I guess we have to talk about cellphones again.

Actually, we need to talk about cops in school, euphemistically called School Resource Officers, as if they were a librarian or something.  This is a bit of a rant, in case you didn't realize.

This came across Facebook.

Sadly, there was a time when kids were taught to respect adults, in general. I work with some amazing teachers, but parents show open disrespect for teachers, so why should their kids be any different? todays parents are so over involved with their kid...

Total and utter bullshit.

"That time when kids were taught to respect their elders" and things were rosy and happy and nobody sassed an adult ... didn't exist except in the fevered dreams of people who think they weren't Royal Pains in the Ass themselves when they were teenagers.

"Back then" kids were just as disrespectful and just as stupid about it. The difference between then and now was that a teacher who made harsh and unreasonable demands could arbitrarily smack a kid - corporal punishment was pretty common - and there was nothing the kid could do. The teacher could be totally and completely wrong and all of society would just fall in line. After the teacher got done slapping or spanking, the parents would probably deal out more punishment when the kid got home, "No Respect for Authority."

After the Tinker decision and other lawsuits, schools began to realize that they didn't have complete and total control of their students and never did, that "students' rights didn't stop at the schoolhouse door", that the Constitution and (in the case under discussion here) specifically, the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Amendments weren't just for adults.

Kids are citizens, too, and have all of those pesky constitutional rights. Smacking them around for looking at a text (the modern day equivalent of passing a note) is ridiculous. Expecting them to hand over a phone to a teacher who will search through it or not give it back until some unknown time ... is likewise unreasonable if you only do it to one student and only when you catch her and only if you're in a bad mood because your day wasn't going well. If you want to apply discipline, you have to be fair and equitable.

Teachers who do something creative, like having the students line up their phones on the "chalktray", have a much better record because it's done to everyone and becomes a habit. Kids can deal with that.

What they hate is the "I'm annoyed, therefore you are wrong and I'm taking your phone because reasons and if you question my AUTHORITAH, I will have you arrested."

Why does the teacher need to make this an issue? All accounts say the teacher asked her to put away the cellphone but she didn't do it fast enough (emphasis mine). How does this justify a harsh takedown by a cop, public arrest, jail and fines? Any teacher/admin/cop/adult who escalates this to the level in that video really needs to take a few psych courses, and do some serious introspective work ... is that student really threatening you that much? Is the student use of a cellphone anywhere near the disruption that the policeman caused?

Nowadays, schools try to slide past the Constitution by using weasel words and police phrasing and lingo to attempt to do this crap. We changed from "Inappropriate Language or Behavior" to "Assault", "Bullying" or "Harassment" ... or my favorite response to one boy shoving another at a locker, "ASSAULT and BATTERY, Third Degree."

The kid who recorded the incident was also arrested ... for "Causing a Distraction." WTF, people?

Then, there's the kid who recorded the video on her cellphone: she was also arrested ... for "Causing a Distraction." So a cop in the room who takes a girl forcibly from her chair and throws her against a wall and handcuffs her -- that's not a distraction but a second kid with a phone is? I can assure you that my difficulty keeping the class on task would have a lot more to do with the cop than anything else.

We see this all the time as schools struggle to pretend they're Gods of All They Survey. A girl wears spandex leggings and the administrator calls it "a Safety Issue." It's not.

A kid wears a hat and we call it "Disrepect" and if the kid doesn't take it off instantly it becomes "Refusal To Follow Orders" or "Insubordination" or "Disruption". It's not.

A kid gives an Advil to another kid because of PMS, we call it "Illegal Drug Distribution" or invoke some "No Tolerance Drug Policy" as if that applied here. It doesn't.

South Carolina even has a law against disrupting school, a law that carries a punishment of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.  "Disruption" used to be shooting spitballs and the punishment was a detention. Now it's a major criminal offense if you want to push it that far.

Police need to use specific, precise language that has been scrubbed of as much bias and humanity as possible because they are dealing with adults and a criminal justice system. If the police get involved, there are serious consequences if guilt is proven.

When the situation calls for jail time or extensive fines, we absolutely must call the police. This is not something untrained school personnel can handle. Anything you say can be used against you in court; you have the right to an attorney; you have the right to remain silent. The policemen can use DEADLY force if public safety is at stake.

