News-Record.com

Before anyone commments, I suggest you visit a Guilford County High School for one day. Stand in the halls during class change; visit classes throughout the day. You will have to get a visitor's pass, but the community needs to get a feel for a day in the schools. Imagine your daughter or your sister or you mother working in this environment. Imagine your sons, your husband your fathers dealing with the situations you see. Imagine yourself in the setting. You have no idea what you will see and how things have changed until you experience it first hand. Then feel free to express an educated opinion.

Let's see ... early arrivals, bus duties, overcrowded classrooms, IEPs, students attempting to set schools on fires, feces on the floors of bathrooms, hall monitoring, bathroom monitoring, gang graffitti and activity (in the halls, bathrooms, books, and classrooms), drug activity, "felons" in classrooms, EOCs, APs, verbal and physical altercations, disrespect, ignorance, mandatory tutoring, meetings with students, meetings with parents, meetings with administrators, "No Child Left Behind" (everyone no matter their apathy must succeed), after school detentions, after school extra-curricular activities, covering other teachers classes when no subs show up, ... being parents, counselors, cops with no weapons or tools to defend yourself, babysitters, psychologists, janitors, coaches, mentors all while getting paid less than a manager of McDonalds. Reason to be stressed?!? Actions unjustified?!? Are you serious?!

I THINK ALL TEACHERS OVER THE WHOLE COUNTRY SHOULD GO ON STRIKE UNTIL THEY CAN TAKE BACK OVER THE TEACHING AND SCHOOLS. ALL ADMINISTRATORS SHOULD BE GIVEN A LOT LESS POWER AND LET THE TEACHERS TEACH. ANY DISRUPTIVE STUDENT SHOULD BE EXPELLED FOR A YEAR. THE STUDENTS FIRST AND THE ADMINISTRATORS SECOND ARE NOW IN CHARGE OF THE SCHOOLS. TEACHERS ARE WAY DOWN THE LIST AS FAR AS BEING IN CHARGE.

These students are out of control. The teachers hands are tied and many have left the school system because they can make more money with less headaches! These children (not all) have no home training, have no respect for themselves less more any body or any thing else. They know that the teachers can't do anything to them so they do whatever they want, whenever they want with little or no consequences.

Call the parents or trying to get them involved is like pulling teeth because many of them have no idea what to do with the monsters they have created. The school should not be a babysitting service yet that what has become of it. ISS, detention half of them don't want to be in class anyway and it's just a break for them.

Not all teachers granted are good teachers and no teacher should belittle a student but you could not pay me a million dollars to be in the school system. Go back to the time when teachers were in charge and could discipline them and give the parents back the responsibilty of raising responsible adults and then we might be able to do something with the mess that the administrators, school board (joke) and sorry parents have created and are still creating.

Until then, God help us ALL!!!! I like what Bill said maybe it's time teachers go on strike and take back their classrooms.

I think both Janet and Roland Heck have hit the nail on the head. My wife is a teacher in Guilford County schools and she has regaled me with numerous stories of class disruption, apathy from both students AND their parents as well as the administration. The state of public education has become pathetic and will continue its downward spiral until teachers can have the proper authority to take control of their classrooms.

One example that was recently brought to my attention was the In School Suspension (ISS) coordinator. While that is certainly a taxing job dealing solely with the most disrespectful students, this ISS coordinator decided it prudent to distribute an email to teachers asking them to not send students to ISS for talking-back, swearing and other classroom outbursts - essentially stating that it wasn't worth her time. Great plan, that, except that it further degenerates any type of classroom management and control. If there is no penalty for acting out, why should the student choose to behave? Furthermore, the administration has also recommended that students who are parents, or others that have a social worker case assigned to them should not get sent to ISS, as this reflects negatively upon them when their social case goes up for review. Student-parents lose government monies and, while they were responsible enough to give birth to a child, they do not have to be responsible enough to behave for a 90-minute class period.

Until the administration can stand up to both students and parents and back-up their teachers this trend will continue indefinitely. It's this pathetic attitude of entitlement that is driving our public school system down the toilet.

See:
http://erikhuey.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/teacher-snaps-at-smith/

Simply put, our schools...your schools are out of control. And this is yet another example.

