Isolated Incidents: Public Education Edition

Don · Jan 27, 2011

Curiosity Banned at Westfield High - in AP World History.

"You are only allowed to use your OWN knowledge, your OWN class notes, class handouts, your OWN class homework, or The Earth and Its Peoples textbook to complete assignments and assessments UNLESS specifically informed otherwise by your instructor.''

That was not all. Students could not use anything they found on the Internet. They were not permitted even to discuss their assignments with friends, classmates, neighbors, parents, relatives or siblings.
...
Any violations, they said, would mean a zero on the assignment and an honor code referral.

Mother, daughter face drug charges for Ibuprofen at Baker Middle (to be fair, they were (OMG!) 800 mg.)

A mother and daughter face drug charges after Baker Middle School officials found Ibuprofen in the girl’s purse, Columbus police said.

Principal Marvin Crumbs learned Monday morning that the 12-year-old might have a knife in her purse. As he searched through her purse, he found a bottle of 12 pills, reports state.
...
The mother was charged with distributing a dangerous drug. The daughter was charged with possession of a dangerous drug, police said.

Student on the Hot Seat for Wearing Sweatpants to School

Lakewood High School Principal William Wagner said there are medical exceptions that a student would be allowed to wear sweatpants, but he questions the severity of Stephanie's injury and her need to wear sweatpants.

At first, Stephanie's doctor sent a note to the school asking permission that the teen be able to wear loose-fitting clothing.

The school received another note from Stephanie's doctor asking that she be able to wear sweatpants or yoga pants specifically. The purpose of the loose-fitting clothing was to reduce any restriction around the injured area, according to the doctor's note.

Wagner explained that school officials try to work with doctors in an effort to help injured students.

"I don't write prescriptions for them and they should not write prescriptions to circumvent our dress code," said Wagner. "They don't understand what the dress code is all about or how it is imposed."

Student Play Censored for Being Critical of NYC's School Closure Policy

As part of a credit-bearing class at Queensborough Community College, students from Jamaica High School and Queens Collegiate, a smaller school within the same building, spent the fall semester reading and discussing the classic Greek play Antigone and creating scenes that connected the play to their own experiences.
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Life imitates art. In Antigone, King Creon decrees that no one shall bury the body of Polyneices because such an act would challenge the king's authority. Now the students were being told that they couldn't perform their play because it was too critical of the educational establishment.

Boy sent home from school for wearing Steelers jersey

A 13-year-old student at Tacoma's Truman Middle School just wanted to show his team spirit when he wore a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey to his school's Seahawks appreciation day on Friday.

But school administrators sent Grendon Bailie home, saying his choice of clothing was inappropriate - and that Seahawks shirts or colors were the only exception allowed outside the uniform school's normal strict dress code.

Dropping by for lunch? Tell CMS who you are

Parents who want to eat with their kids in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools cafeterias are expected to register as volunteers and get a criminal-background check - which comes with daily monitoring for new violations.

The reason? Lunch visits provide access to other children as well.

And keep an eye on what they serve you...

Ohio school: Bugs found in noodles used in lunches

A southern Ohio school district has notified parents that boll weevil beetles may have been in their children's school lunches, the superintendent said Tuesday.

Kitchen workers found the tiny bugs in a bag of dried egg noodles, said Mike Staggs, superintendent of New Boston Schools. They removed the bugs and boiled the noodles, then later used the noodles in lunches that day, he said.
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The district's food services director, Phyllis Holsinger, resigned and two other cooks were given five-day, unpaid suspensions, Staggs said.

Disgusted? Discuss.

Williebee · Jan 27, 2011

Don, when is the last time you spent more than an hour in a school?

ColoradoGuy · Jan 27, 2011

Don doesn't like public education. We know that. Want anecdotes about weird home schooled kids? My wife's got a basketful of them.

blacbird · Jan 27, 2011

Not one of these "incidents" differs in any qualitative way from stuff that likely happens in private schools from time to time. But, in this particular thread, we all know the lens through which these things are viewed.

Shadow Dragon · Jan 27, 2011

With any position of power (school admin, politician, manager, et cetera ad infinitum), you're going to get a few, for lack of a better term, power hungry idiots who believe they are infallible. So hearing stories of these types of principles is no surprise.

