MCPS teachers--what kind of abuse from students goes on in your building?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

You must be in the rich parts. Over here in East County, this is just another day in the life of MS. My kids hate going to school because they are legitimately terrified. And the teachers and principal can't/on't do anything. Can't afford to move so we deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

At one point I had to lock kids in my room each morning bc there were gang fights in the hallway.

don't know where you are but my teaching experiences have always been in schools that were chaotic

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any good strategies for dealing with this as a teacher given these constraints? Feeling like I need to hear something constructive now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

Do you teach in a public school? In MCPS? Which part of the County?

In reality, I think most MSs have fights, regardless of SES level or racial makeup though. What MS does your kid attend that he has never reported a fight in the cafeteria? I'm impressed.

Walking out of classrooms is also pretty common. The kids know the teacher won't come after them. Sometimes at our school, teachers will send another student out as a 'chaperone', which is a joke because now both kids are out in the halls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

You must be in the rich parts. Over here in East County, this is just another day in the life of MS. My kids hate going to school because they are legitimately terrified. And the teachers and principal can't/on't do anything. Can't afford to move so we deal.

My SIL is an MCPS sub, so she goes around to different areas. Not sure about every school, but these are issues at most of the MSs she has worked at - Rockville, Germantown, Silver Spring, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

If they are a minority it is almost impossible to suspend. The school documented too many racial disparities in incidents (mean more blacks than whites) so many of them go undocumented now. That way the numbers look more even.

Ok so then they are actually suspending them, but just not documenting it. Minority or not, I'm pretty sure the principal has the sole authority to suspend/expel if they are actually disrupting students and teachers and taking away school resources.

Administrator here - you have to document suspensions and they must be approved by my director. PP are correct, if the student is a minority they most likely won't be suspended unless they hit a staff member or the victim's parent will raise a fuss. If it's a repeat offender my director is even less inclined to grant me the suspension. It's INSANE!

And this is exactly why the kids who are acting out in this way aren’t facing consequences. The decision is made by a person sitting in an office who hasn’t actually worked with students in years if not decades. And they sure as hell don’t find themselves being abused by children every single day to understand what that feels like and they also don’t have to see the faces of the other children in the class they’re impacting. They’re purely data points. Nothing more.

And if the student is African American (or maybe Hispanic but only sometimes) then there’s pretty much a 100% chance there won’t be any consequence. Parents will ignore every type of communication we try to initiate with them about concerns and ignore every effort we make to engage them to try to collaborate, but the second their kid does something serious like initiate a fight then they’re in the office guns blazing threatening to sue the school system for discrimination against their kid. So the county’s solution is to not suspend students of color so that they can *celebrate* the data that shows that suspension rates are down and they all congratulate each other and pat themselves on the back for a job well done while they themselves are as far away from these kids as possible! Yay!

I was assaulted both verbally and physically by a student recently and the student faced no consequence. The principal found it to be more important to maintain their buddy buddy relationship with the student so that the student doesn’t treat them like they do all the other adults in the building. Instead I was asked what I did or didn’t do to cause the student to hit me. This was said in front of the student. I’m trying to get out after this year if I can make it until then.

This is telling, because it suggests to me the school system is corrupt at the principal level and above. How can a principal allow this to happen to their teachers? I know that teachers that speak up are at fear of losing their job, but it is completely unacceptable to ignore verbal and physical abuse. This is a clear line that the principal needs to draw and initiate suspension, followed by expulsion if repeated. Multiple posts here are suggesting that they don't want to do that because it would look bad in the books and they don't want inconvenient data points. But that is exactly what full blown corruption is.

Teachers and others, what can we as parents do to help here? Are there options for parents to come together and help the teachers take back their school? If multiple parents at schools organize and protest when things like this happen, it should result in pressure on the principal to do the right thing. I definitely think that parents as a group need to make the principal accountable through any means, including legal action if necessary. If the principal is not assigning consequences to threats or violence against teachers (never mind other kids), they are not promoting a safe environment. If teachers have to worry about safety, and they cannot speak up for what's right, who else can do it but the parents?

[Anonymous]

You may have to make noise at the director level, the principal’s boss.

[Anonymous]

This is telling, because it suggests to me the school system is corrupt at the principal level and above. How can a principal allow this to happen to their teachers? I know that teachers that speak up are at fear of losing their job, but it is completely unacceptable to ignore verbal and physical abuse. This is a clear line that the principal needs to draw and initiate suspension, followed by expulsion if repeated. Multiple posts here are suggesting that they don't want to do that because it would look bad in the books and they don't want inconvenient data points. But that is exactly what full blown corruption is.

Teachers and others, what can we as parents do to help here? Are there options for parents to come together and help the teachers take back their school? If multiple parents at schools organize and protest when things like this happen, it should result in pressure on the principal to do the right thing. I definitely think that parents as a group need to make the principal accountable through any means, including legal action if necessary. If the principal is not assigning consequences to threats or violence against teachers (never mind other kids), they are not promoting a safe environment. If teachers have to worry about safety, and they cannot speak up for what's right, who else can do it but the parents?