The "School Resource Officer" is still a cop. Every interaction with a student is written up, recorded and reported. He is not a friend and he cannot ignore things.

The other 99.9% of the time, school discipline is not at that point and the cops should not be involved. Schools need to get out of the policeman's mindset, to remove that language from our speech and discipline policies.

We are not cops; we are dealing with children, actually and legally.

Passing notes in class, while rude and should be dealt with by school officials, is NOT a criminal offense. Cops should not be involved.

I don't want kids handing out Advil  - there are medical reasons. So I send them to the office/nurse to get some for free (where the nurse can say "That's enough for today" or "Is there something I need to know about that bruising all over your body? Know that I am required by law to call the state abuse hotline.") This kid in this case is nothing for a policeman to deal with. The abuser, yes.

"If all you've got is a cop ... everyone looks like a criminal" isn't quite accurate, really. He's required to treat every interaction as a possible criminal case; he has no choice. He is a policeman and he must follow rules.

"If a major incident occurs that needs the US Justice System, we'll call the cops"
became
"The SRO is there to deal with major incidents."

But that has become

"We pay him $90,000 dollars a year and he's not doing anything else right now,
so we'll send him to do this task we don't feel like doing."

and in some cases:
"The kid won't listen to us. SRO, you take care of it."

And that's how passing notes becomes a criminal offense. That's how refusing to hand over a phone can lead to forcible takedown, arrest, and jail time.

School administrations have increasingly becoming a cadre of self-important fools who have never taught a day in their lives and who have no idea what they're doing. 

A Professional relationship or a personal one?

Has the administration abdicated its responsibility to teach behavior and self-discipline to a policeman who must follow completely different and far stricter rules of interpersonal contact? I think so.

Here's a thought: If your SRO is expected to be a friendly guy, messing with kids and always has a smile ... do the kids know he is really a cop? Is the disrespect some claim as a reason for the arrest partly because kids have been calling him by his first name all this time?  Does he have a professional relationship with the students or a personal one?

A final point. Some reports claim the girl was recently orphaned. This is not true, but she was in foster care ... still a traumatic and depressing situation for a girl whose mother and grandmother are still alive. Think about what kind of home life that girl has lived. It doesn't excuse, but it does explain.

Thanks for reading. I've got to get back to work.

---

p.s.
Anyone who wants to claim that the cop is there to protect the students from a "Bad Guy With a Gun", please just shut the fuck up and crawl back into your hole ... you have no idea what you're talking about.

There's harassment and there's sexual harassment.

And this isn't sexual harassment ... They are six years old, in first grade. Yes, he needs to be punished. If the school has warned him more than once, warned the mother more than once, gradually ramped up the punishments as he repeated his actions ... then suspend him so the parents can do their due diligence.

But this is not sexual harassment.

The mother of a girl involved in the case of a 6-year-old Colorado boy suspended for giving a classmate unwanted kisses says the school did the right thing, ... did a "great job" protecting her daughter from repeated harassment from the boy.

First-grader Hunter Yelton was given a two-day suspension, with a sexual harassment infraction on his discipline record. The boy's mother, Jennifer Saunders, insists the punishment was too harsh. "He is 6 years old, and that is absolutely ridiculous for him to have 'sexual harassment' on his record, even it is (only on the district's) record," she said.

But Masters-Ownbey says the kissing was "not once, but over and over." She said she hoped people would not "start bashing the school that is doing a great job protecting my child from what is sexual harassment."

School officials insist the boy was repeatedly warned and that the punishment was warranted. Lincoln Elementary School Principal Tammy DeWolfe said the school would "never suspend a student for one minor little violation." No criminal charges have been brought against the boy.

Masters-Ownbey stated her daughter's older brother has felt like he needed to protect her at school. "In elementary school, when a boy kisses a girl, the usual response of their peers is 'ewwww,'" she stated. "So why do the other kids rush to tell? Because they've seen it over and over, they've seen him repeatedly get in trouble for it, they've seen the girl repeatedly tell him to stop, they know it's wrong."

I'm not sure how the girl's mother could be saying "did a 'great job' protecting her daughter from repeated harassment from the boy" when he's done this so often that the other kids rushed to tell on him and knew he'd gotten "repeatedly in trouble for it."

I think the boy's mother needs to do something about it, take some responsibility for disciplining and correcting the boy, without whining publicly about the label.  The school shouldn't allow him back until everyone is satisfied that he won't continue, but they should change the label. Feeling "sorry" and "apologizing" will probably be fake as hell because he's six, but worthwhile in the long term.

What kills me is that stories like this tend to blow up on social media and get the school-haters and pro-vouchers/anti-public school advocates going ... and it could have been so easily avoided.

LATER: I notice the school has changed it to "misconduct."

... or the Terrorists will win.

No Cops in Schools - Admin, Do Your Jobs

Admin + Cop = Idiot

"A story about one 5-year-old particularly stands out. The little boy was required to wear black shoes to school. Because he didn't have black shoes, his mom used a marker to cover up his white and red sneakers. A bit of red and white was still noticeable, so the child was taken home by the cops. The child was escorted out of school so he and his mother would be taught a lesson."

Really?

"Students playfully throwing peanuts at one another on a school bus ended in five black male high school students being arrested for felony assault after one of the peanuts hit the white female bus driver."

Well, that IS a problem.

I guess.

It's simple. Combine stupid with racist, add in administration that is way too full of itself and stir with a ladle of cop-speak and you get this. Administrative Over-Reaction and a No-Tolerance/No-Intelligence Discipline policy.

Keep the police officers out of schools.  Call them in when you need to have someone arrested, certainly, but don't make them the first-response to student horseplay and childish antics.

Force the administration to do their jobs properly or fire them. Discipline should stay within the boundaries of the school building.

Don't even get started with the whole gun thing.

Link: lawsuit

Younger students get ADHD

From CuriousCat Engineering Blog:
Nearly 1 million Children Potentially Misdiagnosed with ADHD in the USA

Nearly 1 million children in the United States are potentially misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder simply because they are the youngest – and most immature – in their kindergarten class, according to new research by, Todd Elder, a Michigan State University economist.

Some of the numbers:

The youngest kindergartners were 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than the oldest children in the same grade. Similarly, when that group of classmates reached the fifth and eighth grades, the youngest were more than twice as likely to be prescribed stimulants. Overall, the study found that about 20 percent – or 900,000 – of the 4.5 million children currently identified as having ADHD likely have been misdiagnosed.

Psychiatrists and educators must be more careful. When you're looking for a reason why Johnny can't sit still, you're likely to see the reason you most want to see or the one you're just had hours of inservice about.

Thinking like a Teacher?

How to tell if you think like a teacher?  Read this article on Redskins player Albert Haynesworth then come back here.

Okay. If you're not a teacher, you're probably thinking, "What a dope. Haynesworth should have known better. You just don't mess with the Shanahan. It's all Haynesworth's fault for getting himself into this and it's all on his shoulders for getting himself out of the doghouse and into the position as starter that everyone knows he can do, if he gets his act straight."

If you're a teacher, you were probably thinking, "I wish I could get away with something analogous. The admin response? It would 'obviously' be the teacher's fault that he didn't do the work necessary to succeed. The teacher should be fired - not up to standards."

Oh well.

Don’t expect schools to be cyber-parents

My response is: anything but "F"
But then, I'm a teacher and I don't believe that anything happening outside of the school or non-school related activity or trip is any of the school's business.

Via the Schenectady (NY) Daily Gazette
July 6, 2010, page A5

A boy has apparently sent filthy text messages to your daughter over the weekend. Both are sixth-graders at the same school. You, the girl’s father, coach sports with the boy’s father. What would you do?

a. Disconnect your daughter from all texting services.
b. Talk to the boy’s father, whom you know.
c. If the father refuses to do something about it, stop socializing with him.
d. Call the police.
e. Do some combination of a, b, c and d.
f. Complain to the school principal.

This is a real-life example, and the parents chose only f. The two students attended Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood, N.J. The principal, Tony Orsini, asked the girl’s parents whether they had contacted the boy’s family. No. That would upset the coaching arrangement. He asked whether they had called the police. They again said no, making several excuses.

