On June 6th 2008 they say they closed the doors forever to Prospect School. “Budget cuts”, explained the Herald County Superintendent. The local paper quoted Herald County Principals reacting to the news:
“My main concern is that if we are not successful in disciplining unruly children then these kids will be taking instructional time from the others.”
“We will definitely use in-school suspension more. It may mean that the expulsion route may be considered more often.”
(In Florida expelled students are not legally entitled to ANY education.)
But Henry, my public school liaison is quoted as saying that disruptive elementary and middle school students will be moved to ESAK, the alternative High School or to another alternative school that is exclusively for Special Education. “I don’t think there will be a problem. There will be room.”
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
TRAC - a possible solution?
TRAC – a possible solution for Herald County
Given Herald County School System’s support and enthusiasm for punishment, Zero Tolerance policies and “getting the bad kids out of the classroom,” there is little hope, in the short run, of decreasing the number of children in Herald County defined as needing Alternative Education. However given not only this reality, but also guided by my experience at Prospect School and informed by formal studies on Alternative Schools, I believe there is a better answer for the at-risk Herald County school children.
The response of Herald County to highly disruptive children typically falls into three categories: keep the child in his or her classroom, keep suspending (or expel) the child or send the child to a privately run Alternative School. None of these are good answers. TRAC (Temporary Removal from Assigned Classes) offers a better solution, for the children, their families and the schools.
TRAC differs in three key elements from the typical approaches for dealing with disruptive children. Most importantly, children would remain on their school campus and continue to be enrolled in the public school system. This will allow them to receive the full complement of services the public school provides as well as preventing them from becoming invisible in a parallel system where school laws and regulations often do not apply. The other differences are the extended day schedule and the using a diverse team to develop and modify a prescriptive plan tailored to each child’s unique needs and situation.
TRAC Scheduling
TRAC scheduling and staffing would differ from the mainstream school program. The extended day would permit the child to receive the counseling and additional tutoring she or he needs, plus keeps the child “off the streets” during the prime time for juvenile crime, 3:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m. With few exceptions, children who have been disruptive in school are behind academically. While experts argue whether poor academic performance is a cause or effect of highly disruptive students, the additional schooling will serve to improve academic performance. These double long school days could also be viewed as a punishment, molifying the pro-punishment advocates and the extended days may serve as a deterrent (assuming children of this age think about consequences before they act, an uncertain proposition at best). The staffing for this extended day should include two TRAC teachers with overlapping shifts at mid-day for example, one teacher might arrive at 7:00 am and work until 2:00 while the second teacher would arrive at noon and work until 7:00 pm. The teachers should be certified public school teachers employed by the child’s school providing individualized or small group instruction in all subjects using the same texts and curriculum used by the child’s regular teachers.
TRAC Classrooms
Each portable classroom should be designed to accommodate ten to twelve TRAC students at a time. When there are fewer children, the TRAC staff can spend some of their days working with those difficult children identified by the principal as heading down the path to removal from assigned classes (pre-TRAC). If the numbers on any given campus increase, more staff and portables need to be made available. Since it is difficult to predict with certainty the number of children on any given campus who will require TRAC during the school year, it could be necessary to shift these human and physical resources from one campus to another. Children however, should not be transferred. The classrooms wiould thus be staffed with three adults, the two teachers with overlapping shifts and a counselor. The TRAC counselor would be present in the portable to provide structured, scheduled counseling, as well as counseling on an as-needed basis (on everything from anger control to peer relations) and to accompany the child to class when she or he first returns.
TRAC Team
The first phase for TRAC, would be a meeting, organized by the Director of Alternative Education, with all the vital players:
• the child
• the child’s parents or guardian
• DCF caseworker
• the child’s minister
• the school principal
• the child’s teachers
• the school counselor
• the school resource officer
• the child’s bus driver
• representatives from relevant social agencies – drug rehab, sexual abstinence, anger control
• representatives from the child’s outside activities both current and potential, such a football coach, gymnastics instructor, piano teacher etcetera.
• If the child has a probation officer, she or he should attend. The director of alternative education should be the organizer for this meeting.
• the TRAC teachers and counselor
Why would these people be considered necessary at this TRAC meeting? The child and his/her parents or guardians must be present. This seems so obvious, but all too often decisions are made about students in their absence. It is vital for parents to be present and flexibility should be shown in scheduling the meeting and in helping with transportation. If necessary, pressure can and should be brought to bear to get parents to attend, and this is one role the DCF representative should play.
It should become regular practice to open a DCF case every time a child is referred to TRAC (assuming the child doesn’t already have a DCF caseworker). Is neglectful or abusive parenting what lies behind the troubling behaviors? Any referral to remove a child from the educational mainstream, implies the principal and parent were unable to form a team to help the child.
DCF should use the carrot/stick approach. Parents need to fear termination of parental rights but also need to be made aware of affordable treatment options and support services to help them cope with their out-of-control child. The threat of termination of parental rights may help inspire reluctant parents to attend the conference. DCF cannot be present in name only. This ailing agency needs to locate, develop and incent more and better foster homes including therapeutic foster homes to provide viable options for these highly disruptive children found living in neglectful or abusive situations. If DCF decides to place the child in a relative’s care, more frequent and substantial monitoring and support than currently exists, needs to be provided. Moreover, DCF needs to make referrals to support current family structures which although dysfunctional, don’t require removing the child from the home.
A minister or other religious leader should be present. At first blush this may sound like a strange request that possibly blurs the lines between church and state. However religion plays a large role in American life. This is especially true in the culture of the south, including Florida and very much so in Herald County. Religious institutions whether churches, temples or mosques, serve an important function in creating communities and like a village, can help raise a child.
If the child’s family belongs to a religious institution, even if they are not regular attendees, their religious leader should be present at the conference. This religious leader would attend to be made aware of the problem, to become part of the solution and to encourage and if necessary pressure the child to become involved in youth group and other religious sponsored activities which promote the values seemingly missing based on the child’s misbehavior. In the event the child does not identify with a religion, a religious leader could still be present. In Herald County there is a movement called: One church, One child. The idea is that every church should “adopt” a troubled child and his/her family regardless of their religious beliefs, and mentor and assist the child with all the resources the church can bring to the table.
The school principal and all the child’s teachers should to be present. The presence of parents and teachers will strengthen the home / school connection showing the child a united front and helping the child understand that these parties will continue to communicate in the future. Moreover by having all the teachers present there can be no chance for a miscommunication, no teacher will be left in the dark. In most cases the classroom teacher was, intentionally or unintentionally, shown disrespect by the child. Thus it is the teacher who can best deliver the message telling the child she or he must not only by attend all mandatory counseling sessions, required meetings and activities, but more importantly, the child must refrain from engaging in inappropriate behavior in the classroom. The teachers and principal are best suited for clarifying the school rules and expectations and helping the child understand that at least in the short term, he or she is now viewed as untrustworthy.
The school counselor, SRO (school resource officer, aka Deputy) and a bus driver should be present at the conference. Part of the treatment plan for the child would involve regular, frequent counseling sessions. Initially these should be daily tapering off to no fewer than once a week until all parties are convinced the child can be released from the contract. The SRO assigned to the school, should be present both to become aware of the status of this student and for clear communication. The presence of the deputy would help the child realize that she or he has become “one of the usual suspects” and will need to avoid any perception of and association with wrong doing. The bus driver is present because with few exceptions, these highly disruptive children should not be permitted on their regular school bus. However the public schools should still provide transportation via a separate bus. It will not be necessary to hire a new driver or purchase another bus due to the requirement that the TRAC schedule be for an extended day program.
Representatives from social service agencies outside the school should be present. If the child’s misbehavior involved sex, the volunteers from a sex education program should not only be present but the child should be mandated to complete their program. Similarly if the offense involved drugs, the child should be required to complete an anti-drug program with random drug testing. With few exceptions, all of these troubled children will require anger control classes. Children should receive anger control training at school but also outside of school along with other family members. The family life of most of these troubled children is stressful and too often their families respond to stress with anger. We have neither the resources nor the ability to provide these families with cars that don’t break down, well paying jobs with reasonable bosses, good health and satisfying relationships with significant others. But we can teach parents and children how to respond to the stress caused by the lack of these essentials with something other than anger. Thus a counselor from a local anger control program should be present. If the child is academically deficient, as are most children currently referred to alternative schools, then a tutor or representative from a tutoring program should be present with the stipulation that the contract calls for daily after school tutoring. These social service interventions ideally would take place on the school campus before or after regular school hours. If that is not feasible, transportation should be arranged so the child’s success isn’t dependent on a parent who can’t or won’t comply.
The conference and subsequent contract should not be exclusively punitive. The child’s strengths should be noted – artistic abilities, musical talents, athletic prowess. If the child isn’t already involved in sports, activities or classes to exploit these strengths, arrangements should be made to include these but again a timeline needs to be devised. “We’ve signed you up for a ten month gymnastic course at a private gym. Classes are three times a week. But they won’t begin until you meet all the criteria of this contract for two months and since the contract runs for twelve months, if you start gymnastics and then fail to comply with the contract, gymnastics classes will be put on hold.”
All team members should anticipate and in fact expect the child to progress with two steps forward, one step back. Children will “fall off the wagon,” there will be recidivism. While these slips are depressing and disheartening to all involved, they must not cause the key players to view the child as a failure or the situation as hopeless. A meeting should be held to analyze the situation and determine what went well and what went wrong and why, then a new timetable devised and the program started anew.
After the initial meeting, the second and most difficult phase of TRAC involves trust. The child should be made to understand that while all academic expectations and materials including lessons, textbooks, assignments and homework will remain the same, some things will change. The child would now be required always be within arm’s length of a teacher or counselor. This identifies the child as a risk, as a person in need of extra supervision and requiring accommodations such as an assigned seat near the teacher and no privileges such as delivering messages to the office. The clear message should be that this child cannot be trusted. The stigmatizing effect would help satisfy those who cry for punishment while simultaneously serving a safety and security purpose. The written contract would specify how much time must elapse and what behaviors must be demonstrated for the child to be worthy of trust and thus released from arm’s length status.
The stigmatizing and ostracizing of the child may be anathema from a psychological perspective, but it is important to remember the emotions regarding these very troubled and troublesome children: school administrators and the school board want them out of their schools, parents don’t want these “bad” children near their offspring and everyone is looking for sanctions and punishments. However, revoking all privileges and putting a child on arm’s length status are not merely a sop to placate the angry mob, these children really do jeopardize safety and security and in order to achieve rapid reintegration into their regular classrooms, they need to be easily and obviously identified. Individual schools could design rules and privileges regarding the students who must be within arms length of an adult at all times, they may get served last at lunch and not be permitted to use the bathroom without an escort. It is important to make the rules for getting off arm’s length status clear and not too difficult to achieve. The objective is for the child to want to be trusted and to slowly move the child toward regaining trust. The goal is to move rapidly to a time when we can start adding positive activities that speak to a child’s strengths.