Hear that cricket sound coming from Central Office?

E.C.

To qualify according to Janet's standard; go into a school for a day, I have....I used to substitute!

I agree with what many have stated here. The sad part is that we will never truly know what precipitated the one teacher to supposedly strike a student. Nor will we ever know the full story why Dr. Evelyn Fair launched into such an outburst.

What I find unsettling is how in the recording of Dr. Fair is that you have to listen very carefully to hear her. This is due to the student voice level/noise. That tells me that the students are not showing any respect to the teacher, whether that teacher is "going off" as Dr. Fair did or just setting the students correct on who is in charge.

I have seen principals and other administrators absolutely refuse to handle disciplinary problems with students who are habitual problems. This happened with me as a substitute!

Regarding all of the responsibilities, it has gotten ridiculous. Teachers used to have bus duty and hall duty. That was not terribly bad, making sure that students were orderly and not misbehaving. However, the majority of students today have no sense of self-control. "The man" is always out to get them!

As noted, the schools today are nothing more than a glorified day care/babysitting service. Until the people stand up at the board of education meetings, city council meetings, county commissioner meetings, etc., nothing will change. Also, the legislators; both local, state, and national need to have the heat turned up on them for helping to create this colossal monster. It may never be fully corrected because of some of what has been stated in this blog.

Last, for Terry Grier to state that behavior such as that of Dr. Fair will not be tolerated is a joke! What about his behavior or lack thereof? When Guilford County obtains a superintendent and board of education that desires to educate rather than shuffle around problems and low scoring students and integration based upon income and academic ability; the problems will remain here. How sad!

I work in the schools, I see how hard it is to be a teacher. But, people need to understand that you have to have patience and a backbone to be a teacher. If not, students will walk all over you. Some teachers have lost their touch. Yes, I do agree that teachers need to take back their classrooms and have the authority. Yet, having authority does not mean disrespecting the students, degrading them because of their social status and low academic performance or telling students you don't care if they pass or fail just as long as you get paid. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming anything on the teachers. I'm saying there are alot of factors included in a child's education and behavior. That could be naive parents, lazy/apathetic students or "I'm just here to get paid" teachers. I love working for GCS, but there are alot of missing links in the chain. Everyone need to get on their job, don't just point at one person. As I was reading Heck's I was thinking, yeah all these things do accur. But, you should've known what you're getting into when you got your teacher license. I'm sure the schools weren't like this 20 years ago but it's a new day and age for teachers, parents and students, nothing should be a surprise. We all need to work together, compromise, stop thinking about ourselves and do what's best for the students.

So, doing what's best for the students is respecting them and not losing your temper?? Yet, we as a society are supposed to give our children more than we had, which seems to have given them no respect for others, materialistic outlooks, "me" attitudes and unlikeable personalities. We raise them from birth now to be a Disney Princess or Prince, so they feel that everyone is to wait on them and do whatever they say. We are all human and don't always know at what point we will break, as Dr. Fair and Mr. Bullard did. Teachers cannot take back their classrooms when parents and administrators won't let them because children may break if reprimanded too harshly! Give me a break! I just know that as a parent I have got to give a lot of time to teach my children respect in order for them to behave positively at school. Most parents want the schools to teach, but they lay so many rules down that the teachers can barely keep their heads above water. Parents, students, teachers and administrators have GOT to work together to fix this. Mr. Grier may need to be a substitute teached one day a week to see exactly what he does or will tolerate.

As a fellow student of Ben L. Smith High School I want to say how appalled I am to hear some of the “adult” responses to the situation. It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone to hear that any person whether child, adult, male, female, student, or teacher is the same. For anyone to point the blame at a child, any child, for an adults’ wrong decision, whether it be said to your child or not, is wrong! If it was your child or yourself in that situation wouldn’t you have been insulted?? How can you sit there and justify a teacher’s poor actions and reactions to one student’s comments. Students sometimes behave badly as well as some teachers. However, if the rest of our teachers here at Smith HS reacted as Dr. Fair did when a student questioned or upset them imagine the negative outcomes and ramifications to a students overall growth and learning experience. Think about the basic job description for a teacher which is to TEACH….open a childs’ mind frame and give them the knowledge they may not have already consumed from other resources, not to discourage the child and/or speak of them in such a manner as to devalue them or hurt their self esteem as this teacher did to these students. The students at Smith HS need strong teachers, counselors, role models and administration. We are not ALL bad and disrespectful as some people in the community have commented. No school has ALL good or ALL bad students. Furthermore, if you think Smith is so bad than use your resources and time to volunteer at Smith, be a mentor to the students here, provide us with the same learning environment they have at the schools you THINK are so great. Don’t make general comments about a school body. This is a form of discrimination

