Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Can School Safety be a Catch-22?

SCHOOL SAFETY AT LEHMAN

One of the first priorities of a successful school is to ensure that the climate is safe, both for students and the teachers who aim to instruct them. Recently, there have been some claims that there is increased violence at the high school, and we want to know what you think?
While no level of violence should be seen as acceptable, we all must know that there will be fighting at at the high school level. Is there, as some would claim, a marked increase in violence in the school? Or is this just the bellowing of the few who will never be satisfied?
What has your experience been? Have you witnessed fights at the school?
Is the closed 9th grade lunch working to keep students going to their classes?
What can be done to make things better?
Also...
Culturally, children all over the country are linked closely to their hats and/or cell phones. Now while this problem can be addressed with a bit more ease in a smaller school, in a school the size of Lehman, things may not be so easy.

Do we keep, and become responsible for, the hats and electronic equipment of a few thousand students a day? How do you truly hold the children accountable when the parents cosign on them having the phones "for emergency purposes" in NYC?

How do you work to keep Lehman alive, and make situations where you must report data to the city which will close it?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ridiculous. I've witnessed numerous fights, as well as SSA and school aides hiding in corners and texting whomever. As far as your last sentence is concerned, therein lies the crux of the problem. Pretty clearly you are in favor of hiding data - a practice which has become painfully apparent to most of us. If we hide this precious data, aren't we performing a disservice to the very children to whom we've dedicated our lives? Hiding the reality of what goes on will certainly help line the pockets of a precious few, which, to most of us, seems the real priority. Oh, and enough with the closing threats, please.

Anonymous said...

A catch-22? No level of violence is acceptable, and all violence MUST be reported, or children are not being served.

DevelopingLearners said...

Let me be clear...

We are asking questions to provoke discussion, you know as a teacher would...

We do not feel that violence in school should not be reported.

But we do ask... when you are asking that students get detention for an infraction (example cellphone, or hat)- as they perhaps should, what will be the next step when they don't do it and we don't have the support of home? Suspension? If we over use that we run certain risks as well.

You all are asking for a hard swift action for the things the kids do, but we have to look ahead before we take any steps.

I fault myself for not being clear about that...

Anonymous said...

We must have at least 30 school aides, SSA's, Deans, Administrators and you can't figure out what to do when a kid breaks the rules? Come on, its your job!! We need a ladder of referral for class infractions (that is enforced). We need sweeps for lateness. We need parent meetings for truancy. We need home visits for repeat offenders. We have the Chancellor's Regulations for fights, and we have well-educated teachers for additional support. We can figure this out but this website it not the forum. How about a security meeting? How about rewarding those kids that never break the rules and hoping that positive behavior will be something all kids want to strive for... How about after-school detention, on a Friday, for 2 hours? This will upset a few kids. How about closed lunch for all kids, regardless of age, that break the rules. (good kids, even 9th graders, can go out). I could go on and on but its not rocket science. How about asking other schools what they do for additional ideas. The problem right now is that we do not do anything.We (the adults in our building) are NOT accountable.

Anonymous said...

It is illegal for an administrator to suggest that school violence should be unreported for any reason; especially to a staff of mandated reporters.

Anonymous said...

Hear, Hear.

Anonymous said...

Gee, awful quiet here. Blood on the floor make you wonder about your catch-22 position? I no longer feel safe at Lehman. Neither do many of our students. Especially some of the Seniors in Honors classes; they feel lost, neglected, and unsafe.

Anonymous said...

Quiet here, but not there.

A cover-up suggests criminal intent.

This attracts attention,

as does the smell of blood.

And with litigation,

fools' gold becomes real gold.