AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2005 > April
April 2005
A Gateway for Dropouts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An interesting new charter school is coming to DeKalb. (Sorry if my recent posts seem DeKalb-centric. I am temporarily covering the DeKalb district.) Starting in August, the Gateway to College Academy at Georgia Perimeter College will serve about 70 dropouts and students thinking of quitting school, with the goal of eventually serving 300.
Students will work toward their high school diploma and have the opportunity to earn college credits. The program is based on a successful school in Portland, partly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Principal Robert Wigfall called to tell me a bit about the Gateway program at Georgia Perimeter. The idea, he said, is to challenge students beyond just graduating from high school. The program will be “challenging for your average dropout,” he said. He acknowledged it’s not for everybody. But the Portland program has proven some kids can dramatically turn around their prospects when given a chance.
Wigfall, who recently returned from Portland, said the city has a variety of programs for struggling students. The district “is really making a big dent” in the dropout problem, he said.
Wigfall said Georgia needs more programs for a variety of students, not more standardized tests. “Our answer to everything to this point has been another test,” he said. “We can look at other avenues.”
In other words, if I understood him correctly, we should spend less time and money diagnosing a problem that obviously exists and more time trying to fix it.
Out of the Mouths of Truants
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today I was a Career Day speaker at DeKalb Truancy School, a program for students who got in trouble for missing too many days of school. About 50 middle and high school students attend the school at one time. They get smaller classes and more attention from their teachers. They don’t get a school bus driving up to their door to pick them up, though. They have to take MARTA.
So, I was in luck. A veteran teacher gave a presentation before mine, and she got the class completely under control. Never raised her voice, either. She talked about the difference between legal money and illegal money, and told them teaching may not bring you a lot of money, but it is all legal and you can use it to buy a house, a car, an airline ticket, which is not always the case with ill-gotten gains. She had these kids’ full attention.
When it was my turn, oh joy!, there was some residual discipline left over from the teacher. The class was extremely attentive and respectful to me.
I talked about my writing career and asked if they had any questions. They wanted to know what I knew about the recent crimes in Clayton County. Some had connections to one of the victims. We talked about what it’s like to live in a neighborhood where violence is the norm. I told them education opens up more choices in where you live.
I showed them a story I wrote about DeKalb Superintendent Crawford Lewis getting a raise from $190,000 to $215,000. A student raised her hand. “Is Mr. Lewis… what race is he?” I told her he is black. She said: “A black man making all that money???”
I walked away from this Career Day thinking we need more alternative schools for kids with a variety of problems. This school is exclusively for chronic truants. They have other problems, too, but the “presenting” problem is that they generally hate traditional school.
In a traditional school, I suspect all these kids would be sitting at the back of the classroom. Some would be cutting up and others would be sleeping. But at the Truancy School, classes are small, about a dozen or so kids, so there is no real back of the classroom.
Since these kids would otherwise not be in school, it’s not a money drain, either. The district gets state funding for them it would not get if the kids were at home watching television or running the streets.
Not every kid can be saved, but some can, and are, at the DeKalb Truancy School.
‘I No Longer Have the Strength To Fight’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This teacher posted on the Mundy’s Mill thread below. Be sure to read to the end.
“…Every day I see the disrespect of students to teachers and administrators. Unfortunately, there is very little we can do as discipline measures other than detention, in-school suspension, and out-of-school suspension. Most of the time, teachers cannot assign detention because parents can’t get the kids to school. We have watch our number of OSS because of No Child Left Behind- attendance is a measure of school performance. Our hands are tied, and we are extremely frustrated.
As a whole, most teachers are caring, dedicated professionals who would be happy to be held accountable to taxpayers. I have taught in a Title One school for six years. It is emotionally exhausting; it is demanding of time and money … yes, I spend over $500. per year on classroom materials so my students have what they need. Some parents either don’t have the money or don’t have the inclination to ensure that their child comes to school with materials. I firmly believe that ALL children deserve a quality education, regardless of where they live or their economic situation.
