News-Record.com

"We need to address the learning needs of the whole child. Consequently, more than classroom instruction is needed to attend to the academic, social, emotional and metal health deficits of our students."

More liberal claptrap from a beauraucrat trying to stay in the loop.

Ah, neocon...still at it, aren't you. Maybe you should try to work in a school. Kids today need a lot more that teachers are able to give them. We need more social workers in the school, not fewer. You may not like the facts, but they are clear. More and more kids have no guidance at home.

... followed by claptrap from a myopic homophobe.

Carol. Hope you've been well.

In our schools I'd much prefer to see parents rather than social-workers. I guess poor mom's are either too busy working several minimum wage jobs, or standing in welfare lines, or watching Jerry Springer on a big screen TV. I guess middle-class mom's are too busy being a wage earner, and upper class mom's are too occupied at the country club. Surely the specifics are known by Neo, and he will share the details with absolute certainty.

Carol,
NeoKitty knows ALL! How dare you EVEN try to disagree with him, you limpwristed, lie-bruhl, panty waist of flesh!
Now you can sit back and wait for him to call me all sorts of childish names which HAVE to include "Canadian" and "flag". He should be put in an asylum and studied for the rest of his miserable life. We need to know what caused him to snap!

Hope you have a wonderful summer! Each time I listen to the D.R. show, I think to myself, "I'll bet Carol Dunn's listening too!"

Hope you are well also, TLC (is that really Tender Loving Care in disguise). Been at the beach most of the summer. Came home...too many tur-ists.. I read the comments at the library but can't comment from there...really painful at times.

JDR, I agree with some of your comments on parents. However, so many kids need professional help which most volunteers can't give. However, sometimes just listening to them and letting them know you care is a help. It is easy to say kids are the parents' responsibility. In a perfect world, that would work. However.....

As I noted in a blog on Tuesday, the reduction in school social workers is nothing but "smoke & mirrors" by Grier.

TLC, I believe you recall my making said comment as you posted regarding what I had stated.

This ploy is all about money; i.e. Grier getting more! He is using something vital as a "sacrificial lamb" in his ploy to get more than has been allocated in the latest GC budget.

People need to wake up and smell the coffee. Grier knows that to cut social workers in the schools would be devastating at best and catastrophic at worst. The GCS BOE is not going to let the number of social workers be cut. Again, it is nothing more than "smoke & mirrors!" Wake up people!

Shalom

Ms. Dunn,
Serious question: Can you tell me what these 'social workers' do in the public schools?

At the schools where I worked, they helped kids get workers permits, needed medical care, find jobs, find shelter from abusive parents, deal with pregnancy, learn to study and behave in class; they tracked down kids who were absent from school, worked with suicide threats, runaways...just to name a few.

... you know, the tasks traditional parents used to do in the old fashion days, before absentee dads and crack moms were part of our normal routine. When there were lots of decent jobs for decents folks, before parents had to work multiple minimum wage jobs, befure Jerry Springer, before big screen TVs, before middle-class mom's decided to be wage earners, when upper class mom's at the country club were few and far between - and they had live in nannies doing the school parent job.

Thank you, Ms. Dunn.

JDR, keep preaching! I am in the "amen corner!"

Shalom

Amen Carol! It's too bad most teachers today feel helpless in the tug-of-war between "No Child Left Behind," disruptive and disrespectful kids, administrations who do no support the teachers, a school board who doesn't back teachers, and the notion of "standardized tests" which don't help kids learn because teachers wind-up having to "teach to the test."

Is there any wonder we have a teacher shortage? I was merely support staff, and I couldn't stand to see kids getting short-changed because nobody wants to do what needs to be done.

As for the NCLB act, everyone who posted here should go to the first LTE and read Brian Harper's post. Excellent! He told how military recruiters threaten/blackmail schools with NCLB.

"Thank you, Ms. Dunn."

That's it? No further comment or thoughts or insight from Irving Kristol's hopeful, forward-looking, and cheerful protoge?

OK, cRock-o-...feller.
Ms. Dunn, do you think it the school's responsibility to help kids get worker's permits, needed medical care, deal with pregnancy, track down kids, etc, etc, etc?

If you do, please elaborate as to why.


Thank you.

Liberal Canadian,
If you're going to hump brian harper's leg, at least do on the proper thread.
Thanks.

James,
The leopard never changes his spots! He can whitewash the outhouse, but the stink's still in there. :)

Yes, I do, neo. Let's face the issues of the day. Kids need help...it really does take a village to raise a lot of kids these days. In a perfect world, parents would do the things the schools do. Newsflash: We do not live in a perfect world.

What would you have happen to all these kids who need help? Toss them out in the street? Tell them to pull themselves up by their boot straps? Some kids only find caring adults, a good meal, and safety in the schools these days. It is a pitiful mess, but if we don't help them in the schools, they have no chance of making it.

I think we have let discipline get totally out of hand in many schools. Many of the kids are crying for someone to care enough about them to make them behave and learn. That is where we are falling down on the job, imo.

Thanks for answering, Ms. Dunn.

One more question: In your opinion, what happened in the last 40-50 years to create the climate in the public school system that allowed discipline to get so totally out of hand to the point where teachers cannot perform their primary function? What was it that brought us to the point where a government entity is responsible for a pregnant student's well being or where taxpayer funded schools are the only place where they can get a meal or seek medical attention? Why do you think this is the case now and not 40-50 years ago?

Thanks.

Neocon, I have been thinking about how to answer your question. I really don't know the answer, but it seems to be several things.

I think that it is really hard for a single parent to do all that a child needs. Many want to do what is right but hold down two jobs just to keep a roof over their heads. Many are just children themselves and have little education. I have told the story before of the very best student I taught in 25 years who came from a single parent home and graduated with a Brooks Scholarship from Carolina (I forgave him for attending Carolina) In the last letter I had from him, he was getting ready to graduate and told me he fully realized the power he had, he was a very bright, well educated black man. However, his brother who was raised in the same home failed to succeed in school and caused disruptions. Go figure.

I think we have gone overboard in trying to compensate for slavery. While the intentions may have been good, we have caused many to continue to have a huge chip on their shoulder and feel they are entitled to a living. Many also have been taught to blame whitie for all their problems and that it is cool to show disrespect to school personnel. Just my personal observations.

I think many of the problems in Guilford County come from an leader who wants to reduce the drop out rate...a noble plan on paper, but he has caused us to keep kids in school who do not need to be there, who are disruptive and cause others to be unable to learn and teachers to be unable to teach.

I also think the trash we continue to put on TV leads to kids who have the idea that money and bling are what's important...and that if it feels good, do it. No consequences are ever shown.

If I truly had the answers, I would be a rich gal...

Bravo! Carol Dunn for Board of Education!

Thank you for treating the resident nitwit with compassion and patience--which most of us lost with him a long time ago. You are an exceptional person and I am so glad you post here.
TCB,
The TLC