The Code of Conduct is very gray. If a kid has an IEP, the matter becomes more complicated. While I love your support, if there aren't enough teachers banning together and documenting (both publicly for student behavior and "privately" with regard to other matters), nothing will get done. We are complainers expected to follow our duties. in other words, good little soldiers . . .

Most principals today are spineless. Many, like teachers, are trapped by a salary they won't see elsewhere and an excellent benefits package. Others are simply brainwashed b/c they've been "raised" by the system during a time when autonomy had already been stripped away.

I've spoken up over the years - always supported by colleagues privately, NEVER publicly. So what's the use?

The system is damaged beyond repair. No online program will "fix" the gap. Restorative practices (I'm trained through tier two . . . ) are a sad excuse for disciplinary measures. And our definition of collaborative planning is nothing I recognize!

Lockstep all the way, which means you're either all in or all out

I don't want to push you away, PP, but I've been doing this for a long time. It's gotten worse each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

It's the chicken little effect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

You must be in the rich parts. Over here in East County, this is just another day in the life of MS. My kids hate going to school because they are legitimately terrified. And the teachers and principal can't/on't do anything. Can't afford to move so we deal.

My SIL is an MCPS sub, so she goes around to different areas. Not sure about every school, but these are issues at most of the MSs she has worked at - Rockville, Germantown, Silver Spring, etc.

I would expect that subs would see worst behavior than normal. I was a sub when I first began my career and that was true even in the Churchill and Wooten clusters. However, neither now or then, did I see any student behavior that should terrify a person who wasn’t a racist or exceptionally emotionally fragile. Those folks should not teach anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

You must be in the rich parts. Over here in East County, this is just another day in the life of MS. My kids hate going to school because they are legitimately terrified. And the teachers and principal can't/on't do anything. Can't afford to move so we deal.

My SIL is an MCPS sub, so she goes around to different areas. Not sure about every school, but these are issues at most of the MSs she has worked at - Rockville, Germantown, Silver Spring, etc.

I would expect that subs would see worst behavior than normal. I was a sub when I first began my career and that was true even in the Churchill and Wooten clusters. However, neither now or then, did I see any student behavior that should terrify a person who wasn’t a racist or exceptionally emotionally fragile. Those folks should not teach anyway.

Of course. Anyone who posts anything negative is a racist. This is not about race. I notice that you didn’t comment on whether you actually teach in MCPS. I’m guessing that you do teach in MoCo, but at a private school.

That’s why my two neighbors - one AA and one Peruvian - yanked their kids out of MCPS and send them to private schools. Sure. They must be racist. It has nothing to do with the appalling behavior that they see and hear about regularly. In and out of the classroom.

Agree with the PP. MCPS is corrupt to the core.

And honestly, it affects kids of ALL races. There are plenty of motivated AA and Latino kids at our school. Allowing such blatant misbehavior ruins the experience of them, regardless of race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having the kid go to therapy or talk about their feelings with an adult all day as part of a restorative approach is much more of a consequence than suspending. Suspensions are just days off for them with no consequence. Unless the kid is a true psychopath or has extremely low intellectual capacity, they can really benefit from therapy and talking about their problems. Unfortunately, the admin has to really embrace the process and put in the time to build that relationship. It takes really compassionate and committed admin.

Public schools don’t have the funding and it is not their responsibility for kids to have therapy. That falls on the parents, which it should.

Do you know how hard it is to find child therapists who are accessible to low or even moderate income families? And that’s if the family believes in therapy and trusts the therapist. There are huge structural barriers to families getting their child therapy. Just getting the child to and from appointments is a challenge for anyone who works full time. The schools can’t just give up on these kids. I don’t know what the answer is, and there are problems with MCPS’s current policies and how they are implemented. But just giving up on small kids, calling them “bad” and kicking them out is NOT an acceptable answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year in my elementary school -

*Several teachers kicked and/or punched by students.
*Students getting up and walking out of class all day, every day. Refuse to go to office when principal finds the student. Admin can't put hands on the kids and they know it so they just roam the halls and barge in on other classrooms. Parents refuse to take phone calls from the school.
*Fights in the lunch room and playground several times a week.
*Administrators punched, kicked and spit on.

I'm so shocked parents of well-behaved students aren't calling and complaining. We aren't even a Title 1 school.

C’mon, name the school or at least give the cluster name.

In the Gaithersburg/Germantown area.

We are in Silver Spring and this is absolutely also descriptive of our schools - ES and MS.

Regular fights in MS cafeteria.
Fights DURING classes in ES - especially PE.
Kids always getting up and walking out of classes.
Kids throwing things - chairs, trash cans, desks!