Once the child is off “arm’s length status”, the third phase of TRAC begins. During the initial meeting, the child’s interests and strengths were identified. Now is the time to get the child involved in activities that capitalize on those interests and abilities (artistic, musical and athletic). If the child isn’t already involved in sports, activities or classes to exploit these strengths, then this is the time to make it happen.
TRAC Completion
The final phase of TRAC is reintegration. The return to regular classes should be done very slowly and with much discussion and support. At the team conference a determination should be made as to in which class the child had the fewest problems and devise a timeline listing that class as the first for reintegration. Prior to returning, a meeting should take place with that teacher, the TRAC teachers, counselor and the student to be sure expectations are clear. Just before class, the counselor would remind the student of the goals and accompanies the child to class. If the child successfully attends class, the counselor would continue to attend but slowly taper off, remaining in the classroom for fewer and fewer minutes until the child is attending on his or her own but still working on the feedback loop to insure frequent and clear communication regarding the child’s return to that class. After a time a second class is added using the same procedure. Careful monitoring and immediate feedback is necessary to catch small problems before they escalate. Once the child is attending mainstream classes full-time, support systems should remain to prevent recidivism. This is a child at-risk and as long as the child is at this school, she or he will need a school-centered safety net.
Not just a Florida Problem
School Board members, politicians and educators, in Herald County and across the United States, proudly tout their Zero Tolerance policies. Zero Tolerance continues to help fuel the national growth in suspensions and expulsions. Enacted in response to several well-publicized school shootings, Zero Tolerance became the law of the land in 1994 when President Bill Clinton signed the Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA). By then, New York, California and Kentucky already had Zero Tolerance laws on the books mandating expulsion for gang violence, fighting and drugs.
While GFSA required expulsion of students who brought a weapon to school, educators pushed for, and legislators and school boards eagerly supported, expanding the definition of “weapon” to include not only firearms, but also knives, illegal drugs, water pistols, prescription and over-the-counter medication. But Zero Tolerance isn’t limited to “weapons,” (no matter how broadly defined) the Zero Tolerance list now includes expulsion for alcohol, fighting, swearing, disrupting class, disobedience, truancy and more than a dozen other forms of misbehavior.
In 2005, media attention on arrests of children in Florida and Nevada turned up the heat on Zero Tolerance policies. Eyebrows were raised when two elementary school children were arrested in Ocala, Florida, for drawing threatening stick figures in class, a 6-year-old in Florida's Brevard County was handcuffed and removed from school for hitting his teacher and a police officer with a book and in Nevada, Clark County School District officials tried to expel a student who drew a comic strip depicting the death of his teacher.
Ruth Zweifler, executive director of Michigan's Student Advocacy Center (SAC), doesn't mince words. "Zero tolerance," she says, "has become a full-blown war on children. Instead of being targeted for reform, students are being targeted for expulsion. School districts have a duty to find children who have special problems and address their needs before it's too late. Instead, they're engaged in a 'child hunt.'"
"Clearly I think there are incidents that are so excessive that the facts show that this (Zero Tolerance) is a mindless policy in most places," said Mark Soler, president of the Youth Law Center, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm that works on child-welfare and juvenile justice system issues.
But Zero Tolerance is more than “mindless.” In school districts across the United States, Zero Tolerance has been shown to primarily victimize poor, black children.
“In Texas, zero-tolerance policies have resulted in a disproportionate number of low-income, disabled and minority students being sent to alternative disciplinary schools, most of which have few books or computers and substandard teachers . . .. What makes me really concerned is that the majority of kids sent to disciplinary schools are poor kids, almost all black and brown children," - Texas state Rep. Dora Olivo.
Beverly Cross, an urban education specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who contributed to a 2001 study of racial profiling and punishment in U.S. public schools published by the Applied Research Center's ERASE Initiative, found Zero Tolerance has created many rule-bound "maximum security schools" where students of color are suspended and expelled at increasing rates, often for nonviolent and subjectively defined offenses. "Racism rests just beneath the surface of zero-tolerance decisions."
In their 2001 report Zero Tolerance: Unfair, with Little Recourse, Dan Losen and Johanna Wald of Harvard University's Civil Rights Project and Judith Browne, senior attorney at the Advancement Project, report that although black students make up only 17 percent of all U.S. students, they account for 33 percent of all out-of-school suspensions and 31 percent of all expulsions. By contrast, 63 percent of all students are white, but they account for only 50 percent of out-of-school suspensions. What's more, the Civil Rights Project reports, students of color are more likely than white students to be suspended or expelled for willful acts, often labeled as disobedience, disruption, or disrespect for authority.
National trends show a significant increase in the number of students who are expelled and suspended each year as well as an increase in the amount of time these students are excluded from school. While some of these children are victims of misapplied Zero Tolerance policies, many are very troubled and highly disruptive students and their numbers are challenging school boards and legislators across the United States.
Massachusetts: "It's become acceptable to push students out of the classroom rather than addressing the underlying issue."
Emily Anthes Boston Globe “Academic discipline actions on rise” 4/6/2004
Texas: “The law states that every student in an alternative learning center (ALC) is required to receive a comparable education to that of regular schools. But after hearing the complaints of parents who had children in one of the ALC schools in my district, I found otherwise I visited the [ALC] school, and the school still had no textbooks [and] there was a lack of adequate materials for the teachers. Clearly, and not through the fault of the teachers, this was a clear-cut picture of ‘warehousing.’ It is very irresponsible to allow such a situation to exist and totally disregards the best interest of the children.” Dora Olivo, Texas State Representative, District 27
North Carolina: “Regular schools reduce their efforts to address discipline and behavior problems by changing the school culture, finding it easier simply to exclude “problem” students. Alternative schools become a dumping ground for unwanted students. A disproportionate number of African American students are placed in alternative schools, resulting in racial resegregation of public schools. Few students sent to alternative schools ever return to their regular schools, and their likelihood of dropping out may even increase. Ineffective alternative schools consume resources that would have been better spent to improve regular schools.”
Ohio: Steve Rosenthal, the director of information and resources at the Alternative Education Resource Organization, expressed concern that alternative education in the Cleveland Schools could become a warehouse for kids who did not fit well at traditional schools. “A lot of (alternative) schools are just a dumping ground for kids who are not fitting in, administrators want to get them out of the population and don’t do much for the kids after removing them from traditional school.”
Arkansas: When the Arkansas Interim Committee on Education asked educators for input on how to cope with violent students, many teachers loudly demanded more Alternative Schools so they can “get these bad children out of the classroom” while others, more familiar with Alternative Schools objected saying these are nothing more than “discipline dumps.”
In May 1999, 47 states had laws permitting or mandating Alternative Schools, by 2004 virtually every state offered Alternative Schooling for disruptive students. Although educators may use the term “Alternative School,” meanings differ dramatically between states, and even between school districts within each state.
Alternative School can mean:
• a shortened school day or a later school start time
• classes on Saturdays
• a classroom within the school for part or all of the day
• a school within a school program
• a work-study program
• home instruction
• a separate school run by the public school
• a boarding school
• an innovative school not primarily discipline oriented
• a separate school run by a private non-profit or for profit company
There is more agreement about what makes a successful Alternative School. Although due to financial and political considerations, the practice rarely mirrors the research. Studies point to a dozen characteristics necessary for a successful Alternative School.
1. School Size: The school should have a teacher/student ratio of no more than 1:10 and the student population should not exceed 250 students.
2. Mission and Purpose: The school should have a well-defined mission and purpose along with a clearly articulated discipline code.
3. Faculty: The school must recruit, train and retain qualified and highly trained staff with special expertise in alternative education. The faculty needs to be caring, competent and committed to the philosophy of alternative schooling. They must volunteer, not get assigned, to teach in the Alternative School. Faculty must receive continual staff development. One of the most critical factors in the success of an alternative school is the personal relationship that exists between the students and their teachers.
4. Safety and Security: The school must promote a sense of belonging. Students should feel cared for, respected and safe (academically, physically, emotionally and socially).
5. Counseling: Students need regular and frequent access to effective social services and counseling. The school must provide and integrate into the school program, community mental health, health and social services with other collaborating agencies in the community.
6. Parental Involvement: To the maximum extent possible, parents need to be actively engaged in the Alternative School.
7. The School Building: The Alternative School should be a modern, welcoming physical environment well stocked with the books, furniture and technology equivalent to the mainstream school.
8. Voluntary Participation: Students must not feel they have been sentenced to the Alternative School. Attending the school should be viewed by students, parents, faculty and the community as a privilege rather than a punishment.
9. Curriculum: The curriculum should mirror the mainstream school but with a student-centered approach allowing for student input and tailored to diverse learning styles. Clear, well-defined learning objectives are mandatory. The faculty must maintain high expectations for student achievement, promoting high standards, student accountability and a variety of assessment tools for measuring student progress.
10. School to School Relationship: Frequent, regular communication between the mainstream (sending) school and the Alternative School is required along with strong support from the school board and school district. The Alternative School must be a part of, and have a close working relationship with, all parts of the school system.
11. Community: Efforts must be made to reach out to, gain the support of and involve the local community in the Alternative School.
12. Hope: The single most critical factor in the success of the Alternative School is the total commitment to have every student be a success. A clearly defined plan for each student’s future, including when appropriate, the criteria to reenter the mainstream school is the roadmap to hope
Given Herald County School System’s support and enthusiasm for punishment, Zero Tolerance policies and “getting the bad kids out of the classroom,” there is little hope, in the short run, of decreasing the number of children in Herald County defined as needing Alternative Education. However given not only this reality, but also guided by my experience at Prospect School and informed by formal studies on Alternative Schools, I believe there is a better answer for the at-risk Herald County school children.
The response of Herald County to highly disruptive children typically falls into three categories: keep the child in his or her classroom, keep suspending (or expel) the child or send the child to a privately run Alternative School. None of these are good answers. TRAC (Temporary Removal from Assigned Classes) offers a better solution, for the children, their families and the schools.
TRAC differs in three key elements from the typical approaches for dealing with disruptive children. Most importantly, children would remain on their school campus and continue to be enrolled in the public school system. This will allow them to receive the full complement of services the public school provides as well as preventing them from becoming invisible in a parallel system where school laws and regulations often do not apply. The other differences are the extended day schedule and the using a diverse team to develop and modify a prescriptive plan tailored to each child’s unique needs and situation.
