School Environment

Over the last 6 years I have watched as the school environment changes. After NCLB was in effect some changes were quick, but the outcomes of the many changes are continuing to surface today. The environment has not only changed for the students but also for the faculty.

As I watched the news last Friday I was surprised to see that a school teacher had sought a restraining order against one of her junior high students. I was only surprised because I had never contemplated taking a student’s behavior before a judge. I was not surprised about the administrations inability to deal with the poor student behavior.
After watching the news cast I realized that I should share :
It was November; I was 8 months pregnant, working my first year in a new district. I was walking the room checking the students’ progress on their math assignment. As I walked by I noticed that one student was working on the wrong page. I approached him, repeated the page number, and handed him a clean piece of paper. As I did so he suddenly swung at me. I blocked his swing with my right forearm. My paraprofessional called in campus security. Security waited with the student in the room while I typed up an electronic referral. Campus security will not take a student to the office until an electronic referral has already been submitted. SO, I had to stop teaching in middle of a lesson and write up a referral. In the old days, the student would go to the principal’s office; the administrator would take care of everything else. That is not what happened.

The administrator met with the student, counseled the student and allowed him to return to his regular schedule the next period! This student who is taller then me, weighs more than me, and has tried to hit me was allowed to return to my class the very same day! No marks were placed on the record other than “student was counseled”. He walked into my class and started talking to the other students, “I can hit a teacher and not even get a phone call home, and I don’t even have to apologize!” Suddenly the entire classroom atmosphere changed. The best behaved students were upset, and two mentioned that they felt unsafe if students were allowed to be violent toward teachers in class. The worst behaved students were questioning what consequences would be for them for other types of miss behavior. I was outraged, and went to the office as soon as school was out. The principal said, “He did not actual make contact with his fist”. I pulled up my sleeve and showed him the burse on my right forearm obtained with the defensive block. I then made contact with my Union representative. She told me that there was not much they could do for a teacher, who was first year in the district, and any action would decrease my chances of rehire. She promised that if she had the opportunity to pursue this kind of episode with a tenured teacher she would. I went home very upset. My husband wanted me to quit and my children were very upset. I assured them that if this kind of behavior was allowed at their schools I would find a new place for them to attend.

Two teachers who heard my conversation with the union representative in the break room were outraged. They pursued the incident with the head principal. Two days later the student was sent home for a day of suspension. The mother came into the school outraged. She was verbally attacking me, asking why I had not contacted her, angry that it took 3 days for her to hear about the incident. The administrator who handled the situation the first day looked to me and said, “Can you agree to contact this parent immediately if any future issues occur in your classroom”. I agreed, but walked away in disbelief. Instead of accepting the responsibility to follow up with student discipline issues he had placed the responsibility with me. HE had not corrected the student behavior or parental behavior. Neither parents or students should be allowed to pursue a teacher with physical aggression or verbal abuse. The administration was not willing to take steps to support the staff in order to create a safe environment for everyone. The administrator had written a goal to decrease suspensions and expulsions as part of the program Improvement implementation due to NCLB.

How can students feel safe in school when teachers do not feel safe in school. So, good for her. That teacher did not receive the protection she needed in school so she sought the protection outside the school environment in the court of law. It will probably have a affect on her ability to be an employed public school teacher, but I still say good for her.