The last thing one should want is Terry Grier in the classroom. Do an internet search for articles that contain comments made by Terry Grier. You will find that he has a difficult time articulating a sentence that is grammatically sound. While reading these articles you will also get the answer to the question as to what Mr. Grier could or could not tolerate if he were in a classroom. One can easily see that Mr. Grier openly loses his temper when questioned, when his misdeeds are brought to light or things do not as he dictates.

Well Gabby, you have certainly learned how to place the race card and discrimination card quite well at an early age.

As a practical matter these cards do not work anymore. You may want to ask that the cards get shuffled and a new hand is dealt.

Is anyone willing to talk to me on the record about teachers under pressure? If so, call me at 373-7078.

Morgan Glover, education reporter

The things that are happening in our local schools are hardly an different than my years at Dudley from '70-'74. Stabbings, shootings, students and teachers carrying guns, gangs it was all here then but was never reported. I was a victim of gang violence in 1970 on the campus at Dudley High School and even though an assistant principal found me laying in a pool of blood on the floor and arranged for a teacher to take me to the hospital... And even though the Greensboro Police arrested those who attacked me and the Judge found them guilty the school system denied it happened on school property.

I've lived with 34 years of nightmares because of what happened there.

Male teachers walked the halls with baseball bats, students had shoot outs in the halls (thankfully most couldn't hit the broad side of a barn) and stabbings happened in assemblies. Getting mugged or robbed was an every day experience... Now, 30 years later our children and grandchildren are paying dearly for what local government didn't want the world to know.

My son told me of his run-ins with Bloods and Crips at Northwest Guilford 10 years ago but only now does government admit we have a problem?

As the wife of a GCS middle school teacher, I worry every week if he will be safe. Just today he was cursed at and punched. Last spring his life was threatened by a young man in his class. Fortunately his principal is committed to reassigning these potentially violent students to an alternative school. However, it has been difficult for my husband not to defend himself (verbally). In fact he was told his job could be in jeopardy for simply standing toe to toe with the student threatening his life.

In the audio clip, the students appear to be laughing and "getting a kick out of" what Dr. Fair is saying. That right there is awfully telling. I believe there is a sense of entitlement among our children that was not present years ago. There are certainly good children at every school, but I think the badly behaving students run their schools now.

As a liberal I never believed I would say this:

School Vouchers.
The system is beyond repair.

The administrators blame the teachers,
It falls to the parents.and admin policy.
Act civil or get lost period.

Those that care have a right to have their kids educated.

Vouchers

To Gabby, who typed:

"... any person whether child, adult, male, female, student, or teacher is the same."

No, Gabby, they are NOT the same. The fact that you think so proves MF's comment that,

"I believe there is a sense of entitlement among our children that was not present years ago."

If you think that, as a student, you deserve the same respect that a teacher does, then you have been built up and spoiled.
You have no concept of how difficult it is to be a teacher; you have no idea how discouraging and infuriating it is to be disrespected daily by undisciplined students.
Teachers who hold their temper are super-human. Teachers who slip are still human! Having high expectations for teachers in one thing, but not holding students accountable for the hateful things they do and say is another.

I am relieved to read of so many kindred spirits. I don't understand why teachers are so strong in number, but so powerless.