TRAC Scheduling
TRAC scheduling and staffing would differ from the mainstream school program. The extended day would permit the child to receive the counseling and additional tutoring she or he needs, plus keeps the child “off the streets” during the prime time for juvenile crime, 3:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m. With few exceptions, children who have been disruptive in school are behind academically. While experts argue whether poor academic performance is a cause or effect of highly disruptive students, the additional schooling will serve to improve academic performance. These double long school days could also be viewed as a punishment, molifying the pro-punishment advocates and the extended days may serve as a deterrent (assuming children of this age think about consequences before they act, an uncertain proposition at best). The staffing for this extended day should include two TRAC teachers with overlapping shifts at mid-day for example, one teacher might arrive at 7:00 am and work until 2:00 while the second teacher would arrive at noon and work until 7:00 pm. The teachers should be certified public school teachers employed by the child’s school providing individualized or small group instruction in all subjects using the same texts and curriculum used by the child’s regular teachers.
TRAC Classrooms
Each portable classroom should be designed to accommodate ten to twelve TRAC students at a time. When there are fewer children, the TRAC staff can spend some of their days working with those difficult children identified by the principal as heading down the path to removal from assigned classes (pre-TRAC). If the numbers on any given campus increase, more staff and portables need to be made available. Since it is difficult to predict with certainty the number of children on any given campus who will require TRAC during the school year, it could be necessary to shift these human and physical resources from one campus to another. Children however, should not be transferred. The classrooms wiould thus be staffed with three adults, the two teachers with overlapping shifts and a counselor. The TRAC counselor would be present in the portable to provide structured, scheduled counseling, as well as counseling on an as-needed basis (on everything from anger control to peer relations) and to accompany the child to class when she or he first returns.
TRAC Team
The first phase for TRAC, would be a meeting, organized by the Director of Alternative Education, with all the vital players:
• the child
• the child’s parents or guardian
• DCF caseworker
• the child’s minister
• the school principal
• the child’s teachers
• the school counselor
• the school resource officer
• the child’s bus driver
• representatives from relevant social agencies – drug rehab, sexual abstinence, anger control
• representatives from the child’s outside activities both current and potential, such a football coach, gymnastics instructor, piano teacher etcetera.
• If the child has a probation officer, she or he should attend. The director of alternative education should be the organizer for this meeting.
• the TRAC teachers and counselor
Why would these people be considered necessary at this TRAC meeting? The child and his/her parents or guardians must be present. This seems so obvious, but all too often decisions are made about students in their absence. It is vital for parents to be present and flexibility should be shown in scheduling the meeting and in helping with transportation. If necessary, pressure can and should be brought to bear to get parents to attend, and this is one role the DCF representative should play.
It should become regular practice to open a DCF case every time a child is referred to TRAC (assuming the child doesn’t already have a DCF caseworker). Is neglectful or abusive parenting what lies behind the troubling behaviors? Any referral to remove a child from the educational mainstream, implies the principal and parent were unable to form a team to help the child.
DCF should use the carrot/stick approach. Parents need to fear termination of parental rights but also need to be made aware of affordable treatment options and support services to help them cope with their out-of-control child. The threat of termination of parental rights may help inspire reluctant parents to attend the conference. DCF cannot be present in name only. This ailing agency needs to locate, develop and incent more and better foster homes including therapeutic foster homes to provide viable options for these highly disruptive children found living in neglectful or abusive situations. If DCF decides to place the child in a relative’s care, more frequent and substantial monitoring and support than currently exists, needs to be provided. Moreover, DCF needs to make referrals to support current family structures which although dysfunctional, don’t require removing the child from the home.
A minister or other religious leader should be present. At first blush this may sound like a strange request that possibly blurs the lines between church and state. However religion plays a large role in American life. This is especially true in the culture of the south, including Florida and very much so in Herald County. Religious institutions whether churches, temples or mosques, serve an important function in creating communities and like a village, can help raise a child.
If the child’s family belongs to a religious institution, even if they are not regular attendees, their religious leader should be present at the conference. This religious leader would attend to be made aware of the problem, to become part of the solution and to encourage and if necessary pressure the child to become involved in youth group and other religious sponsored activities which promote the values seemingly missing based on the child’s misbehavior. In the event the child does not identify with a religion, a religious leader could still be present. In Herald County there is a movement called: One church, One child. The idea is that every church should “adopt” a troubled child and his/her family regardless of their religious beliefs, and mentor and assist the child with all the resources the church can bring to the table.
The school principal and all the child’s teachers should to be present. The presence of parents and teachers will strengthen the home / school connection showing the child a united front and helping the child understand that these parties will continue to communicate in the future. Moreover by having all the teachers present there can be no chance for a miscommunication, no teacher will be left in the dark. In most cases the classroom teacher was, intentionally or unintentionally, shown disrespect by the child. Thus it is the teacher who can best deliver the message telling the child she or he must not only by attend all mandatory counseling sessions, required meetings and activities, but more importantly, the child must refrain from engaging in inappropriate behavior in the classroom. The teachers and principal are best suited for clarifying the school rules and expectations and helping the child understand that at least in the short term, he or she is now viewed as untrustworthy.
The school counselor, SRO (school resource officer, aka Deputy) and a bus driver should be present at the conference. Part of the treatment plan for the child would involve regular, frequent counseling sessions. Initially these should be daily tapering off to no fewer than once a week until all parties are convinced the child can be released from the contract. The SRO assigned to the school, should be present both to become aware of the status of this student and for clear communication. The presence of the deputy would help the child realize that she or he has become “one of the usual suspects” and will need to avoid any perception of and association with wrong doing. The bus driver is present because with few exceptions, these highly disruptive children should not be permitted on their regular school bus. However the public schools should still provide transportation via a separate bus. It will not be necessary to hire a new driver or purchase another bus due to the requirement that the TRAC schedule be for an extended day program.
Representatives from social service agencies outside the school should be present. If the child’s misbehavior involved sex, the volunteers from a sex education program should not only be present but the child should be mandated to complete their program. Similarly if the offense involved drugs, the child should be required to complete an anti-drug program with random drug testing. With few exceptions, all of these troubled children will require anger control classes. Children should receive anger control training at school but also outside of school along with other family members. The family life of most of these troubled children is stressful and too often their families respond to stress with anger. We have neither the resources nor the ability to provide these families with cars that don’t break down, well paying jobs with reasonable bosses, good health and satisfying relationships with significant others. But we can teach parents and children how to respond to the stress caused by the lack of these essentials with something other than anger. Thus a counselor from a local anger control program should be present. If the child is academically deficient, as are most children currently referred to alternative schools, then a tutor or representative from a tutoring program should be present with the stipulation that the contract calls for daily after school tutoring. These social service interventions ideally would take place on the school campus before or after regular school hours. If that is not feasible, transportation should be arranged so the child’s success isn’t dependent on a parent who can’t or won’t comply.
The conference and subsequent contract should not be exclusively punitive. The child’s strengths should be noted – artistic abilities, musical talents, athletic prowess. If the child isn’t already involved in sports, activities or classes to exploit these strengths, arrangements should be made to include these but again a timeline needs to be devised. “We’ve signed you up for a ten month gymnastic course at a private gym. Classes are three times a week. But they won’t begin until you meet all the criteria of this contract for two months and since the contract runs for twelve months, if you start gymnastics and then fail to comply with the contract, gymnastics classes will be put on hold.”
All team members should anticipate and in fact expect the child to progress with two steps forward, one step back. Children will “fall off the wagon,” there will be recidivism. While these slips are depressing and disheartening to all involved, they must not cause the key players to view the child as a failure or the situation as hopeless. A meeting should be held to analyze the situation and determine what went well and what went wrong and why, then a new timetable devised and the program started anew.
After the initial meeting, the second and most difficult phase of TRAC involves trust. The child should be made to understand that while all academic expectations and materials including lessons, textbooks, assignments and homework will remain the same, some things will change. The child would now be required always be within arm’s length of a teacher or counselor. This identifies the child as a risk, as a person in need of extra supervision and requiring accommodations such as an assigned seat near the teacher and no privileges such as delivering messages to the office. The clear message should be that this child cannot be trusted. The stigmatizing effect would help satisfy those who cry for punishment while simultaneously serving a safety and security purpose. The written contract would specify how much time must elapse and what behaviors must be demonstrated for the child to be worthy of trust and thus released from arm’s length status.
The stigmatizing and ostracizing of the child may be anathema from a psychological perspective, but it is important to remember the emotions regarding these very troubled and troublesome children: school administrators and the school board want them out of their schools, parents don’t want these “bad” children near their offspring and everyone is looking for sanctions and punishments. However, revoking all privileges and putting a child on arm’s length status are not merely a sop to placate the angry mob, these children really do jeopardize safety and security and in order to achieve rapid reintegration into their regular classrooms, they need to be easily and obviously identified. Individual schools could design rules and privileges regarding the students who must be within arms length of an adult at all times, they may get served last at lunch and not be permitted to use the bathroom without an escort. It is important to make the rules for getting off arm’s length status clear and not too difficult to achieve. The objective is for the child to want to be trusted and to slowly move the child toward regaining trust. The goal is to move rapidly to a time when we can start adding positive activities that speak to a child’s strengths.
Once the child is off “arm’s length status”, the third phase of TRAC begins. During the initial meeting, the child’s interests and strengths were identified. Now is the time to get the child involved in activities that capitalize on those interests and abilities (artistic, musical and athletic). If the child isn’t already involved in sports, activities or classes to exploit these strengths, then this is the time to make it happen.
TRAC Completion
The final phase of TRAC is reintegration. The return to regular classes should be done very slowly and with much discussion and support. At the team conference a determination should be made as to in which class the child had the fewest problems and devise a timeline listing that class as the first for reintegration. Prior to returning, a meeting should take place with that teacher, the TRAC teachers, counselor and the student to be sure expectations are clear. Just before class, the counselor would remind the student of the goals and accompanies the child to class. If the child successfully attends class, the counselor would continue to attend but slowly taper off, remaining in the classroom for fewer and fewer minutes until the child is attending on his or her own but still working on the feedback loop to insure frequent and clear communication regarding the child’s return to that class. After a time a second class is added using the same procedure. Careful monitoring and immediate feedback is necessary to catch small problems before they escalate. Once the child is attending mainstream classes full-time, support systems should remain to prevent recidivism. This is a child at-risk and as long as the child is at this school, she or he will need a school-centered safety net.
Not just a Florida Problem
School Board members, politicians and educators, in Herald County and across the United States, proudly tout their Zero Tolerance policies. Zero Tolerance continues to help fuel the national growth in suspensions and expulsions. Enacted in response to several well-publicized school shootings, Zero Tolerance became the law of the land in 1994 when President Bill Clinton signed the Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA). By then, New York, California and Kentucky already had Zero Tolerance laws on the books mandating expulsion for gang violence, fighting and drugs.
While GFSA required expulsion of students who brought a weapon to school, educators pushed for, and legislators and school boards eagerly supported, expanding the definition of “weapon” to include not only firearms, but also knives, illegal drugs, water pistols, prescription and over-the-counter medication. But Zero Tolerance isn’t limited to “weapons,” (no matter how broadly defined) the Zero Tolerance list now includes expulsion for alcohol, fighting, swearing, disrupting class, disobedience, truancy and more than a dozen other forms of misbehavior.
In 2005, media attention on arrests of children in Florida and Nevada turned up the heat on Zero Tolerance policies. Eyebrows were raised when two elementary school children were arrested in Ocala, Florida, for drawing threatening stick figures in class, a 6-year-old in Florida's Brevard County was handcuffed and removed from school for hitting his teacher and a police officer with a book and in Nevada, Clark County School District officials tried to expel a student who drew a comic strip depicting the death of his teacher.
Ruth Zweifler, executive director of Michigan's Student Advocacy Center (SAC), doesn't mince words. "Zero tolerance," she says, "has become a full-blown war on children. Instead of being targeted for reform, students are being targeted for expulsion. School districts have a duty to find children who have special problems and address their needs before it's too late. Instead, they're engaged in a 'child hunt.'"
"Clearly I think there are incidents that are so excessive that the facts show that this (Zero Tolerance) is a mindless policy in most places," said Mark Soler, president of the Youth Law Center, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm that works on child-welfare and juvenile justice system issues.
But Zero Tolerance is more than “mindless.” In school districts across the United States, Zero Tolerance has been shown to primarily victimize poor, black children.
“In Texas, zero-tolerance policies have resulted in a disproportionate number of low-income, disabled and minority students being sent to alternative disciplinary schools, most of which have few books or computers and substandard teachers . . .. What makes me really concerned is that the majority of kids sent to disciplinary schools are poor kids, almost all black and brown children," - Texas state Rep. Dora Olivo.
Beverly Cross, an urban education specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who contributed to a 2001 study of racial profiling and punishment in U.S. public schools published by the Applied Research Center's ERASE Initiative, found Zero Tolerance has created many rule-bound "maximum security schools" where students of color are suspended and expelled at increasing rates, often for nonviolent and subjectively defined offenses. "Racism rests just beneath the surface of zero-tolerance decisions."
In their 2001 report Zero Tolerance: Unfair, with Little Recourse, Dan Losen and Johanna Wald of Harvard University's Civil Rights Project and Judith Browne, senior attorney at the Advancement Project, report that although black students make up only 17 percent of all U.S. students, they account for 33 percent of all out-of-school suspensions and 31 percent of all expulsions. By contrast, 63 percent of all students are white, but they account for only 50 percent of out-of-school suspensions. What's more, the Civil Rights Project reports, students of color are more likely than white students to be suspended or expelled for willful acts, often labeled as disobedience, disruption, or disrespect for authority.
National trends show a significant increase in the number of students who are expelled and suspended each year as well as an increase in the amount of time these students are excluded from school. While some of these children are victims of misapplied Zero Tolerance policies, many are very troubled and highly disruptive students and their numbers are challenging school boards and legislators across the United States.
Massachusetts: "It's become acceptable to push students out of the classroom rather than addressing the underlying issue."
Emily Anthes Boston Globe “Academic discipline actions on rise” 4/6/2004
Texas: “The law states that every student in an alternative learning center (ALC) is required to receive a comparable education to that of regular schools. But after hearing the complaints of parents who had children in one of the ALC schools in my district, I found otherwise I visited the [ALC] school, and the school still had no textbooks [and] there was a lack of adequate materials for the teachers. Clearly, and not through the fault of the teachers, this was a clear-cut picture of ‘warehousing.’ It is very irresponsible to allow such a situation to exist and totally disregards the best interest of the children.” Dora Olivo, Texas State Representative, District 27
North Carolina: “Regular schools reduce their efforts to address discipline and behavior problems by changing the school culture, finding it easier simply to exclude “problem” students. Alternative schools become a dumping ground for unwanted students. A disproportionate number of African American students are placed in alternative schools, resulting in racial resegregation of public schools. Few students sent to alternative schools ever return to their regular schools, and their likelihood of dropping out may even increase. Ineffective alternative schools consume resources that would have been better spent to improve regular schools.”
Ohio: Steve Rosenthal, the director of information and resources at the Alternative Education Resource Organization, expressed concern that alternative education in the Cleveland Schools could become a warehouse for kids who did not fit well at traditional schools. “A lot of (alternative) schools are just a dumping ground for kids who are not fitting in, administrators want to get them out of the population and don’t do much for the kids after removing them from traditional school.”
Arkansas: When the Arkansas Interim Committee on Education asked educators for input on how to cope with violent students, many teachers loudly demanded more Alternative Schools so they can “get these bad children out of the classroom” while others, more familiar with Alternative Schools objected saying these are nothing more than “discipline dumps.”
In May 1999, 47 states had laws permitting or mandating Alternative Schools, by 2004 virtually every state offered Alternative Schooling for disruptive students. Although educators may use the term “Alternative School,” meanings differ dramatically between states, and even between school districts within each state.
Alternative School can mean:
• a shortened school day or a later school start time
• classes on Saturdays
• a classroom within the school for part or all of the day
• a school within a school program
• a work-study program
• home instruction
• a separate school run by the public school
• a boarding school
• an innovative school not primarily discipline oriented
• a separate school run by a private non-profit or for profit company
There is more agreement about what makes a successful Alternative School. Although due to financial and political considerations, the practice rarely mirrors the research. Studies point to a dozen characteristics necessary for a successful Alternative School.
1. School Size: The school should have a teacher/student ratio of no more than 1:10 and the student population should not exceed 250 students.
2. Mission and Purpose: The school should have a well-defined mission and purpose along with a clearly articulated discipline code.
3. Faculty: The school must recruit, train and retain qualified and highly trained staff with special expertise in alternative education. The faculty needs to be caring, competent and committed to the philosophy of alternative schooling. They must volunteer, not get assigned, to teach in the Alternative School. Faculty must receive continual staff development. One of the most critical factors in the success of an alternative school is the personal relationship that exists between the students and their teachers.
4. Safety and Security: The school must promote a sense of belonging. Students should feel cared for, respected and safe (academically, physically, emotionally and socially).
5. Counseling: Students need regular and frequent access to effective social services and counseling. The school must provide and integrate into the school program, community mental health, health and social services with other collaborating agencies in the community.
6. Parental Involvement: To the maximum extent possible, parents need to be actively engaged in the Alternative School.
7. The School Building: The Alternative School should be a modern, welcoming physical environment well stocked with the books, furniture and technology equivalent to the mainstream school.
8. Voluntary Participation: Students must not feel they have been sentenced to the Alternative School. Attending the school should be viewed by students, parents, faculty and the community as a privilege rather than a punishment.
9. Curriculum: The curriculum should mirror the mainstream school but with a student-centered approach allowing for student input and tailored to diverse learning styles. Clear, well-defined learning objectives are mandatory. The faculty must maintain high expectations for student achievement, promoting high standards, student accountability and a variety of assessment tools for measuring student progress.
10. School to School Relationship: Frequent, regular communication between the mainstream (sending) school and the Alternative School is required along with strong support from the school board and school district. The Alternative School must be a part of, and have a close working relationship with, all parts of the school system.
11. Community: Efforts must be made to reach out to, gain the support of and involve the local community in the Alternative School.
12. Hope: The single most critical factor in the success of the Alternative School is the total commitment to have every student be a success. A clearly defined plan for each student’s future, including when appropriate, the criteria to reenter the mainstream school is the roadmap to hope
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Life Guards: Epilogues of Hope
Life Guards: epilogues of hope
A river ran through the village. One day a villager heard cries coming from the river and saw a child struggling and floundering in the rushing water. The villager leapt into the icy current and with much effort pulled the child to safety.
The next day two other villagers heard cries from the river and they too worked to pull several children out of the swiftly flowing water.
Day after day it continued. Little and big, boys and girls, the children kept coming. They tumbled down the river, nearly downing, gasping for breath, needing to be rescued.
The villagers called a meeting. They honored the brave rescuers and then began to discuss better ways to save the children, more efficient techniques and procedures. They talked about how to get more rescuers and to start a campaign to raise money for rescue training. They talked late into the night until one villager raised her hand and asked a question:
“I was wondering, how did these children come to be in the river in the first place?”
The Children’s Alliance, with my mentor, Rex Stewart as Chair and Dr. Mike Jordan (his real name) as Program Coordinator, is working to keep children from venturing near the riverbank, and helping to pull them out when they are drowning. The Children’s Alliance is a non-profit organization whose vision is to create, in Herald County, “a community that values all children and families, accomplished by nurturing a family environment while providing safe, effective services of the highest quality.” In 2004 the Children’s Alliance obtained $568,000 in grants to fund programs for children. One area of concern has been the lack of after school programs. Currently the Children’s Alliance funds 17 after school programs reaching over 700 children. In 2005 the Children’s Alliance identified child abuse and family violence as posing the greatest risk to Herald County children. The Children’s Alliance partnered with the Herald County Sheriff’s department, formed a task force, then hired and trained people to combat all types of domestic violence.
Readers who wish to help the children in mentioned in this book and hundreds of others like them, are encouraged to donate generously to the Children’s Alliance. For more information:
The web site is: www.mcchildrensalliance.com
The email address is: mcpsalliance@marion.k12.fl.us
The phone number for Dr. Mike Jordan is: (352) 671-7237
A river ran through the village. One day a villager heard cries coming from the river and saw a child struggling and floundering in the rushing water. The villager leapt into the icy current and with much effort pulled the child to safety.
The next day two other villagers heard cries from the river and they too worked to pull several children out of the swiftly flowing water.
Day after day it continued. Little and big, boys and girls, the children kept coming. They tumbled down the river, nearly downing, gasping for breath, needing to be rescued.
The villagers called a meeting. They honored the brave rescuers and then began to discuss better ways to save the children, more efficient techniques and procedures. They talked about how to get more rescuers and to start a campaign to raise money for rescue training. They talked late into the night until one villager raised her hand and asked a question:
“I was wondering, how did these children come to be in the river in the first place?”
The Children’s Alliance, with my mentor, Rex Stewart as Chair and Dr. Mike Jordan (his real name) as Program Coordinator, is working to keep children from venturing near the riverbank, and helping to pull them out when they are drowning. The Children’s Alliance is a non-profit organization whose vision is to create, in Herald County, “a community that values all children and families, accomplished by nurturing a family environment while providing safe, effective services of the highest quality.” In 2004 the Children’s Alliance obtained $568,000 in grants to fund programs for children. One area of concern has been the lack of after school programs. Currently the Children’s Alliance funds 17 after school programs reaching over 700 children. In 2005 the Children’s Alliance identified child abuse and family violence as posing the greatest risk to Herald County children. The Children’s Alliance partnered with the Herald County Sheriff’s department, formed a task force, then hired and trained people to combat all types of domestic violence.
Readers who wish to help the children in mentioned in this book and hundreds of others like them, are encouraged to donate generously to the Children’s Alliance. For more information:
The web site is: www.mcchildrensalliance.com
The email address is: mcpsalliance@marion.k12.fl.us
The phone number for Dr. Mike Jordan is: (352) 671-7237
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Epilogue: All Children Left Behind - or is there Another Way?
Epilogue: All Children Left Behind – or is there Another Way?
What should be done with the children who are currently sent to alternative schools, the children who are left behind? Given the intensity and multiplicity of challenges these children present, along with the host of deep rooted problems from which they suffer, it is clear that very few will somehow just outgrow or “get over” their problems. It is equally clear that we cannot continue the practice of depriving children of their right to an education under the veil of reassigning them to privately run alternative schools. Separate but equal was a lie for black children sentenced to “negro” schools and it is a lie for misbehaving children sent to “alternative” schools.
But what is the solution?
Here’s the system I would create. First and foremost, highly disruptive children would remain under the direct care of the public schools, on their home campus, with formalized support systems to help them change their behavior and develop their deficient skills. While most of these children would need to be temporarily removed from their regular classrooms, the goal would be to begin the process of reintegrating them as quickly as possible.
The costs associated with keeping children in public school but in specialized programs would be paid, in large part, with the money currently given to the private companies running alternative schools.
The current set-up in which a public school employee (such as Henry) oversees and approves the identification of children in need of alternative education, generally works. While this “Director of Alternative Education” would no longer manage contracts, he or she would be able to ensure consistency across the school district regarding which behaviors merit temporary removal from assigned classes, to share best practices and to reallocate resources as needed.
Once a child has been identified as requiring Temporary Removal from Assigned Classes (I’ll call it TRAC, since every good policy needs an acronym or two!) the treatment would begin with a written contract developed at a conference attended by all key stakeholders who will play a role on the child’s treatment team. These vital players include the child, his or her parents or guardian, the school principal, the child’s teachers, the school counselor, the school resource officer, the child’s bus driver, the TRAC teachers, the TRAC counselor, a DCF caseworker, the child’s minister and representatives from relevant social agencies – drug rehab, sexual abstinence, anger control. Also present should be any representatives from the child’s outside activities both current and potential, such a football coach, gymnastics instructor, piano teacher etcetera. If the child has a probation officer, she or he should attend. The director of alternative education should be the organizer for this meeting.
The TRAC plan has special staffing needs and for maximum effectiveness, requires an extended day program. The TRAC plan has four phases. The meeting with the all the key players and identification of their roles, begins the plan. The second phase is the shortest but also the most controversial as it combines a punitive element with a risk identifier. The third phase focuses on accentuating the child’s strengths and interests. The final phase reintegrates the child into the mainstream school program.
The TRAC model for treating and educating troubled children would, of course, be more difficult and expensive than the current practice of transferring children to an alternative “school.” It would require bringing more people to the table and taking more time to focus on the troubled child. Given the level of animosity these children provoke in adults, especially teachers, and knowing that the children will relapse before they succeed, such an approach is likely to be a pretty hard sell. But while few would advocate throwing these children in a dumpster, that is effectively what happens with the current scheme. The public school spends millions, but few of the children get educated. In addition to being morally wrong, this approach doesn’t make financial sense. Uneducated, emotionally troubled children grow up to be uneducated troubled adults who will likely need public assistance and will probably get in trouble with the law and eventually mistreat their own children starting the circle all over again. The bill for the money, time and energy we don’t spend on these children today will come due in a few years.
This model will likely invoke the wrath of those who rail at the unfairness of the “bad” children getting more resources than the “good” kids. This plan will provide more attention, counseling, tutoring, extra-curricular activities and other “benefits” all of which cost more money. In the fiscal conservatism of the south, there is a reluctance to spend more on education, moreover this model will be viewed as robbing the good to “throw money” at the bad and let’s face it, the parents of these children don’t vote for the school board and these children are not seen as savable. To succeed, this model will require a “tough on crime” champion to sell the financial advantages of effectively educating disrupted youths.
This model will also meet opposition by from private companies such as Ebencorp as well as from public school administrators. NIH anticipated this problem in its findings: “The barriers to implementing clearly effective programs inevitably include the resistance of the individuals operating ineffective programs to have their institutions closed and their jobs abolished. Furthermore, despite evidence for intensive multisystem therapy, communities are probably apprehensive at having delinquent youngsters treated in their midst as opposed to segregating them in detention centers that have the appearance of being safer and keep the children invisible.”
Educator John Dewey once wrote: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children.”
When parents can’t or won’t provide an environment that permits their children to succeed in school, the community (the village) must rally and provide what is necessary to give every child a chance at an education, a chance for a future.
What should be done with the children who are currently sent to alternative schools, the children who are left behind? Given the intensity and multiplicity of challenges these children present, along with the host of deep rooted problems from which they suffer, it is clear that very few will somehow just outgrow or “get over” their problems. It is equally clear that we cannot continue the practice of depriving children of their right to an education under the veil of reassigning them to privately run alternative schools. Separate but equal was a lie for black children sentenced to “negro” schools and it is a lie for misbehaving children sent to “alternative” schools.
But what is the solution?
Here’s the system I would create. First and foremost, highly disruptive children would remain under the direct care of the public schools, on their home campus, with formalized support systems to help them change their behavior and develop their deficient skills. While most of these children would need to be temporarily removed from their regular classrooms, the goal would be to begin the process of reintegrating them as quickly as possible.
The costs associated with keeping children in public school but in specialized programs would be paid, in large part, with the money currently given to the private companies running alternative schools.
The current set-up in which a public school employee (such as Henry) oversees and approves the identification of children in need of alternative education, generally works. While this “Director of Alternative Education” would no longer manage contracts, he or she would be able to ensure consistency across the school district regarding which behaviors merit temporary removal from assigned classes, to share best practices and to reallocate resources as needed.
Once a child has been identified as requiring Temporary Removal from Assigned Classes (I’ll call it TRAC, since every good policy needs an acronym or two!) the treatment would begin with a written contract developed at a conference attended by all key stakeholders who will play a role on the child’s treatment team. These vital players include the child, his or her parents or guardian, the school principal, the child’s teachers, the school counselor, the school resource officer, the child’s bus driver, the TRAC teachers, the TRAC counselor, a DCF caseworker, the child’s minister and representatives from relevant social agencies – drug rehab, sexual abstinence, anger control. Also present should be any representatives from the child’s outside activities both current and potential, such a football coach, gymnastics instructor, piano teacher etcetera. If the child has a probation officer, she or he should attend. The director of alternative education should be the organizer for this meeting.
The TRAC plan has special staffing needs and for maximum effectiveness, requires an extended day program. The TRAC plan has four phases. The meeting with the all the key players and identification of their roles, begins the plan. The second phase is the shortest but also the most controversial as it combines a punitive element with a risk identifier. The third phase focuses on accentuating the child’s strengths and interests. The final phase reintegrates the child into the mainstream school program.
The TRAC model for treating and educating troubled children would, of course, be more difficult and expensive than the current practice of transferring children to an alternative “school.” It would require bringing more people to the table and taking more time to focus on the troubled child. Given the level of animosity these children provoke in adults, especially teachers, and knowing that the children will relapse before they succeed, such an approach is likely to be a pretty hard sell. But while few would advocate throwing these children in a dumpster, that is effectively what happens with the current scheme. The public school spends millions, but few of the children get educated. In addition to being morally wrong, this approach doesn’t make financial sense. Uneducated, emotionally troubled children grow up to be uneducated troubled adults who will likely need public assistance and will probably get in trouble with the law and eventually mistreat their own children starting the circle all over again. The bill for the money, time and energy we don’t spend on these children today will come due in a few years.
This model will likely invoke the wrath of those who rail at the unfairness of the “bad” children getting more resources than the “good” kids. This plan will provide more attention, counseling, tutoring, extra-curricular activities and other “benefits” all of which cost more money. In the fiscal conservatism of the south, there is a reluctance to spend more on education, moreover this model will be viewed as robbing the good to “throw money” at the bad and let’s face it, the parents of these children don’t vote for the school board and these children are not seen as savable. To succeed, this model will require a “tough on crime” champion to sell the financial advantages of effectively educating disrupted youths.
This model will also meet opposition by from private companies such as Ebencorp as well as from public school administrators. NIH anticipated this problem in its findings: “The barriers to implementing clearly effective programs inevitably include the resistance of the individuals operating ineffective programs to have their institutions closed and their jobs abolished. Furthermore, despite evidence for intensive multisystem therapy, communities are probably apprehensive at having delinquent youngsters treated in their midst as opposed to segregating them in detention centers that have the appearance of being safer and keep the children invisible.”
Educator John Dewey once wrote: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children.”
When parents can’t or won’t provide an environment that permits their children to succeed in school, the community (the village) must rally and provide what is necessary to give every child a chance at an education, a chance for a future.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Chapter Sixty-Three: Whatever Happened to...
Chapter 63: Whatever Happened to…?
I am always asking for news of my former students, staff and coworkers. Sometimes I wish I didn’t ask. I am usually dismayed by what I hear, though not surprised. I didn’t need a crystal ball to predict some of the outcomes.
A UPS chasing substitute teacher? About two months before I left, Lynne handed me a pile of phone messages from someone who called half a dozen times that day seemingly desperate to teach at Prospect. With a straight face Lynne watched me read the messages. “The name of this wanna-be teacher was vaguely familiar. Should I know her?” Lynne’s curly red hair is standing on end and her eyes are bulging as she takes her hands as if to strangle me, saying, “It’s The Prison Guard!” I rapidly discard the stack of phone messages as if they were flaming and advise Lynne to throw away any subsequent phone messages from this caller.