In olden days, the parents probably would have intervened personally. They could have cut off their daughter’s texting capabilities and diplomatically called the other parents. Or they might have gone directly to the door of the offending schoolmate’s house to make their displeasure very clear.

The more aggressive approach is best done with calm. The parents may have had no idea of their child’s activities and would be grateful for the information. Or, the odious messages may have come from someone else who had found the cell phone. That had happened in the above case.

But outsourcing this parenting role to teachers and principals seems to have become the common practice.

Most schools understandably don’t have the time or desire to monitor their charges’ electronic communications. And what’s a school to do when one student sends obscene texts to another from home on a weekend? Obtain a search warrant?

Suppose the principal confiscates a cell phone and finds provocative photos of the owner on it, not uncommon for those who do “sexting.” The educator risks having an unhinged parent retaliate by charging him (or her) of trafficking in child pornography.

Schools have come up with varied responses to the cyber-bully problem. A Seattle middle school suspended 28 students who ganged up on a classmate on Facebook. By contrast, a mother asked a school in Fairfax, Va., to punish students involved in a Facebook pile-up on her son and was told there was nothing it could do.

My favorite response was Principal Orsini’s. He sent an e-mail to all parents that described their responsibilities.

“There is absolutely NO reason for any middle school student to be part of a social networking site,” Orsini wrote. He noted that cruel 12-year-olds pose more a threat to their middle-schoolers’s well-being than the adult predators of parental nightmares. And he told parents whose children were attacked through networking sites or messages: “IMMEDIATELY GO TO THE POLICE!”

Typing these words, I feel like reaching for the hand sanitizer. You who have hung in this far may feel similar revulsion. You wonder why any sixth-grader has texting privileges at all. Why parents let their tender-age teens do social networking. Why Facebook opens its service to people as young as 13.

There are ways to pressure Facebook. Parents, meanwhile, must do their job. They must confront the parents of their children’s assailants, contain their kids’ computer use and, if necessary, call the police.

The Highly Ineffective Principal is Usurped.

There are so many things wrong here, I just don't know what to say. Hold on, I DO know what to say. I think these folk have usurped the title of Most Highly Ineffective Principal. If you can't teach 'em, suspend 'em!

• School Officials: Grow Up. If this is the extent of his "intimidation," then you need to seriously reconsider your actions. If he made other students uncomfortable, then you need to talk to him and to them and help everyone understand the meaning of "Play" and appropriate things. If this is too complicated for you adults, then you should quit your position and get a job you can handle. Like maybe at Burger King.
  
• Momma: Grow Up. You're the Adult. Teach your son how to behave. If they've complained about this behavior for several months and you've ignored it, then you have also failed as a parent. You have to realize the school is unwilling to do (or incapable of doing) this. Teach him proper behavior. Nobody cares if your son isn't violent at home - we all know what a special little snowflake he is, unique and wonderful.

Say it with me again, "Zero Tolerance means Zero Intelligence."

---

Ionia kindergartner suspended for making gun with hand
By Brian McVicar The Grand Rapids Press
March 04, 2010, 10:39PM
IONIA -- To the little boy's mother, it was just a 6-year-old boy playing around.
But when Mason Jammer, a kindergarten student at Jefferson Elementary in Ionia, curled his fist into the shape of a gun Wednesday and pointed it at another student, school officials said it was no laughing matter. They suspended Mason until Friday, saying the behavior made other students uncomfortable, said Erin Jammer, Mason's mother. School officials allege Mason had displayed this kind of behavior for several months, despite numerous warnings. "I do think it's too harsh for a six-year-old," said Jammer, who was previously warned that if Mason continued the practice he would be suspended. "He's six and he just likes to play." Jammer says her son isn't violent, and there are other, more effective ways of teaching him not to make a gun with his hand. "Maybe what you could do is take his recess away," suggested Jammer, adding her son doesn't have toy guns at home. "He's only six and he doesn't understand any of this."