But, I have to tell you, after this year- seeing the constant disrespect and vandalism of a beautiful new building, and having 8th graders yell at me when I ask them to pull up their trousers or cover their cleavage, I’ve had enough. I am saddened that it become so bad that I feel compelled to move to a different school.
The children that I see every day are not being held accountable for their actions. Their parents, for the most part, blindly defend their children, even when there is a history of misbehavior. Or, they don’t even respond, saying they have too many other problems to “deal with this.” Now isn’t it a shame when a parent doesn’t have time for his/her child.
Someone said in an earlier post that schools are a reflection of society. I am constantly amazed by the intelligent and thoughtful discussion I have with my students; they are so very bright and perceptive and have so much iniative and inquisitiveness that it almost makes it worthwhile to stay. But then I walk into the hallway, and it’s a battle I no longer have the strength to fight.”
Going the Way of the VCR
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A teacher posted this comment on the plagiarism thread:
“Teachers are reluctant to assign papers because so many research papers contain information obviously copied and pasted from online sources. Keep in mind, many teachers have 130-150 students and reading stolen papers … is very frustating.”
I’ve heard other reasons for teachers not assigning papers, including a lack of time to grade them and the subjectivity in assigning a grade.
Is the research paper an endangered species?
Dear Mundy’s Mill High Parent…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This letter went out today to parents at Clayton County’s Mundy’s Mill High School. Here’s a story about the tragedy over the weekend.
Dear Parents,
It is always a gratifying experience to tell the stories about the wonderful accomplishments of our Mundy’s Mill students. As educators, both teachers and administrators work hard to ensure that every student has the opportunity to achieve a first-class education and well-rounded social experiences.
We have students that will attend world-class colleges/universities during the next school year, such as MIT, Princeton and Brown universities. We have athletes who have received scholarships for their excellent athletic, academic, and social skills. We have been honored with two national merit scholars and have participated and excelled in various academic competitions within the county and state. Ours is an environment which promotes excellence, positive values, and hard work.
However, there are factors which exist from off campus that continue to challenge our efforts to consistently maintain this environment among our student body. Gang activity that has emerged into our school has created quite a dilemma for our staff, but this negative activity will not stop our efforts to ensure that our children receive the best education in a safe and nurturing school community.
The community and our Board of Education have called this administration at Mundy’s Mill High School to promote the best practices in instruction and in the general safety of our students and teachers. Therefore, it is my promise to you that we will not lose our school to mediocrity or violence.
As a result, our administration will take a stronger stance on enforcing the school’s dress code and maintain the highest possible expectations for each student’s social and intellectual development.
First, the Clayton County Police Department will have a prominent presence at our school until the end of the school year. It is unfortunate that we must resort to this measure, but it will definitely increase the safety of the masses.
Second, we will begin to confiscate all paraphernalia relating to the gang culture: grills and necklaces displaying images of drugs or gangs.
Third, sagging pants, revealing clothing and inappropriate slogans on clothing will not be tolerated. Students breaking the dress code will be sent to the office to call their parents and may receive days of in-school suspension.
Fourth, any person entering Mundy’s Mill will need to show I.D. when entering the school. There will be an individual placed at the front door to check and verify the identity of each person.
I am extremely hurt and bothered by the incidents that have recently occurred in our community with gangs and violence. I am deeply burdened by these most recent events and the negative influence that has occurred among our youth.
Despite my frustration, hurt, and anguish over these young precious lives being taken so early, I am also persuaded and committed to the safety and preservation of the masses at Mundy’s Mill High. The administration at Mundy’s Mill High will not stand by idly allowing a very small minority to invoke fear or disillusionment among our faculty and student body.
Our children will be safe, educated, nurtured, and pushed to excel at all costs. We cannot control what happens in the streets of our community, but we can make a strong statement at our schools that we will not accept nonsense and mediocrity.
