Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Administrator here who has gone to bat for my staff more than once with my director. It’s very difficult to get a student suspended. Even more so if the student is not white. Teachers are absolutely correct in saying that hands are tied. I’ll bring parents in to meet with them regarding their children’s behavior and most of them see the same struggles at home but lack the skill set to actually parent their children and hold them accountable. Our society is a mess.
As a parent of a child who has faced significant harm from this-both physical and mental-it really is not that hard to suspend someone. Having a principal or other administrator not due the right thing is child abuse. You have an obligation to protect students from this period. The harm that you are doing, from a parent that has gone through this is life changing for the children that are hurt. Please do the right thing. Thank you for going to bat for your students but really please stop letting innocent kids like mine get hurt. Unacceptable plain and simple.
If only it were that simple. My SIL is an elementary principal in the county and she's been in very heated arguments with her director about needing to get certain kids suspended and it's been denied time after time. When these requests are denied, she will have the student stay in the front office the next day doing school work to try and maintain some normalcy for the teacher and students. However, it becomes next to impossible to handle all of her other obligations like visiting classrooms to ensure quality instruction is happening. Teachers think principals are the enemy, principals think directors are the enemy. Stuff rolls down hill. Whoever is sitting at the top needs to spend a week in an elementary school and see that the code of conduct is a joke and restorative justice doesn't mean anything to a 8 year old suffering from trauma.
My administration had the grand idea to have teachers and staff members volunteer to sign up for time slots to sit with kids who are serving in school suspension (which is not a documented suspension). Then the administrators are free to attend their offsite meetings with fresh coffee, muffins and bagels, then go out to lunch on the break and straight home from there. Or if they're in the building they're in their office with the door closed and the walkie talkie off so they aren't pulled into other fires around the building and staff gets no admin support. It's really lovely the way that administrators can delegate their responsibilities onto the staff members who already have overflowing plates.
The worst thing is that the martyrs and brown nosers actually do sign up, so now it's an established practice because they've gotten enough people to do it. There's no way I'm giving up my lunch or my one planning time per week where I don't have meetings to sit in a room alone with a kid who is known to lie. I don't understand how my colleagues willingly put themselves in that situation.
Anonymous wrote:The behaviorally challenged kids are ruining it for most everyone else. Why should it be ok for some little punk azz ruin it for my kid and the other kids? Kick him out.
Anonymous wrote:This is not a problem limited to title I and Focus schools. In W schools, the parents are worried about what goes on their kids’ records. Every behavior problem is attributed to a special need, and the teacher gets blamed for not accommodating it. Out of school suspension is changed to in school suspension. Even when the kids need an alternative placement, the parents fight it. Everyone gets tied up in meeting after meeting, appeals, all while the kid continues to disrespect and disrupt the classroom.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Administrator here who has gone to bat for my staff more than once with my director. It’s very difficult to get a student suspended. Even more so if the student is not white. Teachers are absolutely correct in saying that hands are tied. I’ll bring parents in to meet with them regarding their children’s behavior and most of them see the same struggles at home but lack the skill set to actually parent their children and hold them accountable. Our society is a mess.
As a parent of a child who has faced significant harm from this-both physical and mental-it really is not that hard to suspend someone. Having a principal or other administrator not due the right thing is child abuse. You have an obligation to protect students from this period. The harm that you are doing, from a parent that has gone through this is life changing for the children that are hurt. Please do the right thing. Thank you for going to bat for your students but really please stop letting innocent kids like mine get hurt. Unacceptable plain and simple.
If only it were that simple. My SIL is an elementary principal in the county and she's been in very heated arguments with her director about needing to get certain kids suspended and it's been denied time after time. When these requests are denied, she will have the student stay in the front office the next day doing school work to try and maintain some normalcy for the teacher and students. However, it becomes next to impossible to handle all of her other obligations like visiting classrooms to ensure quality instruction is happening. Teachers think principals are the enemy, principals think directors are the enemy. Stuff rolls down hill. Whoever is sitting at the top needs to spend a week in an elementary school and see that the code of conduct is a joke and restorative justice doesn't mean anything to a 8 year old suffering from trauma.
My administration had the grand idea to have teachers and staff members volunteer to sign up for time slots to sit with kids who are serving in school suspension (which is not a documented suspension). Then the administrators are free to attend their offsite meetings with fresh coffee, muffins and bagels, then go out to lunch on the break and straight home from there. Or if they're in the building they're in their office with the door closed and the walkie talkie off so they aren't pulled into other fires around the building and staff gets no admin support. It's really lovely the way that administrators can delegate their responsibilities onto the staff members who already have overflowing plates.
The worst thing is that the martyrs and brown nosers actually do sign up, so now it's an established practice because they've gotten enough people to do it. There's no way I'm giving up my lunch or my one planning time per week where I don't have meetings to sit in a room alone with a kid who is known to lie. I don't understand how my colleagues willingly put themselves in that situation.
Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a teacher problem. You have to make the students respect you. You are not their friend. You are their teacher. Say this on the first day and repeat every day. Students do what you allow them to do. When a child gets crazy with me or gets an attitude with me, I get crazier right back at them. They know I do not play. The “troubled” kids get sent to my class. They don’t mess up with me because I set the tone and the environment in which they are in. I hold them accountable. When my door closes, it is me against the children. Forget rules and regulations, I do what is in the best interest of the children. You play around in my class when you are supposed to be working, then you owe me recess considering you already had your time to free play in my class.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Administrator here who has gone to bat for my staff more than once with my director. It’s very difficult to get a student suspended. Even more so if the student is not white. Teachers are absolutely correct in saying that hands are tied. I’ll bring parents in to meet with them regarding their children’s behavior and most of them see the same struggles at home but lack the skill set to actually parent their children and hold them accountable. Our society is a mess.
As a parent of a child who has faced significant harm from this-both physical and mental-it really is not that hard to suspend someone. Having a principal or other administrator not due the right thing is child abuse. You have an obligation to protect students from this period. The harm that you are doing, from a parent that has gone through this is life changing for the children that are hurt. Please do the right thing. Thank you for going to bat for your students but really please stop letting innocent kids like mine get hurt. Unacceptable plain and simple.
If only it were that simple. My SIL is an elementary principal in the county and she's been in very heated arguments with her director about needing to get certain kids suspended and it's been denied time after time. When these requests are denied, she will have the student stay in the front office the next day doing school work to try and maintain some normalcy for the teacher and students. However, it becomes next to impossible to handle all of her other obligations like visiting classrooms to ensure quality instruction is happening. Teachers think principals are the enemy, principals think directors are the enemy. Stuff rolls down hill. Whoever is sitting at the top needs to spend a week in an elementary school and see that the code of conduct is a joke and restorative justice doesn't mean anything to a 8 year old suffering from trauma.