Oscar, the principal of Haven Hill? He almost lost his job again for incompetence (again) but he begged the Superintendent to let him stay, saying he only has a few years before he retires. So the Superintendent made him principal at the public school for the ESE (Special Education) students with disabilities so debilitating they can’t function in a regular classroom. Once again, the children who need the most get the least….
Agnes, Oscar’s secretary at Haven Hill? She is the receptionist at a Herald County Public School building. Unclear as to whether she hung her Confederate flag in her new office.
Vince, the custodian? He retired.
Mr. Ericson, the owner of Ericson’s Speedy Mart who made a racist comment about the music? He and his wife sold the gas station to a family from India and are now customers rather than owners of Ericsons.
Stone, the teacher who wanted to be a Baptist Minister? After I left, he was groomed by The Boss to become principal and was put in that position temporarily, but the promotion never came to pass. Stone was furious and shortly thereafter, in September 2004, his name appeared in the local section of the newspaper: “An alternative school teacher was arrested Wednesday after fighting with a student, authorities said…. (He) was charged with physical child abuse after witnesses said he attacked a Prospect School student.”
Witnesses say Stone was heaping insults on the boy and poking him in the chest when the boy punched Stone. Stone shoved the boy, the boy hit back and Stone began to punch the boy violently in the face. Marci, the permanent substitute teacher, was standing nearby. Stone asked her to say he didn’t hit the boy. She refused, telling me later she couldn’t tell whether Stone, in his fit of rage. really didn’t remember hitting the boy or whether he was asking her to lie. Stone turned in his resignation, was handcuffed and taken away in the squad car to the county jail where he was later released after posting $2000 bond. Two months later Stone phoned asking me to write him a recommendation for a job that did not involve working with children.
Noreen, the math teacher with a criminal background who altered the hospital discharge papers for which she was subsequently fired? She was hired in 2004 as a teacher at ESAK and two weeks later was promoted to Director of Education at ESAK where she works today.
Marci the substitute teacher? After my departure she was made a teacher with the largest class despite only having a two year degree in criminology. During the Stone incident, Marci tried to break up the fight. In the course of this action, two of Stone’s punches connected with her head. Marci resigned shortly after the Stone incident and took a position at ESAK in their “outdoors” program. She will soon complete her BA in criminal justice and wants to earn an MA in counseling.
Buffy, the certified elementary teacher who never hung anything on her walls? Buffy was hired by Herald County Public Schools to teach the most at-risk third graders – those who were repeating third grade for the first or second time due to failing the FCAT. The principal who hired her without soliciting any feedback from me, is reportedly very unhappy with Buffy. She struggles with classroom management, the children aren’t learning, and their parents complained to him that when they came to open house night, they were upset to see bleak, bare classroom walls.
Henry, my public school liaison? Henry still has his job as liaison to the alternative schools and he is still of the opinion that these troubled children don’t deserve any more than they are getting.
Lucy, my fellow Prospect principal who resigned before me? She is an art teacher at a public school in a poor neighborhood in Tampa.
Lynne, my business manager? She is the receptionist at a Herald County Public elementary school. She is very overqualified for the position and the pay is much less than her former salary, but it is a job without the daily stress she experienced at Prospect. She reports that no parents curse at her and she never has to deal with anyone like The Boss. She does report that the principal at her new school has staff hold hands and pray before meetings.
Jordan, the teacher? After he and his new wife returned to his home in Alabama to care for his terminally ill father, they now have three daughters and he is working as a middle school social studies teacher in the public schools.
Rosie, my counselor? Initially She was working for a private counseling firm that contracts with the public schools to work with Medicaid-eligible children who need counseling. She had an office in a school in the north east corner of the county – the very white section where black people are discouraged from living. Boyd, the former Prospect student who didn’t bathe often enough, ran up to her in the hall, gave Rosie a big hug and told her how happy he is to be out of that awful school. He said his worst day was when Ernie slammed him up against a wall. Rosie said he just kept hugging her and hugging her. Rosie is now a teacher in a Special Education class.
Rex Stewart, my mentor? Rex moved from middle school principal to elementary school principal and just retired this year. He continues his work for local child advocacy as Chair of a local social services agency.
Lorayne, of tongue ring fame, who lives with her grandmother except for her stay in a foster home after she was found living with her forty-something “boy friend”?
Lorayne was sent to ESAK (the Ebencorp High School in Herald County) where she often missed classes due to her pregnancy.
Robyn, the girl who couldn’t find a quiet place to do her homework and was sent to live with her grandmother in Cincinnati? After she crawled out the bathroom window to play hooky one time too many, Grandma returned her to Florida. But her stepmother refused to let her live in the family’s trailer. The receptionist at the office where Robyn’s father works offered to have Robyn live with her. Robyn was sleeping on the receptionist’s couch and not going to school.
DerMarr, the 5th grader we put in a middle school classroom where his teacher, Jana, helped him grow from the student we almost rejected to our most improved student until his mother transferred him to public school prematurely? He spent most of the last two academic quarters suspended from school and thus failed to be promoted to 6th grade and, despite a previous retention and his large size, he was held back in 5th grade.
Tyryona, the aspiring actress living with her cousin? Tyryona did star in the play and my husband and I saw her stunning performance. There was one interruption half-way through the play when a very dressed up woman with a fancy hat made an entrance so dramatic it distracted from the performance. It was Tyryona’s mother. Tyryona didn’t last long with her cousin and shortly after the play, I heard Tyryona was bouncing from foster home to foster home.
Luke, with the hoop earrings and mother at McDonalds? Luke was sent to ESAK where he spends his afternoons in a “job training program” working in a fast food restaurant. I believe he is now at Popeye’s.
Darius, the gifted boy who lived in so many foster homes? The Boss had him arrested for throwing balled up paper at the bus driver. His foster mother washed her hands of him when she heard he was arrested so he was released to the Cressler House where he was involved in a fight, arrested again and found to have enough points to be held in the JDC (Juvenile Detention Center). When he was released he was sent to yet another foster home, this one in another county.
Perry, the boy who was raped as a preschooler? Perry spent 6 months in a boot camp and upon release was sent back to Prospect where he will stay until The Boss feels he is ready to return to public school. I think the odds are against that happening.
Warenita, the girl whose mother only needed one friend, Jesus? Mom lost her battle with drug addiction and also lost custody of her daughter. Warenita is living in a foster home attending ESAK.
Glenn, the unappealing boy who choked in our Geography Bee? His mother decided she couldn’t handle him and “gave him up to the system.” He has been moved from foster home to foster home. So far no foster family wants him.
Karla, the girl whose mother lives with the Rainbow People? Mom sent Karla to live with an aunt in Georgia. Karla and her cousin, the aunt’s daughter, ran away with the cousin’s boyfriend, a 24 year old man. They went to Ohio. The police followed them. The man was arrested. The cousin was sent home and her aunt promptly pulled her out of public school and sent her to a Catholic school. And Karla, she was arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center then onto a “program.” After three months she returned to Lakeboro and Prospect. For a few weeks she attended school regularly. Then she began getting on the bus and watching out the window intently for Lorayne illegally driving her boyfriend’s pick-up truck. At the next stop she’d dash off the bus as the sleepy eyed children tried to get on and run to join Lorayne. She did this on and off for a couple weeks, then stopped attending school at all. No one seemed to care or notice.
Mookie, the boy whose parents died of AIDS and who felt he had no future? We returned Mookie to public school at the end of the 2002-03 school year and so far he has not returned to Prospect. Fingers crossed, Mookie might just have a future after all.
I am always asking for news of my former students, staff and coworkers. Sometimes I wish I didn’t ask. I am usually dismayed by what I hear, though not surprised. I didn’t need a crystal ball to predict some of the outcomes.
A UPS chasing substitute teacher? About two months before I left, Lynne handed me a pile of phone messages from someone who called half a dozen times that day seemingly desperate to teach at Prospect. With a straight face Lynne watched me read the messages. “The name of this wanna-be teacher was vaguely familiar. Should I know her?” Lynne’s curly red hair is standing on end and her eyes are bulging as she takes her hands as if to strangle me, saying, “It’s The Prison Guard!” I rapidly discard the stack of phone messages as if they were flaming and advise Lynne to throw away any subsequent phone messages from this caller.
Oscar, the principal of Haven Hill? He almost lost his job again for incompetence (again) but he begged the Superintendent to let him stay, saying he only has a few years before he retires. So the Superintendent made him principal at the public school for the ESE (Special Education) students with disabilities so debilitating they can’t function in a regular classroom. Once again, the children who need the most get the least….
Agnes, Oscar’s secretary at Haven Hill? She is the receptionist at a Herald County Public School building. Unclear as to whether she hung her Confederate flag in her new office.
Vince, the custodian? He retired.
Mr. Ericson, the owner of Ericson’s Speedy Mart who made a racist comment about the music? He and his wife sold the gas station to a family from India and are now customers rather than owners of Ericsons.
Stone, the teacher who wanted to be a Baptist Minister? After I left, he was groomed by The Boss to become principal and was put in that position temporarily, but the promotion never came to pass. Stone was furious and shortly thereafter, in September 2004, his name appeared in the local section of the newspaper: “An alternative school teacher was arrested Wednesday after fighting with a student, authorities said…. (He) was charged with physical child abuse after witnesses said he attacked a Prospect School student.”
Witnesses say Stone was heaping insults on the boy and poking him in the chest when the boy punched Stone. Stone shoved the boy, the boy hit back and Stone began to punch the boy violently in the face. Marci, the permanent substitute teacher, was standing nearby. Stone asked her to say he didn’t hit the boy. She refused, telling me later she couldn’t tell whether Stone, in his fit of rage. really didn’t remember hitting the boy or whether he was asking her to lie. Stone turned in his resignation, was handcuffed and taken away in the squad car to the county jail where he was later released after posting $2000 bond. Two months later Stone phoned asking me to write him a recommendation for a job that did not involve working with children.
Noreen, the math teacher with a criminal background who altered the hospital discharge papers for which she was subsequently fired? She was hired in 2004 as a teacher at ESAK and two weeks later was promoted to Director of Education at ESAK where she works today.
Marci the substitute teacher? After my departure she was made a teacher with the largest class despite only having a two year degree in criminology. During the Stone incident, Marci tried to break up the fight. In the course of this action, two of Stone’s punches connected with her head. Marci resigned shortly after the Stone incident and took a position at ESAK in their “outdoors” program. She will soon complete her BA in criminal justice and wants to earn an MA in counseling.
Buffy, the certified elementary teacher who never hung anything on her walls? Buffy was hired by Herald County Public Schools to teach the most at-risk third graders – those who were repeating third grade for the first or second time due to failing the FCAT. The principal who hired her without soliciting any feedback from me, is reportedly very unhappy with Buffy. She struggles with classroom management, the children aren’t learning, and their parents complained to him that when they came to open house night, they were upset to see bleak, bare classroom walls.
