February 23, 2006

Clueless Schools?

I am going to give you a list of places and see if you know what they have in common:

Moses Lake WA, Bethel AK, Pearl MI, West Paducah KY, Jonesboro AR, Edinboro PA, Pomona CA, Fayetteville TN, Houston TX, Onalaska WA, Springfield OR, Richmond VA, Littleton CO, Conyers GA, Williamsport PA

If you haven't already figured out the answer, let me clue you in. These places have experienced school shootings since 1997. Our schools have become dangerous places. Students are killing other students on a regular basis. But that is not the scariest part. I found out through conversations with a principal in WA state and some faculty in PA that the staff is clueless. I am starting to realize that a lot of educators don't believe that it can happen in their school. They go through the drills and show token concern. But, in the one incident (post-Paducah, pre-Columbine) the principal was not going to notify us that our child's life had been threatened.
She was shocked when I showed up to confront her about the event. In the other incident (relatively recent), one of the teachers was going to publish a list of Special Ed students' names, addresses, phone numbers and Email addresses. This teacher felt that a 16 year old Special Ed student should be responsible to know what to give out and what not to give out (with a total disregard for the parents/guardian's legal obligations, which generally mandates a permission slip).

The problem is that school personnel have been led to believe that they have a God-like role. This means that these people feel that everything they say is gospel truth and truly believe it (even when they are placing our children in VERY REAL danger). The fact is that our educational system is broken, placing our kids in a very precarious position.

The lion's share of this problem is the average American parent. They do not listen to their children when they come home. They are not willing to show up at the school and confront the school staff when they catch wind of something wrong. In fact, some parents use the school system as a surrogate parent (This teacher informed me that one parent asked to have the teacher talk to the child, since she would listen to the teacher and not the parent). This is SO wrong as to be a BOZO NONO. Any parent that would let a teacher usurp her parental authority needs to be turned in to the appropriate governmental agency for child neglect.

What it breaks down to is this: As parents, GET EDUCATED AND GET INVOLVED! Chances are that your local school district does not hold you in high regard (I'm at that same end of the spectrum but for a different reason. I WILL confront problems as they occur. Now I doubt that I will win a popularity at my child's school, but I'm not worried about it because of one factor: I'M RIGHT!). They feel that you aren't aware of how things work. The sad part is that they are not wrong. So change it! Talk with your children about school and, if you hear something that doesn't sound right, confront the school. Schedule meetings. Talk with teachers and principals. Go to school board meetings.

If you are not willing to do any of that, then you deserve the school you have and you are a profound part of the problem with the broken American educational system.

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