Now you know why it's called Generation Y

Thanks to
Buckhorn Road for reminding me that I had these buried in the academic folder. and to Darren for the link to Buckhorn. Note: that second is sourced Flint (MI) Police Department and comes courtesy of the Detroit Free Press. For some reason, the kids don't think it's appropriate. I merely say, "At some point, the powers that be will decide that your 'funny' and 'no big deal' are not and are, respectively. You're nearly adults and people will expect you to behave as such." Not sure it sticks, but it's fun to say.

Discipline in a Nutshell

From Andrew
Rules which are not enforced are often far more harmful than no rules at all and a chain of command which breaks is worse than no chain of command at all.

Punishments, Fines and Penalties

From this Yahoo article by Chris Chase comes news that penalties for lateness in the real world do exist. I may keep this one for when kids complain that they were "just going to the bathroom and couldn't make it to class on time" or "their car wouldn't start" or "my sister was late."

"Lance Armstrong and his Astana team were fined for arriving late for the pre-stage registration this morning in Marseille, France. Rules state that riders must show up 20 minutes prior to the start or face a fine of 100 Swiss Francs ($92)."

Of course, the French authorities were not amused:

"They don't care about the fine. We are going to ask the UCI to be tougher."

Which brings up an interesting point for educators. Set your penalty for the 'offense' and stick to it. The temptation is to raise the stakes for repeat offenders leading to the school suspending or expelling for chronic tardiness. This escalation rarely works to your benefit. Instead, keep the punishment wherever it is. The rulebook is your friend.

High Schoolers are in the middle of feeling their way through the transition from "letter-of-the-law" mentality to "deeper meaning of the law" mentality. Anyone who has tried to write or enforce a dress code knows what I'm talking about here!

If the rule and its response aren't specified, the lesson won't be internalized. If the rule isn't followed all the time, don't expect to have an easy time of it on those rare occasions when you try. These kids are not quite ready to understand relativity and fine lines and shades of gray. They want "Yes" or "No", "Breaking the Rule" or not, "I was inside the door when the Bell rang."

Also, don't get all hung up over the enforcement of that clearly-defined rule and response. The kids get the quid pro quo if they know that you are not singling them out. They might not like the punishment, but they'll understand it. Better to say "You knew what was going to happen, don't complain" or sing the theme tune to Baretta.

Whatever you do, don't drop the punishment. If your school says 1 detention for 3 tardies, it shouldn't suddenly try to mitigate that with "restorative justice" or some other touchy-feely garbage just because Johnny has racked up 15 detentions. The adults will feel better but the Johnny won't get much except "I got away with it." Figure out a way for him to "pay off" those 15 detentions - maybe a work crew assignment on Saturday that happens to be equivalent. If you can't find an equivalent then maybe your penalties should be changed -- at the end of the year.

If the school seems to be ignoring your problem student (as mine does) then the "Mad Minute Quiz" is a fine solution. Have them add fractions or solve simple equations for 60 seconds, no retakes allowed. Anyone on the absence list is exempt.

Don't over-react, either. This is not the time to start talking about "three strikes" or suspension or expulsion. If the kid escalates, then you can rise up with him. His screaming and shouting raises the stakes and is a new situation. His loss of control is a new problem and should be treated just like any other episode of screaming and shouting. Just don't try to make that kid understand that THIS time his five-minute tardiness is somehow more important that the last one and deserves more punishment. He won't understand and you'll get nowhere, mostly because this tardy IS NO different.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh:

"One of the excuses floated for that late arrival for Astana was that there was bad traffic in Marseille. The irony of showing up late to a bike race because your car was stuck in traffic is something even Pescheux should find amusing."

Another Moron wins in the Rankings Horserace

Yes, she's an overanxious mother, maybe even a helicopter. She wants her daughter to be better than the others. She had access to the grades. Her daughter wasn't going to be the best so she helped her daughter improve her place in the horserace of school rankings ...

She changed her grades.

"Tell us about it, Johnny!"
"This Mother of the Year is a secretary at her daughter's school with access to the guidance department grading system. She changed scores and grades using other people's passwords ..."

"What does she win?"
"She gets publicity and an ever-grateful daughter. In addition, she wins 29 counts of unlawful use of a computer and tampering with public records. But that's not all ..."