Henry, my public school liaison? Henry still has his job as liaison to the alternative schools and he is still of the opinion that these troubled children don’t deserve any more than they are getting.
Lucy, my fellow Prospect principal who resigned before me? She is an art teacher at a public school in a poor neighborhood in Tampa.
Lynne, my business manager? She is the receptionist at a Herald County Public elementary school. She is very overqualified for the position and the pay is much less than her former salary, but it is a job without the daily stress she experienced at Prospect. She reports that no parents curse at her and she never has to deal with anyone like The Boss. She does report that the principal at her new school has staff hold hands and pray before meetings.
Jordan, the teacher? After he and his new wife returned to his home in Alabama to care for his terminally ill father, they now have three daughters and he is working as a middle school social studies teacher in the public schools.
Rosie, my counselor? Initially She was working for a private counseling firm that contracts with the public schools to work with Medicaid-eligible children who need counseling. She had an office in a school in the north east corner of the county – the very white section where black people are discouraged from living. Boyd, the former Prospect student who didn’t bathe often enough, ran up to her in the hall, gave Rosie a big hug and told her how happy he is to be out of that awful school. He said his worst day was when Ernie slammed him up against a wall. Rosie said he just kept hugging her and hugging her. Rosie is now a teacher in a Special Education class.
Rex Stewart, my mentor? Rex moved from middle school principal to elementary school principal and just retired this year. He continues his work for local child advocacy as Chair of a local social services agency.
Lorayne, of tongue ring fame, who lives with her grandmother except for her stay in a foster home after she was found living with her forty-something “boy friend”?
Lorayne was sent to ESAK (the Ebencorp High School in Herald County) where she often missed classes due to her pregnancy.
Robyn, the girl who couldn’t find a quiet place to do her homework and was sent to live with her grandmother in Cincinnati? After she crawled out the bathroom window to play hooky one time too many, Grandma returned her to Florida. But her stepmother refused to let her live in the family’s trailer. The receptionist at the office where Robyn’s father works offered to have Robyn live with her. Robyn was sleeping on the receptionist’s couch and not going to school.
DerMarr, the 5th grader we put in a middle school classroom where his teacher, Jana, helped him grow from the student we almost rejected to our most improved student until his mother transferred him to public school prematurely? He spent most of the last two academic quarters suspended from school and thus failed to be promoted to 6th grade and, despite a previous retention and his large size, he was held back in 5th grade.
Tyryona, the aspiring actress living with her cousin? Tyryona did star in the play and my husband and I saw her stunning performance. There was one interruption half-way through the play when a very dressed up woman with a fancy hat made an entrance so dramatic it distracted from the performance. It was Tyryona’s mother. Tyryona didn’t last long with her cousin and shortly after the play, I heard Tyryona was bouncing from foster home to foster home.
Luke, with the hoop earrings and mother at McDonalds? Luke was sent to ESAK where he spends his afternoons in a “job training program” working in a fast food restaurant. I believe he is now at Popeye’s.
Darius, the gifted boy who lived in so many foster homes? The Boss had him arrested for throwing balled up paper at the bus driver. His foster mother washed her hands of him when she heard he was arrested so he was released to the Cressler House where he was involved in a fight, arrested again and found to have enough points to be held in the JDC (Juvenile Detention Center). When he was released he was sent to yet another foster home, this one in another county.
Perry, the boy who was raped as a preschooler? Perry spent 6 months in a boot camp and upon release was sent back to Prospect where he will stay until The Boss feels he is ready to return to public school. I think the odds are against that happening.
Warenita, the girl whose mother only needed one friend, Jesus? Mom lost her battle with drug addiction and also lost custody of her daughter. Warenita is living in a foster home attending ESAK.
Glenn, the unappealing boy who choked in our Geography Bee? His mother decided she couldn’t handle him and “gave him up to the system.” He has been moved from foster home to foster home. So far no foster family wants him.
Karla, the girl whose mother lives with the Rainbow People? Mom sent Karla to live with an aunt in Georgia. Karla and her cousin, the aunt’s daughter, ran away with the cousin’s boyfriend, a 24 year old man. They went to Ohio. The police followed them. The man was arrested. The cousin was sent home and her aunt promptly pulled her out of public school and sent her to a Catholic school. And Karla, she was arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center then onto a “program.” After three months she returned to Lakeboro and Prospect. For a few weeks she attended school regularly. Then she began getting on the bus and watching out the window intently for Lorayne illegally driving her boyfriend’s pick-up truck. At the next stop she’d dash off the bus as the sleepy eyed children tried to get on and run to join Lorayne. She did this on and off for a couple weeks, then stopped attending school at all. No one seemed to care or notice.
Mookie, the boy whose parents died of AIDS and who felt he had no future? We returned Mookie to public school at the end of the 2002-03 school year and so far he has not returned to Prospect. Fingers crossed, Mookie might just have a future after all.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Chapter Sixty-Two: Rumor Mill
Chapter 62: Rumor Mill
After I left Prospect, for a while my email box was full with stories from my former coworkers. Since they all knew I was writing about the experience, often the subject line would read: “Here’s one for your journal.” Frequently the emails would detail the same incident from with different points of view. Here’s what I hear:
On the first day at Prospect without me, The Boss arrived late, at 8:40, with an entourage of “Enforcers”, several large and muscular Ebencorp employees from other residential programs. He gathered everyone in the parking lot and told the team he didn’t know I was going to resign and didn’t want me to do so, but he and his boss Clyde, felt I was not taking this program (note his word choice: program, not school!) in the direction Ebencorp wants it to go, thus he is taking over. At 3:30 he gathered all the students in the parking lot and tells the children too that he didn’t want me to leave. One of the girls reportedly yells “bullshit.”
The Boss then announced some changes effective immediately: no more blue jeans, no more Activity Period and no more Friday Career Days. (He later told the staff he didn’t like Career Days because he was not comfortable with the public “coming on campus and sticking their noses in our business.” Lynne wondered what he had to hide.) He also announced he is starting a new punishment program with both after school and Saturday detention sessions.
The Boss’s unveiling of his plan was interrupted by Tiombe, a student not known for self-control. He began to loudly vent his opinion with some profanity-laced statements regarding these changes. Immediately two Ebencorp Enforcers flanked Tiombe. One grabbed his shirt and spun him around. The other slammed him against the fence by the ball field then both “got in his face” and began to shout at him. The other students watched in stunned silence. The Boss went on to announce that he was shortening the school day. Prospect would no longer run from 9:00-4:00. The new school hours would be 9:00-2:50. The students didn’t cheer but the staff did.
Tiombe was the first but not the last. The following day as students were getting off the bus in the morning, The Boss decided, seemingly impulsively, that boys could no longer wear any earrings. When Antwonn stepped off the bus, The Boss had two Ebencorp Enforcers demand Antwonn give up his earrings. Antwonn protested saying it was written in the Prospect handbook that two stud earrings were acceptable. Antwonn then bent over his three ring binder to find that paragraph in the handbook. One of the Ebencorp men grabbed Antwonn’s arms and pulled them behind his back while the other started to shout very close to his face. Antwonn dropped his notebook. Counselor Rusty, witnessing this, interceded and said he would take Antwonn’s earrings whispering to Antwonn that he was right about the rule, but better to give the earrings to Rusty now than … Antwonn handed Rusty his earrings.
Maybe when The Boss said I didn’t follow the Ebencorp way it was because I didn’t physically intimidate the children….
Odis arrived at school wearing blue jeans. When the Ebencorp duo began to yell at him he said his mother was angry that the dress code was changing in the middle of the year and she had bought him new blue jeans for school. This made the Ebencorp Enforcers angrier and Odis received the Tiombe treatment complete with up close shouting and fence slamming. In addition he was kept after school. When The Boss called Odis’s mother, she said she had no car and couldn’t come get him. The Boss had to drive Odis home in his car and got lost (Odis claims he “was playing” with The Boss and provided incorrect directions.) Odis got home at 7:00 pm.
On Friday The Boss kept five children after school for detention and was surprised again when none of their parents could or would come pick them up and he had to spend hours transporting them to all corners of Herald County. Funny about The Boss driving the students home in his car since Ebencorp’s own policy states that transporting students in a personal vehicle should be avoided.
Although I am no longer principal, I made promises to some of the boys about attending their football games that weekend, so on Saturday morning, off to Berke Jungers I go. The first Prospect person I run into is Rusty. He tells me he resigned the day before. The Boss asked him to reconsider but Rusty refused. He didn’t give The Boss an explanation beyond saying it was for his health, but Rusty says he couldn’t stand by and watch the abuse.
Rusty and I watch several football games. When Parker sees me he waves and at the end of his game the sweaty equipment-laden boy gives me a big hug saying “We miss you Ms. Smee.”
My wonderful business manager, Lynne, emails me daily for some time:
Monday:
The Boss has decided he will take attendance himself since he wants the data before 10:00 am and feels our method is too slow. I think he isn’t used to a school with so many students! He first tried to take attendance as the children got off the busses. That didn’t work! He didn’t have a headcount for Shasta in time for her to pick up lunches and when she asked he got mad.
Tuesday:
The Boss told Rosie she is not a good teacher and she should look for work elsewhere and if she did he would write her a recommendation. Rosie cried.
The Boss left campus and returned with rakes, dozens of rakes. All day kids are out raking. There are no lessons, no counseling, just raking.
Wednesday:
The Boss told the team no more morning meetings and they don’t need to arrive to work at 8:00 anymore. He says “you can arrive whenever, just be here by 9:00.”
The Boss isn’t getting the attendance done until early afternoon and Henry’s secretary has been phoning saying they need me to input the attendance earlier. I explained about the “new” procedure…
Thursday:
Most of the team decided they still wanted to have morning meetings even if The Boss didn’t mandate them or chair them. They arrive at 8:00 and start the meeting, but when The Boss comes in (about 8:30) he tells them they are not to meet and he doesn’t want them coming into this portable because they disturb him.
That new math teacher you hired to replace Valerie called in sick. (That would be ZG, the zany guy.) The Boss called him at home and insisted he come to work right away, sick or not. Later I find a note taped to the door from the new math teacher – it is his resignation! The Boss told me we need to hire staff and I should put an advertisement in the local paper. I printed the text from one you and I developed but he crossed out the part about “college degree and teacher certification required.” He said to describe the job as “redirection.” I guess you don’t need a college degree to supervise raking.