Parents, you can partner with us in a significant way in this process if you would take the time to ensure that your children adhere to the school dress code and conduct policies.
In addition, we are having a called community emergency meeting at the school to address this issue on Thursday, April 28, 2005, at 7 p.m. in the commons area. Other community agencies have been invited to this meeting to help us to sort through this situation. However, we are not sure at this time who will accept our invitation. Please come out to participate fully in this event. This gang issue will be addressed, and our strategic plan to confront it at our school will be laid out.
This has been a very successful school year, and we have accomplished lofty goals. We will continue to do so now and in the future, especially with your involvement and commitment to our progress.
If you have further questions, please feel free to call me immediately at 678-817-3000. If I am not available, please feel free to speak to any of our administrators: Ms. Adams, Mr. Colbert, Mr. Davis, Mrs. Franklin and Dr. Johnson.
Yours truly,
Anthony W. Smith
Cut -and-Paste Plagiarism
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Did you see this story by Laura Diamond? Gwinnett teachers are going to start explicitly teachings students what plagiarism is, especially as it relates to the Internet.
About 58 percent of nearly 18,000 high school students interviewed for a recent nationwide survey admit to using “cut and paste” plagiarism, according to a Rutgers University study.
Are students really confused about what plagiarism is? A Rutgers professor says many think the Internet is “fair game.” It seems the students in the survey knew they were cheating, right? In a recent Newsweek column, a young woman owned up to making a living by writing other people’s papers. Do many students consider plagiarism a victimless crime?
Cobb Computers: Everybody Has an Opinion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Cobb County plan to give laptop computers to middle and high school students as well as teachers has predictably become a political mess, with Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens saying the school board should slow down, because the issue has become too emotional. But, don’t think he opposes the plan, he said. He didn’t mean to imply that.He likes the idea of teachers getting the computers, just not the planned high school pilot program.
School board members voted 4-2 vote last week to move ahead with the first phase of the program, which could distribute 63,000 Apple iBook laptops to all teachers and students in grades 6-12
Olens said he fears the divisiveness created by the laptop plan could erode voter support of a sales tax increase for new roads, bridges and a jail. Should officials elected to positions other than the school board get involved in school issues?
Leaving This Law Behind
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As a blog poster points out, the National Education Association, a teacher union, and several school districts have filed suit against Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, saying they can’t be forced to comply with aspects of No Child Left Behind that the feds aren’t paying for.
An AP story notes that in a separate action the Utah Legislature gave state education standards priority over NCLB. And Connecticut is reportedly planning its own suit.
Georgia has generally supported No Child Left Behind, especially its ideals. But this law does cost money. Testing kids every year instead of in just a few grades costs money. Sending a school bus to take a child to a school in another neighborhood because the child’s school didn’t meet standards costs money. Data collection, data storage, putting together lists, helping districts understand what they’re supposed to do, training teachers, adopting new programs to get schools up to par, it all costs money.
The feds say they have earmarked more money for education, but many states and districts say it isn’t enough.
Is the “unfunded mandate” arguement getting tired - I believe Rod Paige called it whining - or should states and districts have the right to opt out of aspects of a complicated law they don’t think they can afford to implement?
Survive This Apprenticeship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I love it when blog readers send me e-mails making the rounds among teachers…
Teacher’s Version of Survivor/The Apprentice
Have you heard about the next planned “Survivor” show?
Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 6 weeks. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district’s curriculum and a class of 28 students.
Each class will have five learning-disabled children, three with “A.D.D.”, one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three will be labeled with severe behavior problems. Each businessperson must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create materials accordingly. They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents and arrange parent conferences.
They must also supervise recess and monitor the hallways. In addition, they will complete drills for fire, tornadoes and shooting attacks. They must attend workshops, (100 hours), faculty meetings, union meetings and curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor those students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the TAKS test. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show. Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment at all times.
