students AND a faculty member, who and I quote was heard by my daughter and two of her classmates as saying "Its not my fault you had a migraine and could not be here yesterday, you will get what you deserve, a zero..." myself, my wife, daughter and her two classmates approached the Principal with this information that same day we were told she would deal with it, when in fact we were later told by a fellow teacher (who is our neighbor) that the bulling teacher and the Principal both "Had a good laugh over it." When my wife and I approached the dean, we were told that kids would be kids and unless we had any other options we would be out of there and on to Escambia High the following year. Well, we weren't. And in fact, my daughter fell into a depression that not even the mental health professionals could rationalize. They continually told my daughter "I'm sorry for the way you were treated by people who were supposed to protect you."

Federal Discipline Schemes, Dictated Downward To States Through DOJ, ED, and OCR Increase Violent School Incidents Nationwide

I've talked about this problem for years.  I finally had enough so I wrote an honest viewpoint on the subject of the negative consequences of weak discipline----and I received massive support from people that work in schools!  I heard from teachers, parents, and yes, administrators that are frustrated with this situation.

Then I got beat up by ideologues that are detached from reality and have a flawed, incomplete understanding of the issue of violence, bullying, and harassment that is happening in our public schools.

Most rational thinkers see right through the flimsy, weak arguments these apologist partisans make; most correctly point out that these naive rubes would not last a week --or even a day-- in some of our district classrooms!

So Tuesday night while flipping channels-- the subject of weak discipline nationwide, being dictated downward from Eric Holder, Barack Obama, and Arne Duncan, appeared on one of the news programs I watched. The segment   was entitled "Chaos in our public schools".

violence in schools is demoralizing teachers and leading to more staff churn and student flight to private schools nationwide. Some liberal, feel good restorative justice models are exacerbating this problem.   Imagine that!?!  I've been saying this for years and nobody listens as we continue to acquiesce on this issue and water discipline down in our schools more and more while simultaneously "wondering" why enrollments are stagnant and staff churn is a constant problem at some schools.

Breitbart did a piece on this, describing the political correctness that drives many of these kinder, gentler programs that sound an awful lot like what we've implemented here in Escambia County over the last 6 years.....

From the article:

"The new “restorative” policies often suggest that teachers are to blame for the high rate of suspensions and discipline actions among black students.In Portland, Oregon, Sperry reports, where millions of dollars have been spent on restorative justice and “courageous conversations about race,” a black high school student repeatedly punched his white teacher in the face, sending her to the emergency room. Subsequently, the teacher was reportedly counseled by the assistant principal not to press charges against the student, and was “lectured … about how hard it is for young black men to overcome a criminal record.” Additionally, the teacher said, according to the Willamette Week, the administrator told her to examine what role she, “as a white woman” with white privilege bias, played in her 

David Spade and Lee McNulty, Two Videos that are Relevant.

                                     

The answer is always no.  It is like I'm the caller trying to get David Spade in the Capital One commercials above to say yes! 

When I bring initiatives to this school board that deserve at least some consideration--it seems like the first answer is always NO.  That's okay, I know how to be persistent. 

But discipline and policy enforcement as it relates to discipline are areas of concern, expressed by teachers and parents to me in increasingly large numbers in the wake of the publication of my recent viewpoint in the PNJ; Despite this-- it appears as if this is a discussion that the board and administration does not want to have.  "We're doing all we can" is what I'm hearing at the meetings. "We are limited in what we can do" is a common refrain

 I disagree and think we can and should be doing more.   I don't want any students to be subjected to some of the things mentioned in Lee McNulty's video below....

While we in Escambia county schools are like James Hilton's  Shangri-La compared to Patterson New Jersey--we DO share some of the same problems described in his video above.  Teachers discouraged from administering discipline, infractions minimized and not coded correctly, students pushed through the system, etc. etc.  (Disclaimer--I'm not linking this video to say that we are anything close to Patterson NJ public schools--thank God we're not).

Although I know we are nowhere near Patterson and that the majority of our schools are very, very good, many of the issues expressed by this 27 year high school teacher in his video above are relevant to a discussion on school climate and school violence that I am trying to foster locally---particularly when they ask Mr. McNulty what he would do if he were in charge--from minute 9:35 on to the end at minute 13:00.  Some of what he is saying is relevant to some of our schools and anyone who would deny this IS living in James Hilton's Shangri-La mentally or they are not being honest.

I'm not tackling this issue to be divisive, I want us to tighten up on this like we've done with the district drug plan and first grade reading engagement.  I want us to truly do everything we can with a comprehensive plan on school climate, discipline, and violence.  And no, I don't subscribe to the failed notion that "discussing" this problem is "attacking" leadership or the schools.  Trying to improve and organization does not equal not supporting the organization. 

