Camelot

I recently had the opportunity to stop by and tour the Camelot school in Pensacola—and I was glad I did. 

Camelot is an alternative school for students who have been removed from their regular classes, students who have failed to meet established behavior expectations.  While I had heard about the great things happening at Camelot, I had not yet had the opportunity to drop in and visit until one day this past week.

Executive Director Drew Stem and several of his staff greeted me, and took time to show me around the classrooms and the facility; they also explained some of the successful techniques utilized at Camelot to maintain order, discipline, and learning.

One of the interesting things that Camelot does is to allow students to “earn” their way into positions of authority.  The “Tiger-Shark” is a designation that carries with it certain privileges and a different uniform (yes, all students at Camelot wear uniforms), and so therefore most of the students who come to Camelot want to achieve this status.  

Tiger-Sharks are leaders in the school, they set the examples for other students by following house rules such as the school’s prohibition on talking between classes as students “transition” from one class to another.  These students also take on responsibilities like showing guests around the campus.  My two “Tiger-Shark” escorts were Tevin and Brittany.  They were very polite and did a very good

Encouragement Continues for More Appropriately Addressing Chronic Misbehavior in our Schools

I'm once again receiving significant support for the DESPERATE NEED of a restructuring of discipline enforcement locally in our schools.  I've talked about it, blogged about it, and now appeared on TV locally.  This is a focus that I will continue, do to tremendous, widespread support for the idea that I'm continuing to receive from stakeholders.

Some district leaders condescendingly, deridingly,  attempt to marginalize my initiative on getting control of our discipline enforcement failures in the schools.  I won't take it personally, I'll stay positive and I'll stay persistent.  And I'll clear up the misconceptions they perpetuate about me.

I never give up on a kid in our schools who wants to learn and is not a predator and a chronic nightmare to everyone around him/her

and...

No, It's not that "I don't understand the issue"

No, It's not that "I'm over-reacting"

and no, it's not me catering to "disgruntled outliers"   Nope, it's none of this.



At a PTA function I attended yesterday,

 a High School teacher that was present made it a point to come over to my table and shake my hand stating:

"You are right-on about discipline-thank you, and  I have a lot of stories I could tell"  (I'm going to be meeting with him soon)

Another stakeholder, a parent,  came by my table, gave me a hug, and said: 

"Good job on bringing up the discipline problems" 

A former ALL STAR teacher that we lost to a neighbor county last year (in large part due to a deteriorating, dysfunctional discipline climate in one of our elementary schools) stated in a recent communication directed to me:

"I saw you on the news! praise God for the boldness in addressing this discipline problem!"

Another teacher wrote:

"Thank YOU, for continually speaking FOR teachers and issues that other members want to sweep under the carpet because they actually have NO IDEA what teachers go through on a daily basis............TRYING to teach students who want to learn, but constantly being disrupted by students with multiple referrals. Yes, you are correct, younger teachers do not want to speak up because they are no longer "tenured", so they endure things day in and out that should not be..........My heart aches for teacher friends I have in other schools who have to endure with NO SUPPORT. And these are ELEMENTARY schools!! I can't imagine what it's like in middle school and high school. Keep fighting the good fight!!"

Another teacher wrote:

"lack of discipline in the school district is a major reason teachers are leaving the system. Behavior is a big issue in the school district. I don't believe we are helping children when we are constantly allowing them to continue with negative behavior and no consequences are given to them for their negative behavior."

On the issue of the current leadership team's reaction to fixing this discipline issue, another teacher wrote:  

"They live in a dream world of ideology and too long out of the mainstream. The truth is, solving the problem would be difficult at first, but zero tolerance would be quickly embraced by everyone involved. It is truly the answer. The taxpayer, the student, the parents of those who do what they are supposed to do!!!"