The business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends, but on their new salary they will not be able to afford it anyway. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to 30 minutes. On days when they do not have recess duty, the business people will be permitted to use the staff restroom as long as another survival candidate is supervising their class. They will be provided with two 40-minute planning periods per week while their students are at specials. If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials at this time. The business people must continually advance their education on their own time and pay for this advanced training themselves. This can be accomplished by moonlighting at a second job or marrying someone with money.
The winner will be allowed to return to his or her job.
My Head Hurts Too, Chris
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
From a story today about the high stakes for the third- and fifth-graders taking the state curriculum test, aka the CRCT, comes this wisdom from Gwinnett County fifth-grader Chris Hearn:
“I know we have to take this test because some big people think we need to pass some tests to go to middle school. If you don’t pass, you have to go to summer school. And then if you don’t pass again, you have to stay in fifth grade. I don’t think it’s a very good rule…Thinking about it makes my head hurt.”
Sorry to revisit the same topic for at least the third time, but let’s face it, the testing frenzy has had an impact on schools, how they operate, how teachers teach etc.
Last year, third-graders had to pass the reading test to go onto fourth grade. This year, fifth-graders need to pass the reading and math tests to go to middle school. Passing this test is not a hurdle for most kids. The bar is low. (Last year, a severely dyslexic third-grader who relied on a bank of words he memorized to “read” passed the test.) Also, a kid who fails the test can get promoted anyway if everyone involved, teacher, principal etc. thinks it’s a good idea.
This state law raises questions, but I’m not sure exactly what they are. Here are some jumping off points: Is the added sting of promotion tainting the results of these tests? (Are we getting a true picture of how much each child knows?) Is the fear of getting held back creating unnecessary stress among kids who will definitely sail right through? Or, is this just what the students need to inspire them to learn reading and math?
Big School, Small School
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My colleague Chris Reinolds reports that schools in some metro Atlanta districts are just plain huge. Cherokee County builds elementary schools for 1,200 kids, as does Gwinnett.
And when you add the trailers to house the overflow, school enrollments can exceed 1,500 in some elementary schools. In Gwinnett County, Jackson Elementary School has 1,691 students, Dacula Middle School has 2,927 and Collins Hill High School has 3,556.
I know of no evidence that larger schools lead to low test scores. Some of Gwinnett’s largest schools are also its highest scoring. And large schools are frugal. In Gwinnett, mega-schools are largely responsible for the district’s comparatively low per-pupil spending.
But many researchers, parents and teachers say they prefer smaller schools where students can get personal attention. I’m told a small school can help with that familiar boondoggle, discipline, and it can help teachers and other staff members pick up on students’ family and emotional problems.
Yet there are problems with small schools, too. They get less money. That makes it harder to afford music and art teachers and offer a variety of programs.
What’s the best way to go on school size?
Not Everybody Goes To College
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yesterday’s post mentioned a new middle school program in DeKalb County called SpringBoard, created by the College Board, overseer of the SAT.
DeKalb dad Ernest Brown said it got him thinking about kids not going to college. What programs are available for such students? What was once called vo-tech is now called career technology, but it’s basically the same thing: skills that are needed in the workplace and do not require a four-year college degree.
School districts have career tech programs, and some are better than others. But enrollment is spotty, and even successful programs get little public attention. I visited what appeared to be an excellent program in Gwinnett a few years ago, Maxwell School of Technology, but some classes such as welding didn’t have enough students. And that’s a skill that pays! I wouldn’t be surprised if some students don’t know these vocational courses exist.
Another issue is that teachers and counselors seem to feel obligated to nudge most students toward college, because if they didn’t it would signal that they have “low expectations” of that student.
How should school districts handle vocational education?
REWARD!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
*Breaking News: The student has been located. I’m leaving this blog post up, because the headline is an attention-grabber, don’t you think? Thanks, everyone, for reading Get Schooled. *
Okay folks, it’s like this. I’m an education reporter at Georgia’s largest daily newspaper.