I work with children from birth to five years old.I do this for a reason. You have to start early when training children. Everything effects who we are;from your environment,peers,parents,school teachers,etc...We are feed so much negativity it should be a crime. We don't know what we are really doing to our children, who will eventually turn into adults will issues. To be a teacher, you should love what you do. There's no exception. Negative things in our lives can build up so much pressure that it turns to anger. We latch out and we cannot take back what we say or do. Pastor taught us that we are in control of our actions, but we are not in control of the consequences of our actions. I do not condone what she done,it was wrong. She should have talked to someone before she created a problem for herself. She messed up,she lost control and she will pay for it. She's unaware of how it will come back to her. That's the sad part. The tongue can be a dangerous weapon;It doesn't care about the color of your skin. Teachers should have a outlet before they get to the breaking point. Believe me, teachers will get to a breaking point whether it's through a child or parent. Teachers go through hell and back. They better reach for the highest power(Jesus Christ). WE all are going to need Him. I do wish her well,the pressure was to much for her. Her problem started a long time ago. She allowed the enemy to step in and defeat her. He was able to use the negative things that she probably grew up with against her(her views and opinions about African American people). He can not feed a seed that is not there She was able to be broken down and that is not a good thing.

I have seen the Guilford County middle school firsthand, and I know how hard it is to be a teacher. Teachers work all day long PLUS they take work home. They are expected to stay after school (without being paid) to tutor students. They have about 10-15 minutes to eat lunch while covering their own class (despite the fact that duty-free lunch is North Carolina LAW). It is extremely hard to work in these conditions day after day while receiving the utmost disrespect from students (not ALL students).

After being in the classroom myself (as a teacher), my husband and I have decided not to have children unless we can afford private school or home school for them.

Dave Colin,

I have to admit that I am shocked to see that you think that our public schools are broken and are calling for school vouchers. I think that you are right, but I never thought that I would see you say that. Without a doubt, the system is rigged. Students can't get an education in our public schools, and North Carolina severely restricts charter schools. This leaves expensive private schools and home schooling. Neither of these may be a viable option for many students. So, when are we going to get a movement toward school vouchers moving?

Utah which probably has some of the most successful public schools in the nation recently tried to get school vouchers, and it was defeated. It made a lot of sense in the manner that it was proposed. School vouchers would be given to students out of the state's general fund, not the schools funding, so the same level of public education funding would have been available for fewer students. But, in the end, forces decided that it couldn't be allowed. It represented too big a threat, because government schools can't compete in the open market. Heck, who would have wanted to go to public schools if there was an alternative? And, teachers would have left public schools as well.

I feel sorry for this teacher. If you listen its obvious that she cares for those children. She needs help not a weeks suspension without pay.

I met with a teacher (X) a few days ago. Told me about some classroom management problems. Kid did not want to be in school (approx 15), stood on top of desk in class, pointed backside at teacher and espoused on the topic of flatulence to the class. The teacher has tried to discipline student, was told ISS was not an option and "deal with it". If teacher complains to someone they risk their job. If principals complain they risk their jobs, yet the school board and Superintendent can blame the teachers for not doing their job and every body listens to them. It is the teacher's fault that poverty, violence and Gangs exist, that families break up and kids are shell shocked. It is the teachers who are responsible for race relations.

I had a new teacher tell me about their first experience in GCS classroom at one of our best performing schools. In the middle of class a gang member came on campus, into the classroom and beat a student for trying to leave the Gang. Incident never made paper, news or even Board members. It was a prominent school with many of Greensboro's leaders kids attending. I am sure that the teacher felt no stress from the incident, the school systems reaction to it, etc.

The Board is not allowed to know about these incidents of violence and it is a brave teacher or principal that is willing to step forward. After the things I have seen and heard as a Board member I cannot condone some of what has been done as it is politically and morally incorrect. But my heart goes out to these who have broken under the strain. My frustration with a system that promulgates the administrations forced reduction of suspensions, of tolerance of reprehensible behavior and blaming it on the inadequacies of teachers that show their humanity is also at the breaking point.

I can tell you that almost every one of us on the Board is a compassionate wimp when it comes to individual students. We love and feel for these kids individually and have a difficult time making decisions on an individual basis to expel or punish any child. The cost of our decisions is classroom and school safety, extreme teacher stress, and ultimately the sabotaging of our school learning environment and the future of these children we are so compassionate with.

Blaming Terry, the principals, the teachers etc. is reprehensible. Ultimately the buck stops at the Board and until we as a Board accept responsibility for our actions we fail the very children we seek to serve. Before I blame others I must look in the mirror and live with what I see, look at my hands and make sure they are clean, after that, then honestly look to see where the truth lies. I must hold other's accountable for their stewardship, that is my responsibility as a board member, but I must hold myself more accountable to even higher standards first.