Jill Adams, the school district superintendent, said prosecutors have asked school officials not to comment publicly about the case.

Bit late for that, ain't it sweetie? Maybe a little about the improved procedures so it doesn't happen again quite so easily?

---

Pa. mother charged with changing daughter's grades
Thu Jun 25, 2009

A high school secretary illegally changed grades in a school computer system to improve her daughter's class standing, according to criminal charges filed Thursday.

Caroline Maria McNeal of Huntingdon is accused of using the passwords of three co-workers without their knowledge to tamper with dozens of grades and test scores between May 2006 and July 2007 at Huntingdon Area High School in central Pennsylvania, the state attorney general's office said.

McNeal, 39, is alleged to have improved her daughter Brittany's grades and reduced those of two classmates to enhance Brittany's standing in the 2008 graduating class.

School officials corrected the grades before the students graduated, prosecutors said.

Attorney General Tom Corbett said the case involves "a serious violation of the public trust."

"Our citizens depend on people in public positions, including school employees, to protect the safety and security of these records and not use confidential information for their own benefit," Corbett said.

McNeal was charged with 29 counts of unlawful use of a computer and 29 counts of tampering with public records. Each count is a third-degree felony punishable by a maximum of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine, said Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for Corbett's office.

No telephone number was listed for Caroline McNeal. Brittany McNeal is not charged with any wrongdoing.

Jill Adams, the school district superintendent, said prosecutors have asked school officials not to comment publicly about the case.

"We would like to have it be finished, over and done," she said.

In all, McNeal is accused of altering nearly 200 scores and grades covering four school years.

The situation came to light in October 2007, when an employee of the high school guidance office discovered conflicting SAT scores for Brittany.

Scores provided directly by the College Board showed a cumulative score of 1370, while an unknown source had previously entered 1730, according to court papers.1

Further investigation revealed that the data had been entered from Caroline McNeal's computer starting more than a week before SAT scores for other students were entered.

Three other secretaries at the school told investigators they had shared their passwords with Caroline McNeal during vacations or other prolonged absences.

School Discipline and Silly Administrators

The original article and my repost here was about a student who was sent out of the building when he was suspended and had to wait in sub-freezing weather for 20 minutes. I generally read such things with suspicion - somebody's always lying and usually both sides are speaking through the sides of their mouths.

To wit:
"the school has records of calls made to Mother telling her that her son was going to be suspended that day." "Mother said neither she nor her son knew he was set to be suspended that day, or he wouldn’t have shown up for school." (Names changed to Relationships for clarity.)

This sounds a lot like a case of mistaken communication with interpretations taken liberally by both sides. School probably called and said something like "He's gonna be suspended if he keeps coming in late" but might not have mentioned specifics. I can remember when my school called (kept careful records) but never actually talked to a parent - since neither was home during the day when the administrators called.

On her side, Mother might have figured that if she dropped him off and made a quick getaway, she could be rid of him for the day - the school might not go to the trouble of calling to have him removed. He does sound like a real PITA.

The lawyers are going to have to decide that, but I have my suspicions and it's because of some later statements by the school.

As an aside, we have the obvious question of why "suspension for lateness" makes sense. I mean, you have the kid there and that ought to be your purpose all along, no? Put him in a Special study hall, make him serve after school detentions or something that keeps him there and makes your point. If the true reason for suspension is something else, that needs to be said or you will never address your real problems.

So what is my smoking gun here? A few statements from the "Human Resource Officer" ...

"He was finally told to leave the building. At that point, he was trespassing." and "would never have been removed from the building had he remained calm"

But he wasn't really being raucous or violent, he was being a goofball. Why exaggerate?

"Had he not kept sneaking into the building and roaming around" and "He was being insubordinate with the principal and also not following protocol"

Don't you love it - now he's being "insubordinate" and not "following protocol." Let's use serious terms so people won't notice how silly this whole thing is. I find that school administrators resort to this kind of talk when they know they're going too far, when they know that simply stating facts won't look good, when they know they screwed up and are trying to CYA.

For my part, though, the biggest screw up was this line from the HRD (a dehumanizing title, if I've ever heard one - just call the woman Dean of Students or Attendance Secretary) ...