The ibuprofen thing, you can thank no drug tolerance politicians for.

LOG · Jan 27, 2011

blacbird said:
Not one of these "incidents" differs in any qualitative way from stuff that likely happens in private schools from time to time. But, in this particular thread, we all know the lens through which these things are viewed.

I don't.

MattW · Jan 28, 2011

These aren't exactly criticisms of public school systems, but of a politicized system that does not hold government officials (of any stripe) accountable.

These people show no leeway or free thought, and are automatons bound by the rules that are codified for them without any common sense. Which is appropriate, becuase that's seems to be what school curricula are geared toward producing.

Don · Jan 28, 2011

MattW said:
These aren't exactly criticisms of public school systems, but of a politicized system that does not hold government officials (of any stripe) accountable.

These people show no leeway or free thought, and are automatons bound by the rules that are codified for them without any common sense. Which is appropriate, becuase that's seems to be what school curricula are geared toward producing.

Dammit, somebody gets it. And here I thought I'd be villified through all eternity for attacking "free" education. A nearly-identical thread could as easily be created about law enforcement, food safety, or, to be really fair, any massive bureaucracy. Education was just a good whipping boy because of the mother who just went to prison.

Although Matt also makes an excellent point about WHY it's so easy to create a thread like this in these times. Which I guess brings it back around to public education, afterall.

MattW · Jan 28, 2011

Don said:
And I thought I'd be villified through all eternity.

Oh, you still will be. You're not completely off the hook.

icerose · Jan 28, 2011

My local school district is pretty good. The teachers actively encourage the kids to think outside of the box and we're in a pilot math program where not only do the kids move at their own pace (for example my 2nd grader is on times tables while some of the kids in his class are still on addition) and the students are taught multiple techniques for solving each type of problem so they can use the tools that work best for them.

There have been some teachers who wanted to be total authority and nail down the exact hows and whys but they don't last long around here. They usually rack up enough parental complaints to have to move out of the district if they want to stay employed. We don't take too kindly to teachers telling our students not to read certain books because they're "too hard and little Suzy couldn't possibly understand it" when they've been reading books even harder than that on their free time and so forth.

Along with that we have comparatively small classes (none over 30 students per teacher, most in the 15-20 range). My two gripes are that the admin department has doubled while the teacher and student body has halved. And school lunches are all prefabbed with only one lunch lady per school to simply heat it up. Along with their fail no-bullying policy because they don't actually enforce it and the parents who are completely laissez-faire on how and what their child is doing in school.

I think the biggest reason why public education fails in the overall population is exactly that, the parents could care less. The parents who do care and get involved, their students tend to rise despite their classmates. I've had countless teachers tell me "It's not the parents who come to the parent teacher conferences every time that I need to see the most." as well as "I can tell you spend a lot of time helping your child and I really appreciate it." How sad is that? The teacher really appreciates that I spend time helping my kids with homework and teaching and encouraging them. And that it's so obvious in the students who spends time with their kids and who doesn't.

I have to say though, Don, the one snippet you posted that bothered me the most was the one that required the students not to talk to ANYONE about their assignments and were not allowed at all to look at outside material. Talk about hobbling your students.

MattW · Jan 28, 2011

icerose said:
I have to say though, Don, the one snippet you posted that bothered me the most was the one that required the students not to talk to ANYONE about their assignments and were not allowed at all to look at outside material. Talk about hobbling your students.

And that was from an AP history class. Having taken those many a year ago, I recall it was about research & synthesis of many sources to support or refute a hypothesis. If you are only allowed class notes and a textbook, what good is that?

It sounds like an overreaction to "internet" research. And a healthy dose of control freaks.

Don · Jan 28, 2011

MattW said:
If you are only allowed class notes and a textbook, what good is that?

That was a rhetorical question, wasn't it?

clintl · Jan 28, 2011

Don said:
Curiosity Banned at Westfield High - in AP World History.

Both indefensible and impractical.

Mother, daughter face drug charges for Ibuprofen at Baker Middle

Click to expand...

(to be fair, they were (OMG!) 800 mg.)