My bosses expect certain things of me. I’m expected to know what’s going on in classrooms in Georgia. I’m expected to know how schools are funded, how much teachers make on average, what grades are tested, things like that.
And when one Georgia kid gets a perfect 2400 on the New SAT, I AM EXPECTED TO KNOW WHO THAT KID IS!!!!
Scores were posted four days ago. I know this student has told someone of his or her accomplishment. I assume word has reached the school’s principal and the district’s superintendent. Yet it hasn’t reached me, and that’s making me look bad.
In desperation, I’m offering a reward to any Get Schooled reader who offers a tip leading to an interview with this student. (The interviewer may be my colleague, Bridget Gutierrez, who is also working this story.) The reward will be a book from my vast library of education-related books. Or, if you prefer, I’ll let you post your very own blog topic one day. Whatever. JUST HELP ME FIND THIS KID!
My e-mail address is pghezzi@ajc.com
A Bad Teacher is a Bad Teacher. Period.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Someone said it on the record: “If there’s a teacher who can’t teach over here, they can’t teach over there. We won’t move teachers around who aren’t qualified.”
The someone who said it was DeKalb County Superintendent Crawford Lewis. He made the comment at a recent school board meeting during a discussion of a new middle school program the district was adopting. Lewis said the district would invest in training teachers who are struggling.
It’s easy to see why this is a big problem. We’ve established that teaching in today’s climate is very hard, requiring intelligence, good judgment and a variety of skills. Teachers who aren’t very good get criticized at schools with a lot of parent involvement, and then they get shuffled to schools where the parents are less active. Am I right? And it’s notoriously hard to fire a teacher.
So do you think Lewis can be true to his word?
There are several timely education stories in the paper today. First, the state board rejected a rule that would require parents to sign off on their child’s participation in clubs, a proposal that seemed a reaction to controversy over gay clubs.
Also, the Cobb school board approved in a split vote the first phase of a gargantuan laptop computer program.
Cop to Second-Grader: Young Man, Come With Me
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A woman called the newsroom yesterday and relayed this story:
A second-grader at a Rockdale County elementary school was reprimanded repeatedly for petty theft, stealing pencils and other small items. Exasperated, the teacher called a police officer to escort the child out of the building. The idea, I guess, was to scare the child into thinking he was being arrested, though he obviously was not.
The caller, who may or may not have been the child’s mother, was angry that the teacher would traumatize a child in this way. She was also horrified that the principal backed up the teacher.
What do you think? Is this disciplinary tactic a do or a don’t?
On an unrelated note: One Georgia kid got a perfect 2,400 on the New SAT. Obviously I’d be interested in interviewing this bright young man or woman, so if you know the student or the mom, please ask them to shoot me an e-mail.
Thanks!
Patti (pghezzi@ajc.com)
It’s His Way or the Highway
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An old friend came to visit us this weekend from South Carolina, where he is a seventh-grade social studies teacher in a school serving mostly kids from poor families.
Sure, there’s stress. He worries about his bright students, that they get bored. He worries about his kids who can barely read. How can they do the work he assigns, which requires a lot of writing? He wishes parents would return his phone calls. He is looking ahead to a summer spent reworking his lesson plans to match a revised curriculum. Textbooks would be nice, preferably enough so every child could have one.
I asked him about discipline. Doesn’t he fear for his safety? Aren’t things out of control? Is he on the highest dose of anti-depressants?
Nah… Controlling his class isn’t a problem, he said. See, he took care of that on Day One. Told the kids he was in charge and in his classroom, “It’s my way or the highway.” He posted a list of the things he won’t tolerate, most of all kids disrupting others who are trying to learn. He spelled out the consequences, which include a ticket to the principal’s office. He enforced his rules from the get-go and has never backed down, even when a parent accused him of framing her innocent son. (He reminded her that he works 12 hours a day and has more than 130 students. For such a crime, he lacks motive and opportunity.)