"He’s failing all of his classes and he failed all of last semester, too. He’s not coming in, and is playing games when he is here."

Have you never heard of FERPA, lady? This bit of information was told to a REPORTER. Besides being immaterial to the case at hand, this information comes under the category of Educational Records and it is PRIVATE.

Moron. If they are resorting to this level, they are almost always trying to cover up their own mistakes. Even if the school district is not actually at fault in any way and did everything else exactly right and the mother and kid are completely in the wrong, this HRD needs to rethink her public relations, at least.

It's Bizarro World.

Crisis committee meets to discuss the crisis plan. Fire drills come up. Currently, we all walk out of the building out random exits and everyone collects on the athletic field. The students mingle, the faculty wander. (It's truly bizarre - unlike any other school I've ever seen - but I'm new here and I shut up) The students are usually called back in before everyone is even at the field, encouraging the stragglers because they get in before the mass crush.

I suggest that perhaps we should line up our classes and make sure all are present, that none stayed in the building. Give each teacher a place and have the children organized and accounted for.

Principal PJs nixes that. "Too much structure. Too many places for things to break down. What about the sub who doesn't know where to go?"

I point to the books on the shelves of the library where we sit. "It's easy to see the missing book when all is lined up. If you put plastic numbers on the fence, it'll be easy. Or line up by class along the road."

"Too much organization."

Okaaaaaaay.

Did I mention that we're talking about a fire drill here? Why else have a "Drill" if not to learn what to do when all the screaming starts? I don't need to march them with a drill sargeant's cadence ringing their ears, but P6 is always appropriate. Except for Principal PJs, I guess.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance -- except here.

Liquid Nitrogen

A gifted 15-year-old student from India had to be rushed to the hospital after drinking liquid nitrogen during a science class at Princeton University. The class was part of a program run by the Connecticut-based Summer Institute for the Gifted.

So a quick Google search brings us this:

Under normal atmospheric pressure, nitrogen can exist as a liquid between the temperatures of 63 K and 77.2 K (-346°F and -320.44°F). Since it is obtained from the atmosphere, liquid nitrogen is inexpensive and is rarely refrigerated. It is kept in insulated containers called Dewars and is allowed to boil away. Since it is boiling, most of the liquid nitrogen used in laboratories and in cryogenics shows is at a temperature of 77.2 K.

Not everyone took the smart pill this morning, it seems.

Now do all of you trusting first-year teachers understand why we old farts are always repeating "Never leave kids alone in your room." Even the "best ones" will invariably do something stupid at least once. God help the teacher who was in the room when our intrepid Gifted Student allowed his buddies to talk him into this.

"Yeah, it's cool. Just touch your tongue to the pole."

Discipline in the Touchy-Feely Nation

I ran across the following article reposted here for reference and I had to laugh.
So she made one visit to a middle school class a year ago. She watched one student get disciplined (maybe - she has no idea what happened in that VP's office) and now she's an expert? When are we going to learn?

Ms. Steiny claims that the "kinder, gentler, more supportive strategies" will be an improvement but can't seem to mention any of them, or how they might have made a difference in the one discipline situation she witnessed. She doesn't take any time to demonstrate even a hypothetical. All she has is "factory-model", "die-press discipline", "circumstances, relationships and feelings don't matter" and "retribution."

Not much of an argument, if you ask me.

I especially like the principal who, having tested this in middle school, is now confidently applying it to the high school because everyone knows the two groups of people are identical and will respond in the same ways. I can even hear the rationales later ... "Of course this is working. We don't have nearly as many detentions or suspensions as we used to." (Because they banned them?)

Ms. Steiny will be happy, too, because the school will be "safer". Why? Because they only track detentions, suspension and "hard numbers." The problems will still occur but since detentions and suspensions are no longer listed in Admin Plus, the school will be considered a happier and safer place. Information Works! will have lots of happy and safe little zeroes to report on their happy and safe little website.

Old method: someone punches your kid = suspension.
New method: someone punches your kid = talking-to in a supportive way.

I'd enjoy hearing that explanation to the parents. "He's got a tough life." "So do we. Why are you letting him punch my kid?"

Life goes on. and so does school reform.