Friday:
The Boss forgot to call the Career Day people on the list you gave him so they showed up this morning and he told them Career Days are cancelled. As far as I can see everything is cancelled. All the kids do is rake. Oh and The Boss suggested if they do a good job raking then teachers should show movies!
When I asked The Boss for the attendance today he told me he isn’t going to do it anymore and we’ll go back to the old way, but since we don’t have meetings anymore, none of the teachers know this and so no attendance was taken today. Oh and The Boss hired his first new employee today: Ernie! I started to tell The Boss about some of the Ernie problems but he told me Ernie is a big, muscular man and that you, Kathleen, just didn’t know how to handle him!
Monday:
The Boss has left Ernie in charge of the campus! Ernie is strutting around making up policies and threatening children. The kids rake and no one takes attendance.
Tuesday:
Rosie was trying to hold classes this morning. It’s hard since the girls would rather be raking. Ernie came in the class and decided to remove six girls for rake duty. They were happy to go. The Boss showed up on campus about 2:00 and told Rosie how pleased he was that she was starting to kick more girls out of class for misbehavior. Rosie told him she hadn’t kicked them out and she wasn’t sure why or how Ernie chose them for rake duty. The Boss looked disappointed.
Wednesday:
I gave my resignation to The Boss today. Now both my husband and I are unemployed but I just can’t take this anymore!
After I left Prospect, for a while my email box was full with stories from my former coworkers. Since they all knew I was writing about the experience, often the subject line would read: “Here’s one for your journal.” Frequently the emails would detail the same incident from with different points of view. Here’s what I hear:
On the first day at Prospect without me, The Boss arrived late, at 8:40, with an entourage of “Enforcers”, several large and muscular Ebencorp employees from other residential programs. He gathered everyone in the parking lot and told the team he didn’t know I was going to resign and didn’t want me to do so, but he and his boss Clyde, felt I was not taking this program (note his word choice: program, not school!) in the direction Ebencorp wants it to go, thus he is taking over. At 3:30 he gathered all the students in the parking lot and tells the children too that he didn’t want me to leave. One of the girls reportedly yells “bullshit.”
The Boss then announced some changes effective immediately: no more blue jeans, no more Activity Period and no more Friday Career Days. (He later told the staff he didn’t like Career Days because he was not comfortable with the public “coming on campus and sticking their noses in our business.” Lynne wondered what he had to hide.) He also announced he is starting a new punishment program with both after school and Saturday detention sessions.
The Boss’s unveiling of his plan was interrupted by Tiombe, a student not known for self-control. He began to loudly vent his opinion with some profanity-laced statements regarding these changes. Immediately two Ebencorp Enforcers flanked Tiombe. One grabbed his shirt and spun him around. The other slammed him against the fence by the ball field then both “got in his face” and began to shout at him. The other students watched in stunned silence. The Boss went on to announce that he was shortening the school day. Prospect would no longer run from 9:00-4:00. The new school hours would be 9:00-2:50. The students didn’t cheer but the staff did.
Tiombe was the first but not the last. The following day as students were getting off the bus in the morning, The Boss decided, seemingly impulsively, that boys could no longer wear any earrings. When Antwonn stepped off the bus, The Boss had two Ebencorp Enforcers demand Antwonn give up his earrings. Antwonn protested saying it was written in the Prospect handbook that two stud earrings were acceptable. Antwonn then bent over his three ring binder to find that paragraph in the handbook. One of the Ebencorp men grabbed Antwonn’s arms and pulled them behind his back while the other started to shout very close to his face. Antwonn dropped his notebook. Counselor Rusty, witnessing this, interceded and said he would take Antwonn’s earrings whispering to Antwonn that he was right about the rule, but better to give the earrings to Rusty now than … Antwonn handed Rusty his earrings.
Maybe when The Boss said I didn’t follow the Ebencorp way it was because I didn’t physically intimidate the children….
Odis arrived at school wearing blue jeans. When the Ebencorp duo began to yell at him he said his mother was angry that the dress code was changing in the middle of the year and she had bought him new blue jeans for school. This made the Ebencorp Enforcers angrier and Odis received the Tiombe treatment complete with up close shouting and fence slamming. In addition he was kept after school. When The Boss called Odis’s mother, she said she had no car and couldn’t come get him. The Boss had to drive Odis home in his car and got lost (Odis claims he “was playing” with The Boss and provided incorrect directions.) Odis got home at 7:00 pm.
On Friday The Boss kept five children after school for detention and was surprised again when none of their parents could or would come pick them up and he had to spend hours transporting them to all corners of Herald County. Funny about The Boss driving the students home in his car since Ebencorp’s own policy states that transporting students in a personal vehicle should be avoided.
Although I am no longer principal, I made promises to some of the boys about attending their football games that weekend, so on Saturday morning, off to Berke Jungers I go. The first Prospect person I run into is Rusty. He tells me he resigned the day before. The Boss asked him to reconsider but Rusty refused. He didn’t give The Boss an explanation beyond saying it was for his health, but Rusty says he couldn’t stand by and watch the abuse.
Rusty and I watch several football games. When Parker sees me he waves and at the end of his game the sweaty equipment-laden boy gives me a big hug saying “We miss you Ms. Smee.”
My wonderful business manager, Lynne, emails me daily for some time:
Monday:
The Boss has decided he will take attendance himself since he wants the data before 10:00 am and feels our method is too slow. I think he isn’t used to a school with so many students! He first tried to take attendance as the children got off the busses. That didn’t work! He didn’t have a headcount for Shasta in time for her to pick up lunches and when she asked he got mad.
Tuesday:
The Boss told Rosie she is not a good teacher and she should look for work elsewhere and if she did he would write her a recommendation. Rosie cried.
The Boss left campus and returned with rakes, dozens of rakes. All day kids are out raking. There are no lessons, no counseling, just raking.
Wednesday:
The Boss told the team no more morning meetings and they don’t need to arrive to work at 8:00 anymore. He says “you can arrive whenever, just be here by 9:00.”
The Boss isn’t getting the attendance done until early afternoon and Henry’s secretary has been phoning saying they need me to input the attendance earlier. I explained about the “new” procedure…
Thursday:
Most of the team decided they still wanted to have morning meetings even if The Boss didn’t mandate them or chair them. They arrive at 8:00 and start the meeting, but when The Boss comes in (about 8:30) he tells them they are not to meet and he doesn’t want them coming into this portable because they disturb him.
That new math teacher you hired to replace Valerie called in sick. (That would be ZG, the zany guy.) The Boss called him at home and insisted he come to work right away, sick or not. Later I find a note taped to the door from the new math teacher – it is his resignation! The Boss told me we need to hire staff and I should put an advertisement in the local paper. I printed the text from one you and I developed but he crossed out the part about “college degree and teacher certification required.” He said to describe the job as “redirection.” I guess you don’t need a college degree to supervise raking.
Friday:
The Boss forgot to call the Career Day people on the list you gave him so they showed up this morning and he told them Career Days are cancelled. As far as I can see everything is cancelled. All the kids do is rake. Oh and The Boss suggested if they do a good job raking then teachers should show movies!
When I asked The Boss for the attendance today he told me he isn’t going to do it anymore and we’ll go back to the old way, but since we don’t have meetings anymore, none of the teachers know this and so no attendance was taken today. Oh and The Boss hired his first new employee today: Ernie! I started to tell The Boss about some of the Ernie problems but he told me Ernie is a big, muscular man and that you, Kathleen, just didn’t know how to handle him!
Monday:
The Boss has left Ernie in charge of the campus! Ernie is strutting around making up policies and threatening children. The kids rake and no one takes attendance.
Tuesday:
Rosie was trying to hold classes this morning. It’s hard since the girls would rather be raking. Ernie came in the class and decided to remove six girls for rake duty. They were happy to go. The Boss showed up on campus about 2:00 and told Rosie how pleased he was that she was starting to kick more girls out of class for misbehavior. Rosie told him she hadn’t kicked them out and she wasn’t sure why or how Ernie chose them for rake duty. The Boss looked disappointed.
Wednesday:
I gave my resignation to The Boss today. Now both my husband and I are unemployed but I just can’t take this anymore!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Chapter Sixty-One: Game Over
Chapter 61: Game Over
I park the Saturn, loaded with the contents of my office (minus the books and games that wouldn’t fit) outside Books-a-Million and I phone my husband. I coach myself on being brave but when I tell him, I cry.
I try to stop because I can hear the pain in his voice, a pain that he isn’t here to hold me, hug me or comfort me. He works to reassure me with his words: it will be okay, this is for the best, now you can write your book. I choke back the rest of the crying to keep my husband from hurting more.
When I get home, and unpack the car and sit alone on the bed in my beautiful new Florida home that now I might not be able to afford, I cry the rest of the tears, surprised to find there are so many. All the sobs I stifled and swallowed whole, all the unwept tears I trapped and denied, they all rush forward like the opening of a lock on a canal. I cry tears of self-pity, tears of boss loathing and tears of suffering children. I cry tears of frustration, failure and confusion, tears of anger, hate, loss and even loneliness. I cry tears of despair, desperation and the deep depths of depression. I cry me a river.
Then I stop. I have heard that crying depletes the immune system and I don’t want to get sick – I force this somewhat specious notion to triumph over my out-of-control emotions. The tears, like the rushing water in the canal locks, make changes to ensure smooth sailing forward on my journey. I reshape the rest of my tears into words: words for my journal, words for my book, words for emails, words to cope.
I park the Saturn, loaded with the contents of my office (minus the books and games that wouldn’t fit) outside Books-a-Million and I phone my husband. I coach myself on being brave but when I tell him, I cry.
I try to stop because I can hear the pain in his voice, a pain that he isn’t here to hold me, hug me or comfort me. He works to reassure me with his words: it will be okay, this is for the best, now you can write your book. I choke back the rest of the crying to keep my husband from hurting more.
When I get home, and unpack the car and sit alone on the bed in my beautiful new Florida home that now I might not be able to afford, I cry the rest of the tears, surprised to find there are so many. All the sobs I stifled and swallowed whole, all the unwept tears I trapped and denied, they all rush forward like the opening of a lock on a canal. I cry tears of self-pity, tears of boss loathing and tears of suffering children. I cry tears of frustration, failure and confusion, tears of anger, hate, loss and even loneliness. I cry tears of despair, desperation and the deep depths of depression. I cry me a river.
Then I stop. I have heard that crying depletes the immune system and I don’t want to get sick – I force this somewhat specious notion to triumph over my out-of-control emotions. The tears, like the rushing water in the canal locks, make changes to ensure smooth sailing forward on my journey. I reshape the rest of my tears into words: words for my journal, words for my book, words for emails, words to cope.
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