I know it helps that he’s a man, a tall, imposing one at that. But I think there are lessons in his story as the Clayton school district looks to restore order. Click here for the story. Hand-held metal detectors and drug sniffing dogs have their place. But can they compensate for teachers who don’t have the confidence or support from the administration to rule the roost that is their classroom?
Another funny thing, my friend doesn’t complain about the myriad of problems squeezing his profession. He loves his work. He also loves the New York Yankees and is confident they’ll win the World Series this year.
From 1,600 to 2,400
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So how did you or your kid do on the New SAT? Scores are available today from the College Board, and I’m curious what kind of scores kids posted on the new 2,400 scale.
The new math and reading scores are comparable to the old math and verbal scores. This is what college admissions officers will use this year in determining who gets a fat envelope. The writing section is an entirely new 800-point section, which includes an essay. A high writing score in theory can help a student’s chances, but a low score shouldn’t be a cause for penalty.
Admissions officers will analyze scores over the next few years and see if having a high writing score predicts how well a student will do in college.
Meanwhile, critics of the New SAT say it’s much ado about nothing but what the College Board has always done well: marketing.
Depressing Story about Teaching
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My editor came across this in the U.K newspaper, The Independent… I always heard teachers were more prone to bladder infections because of their limited bathroom breaks, but this is the first I’ve read/seen/heard about a possible link between depression and teaching. (Though please note the conclusion is based on a survey, not a scientific study.)
It’s also interesting about how the problems discussed are so similar to those in the U.S. Okay, I’ll stop talking. Here’s the story:
Nearly half of the country’s secondary school teachers have suffered mental health problems due to worsening pupil behaviour, a survey has revealed.
The research, by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, on 300 secondary school teachers, showed that abuse at the hands of pupils had left 46 per cent taking antidepressants or facing long lay-offs from school through stress.
One teacher told researchers he had been assaulted 10 times during 18 years in the profession and had suffered two breakdowns. He said he had been on antidepressants for more than three years as a result.
The survey also revealed that 72 per cent of teachers had considered quitting their jobs because they were worn out by some pupils’ persistent disruptive behaviour, such as threats, swearing, locking teachers out of classrooms, vandalising school property, letting down car tyres, stealing keys, throwing eggs at staff and spitting at them. One in seven (14 per cent) said they had suffered actually bodily harm from pupils.
However, in many of the cases, the school had turned a blind eye to abuse and failed to exclude the pupils involved.
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the 160,000-strong union, will raise teachers’ alarm over discipline with Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, when she addresses the ATL annual conference in Torquay today.
She said it was not enough to talk about “zero tolerance” for disruptive behaviour as Ms Kelly had done. “There needs to be a reflection about what zero tolerance means,” she added.
“It should mean much better support for teachers and more pupil referral units - ‘sin-bins’. These youngsters have to go somewhere. What we can’t do as a society is leave them to roam the streets.”
Yesterday the conference demanded a code of conduct to outline acceptable pupil behaviour and called for risk assessments to be prepared on all pupils with a history of aggression.
Doctor Bousted said: “Teaching is a highly intensive, highly stressful job. Teachers need to understand there are forms of help available to them and when they are feeling stressed they need to know this is not something that’s shameful and they should seek help.”
Meanwhile, delegates voted unanimously to urge the Government to abandon its plans to set up a network of 200 privately sponsored academies to replace struggling secondary schools in inner-city areas.
Phil Baker, from Swindon, claimed they were a “Trojan Horse”, pioneering the way for privatisation of the entire education system. He said many of the sponsors - who included top independent schools - had little experience of tackling pupil disruption. “Top public schools could run them [the academies],” he said. “The only experience they’ve had of managing challenging behaviour is dealing with Hooray Henrys.”
Dr Bousted said many of the academies adopted a banding system - taking 20 per cent of its pupils from each of five different ability bands. “In some areas the academies cover, 20 per cent of the most able is hoovering up the vast majority of able pupils in that area,” she said, adding that other schools suffered as a result.