Another Parent wrote me about his concerns:

Mr. Bergosh,



I wanted to take the time to say, Thank You, for your comments regarding the
need to begin the process of reclaiming a respectful standard of behavior
and compliance in Escambia County Schools and establishing a consequential
path to students continue an often As the father of a 7th grade XXXXXXXX at
XXXXXXXXXX and a XXXXXXXX in XXXXXXXXX grade at XXXXXXXXX,XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXs,
 I sincerely believe the lack of definitive and escalating set of
consequences which students are savvy enough to be aware of lead to the lack
of courtesy, cooperation and at the very least, compliance with standards of
behavior. By the PNJ article on the 2-16-15, I am led to believe there is
not a limit to disciplinary events which force the parents or guardians to
act  or be notified further non-compliance will result in expulsion. Tell me
this is not the case. I just had the unfortunate conversation with a good
friend whose son will be attending  St. Paul's Catholic next year for 6th
grade because of the accounts of harassment, bullying, intimidation and lack
of consequences for offenders[in his district-ed school]. His outstanding son who simply was never
evaluated for XXXXXXXXXXX, wants to be able to experience the Workforce
Development department engineering robotics and energy courses and
participate in the new Technology Student Association club next year but
because he is not in the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX will face the disturbing accounts of
behavior during transition, lunch, and in several cases, classroom
occurrences. These accounts widely discussed by everyone in the feeder
patterns of XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXXX overshadow the
outstanding education and educators which exist at Workman Middle. To put a
relevance to this comment, my XXXXXXXX relays the weekly accounts of behavior ,
language, and conduct which seem oddly familiar with my experiences in
1979-80 as a 6th grader there. The difference being that we had to face dean
XXXXXXXXXXX in the XXXXXXXXXX office. He was fair but did not mess around. 



I am concerned the school system will continue to lose outstanding families
to private and parochial schools until this school system makes the
difficult and possible unpopular decisions to reign in the purposeful
disruption of the academic environment and behavioral expectations
concerning the rights of students to attend an institution with realistic
expectations of respect and in harmony with education's primary functions
intellectual and personal development. 



I am basing these comments and directing this commendation to you towards
your fellow board members and my family's board member, XXXXXXXXXXXXX, 
from the PNJ article. I hope you and your fellow members find
these words encouraging and constructive. I look forward to hearing the
progress the Escambia County School Board makes in continuing this dialogue
to reach an equitable but effective set of policies regarding disciplinary
consequences.



Kind Regards,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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.

The Florida Coalition for School Board Members

Because of a roll-out media conference call that was conducted with impeccable skill by the professionals at Sachs Media Group in Tallahassee Monday, our new coalition has garnered more than 27 individual news articles and television pieces around Florida over the last several days.  Watchdog.org picked up a piece I wrote about our newly founded group:

As it became clear throughout the state that the Florida School Boards Association would not listen to their members and drop their support of the lawsuit, several school board members in Florida decided it was time for a new organization. In January 2015, a group of board members decided to create the Florida Coalition of School Board Members, to become a conservative voice of advocacy for statewide educational policies and positions.  This group includes School Board members from throughout Florida. The goals of this organization are fairly straightforward; Erika Donalds, a founding member of FCSBM who serves in Collier County (Naples), Florida, voiced some of these concerns on a media conference call on Monday from Tallahassee, Florida.“The FSBA has lost touch with the citizens whose tax dollars fund their existence—but our new coalition will represent the interests of ALL Florida

What Should the Appropriate Sanction be for Violent Students?

Some might think that multiple, nearly limitless "chances" are warranted  and quite appropriate for students who engage in systematic patterns of bullying, harassment, and abusive conduct on our campuses and buses.  Some might say "don't give up on kids" or "they might drop out or fail" if we punish students too harshly

I believe otherwise.

I believe after a certain point, as with Mr. 61 or with Mr. Big "A", great care must be taken to administer significant and meaningful discipline, combined with diligence and attention utilized when placing such students back into classes and on to buses with their former victims after discipline has been given.

I don't believe we have an "epidemic" of violent behavior on our campuses, but I do believe we have a significant issue and that our current methods are not appropriately stemming the tide of these dysfunctional behaviors that are bleeding onto our properties and into our classrooms from dysfunctional communities and households.

These dysfunctional behaviors, in turn, are leading to stagnant enrollments in all of our schools generally and acute levels of teacher turnover (churn) at several of our schools individually.

So for Big "A" I believe he should have received a 2-year ban from riding our buses, as well as an expulsion for the rest of this year and all of next year--being only allowed back after successful

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.