Garth

I got so tired of my wife coming home crying from what she was being put through everyday at the school she taught at that I yanked my own wife out of school and got her a better job with better pay and benefits. Oh yeah she also has alot less stress to deal with and she no longer comes home crying. I thank God we made this decision cause I love seeing my wife come home smiling and not crying.

Good bye GCSS.

Maybe one day teachers will get the respect and pay they deserve.

Garth,

Don't punish yourself, do something. Don't wait for the report. The BOE fails all of us by not having core values. We must have order in the classroom. If the teacher can not get it, then help should be called. The principal, the ass't principal, SRO or other teachers. We may have to put cameras in every room of some schools. I know it is hard, but the BOE must act. Smith has been going south for two years, yet the BOE has not asked anyone how they can help. The BOE is in denial, they don't believe it is out of hand. Why should others act, if they don't have the support of the BOE. The BOE should tell Dr. Grier to come forth with a plan next week to turn around Smith. The SROs in Middle Schools should be redeployed to schools like Smith. Remember only 10% of sudents at Smith do their home work. How much worse can it get before the BOE takes action.

I read on another strand a very good comment. By trying to save ( I mean not punishing) the 5% of disruptive kids we are probably sending another 20% to the scrap heap.

I have been in several schools in the GCS system, including Smith, and have settled in what some would call a dream job. I am blessed in that. Despite how any teacher's situation may look on the outside, there are innumerable levels beyond that. I know that I care deeply about each and every student that I teach. There is not a single one, not even the ones that make me the most upset, that I wouldn't go out of my way to help if I could. I care. I care too much, or at least that's what I've been told by the administration of my school.
I spent most of last year dealing with a group of kids who had just been through too much change and inconsistency in policy to function. This group of students was incredibly bright and talented, but they managed to take out every bit of aggression on me. I tried every tactic I'd ever been taught in methodology and pedagogy courses. I stood my ground, they rebelled. I tried to find compromise, it wasn't good enough. They disrespected me in school. They slandered me on the internet. When I brought this up to administration, nothing happened. When I'd finally reached my breaking point I confronted administration one more time. At this point it was obvious to me that the children were holding the keys to our kingdom. The result, I gave up. I was basically given no other choice. Now I can look around at my fellow teachers and see how we are all losing the battle against the entire educational system. What's worse, it's failing our children as well.
And to you Gabby and other students who may feel the same way that you do. Here is my reaction to your statement, "Think about the basic job description for a teacher which is to TEACH?.open a childs' [child's] mind frame and give them the knowledge they may not have already consumed from other resources, not to discourage the child and/or speak of them in such a manner as to devalue them or hurt their self esteem as this teacher did to these students." Think about this, not all teachers are the same. Some of us really do want to open your minds and give you something, however small, to take away and better the world with. But when did it become acceptable for students to treat teachers and other adults "in such a manner as to devalue them or hurt their self esteem as this teacher did to these students." Look around you, how much time each day to you spend standing up for the teacher who is disrespected by a fellow student? Do you confront the student if you don?t agree with their behavior? Do you let the teacher know you support them? Do you take that to your parents or your administration and let them know how appalling you find the behavior? Would you jump to comment on an online blog about a teacher being insulted by a student? You say "It shouldn't be a shock to anyone to hear that any person whether child, adult, male, female, student, or teacher is the same." It is true that we are all created the same, but from that point forward, nothing is the same; nothing. I am somewhat progressive in my beliefs that there doesn't need to be such a huge gap between teachers and students, but there ARE many differences. The largest of these is the fact that any teacher you have, strong or poor, is older and has experience more than any student on an educational level. If for no other reason, teachers deserve respect for that. My number one rule in my class is: you get respect ONLY by giving it. I don't expect ANY human, child or adult to respect me if I don't show them respect, but if I do show them respect, I expect it in return.
I cannot condone the behavior of the two teachers in question, but I can completely see how they may have come to their breaking point. While the outburst in question is not acceptable, we cannot fault her for being human. I think all too often students, parents, administrators and policy makers are quick to forget that at our core, teachers are humans first.