Time for the Test
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kids are gearing up for the state’s most comprehensive and heavily weighted standardized test, the unfortunately titled CRCT or Criterion Referenced Competency Test.
Parents and students, please talk to me:
How much classroom time is spent preparing specifically for the CRCT? Do third graders feel pressure since they must pass the reading portion to get promoted? Do fifth graders feel pressure since starting this year they must pass the reading and math portion to get promoted?
Day of Silence, Day of Truth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Schools are indeed a reflection of society. Just after this story ran about White County’s plan to drop a gay club, this press release appeared in my inbox. The headline: “High School Conservative Club and GayMarriageNo.org schedule “Day of Truth” to protest school-sanctioned special privileges for homosexual activists.
Rohnert Park, CA — On April 6 & 7, High School Conservative Clubs of America (HSCCA) will join with GayMarriageNo.org for their first annual “Day of Truth.”
The event is in response to the annual school-approved, pro-homosexual “Day of Silence” (April 13), a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and United States Student Association (USSA).
During the “Day of Silence” students take a day-long vow of silence to recognize and protest perceived discrimination and alleged harassment of homosexual, bisexual and transgender students. “Day of Silence” is approved by school administrators, and was reportedly observed by an estimated 200,000 students at 2,000 schools in 2004.
“Day of Truth” will begin with student activists from the Rancho Cotate High School Conservative Club — HSCCA’s first chartered club — wearing sweatshirts which read, “No Gay” in front, and “Homosexuality is Sin” on the back, with scriptural references which reflect biblical admonitions against homosexuality.
Conservative Club members will distribute literature about the dangers of the homosexual lifestyle choice — a choice which some students are misled into thinking is glamorous. Club members are instructed not to remove their sweatshirts during the two days of protest, no matter what school authorities say, even if this means threatened suspension or other attacks by school officials.
The two day long rally is scheduled for an hour beginning at noon on both days. Christian students, parents and teachers will meet across the street from Rancho Cotate High School with pro-family, pro-marriage signs. GayMarriageNo.org will be driving “truth trucks,” which reference biblical scripture on the issue of homosexuality.
Conservative students believe that the “Day of Silence” must be vigorously and publicly opposed because the radical homosexual agenda is spreading rapidly throughout our schools.
According to HSCCA President Tim Bueler, “Today’s sex-education curriculum, which used to instruct about the normal, heterosexual family, has been twisted to promote and celebrate homosexuality. Innocent first-graders are taught that to have homosexual parents is a normal arrangement. Gay-straight alliances are receiving school resources and funding in high schools, and the ‘Day of Silence’ has become a key tool of the activist, homosexual movement for promoting its radical agenda. We decided it is high time for us to take a stand for Truth, even if that makes us unpopular with the secular humanists who run our schools and infest our legislatures.”
Dear Clayton County parent…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a letter Clayton County Superintendent Barbara Pulliam sent on April 1. I suspect it stems at least in part from a recent case at Forest Park High School where a teacher was assaulted. (There’s an earlier thread on this. See ‘One Teacher’s Very Bad Day.’)
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As you know we are concerned about the safety of our students in all of our schools. High school principals and I have met and have talked about the many safety concerns we have concerning our children. On Monday, April 11, as students return to school, they will find some differences in procedures that they will need to follow in our high schools. Our goal is to deter the occurrence of violence involving staff and/or students. We also intend to prevent the presence of drugs and/or weapons on school grounds.
In order to do this, we have proposed the following new procedures for our high school students:
Once students have entered the school building all outside doors to our schools will be locked to prevent entry or unauthorized re-entry into the building. (This procedure will not affect exiting the building.) There will be a main entrance identified at the front of the school so that all visitors and guests will be directed through this entrance. Students who use exits inappropriately may find themselves unable to get back in the school building unless they enter through the front doors of the school.
All visitors/guests to our schools are directed to the main office where they will be given a visitor pass or guest pass if necessary. Students or adults who are found to be in our schools without registering in the front office will be asked to leave the building. If they do not leave the building, they will be treated as trespassers on school property.
