I just got an interesting comment on my article, Hopes and Fears, that I really appreciate. I don’t endorse the comment’s content entirely; in fact, I take issue with it in some instances. Regardless, I think it took a lot for Katie to write this up and I wanted to highlight it, rather than let it get buried in the archives of this blog.
I agree that there are a lot of problems with disruptive students. I do not want to bash anyone but why is it that it is this year all of a sudden? Is it just gangs or does Mrs. Bastings have a hand in it too? And lets not forget our new assistant female principal.
She was basically thrown out of Wappingers becasue she did not know how to disipline and now we are stuck with her!!!!! Who makes these decisions????? Does the board even know what is going on or is it a case that all they care about is the dollar sign and not our education?????
I’l give you a perfect example…..my little sister in going into 6th grade next year and ALL the specials are being cut!!!!!What’s that about??????Mr. Rand is really mad. I loved band and now the who program is going down the tubes!!!! AND what about what Dr. O said about that we would get more computer classes? I hear that is getting cut too. It’s a lot more then just the disruptive students.
As far as clubs go…did you ever think that maybe the teachers are just as angry as the students with what they are doing to our school??? We are loosing one of the greatest teachers becasue he is fed up with the nonsense going on. So who is responsible? And how do we get the board to see that everyone is upset????
Thoughts?
I agree wholeheartedly. I also think that more teachers may leave Dover. Now that the thought is in their heads they just need one administrative mistake or disrespectful student to send them off.
This is tough stuff here. I do agree with alot of it though, what is it coming to and what is the solution? I give high praise to you Ricky for trying to handle the problems accordingly.
Well, a total upheaval tends to work best in these situations. I was reading a Wikipedia article that described schools in which EVERYTHING is decided democratically by the students. Maybe not something that rash, since you say many students are becoming delinquents. Perhaps the most outspoken and those with the fewest infractions (such as Ricky) should be appointed to an administrative board to hold the proverbial axe over your principal’s and assistant principals’ employments. That board would also have at least 5 delegates from each grade who elect next year’s delegates. Once the kids start behaving, give them the power to elect delegates. The inherent problem in this system is that rules may end up a little lax, but really our kids do need some civil rights.
Hey Michael. I’ve been giving this some thought, and while I like the direction your idea is going, we both know it’d never be feasible. It’s unfortunate, but just as bad as administrators can sometimes be, students can be much worse.