I think if anyone asks their kids, likely in any cluster, they'll be pretty amazed at what their kids witness on a daily basis in MCPS. Ask non-judgemental questions of your kids' experiences and see what they have to say.

I teach and it doesn’t represent what I see daily. My middle schooler tells me everything (which we’re working on) and hasn’t reported the level you claim.

You must be in the rich parts. Over here in East County, this is just another day in the life of MS. My kids hate going to school because they are legitimately terrified. And the teachers and principal can't/on't do anything. Can't afford to move so we deal.

My SIL is an MCPS sub, so she goes around to different areas. Not sure about every school, but these are issues at most of the MSs she has worked at - Rockville, Germantown, Silver Spring, etc.

I would expect that subs would see worst behavior than normal. I was a sub when I first began my career and that was true even in the Churchill and Wooten clusters. However, neither now or then, did I see any student behavior that should terrify a person who wasn’t a racist or exceptionally emotionally fragile. Those folks should not teach anyway.

I have a friend who is a former fulltime teacher who now subs in MCPS (she had to take time off for family issues). She's good, and before you accuse her of being racist, is also african american. When we were looking for a neighborhood to buy a house, we asked her opinion on a few elementary schools. There was one in particular where she will no longer sub for grades 3-5 because the behavior issues are that bad. That's telling to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elementary teacher and we are all at a loss as to what to do. Our admin is out at every lunch/recess and spend time literally camped out in certain grade level hallways in an attempt to keep control over a handful of unruly students. Like another poster mentioned, parents have blocked the school's phone numbers and the kids actually laugh when teachers or administrators threaten to call home. They know their parents either won't be reached or won't care. I know I have a parent who claims her child will be punished but this same kid also tells me he knows how to pester his mom so that she relents and lets him do whatever he wants.

I don't get it, can't the principal first suspend them, and then later move to expel them if they continue the disorder/yelling/fighting? I thought the rules are pretty clear in the student handbooks. Doesn't the principal have the authority to do that? I'm not seeing how their hands are tied down.

If they are a minority it is almost impossible to suspend. The school documented too many racial disparities in incidents (mean more blacks than whites) so many of them go undocumented now. That way the numbers look more even.

Ok so then they are actually suspending them, but just not documenting it. Minority or not, I'm pretty sure the principal has the sole authority to suspend/expel if they are actually disrupting students and teachers and taking away school resources.

Administrator here - you have to document suspensions and they must be approved by my director. PP are correct, if the student is a minority they most likely won't be suspended unless they hit a staff member or the victim's parent will raise a fuss. If it's a repeat offender my director is even less inclined to grant me the suspension. It's INSANE!

And this is exactly why the kids who are acting out in this way aren’t facing consequences. The decision is made by a person sitting in an office who hasn’t actually worked with students in years if not decades. And they sure as hell don’t find themselves being abused by children every single day to understand what that feels like and they also don’t have to see the faces of the other children in the class they’re impacting. They’re purely data points. Nothing more.

And if the student is African American (or maybe Hispanic but only sometimes) then there’s pretty much a 100% chance there won’t be any consequence. Parents will ignore every type of communication we try to initiate with them about concerns and ignore every effort we make to engage them to try to collaborate, but the second their kid does something serious like initiate a fight then they’re in the office guns blazing threatening to sue the school system for discrimination against their kid. So the county’s solution is to not suspend students of color so that they can *celebrate* the data that shows that suspension rates are down and they all congratulate each other and pat themselves on the back for a job well done while they themselves are as far away from these kids as possible! Yay!

I was assaulted both verbally and physically by a student recently and the student faced no consequence. The principal found it to be more important to maintain their buddy buddy relationship with the student so that the student doesn’t treat them like they do all the other adults in the building. Instead I was asked what I did or didn’t do to cause the student to hit me. This was said in front of the student. I’m trying to get out after this year if I can make it until then.

This is telling, because it suggests to me the school system is corrupt at the principal level and above. How can a principal allow this to happen to their teachers? I know that teachers that speak up are at fear of losing their job, but it is completely unacceptable to ignore verbal and physical abuse. This is a clear line that the principal needs to draw and initiate suspension, followed by expulsion if repeated. Multiple posts here are suggesting that they don't want to do that because it would look bad in the books and they don't want inconvenient data points. But that is exactly what full blown corruption is.

Teachers and others, what can we as parents do to help here? Are there options for parents to come together and help the teachers take back their school? If multiple parents at schools organize and protest when things like this happen, it should result in pressure on the principal to do the right thing. I definitely think that parents as a group need to make the principal accountable through any means, including legal action if necessary. If the principal is not assigning consequences to threats or violence against teachers (never mind other kids), they are not promoting a safe environment. If teachers have to worry about safety, and they cannot speak up for what's right, who else can do it but the parents?

Because just like a corrupt business anywhere, they are looking to move up in their jobs and get out of where they are now. The only way to do that is to appease the people above them, not below them.