By Anonymous
Filed Sunday, March 5 at 9:51 PM
The way parents at Stevens Middle School describe it, their school simply collapsed this year: there is no teaching, no learning, and no safety.
"I have two children in the school," said Ms. Way. "They have a substitutes every day. I talk to a new teacher every week. . . . They've had no homework since school began. They aren't getting the classes they should. They are confined to one classroom all day, instead of moving to different subjects. My sixth grader was taught nothing but math for a whole month. . . The school has had seven secretaries since August and so many substitutes I can't count."
Not surprisingly, the breakdown in instruction has gone hand-in-hand with an increase in violence.
"Kids are beating kids, parents hitting teachers, students hitting teachers, and the students who do that are still in school. There is no support from the principal to do anything about it," Way said.
Way said she sat in on a fifth grade class for 45 minutes. "The students were cussing, they were throwing stuff, they were tearing that room apart. The teacher called security, but they never showed up."
One of her own children was attacked and suffered eye damage that required treatment from a specialist at Children's Hospital, she said. She witnessed another child beaten bloody. But when she tried to talk to the principal about it, "she insisted it didn't happen at her school," Way said. "She said I didn't see what I saw, and she said my children were lying."
Another mother, who identified herself only as Regina, said, "They've stolen a year from our children." She agreed that the principal denies that there are any problems.
Several parents have distributed handbills in the neighborhood decrying the problems they say exist at the school. Six of the parents went to the teachers' union in mid-February to try to get their help.
"We just want someone to do something," the mothers all said.
A special report on KSDK Channel 5 on Tuesday night underscored widespread concerns about violence not just in St. Louis schools, but also in Normandy and Riverview Gardens. In St. Louis, however, teachers who responded to the reporters' survey complained that they did not get any support from the administration.
Channel 5 reporter Leisa Zigman quoted Alexia, who had taught at Ashland School, who described getting attacked twice by students, and each time the attackers were back in her classroom within a couple of days.
Over 100 St. Louis city teachers took part in the TV station's survey. Superintendent Creg Williams declined to respond to the report. In public meetings, however, he has blamed teachers for the violence by saying that it is their fault for not controlling their classrooms.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home