I am encouraged to see all the positive comments in defense of our teachers. No one completely understands the situation unless he or she has walked in our shoes.

I encourage everyone to get both sides of the stories, and wait for the facts to come to light. No one really knows what happened on those days but the people involved. I have a sneaking suspicion that Dr. Fair was "set up." Perhaps Mr. Bullard was, too. I do believe that teachers should be the adults in every situation, but, having been there, I completely understand if they "lost it." It is our very "humaneness" that makes us good teachers-if we had no emotion, no caring, we wouldn't be.

Stress???
That word does not begin to describe what teachers experience in any given day. The comments above are unfortunately very accurate. The general public has no clue what goes on in a school. Please know that there are many wonderful and exciting things that take place in the classrooms and a large majority of the students are focused and eager to learn. And, the teachers are anxious to share their knowledge and prepare these young people to meet the world of tomorrow with the skills they will need. I recently retired. I did not want to. I miss it terribly. I miss the students ( 8th graders) and miss the staff. I do NOT miss the stress. Stress and pressure were big factors in my decision to leave. I worked under Jeff German who was quoted in the News and Record. He ran a fair and tight ship inspite of the pressures he had to face daily as a prinicpal.

There is no excuse, however, for a teacher to go off and become out of control and disrespectful. Teachers must remember who the adult is. In many cases students see more of their teachers than they do their own family members. Teachers are educators on many fronts. What message is a teacher's temper tantrum comunicating to the students?

What is the solution to the stress problem? I would like for each person from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh to the Guilford County School Board and Guilford County Commissioners who is responsible for setting the policies and procedures for teachers to spend one week in a middle or high school. Come in early with the teachers, spend time in the class room, stay late, hours after the students have boarded the busses, go home with teachers and help carry the bags and boxes of papers to be graded, watch TV with the neglected spouses, multitask; do the laundry, prepare dinner, and vacuum while making lesson plans, calling parents, grading papers, and transferring the grades to the disk. After these policy making people have danced in our shoes and felt the blisters and callouses, only then they can know what a teacher does. And then maybe less stress will be put upon us and we can get back to the beautiful art of teaching.

Teachers are there not for the pay but for the love of educating.