I simply don't want to see us devolve to a point that we are like Patterson NJ with respect to the way misbehavior is tolerated and students are allowed to run the schools and for this receive a promotion to the next level. I don't want our enrollments to continue to stagnate while our neighbor Santa Rosa county enjoys geometric school system enrollment gains.  I don't want to continue seeing some schools churn out staff to the point that every three years there is an 80% turnover.  These issues are all inter-related and that's why I want to listen to the concerned voices from the classroom that I am hearing on the subject of discipline and school climate.  That's why I'm staying on this issue because teachers, particularly the young ones, "are afraid to speak up and they feel like they are not protected if they do."  That's a direct quote from an Escambia County classroom teacher, by the way.

Mr. Big "A" and Discipline Dysfunction.....

It started out pretty innocuously.  Big "A" transferred from one middle school over to another in the 7th grade here in Pensacola.  But "Big A" started getting into trouble at his new school.  Nothing serious at first, nothing really too terrible.  He was caught selling candy in violation of school rules.  He was tardy.  He started to become a disruption.  nothing too bad at first.

Soon, Big A was blatantly defiant to district personnel, and willfully disrespectful to other students.  Big A liked to push his weight around, figuratively and literally;  As a seventh grader, he stood 6' 1" and weighed in at 270.  He was a big kid.

Soon, these referrals started to stack up (eventually there would be 16 in one calendar year, sixteen!)

At referral number 5, Big A committed a significant infraction;  The teacher that day recorded on the referral she wrote that Big A was "Bullying the same female student again, calling her "ass-crack" every time he saw her.  This student was upset, and did not understand why Big A was bullying her, and she did not like it.  The teacher used the word "Bullying", in her write up--but for reasons that I do not understand this infraction was not coded as bullying in SESIR.  

Other referrals came, Big A used demeaning homophobic slurs on some students, taunting others calling them "Bitches"

He confronted a female staff member outside, intimidating her to the point that she reported feeling threatened.

Big A even shoved a teacher that was trying to keep him from fighting with another student.

Fast forward a few referrals later, and Big "A" was walking up and down the halls of his school, using the "N-Word" over and over, loud enough that other students and faculty can hear it.  When 

An Escalation of Misbehavior, Increasing Violence Not Adequately Checked

Don Parker from WCOA had me on as a guest this morning to discuss discipline issues.  We had a pleasant conversation, and I discussed the discipline plan I brought to the school board last Friday morning.  I was somewhat surprised that the majority of the board feels things are essentially okay and that the current system/discipline matrix needs more time to be deployed so the results can be analyzed.

I worry about how many victims it will take before we take bold action and use every tool in our kit to get discipline under control, and violent, dangerous students moved to separate locations/programs so they won't destroy the learning environment for students and teachers as they are currently doing.

I'm going to continue to talk about the most egregious discipline infractions and the anemic ramifications these students receive each month.  Eventually, hopefully, this will get the attention it so desperately deserves from administrators and the other school board members.  This is the way parents and teachers who have contacted me want me to proceed-and so I will continue my attempt to keep the focus on these issues going forward.

Florida State Rep. on School Climate: "How Do We Know the Data Reflecting Fewer School Incidents of Violence is Real?"

....That is the question posed by Florida House of Representatives K-12 Subcommittee Chair Janet Adkins in this past Wednesday's K-12 subcommittee meeting.

The committee was given a presentation by two DOE personnel about school climate and the apparently decreasing levels of reportable school violence and misbehavior incidents.

The very colorful PowerPoint presentation and full meeting packet is here.

Several committee members were skeptical, thankfully.  It's not a rosy picture in many classrooms.

From about minute 25 to minute 46 of this video-members of the committee asked a series of very good questions-the gist of which was captured at minute 46:22 by Chair Adkins, when she asked

"How do we get to what is real, society is not getting kinder and gentler, yet we're to believe the number of these incidents is decreasing in our schools.  But I talk to teachers and they are discouraged; they are discouraged about classrooms that are not controlled and their inability to

“What Are You Lookin’ at, Cracker!”

One day in the life of a local, inner-city elementary school.  A Norman Rockwell painting it ain't...

As was her usual method of venting frustration, this fourth grade girl left her classroom, came out into the hallway, leaned against the wall, and began to kick against the wall as hard as she could while flailing her hands side to side-creating a loud ruckus that disrupted the entire fourth/fifth grade wing of the school.  According to those familiar with this school and this student, this is a daily event.

After a couple of moments, a passing adult stopped to see what was going on.                                                 

The young girl looked at this adult that had stopped and said “What are you lookin’ at, Cracker?”

The adult ignored that and asked the girl “Where are you supposed to be?” but the girl wouldn't answer the question.

“Where are you supposed to be?" the adult again asked

“Shut up!” the girl exclaimed loudly.

At this point, two teachers came from nearby classrooms to address the issue.  One, a soft-spoken female, asked the girl to return to class.  “No!”  Said the girl.  “I hate this school, I don’t want to be here! -- I want to go to Lakeview”

(This school has two “behavior technicians”-however they were both inundated handling other student misbehavior issues.  On this one recent day at this one school, one young 3^rd grade student was cuffed and taken into police custody for reasons unknown, and one kindergarten boy punched a kindergarten girl in the face, injuring her to a point where she was bleeding profusely…this in