We will increase the level of vigilance that we currently have in our schools by doing the following: 1) administrators, teachers and security persons and other volunteers will patrol our halls and grounds during instructional time; 2) all staff and security will be in the halls and around the outside of the building during class changes; 3) all school staff will be in the halls before and after school; and, 4) our schools will conduct locker checks and book bag checks if there is reasonable suspicion of students who may do harm to staff, students, or school property.
In addition, at the April 11 meeting of the Clayton County Board of Education, I will be asking the Board Members to take action regarding the use of canines to assist staff and building security in performing random checks for drugs, alcohol, and other unauthorized paraphernalia. I will also seek the use of metal detector batons to scan students and areas in the inner and outer perimeters of our buildings when there is reasonable suspicion.
It is our hope that the combination of these measures will help reinforce our ability to keep our students safe, our staff safe, and our schools safe. But I must emphasize that the greatest assistance in ensuring a safe learning environment is you, the parent/guardian.
Please have conversations with your student around making good choices; conversations about making good decisions. If they know or have reason to believe that someone is coming to their school or is in their school to do harm to another student or staff member, they should report it to a school administrator immediately. If they have heard conversation about someone who is going to do harm to students or staff in their school, they need to report it to a school administrator at once. And finally, if there is some type of physical altercation in their school, please help them see the wisdom of moving in the opposite direction of the activity. In doing this, they allow staff to get to the site to stop the altercation as quickly as possible.
Students who engage in disruptive behavior in the Clayton County Public Schools will be dealt with per Georgia school laws and the School District’s discipline code and policy. We will apply it consistently and judiciously, but we will not tolerate any behavior that jeopardizes the safety of students and staff.
I would add that if you have any questions about anything that has been stated in this communication, that you contact your child’s principal, and then if necessary feel free to contact my office.
Sincerely,
Barbara M. Pulliam, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools
Social Promotion, Part II
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In an earlier post about social promotion, the topic of alternative schools came up. Aren’t alternative schools the place for kids who don’t want to learn?
Hmmmm… I always thought alternative schools were for kids with discipline problems. Often, such students have academic problems too. The special education population in alternative schools is much higher than in traditional schools. But is alternative education really the place for kids who have not mastered the material to move on to the next grade?
When I covered the Gwinnett system in the late 1990s, there was talk of setting up programs called “success schools.” If I recall, these schools would be for kids who did not have discipline problems but did need a lot more instruction in the basics before they could move on to the next grade.
Is this a good answer?
C’mon, This Can Be Fun
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My colleague Paul Donsky has had time to noodle around on the schoolmatters site, and has this to say:
“You’ve heard people makes the cracks at work and at cocktail parties — about how Georgia has the worst public education in the country. That conventional wisdom is largely based on SAT scores, which usually finds Georiga ranked 50th or 49th in the country, depending on the year. But schoolmatters makes it easy to compare states on another important academic barometer, the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) tests. The web site includes NAEP data from 2003. From the home page, click on the southeastern region on the colored map and then on “Georgia.” Then click on the words “compare states” in the upper right-hand corner of the page. That will call up a table with data like enrollment, percent of students in poverty, and NAEP scores. To find out where Georgia stacks up in, say, fourth-grade reading, simply click on “sort by NAEP Grade 4 reading proficiency” and you’ll quickly see that 27 percent of Georgia students scored at that level — 12th lowest score (not counting D.C) in the country. Not great, to be sure, but better than several Southern states as well as California and Arizona. You can also build custom tables. Let’s say you want to see how Georgia stacks up to states with similar poverty levels as Georgia. First click on “sort by Economincally disadvantaged enrollment.” Scroll down to Georgia, and click the little boxes next to the states just above or below (note that you can’t click more than 4). Go to the bottom of the page. Click on the “compare” button, and a new chart is created. Have fun!”
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