Teachers physically fighting with students is a criminal offence any way you look at it, regardless of the situation that led up to and/or provoked the confrontation. If that first year teacher is fully certified to teach then the State of North Carolina needs to snatch his credentials back immediately. A first grader will tell you that in today's classroom it is taboo to put your hands on a student for virtually any reason at all outside of hands on instructional guidance
(for instance while teaching a child how to hold a pencil). Even then, the teacher must use utmost care when touching the student so as to avoid being falsely accused of inappropriate touching. It's a sad truth but also a sign of our law suit happy times. Simply put and without ranting and raving about the pros and cons of corporal punishment, life in the classroom aint nothin' like it used to be and teachers are constantly tip-toeing around their classrooms on egg shells that, if crushed, can easily lead to prison time and ruined lives. But when I look at the situation regarding the music teacher that verbally lashed out at her students, I'm compelled momentarily to set her rage aside and take a deeper look at the statements that she made to those students. The transcript of her recorded outburst includes: "I talk to your parents, I do referrals for your (expletive), I write (expletive) up for you. (Expletive) this.......I do all this crap cause I love you and I care about you, and you're going to treat me like this"? This is clearly an example of a teacher that is feeling betrayed, confused and angry because all of her love seasoned pedagogical and methodological techniques have failed to create an overall atmosphere of discipline, appreciation and respect in her classroom. I guess one would have to have been there, but it's like she was crying out loud to get those students to wake up and see that they need to change their behavior because she cared about about their future. "Tough Love" is what we called it back in the day and these days really good parents parents still exercise it when necessary. In other words, she tried doing everything by "the book" but the results in her classroom were not even close to the results that "the book" promised.
Although I agree with many in this blog that the behavior of both teachers is unacceptable and that they both could have handled their confrontations differently, the human element mentioned earlier in this blog deserves some more attention if one is to fairly pass judgement upon the music teacher. Her statements tell me that she had previously worked very hard at reaching the unruly students before stooping to their level of unruly behavior. I doubt seriously that she would have lasted this long as a teacher if cursing out her students was representative of her teaching style. I recently stopped teaching because "the book" never worked for me in my classroom and quite frankly it never worked for any of the other relatively new teachers either. We were teaching in the inner city ghetto schools because that's where the new teachers were assigned to see if they handle the profession or not. All the "good schools" went to the surviving teachers. When all of the negative outcomes and unrealistic workloads ended up going home with me and began to damage my health and my marriage, I knew that it was time for me to do something else for a living. Interestingly though I noticed that the veteran teachers (those with roughly 10-15+ years of experience), many of whom were already well known in the community, could take every unruly student of mine and create halos above their heads in their classrooms. Well, those "model teachers" (whose classroom management I respected and admired) had also taught my student's Parents, Uncles, Aunts, and the like over the years. The kids knew from day one not to disrespect those teachers because they had already won over and gained the respect of the community and had well known reputations. Most of the kids already knew those teachers (or knew of them) before even enrolling in the school. Not to take away from their excellent teaching skills and knowledge of subject matter but many of the "techniques" that many of those "model teachers" used to gain that respect and maintain good classroom management are no longer allowed in today's classrooms. Also,their class sizes were smaller and teachers had a lot more planning time. Parents were more accessible and more involved in their kid's education. The divorce rate was lower and PTA meetings were events that the community looked forward to. More often than not, one or both parents were in attendance. Nowadays many new teachers, both young and old, are sitting ducks in overcrowded classrooms that are bound by laws and regulations that create loop holes for unruly students to jump through while seeking to gain control over the aspiring teacher and his or her classroom environment. Many parents only have a sense of urgency to communicate with the teacher or visit their child's school when they feel like venting and finger pointing on behalf of their unruly child. Furthermore, we need to take a good look at what our teachers have been taught while they were being trained to become teachers. The techniques for successful teaching outcomes may have worked for the authors of "the book"'s point of view, but what kind of student and parent is the author referring to? Students with parents that are at home to answer the phone when the teacher calls? "The book" refers to them all the time. Do they write about neighborhoods where hard drugs and gangs are competitive options to doing homework and getting involved in extra curricular school activities? Vaguely if at all. Students that don't eat dinner but instead witness their parents drink, do hard drugs and holler and scream all night long? Not hardly. "The book" more often than not refers to students and parents more attuned to Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver, Wally and The Beav. Many new teachers go into shock when they get out of college, get a teaching job, and realize that "the book" never dealt with their situation at hand. They go to their Administrators for support and the Administrators simply refer the teachers back to "the book" by acusing the teacher of poor classroom management skills. Why?....... because the Administrators cant find the contemporary family in their "book" either. They themselves have no clue as to how to assist and support their teachers effectively. They know that there are problems, but many don't really know how to deal with the children of contemporary families so they put it all on the teachers. Principals, for instance, make plenty of money and very few can truly relate (or care to relate) to a situation in which both spouses have to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet. How to effectively educate a latch key kid is a book within itself. The Administrator's "book" is full of numbers. Meanwhile, the unruly students are well schooled with a highly effective book that they have memorized. It's entitled "The Law".

There is only one way down from here. The behaviour that drove these teachers to do this is evident in our schools everyday.

If it continues we will lose more teachers, we will lose more children to privates schools and the system will strangle itself.

The last people on the ship will be Terry G and his merry band the school board.

Glug, glug, glug!

Terry Grier should be stating that it is
"Student Misbehavior " that we will not tolerate!!!

What was the student misbehavior that caused these eruptions.?

I am so certain that the poor children did nothing (ha!)

Students should be expected to know how to behave and act at school or they should not be allowed to attend.

There should be somewhere to send those that do not have the social aptitude to conform to what is expected of a high school student!!

OH..my bad...there is... it is called SMITH...!!!!

Dr. Evelyn Flair....there is a good job awaiting you at a local prestigious private school where you will be treated with the respect you deserve...

Teachers should go on strike in support of these teachers and demand better classroom support and conditions!!

I am a parent and anything I can do to help ..
I'll do!!

If only we could strike without losing our jobs. Trust me the idea of striking has crossed our minds many a time, and for many reasons.