Given that (a) it was prescription strength ibuprofen, (b) with apparently no prescription, and (c) it's actually against the rules to even have over-the-counter strength medication in their position, I think this one is probably justified.

Student on the Hot Seat for Wearing Sweatpants to School

Click to expand...

The school is pretty obviously being unreasonable here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-pickett/student-play-censored-for_b_801032.html

Student Play Censored for Being Critical of NYC's School Closure Policy

And here as well.

Boy sent home from school for wearing Steelers jersey

Click to expand...

I'm having a lot of trouble understanding how they can justify this one, if they allow Seahawks jerseys.
[quote]Dropping by for lunch? Tell CMS who you are[/quote]

This one I get. Adults without background checks aren't supposed to be hanging around with kids at school for some very good reasons. And in a school of hundreds, if you don't have something like this in place, it's not necessarily that easy to tell who has a legitimate reason to be there, and who doesn't. In addition, not every parent is a model citizen - some are criminals, including child molesters. A lot of parents where I teach check their kids out of school for lunch if they want to eat with them.

And keep an eye on what they serve you...

Ohio school: Bugs found in noodles used in lunches
Disgusted? Discuss.

I'm having a hard time understanding school officials should be criticized for this, when they administered disciplinary action over the incident.

But, as has been pointed out, this kind of stuff happens in private schools, and there are plenty of homeschooling horror stories as well. And most of them are isolated incidents.

Alpha Echo · Jan 28, 2011

icerose said:
I've had countless teachers tell me "It's not the parents who come to the parent teacher conferences every time that I need to see the most." as well as "I can tell you spend a lot of time helping your child and I really appreciate it." How sad is that? The teacher really appreciates that I spend time helping my kids with homework and teaching and encouraging them. And that it's so obvious in the students who spends time with their kids and who doesn't.

My stepdaughter's only in 1st grade, and I've only so far attended 1 parent/teacher conference with my husband and his ex. But we got the same thing. The teachers seemed thrilled that we obviously took time with the Little One. Does that mean so many others don't, by 1st grade? It's sad.

icerose said:
I have to say though, Don, the one snippet you posted that bothered me the most was the one that required the students not to talk to ANYONE about their assignments and were not allowed at all to look at outside material. Talk about hobbling your students.

MattW said:
And that was from an AP history class. Having taken those many a year ago, I recall it was about research & synthesis of many sources to support or refute a hypothesis. If you are only allowed class notes and a textbook, what good is that?

It sounds like an overreaction to "internet" research. And a healthy dose of control freaks.

My AP History teacher encouraged us to read and research but warned us of the dangers of bias.

I find this whole thing absolutely awful and, quite honestly, terrifying.

clintl · Jan 29, 2011

Alpha Echo said:
My stepdaughter's only in 1st grade, and I've only so far attended 1 parent/teacher conference with my husband and his ex. But we got the same thing. The teachers seemed thrilled that we obviously took time with the Little One. Does that mean so many others don't, by 1st grade? It's sad.

I don't say that to the parents - I'm happy to see any parents come to the parent-teacher conferences. But it's true - most of the parents who do come are the parents of the kids who are doing well. Conversely, some parents of the kids who aren't doing well seem to make themselves difficult or impossible to contact.

Manuel Royal · Jan 29, 2011

As noted, this kind of stupidity happens all the time in the corporate world -- any large organization, really. Usually with far less public accountability in the private sector, though.

We could have a thread about the many, many public school teachers and administrators who work their asses off because they believe even the poorest kid should be able to get a good education. Not as entertaining, though.

Regarding the principal in the sweatpants issue (who does sound like a schmuck), I love this from their written dress code:

Oversize, saggy, baggy or tight fitting clothing will not be permitted.

So, it can't be loose or tight. No, all the rapidly-growing, self-conscious pubescent kids must at all times wear clothing that fits just right.

Isolated Incidents: Public Education Edition

Don

All Living is Local

Williebee

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

ColoradoGuy

I've seen worse.

blacbird

Shadow Dragon

LOG

Lagrangian

MattW

Company Man

Don

All Living is Local

MattW

Company Man

icerose

Lost in School Work

MattW

Company Man

Don

All Living is Local

clintl

Represent.

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.

clintl

Represent.

Manuel Royal