Heavy sigh. . .
You can't hear it, but there it is.
You also can't see me shaking my head as I begin to type this 'blog entry, but trust me, I'm shakin' it.
See, I've just returned from helping a friend with her curriculum sales at a homeschool convention and my mind is brimming with fresh images of what education can be and, in many cases, should be.
The contrast between those images and the stories I'm about to present is beyond substantial. More on my convention experience later. Now, let's get down to the school news of the week.
First, we have a teacher at a Houston-area charter school who was caught on tape (phone camera, actually) beating a 13-year-old student so severely that he arrived home with bruises, a black eye, and a knot on his forehead. The teacher has apologized for her actions, actions that were witnessed by OTHER TEACHERS who stood by and did nothing to help the student.
School violence is on the rise, did you know? According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than 150,000 teachers reported being attacked by students during the 2007-08 school year. No word on how many students were attacked by teachers.
Next up is the principal of a Florida elementary school who responded to a PTA parent's request for information about an upcoming event. The principal instructed her assistant principal to tell the woman to "eat sh-- and die." The problem is that the email was accidentally sent to the parent, not to the assistant principal.
Oops.
Apparently, the school administration has issues with parents who want information and access to school events as evidenced by this direct quote from a reading coach at the school who acted as the principal's spokesperson: "Our PTA wants to control the school, which she (the principal) hasn't given to them,'' Orjeda said. "They want control of how the school building is painted, what's in the curriculum and the way teachers teach.''
Imagine that . . . Parents actually wanting some say in how their TAXPAYER FUNDED PUBLIC SCHOOL is run. The gaul! The irony! The nerve!
Look, I have no clue whether this school is being properly run or whether there's really a battle for control. That's not the point of the story.
The point is that a principal entrusted with running a school and supervising its attendees thought it was perfectly appropriate to respond to a parent in a foul-mouthed way.
The principal has since apologized but my guess is that she's not sorry because she was wrong. She's sorry because she got caught.
Parents are calling for her removal.
If I lived in that school district, I'd be calling for it, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment