What should Knoxville’s schools do now?
August 23, 2008 By: almostgotit Category: Central High, Jonathan Kozol, Knoxville, Sandra Tsing Loh, Uncategorized, education, parenting, public schools, school safety, school shooting, urban schools
(Image: TheAtlantic.com) |
A few years ago, my son was being harrassed by another middle school student. We knew that bullies can become even more dangerous if parents intervene, but this had become too serious to ignore, so my husband and I marched together to the principal’s office and laid it all on the line.
Fortunately, the principal took us seriously and the bullying was immediately stopped. Had it not been resolved, however, my husband and I would have continued to take action ourselves, up to and including moving our son to another school.
A couple days ago, on the day of the shooting, our daughter received a minor bit of bullying herself, which the teacher apparently did nothing about. I admit I was a little more afraid this time. What if none of us can act against misbehavior or abuse anymore because we’re afraid we’ll be shot if we do?
Every Knox County parent received a recorded phone message from the system superintendant yesterday. The gist was that this latest shooting was not, in fact, random — the two kids knew each other and were having some (yet unrevealed) difficulties. Be at peace, therefore: there are no gangs, no conspiracies, and the rest of your children are safe.
Well, yes and no.
The superintendant’s words reassured me that those of us blessed with the right family resources still have a great deal of control over our own children’s safety; it does not necessarily mean, however, that this or any school had any further ability to prevent this shooting than if it *had been* a random event. While we may be able to point to a number of risk factors, reasons, and motives in the aftermath, we can’t proactively lock up or expel every child who exhibits them, nor can we even separate ourselves or our children from every potential “thug.”
Simply: we can’t always “see it coming.”
We need to be prudent about safety, of course, but we must also be reasonable. I doubt that the schools can or should do very much more than they already do. The fact is that the great majority of children are not murderers, including the great majority of children who live in the same sort of environment as Central High’s shooter.
Probably, we each need to do our best to carry on, and do the best we can, as always. Nor is it generally very useful to make decisions or conduct our lives in an atmosphere of fear.
If there is any single key to safe and effective educations for our children, it probably is the parent, and guess what? I found the article I mentioned in yesterday’s post (Who needs to be a walking bibliography like my husband, anyway, when God gave us the Internet?) I don’t agree with every word, but felt the author had some brilliantly-new insights I’d not seen anywhere else before.
Tales out of School: How a pushy, Type A mother stopped reading Jonathan Kozol and learned to love the public schools (Sandra Tsing Loh, The Atlantic, March 2008)
August 23rd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
What an insightful article; I sure would like to meet her some time. I could write reams in response to some of her points, and yours, but since this is your blog, I’ll exercise some self-restraint and just make a few observations based on my own experience to date with my now-ninth-grader:
1. There is plenty of blame to go around in both public and private schools for daily egregious errors and lapses in judgment, on behalf of teachers, administrators, parents, and to be sure, children. But it is fair for us to hold the adults in charge to a higher standard of behavior than we do our children, because, well, they’re adults. Maybe there is not enough accountability….
2. When my husband and I were involved with founding a local independent school (from which our own child was unceremoniously given the boot after five years there), the word “diversity” was uttered by somebody on some founding committee or other at least five or six times a day; at times it felt more like a secret hand shake than a genuine concern. If we were truly colorblind, we would not have to talk the diversity talk. I thought Ms. Loh made some excellent points on the subject.
3. My child has been called “stupid” in front of classmates by a teacher at a private school.
4. My child has been called “stupid” in front of classmates by a teacher at a public school.
5. For reasons I don’t understand, our local public school ethos maintains that when a child reaches grade six, s/he is somehow sufficiently able to cope with an impossibly huge, impersonal school environment, after the rather more nurturing elementary school environment s/he had for the first six years of school life (well, I mean, s/had the whole summer to prepare for it, right?).
6. The mantra, “You can be anything you want to be if you set your mind to it” is inherently incorrect and meaningless and does nothing to shore up the self-esteem of a child who really needs it.
7. Teachers in both public and private settings have a woeful lack of training in how to help children with special needs. There are many, many children in our schools with special needs. I will submit that the two children involved in the Central High School shooting had special needs.
8. The school environment can send a child with AD/HD into sensorial overload because of the amount of stimulation at every turn; I once mentioned this to a young teacher who said that this had never, ever occurred to her.
9. The thoughtless, idiotic, irrational handling of a child whose behavior is out-of-bounds in a school setting can make that child feel like a criminal, and indeed can influence that child to behave like one: I have seen this happen. This again is a reminder that the adult in charge should be held to a higher standard of behavior.
10. Sadly, there is probably, I think, a point of no return, after which the child who has suffered neglect at the hands of the adults in charge (including parents) long enough will make a poor choice, like bringing a weapon to school and killing a classmate.
11. I believe parenting is the single most difficult and important job we undertake. When we have loads of resources at our disposal, it’s still exceedingly difficult, with no guarantees of a successful outcome. It is miraculous that any of us arrives as functional, productive, and healthy people as adults, especially those who had no resources or advocates growing up.
Okay, so I wrote reams. Feel free not to allow this one, Almostgotit. Another great post.
August 23rd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
ALTOS: Thank you for every word, Deb. So glad to know I’m not the only one in the world who occasionally leaves Lo-O-O-ng comments!
I’ve heard some of your story over coffee, but you have a lot of interesting and important things to say, and I appreciate your sharing some of them here.
August 23rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
We don’t have kids, but I can only imagine how unnerving it must be for those who do when this sort of thing keeps grabbing headlines. (My wife is a teacher in a private school and they’ve never had an incident like this as far as I know.)
August 23rd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Just curious: did LW’s child report being called stupid? Did the teacher admit to doing it? I ask because I was accused by a child to a parent that I had “thrown” her in a chair. I had actually told a child to go back to her room from the library, and she started to take the tiniest baby steps she could. I walked over to her, telling her to get going, and put my hand on her back. I did not push her, but she pushed hard into my hand. I knew immediately she planned to get me into trouble for touching her, and told her to sit in a chair nearby, which she did without any contact from me. I then told her why I had seated her, that she had not cooperated, and that when I told her to go back to her room, she needed to do so, and not play the baby steps (”I AM doing what you told me!”) game. After she was in her room, I went to the principal, told him what happened. Sure enough, the next day the mother called with the report that I had thrown her into a chair. The principal, the teacher and I confronted her, and she was soon tearfully confessing her lie to her mother. When I spoke to the mother, she said that her daughter did lie “a lot.”
As a teacher friend of mine said to the parents of her students early in the year: “I’ll only believe half of what your child tells me about you, if you’ll only believe half of what your child tells you about me.”
Of course there may be teachers foolish enough these days to call a student stupid, but I haven’t known one in a long time–such name calling is a huge No-No and the consequences would be very serious indeed.
That said, teachers do lose their tempers (just like all parents have with their children), and unfortunate things can happen. Just be sure to check out a report that concerns you, and reserve judgement until you spoken to the source.
August 24th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Great post Almost. Kathy M.’s comment was excellent- thank you! As a public school teacher AND a parent, I have said many things that I wish I could retract. I have also had parents call me to tell me that their child has been bullied in my class. I WISH I had 32 sets of eyes or a camera on every desk to determine what children say to one another.
In terms of relevant training (discipline, best practices, special needs, counseling) public school teachers and administrators are BY FAR more highly trained than private school staff. Do public schools have more “problem students” to handle- possibly, but not necessarily.
Kathy’s story about the parent calling about her child getting “thrown” into a chair says SO MUCH about the current perception held by many parents. Why didn’t that parent ask her daughter what misbehavior prompted the “throwing?” Can we begin to hold our children more responsible for their behavior?
I could ramble on for quite some time…..
Thanks Almost for providing good, thought-provoking reading!
August 24th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
My child goes to Central High School. Simply put: they could have seen this one coming. Parents have been voicing their concerns for quite some time about the violence and discipline at this school. The victim and the killer were both children that had long records of problems in & outside of the school. I would never ever agree with planned parenthood, but in this one specific case these students should not have been in the public school system with my child! Yes, I am an over emotional parent at this time. My son was outside the cafeteria when this happened. No, I am not reassured that this was not a random shooting. This murderer could have easily decided to shoot anyone who got in his way. No child was safe at this school that day regardless of what Mr. Superintendent says. I screamed AMEN to the national security expert on Hallerin Hill morning show that said “the school administration failed and should not be sitting around patting each other on the back.”
August 24th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
@James, Kathy and Marsquat: how interesting to get these different points of view, from the perspective of public/private school teachers.
@Ryan: I would be emotional and screaming, too. I am so sorry that your family and school have been caught up in this terrible thing — so, so sorry. I am also glad to hear that as a parent you (with other parents) have been voicing your concerns. Thank you very much for taking the time to leave your words here.
August 24th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I got that call as well, and my first thought after “Your children are safe” was pronounced was, “Bologna. There is no way you can know that.” I’m not mad or jaded when I say that. I just believe a promise no one, superintendent included, can irrefutably make. Bullies, school shootings, bomb threats, drug dogs, terrorist threats are part of the school experience and will take them as they come.
Speaking of bullies: I’m proud of you for advocating for your children.
August 24th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Oops, I need to wordsmith my comment above…
My first thought after the phonecall was “Bologna…”
I just believe saying, “your children are safe” is not a promise anyone can make.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Our kids are not safe anywhere really. If you look at statistics, we should be absolutely terrified everytime we drive somewhere with them in the car. I often wonder just how much media skews our ideas of what is truly a risk to our lives. We don’t hear how many kids are killed in drunk driving accidents in Knoxville but we sure hear about school shootings. So what do we do? Knee jerk reactions are usually not helpful in the long term.
If the shooting was truly a isolated event, should the school change their policies drastically immediately?
Yes, my kids go to public schools. They are in a fairly affluent community but I don’t think that makes them much safer. I hear there was a pot bust in the middle school last year and a two 6th graders tried to poison their teacher two years ago (making the state level news). And the local oooh-la-la private school had a sex abuse incident with a 12 year old girl and a 25+ year old alumni (volunteering as a chaperone) recently. So no, our kids are not “safe”.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
You are very welcome for the term “thug”.
I don’t have all the answers, but I will tell you that the schools need a way to send troubled kids where they will get help, and away from distracting learning and teaching. This is going on CONSTANTLY at many schools in our County.
It was a HUGE joke to me at our old school. The number one point of the school’s mission statement was to provide a SAFE place where learning can take place.
Yet, as far as I am concerned, EVERY student at that school was being bullied by the other troubled kids. There was at LEAST one in every classroom. They had such severe behavior problems and there was no way for the teachers to properly address them.
These kids are robbing their peers of their education every day. All that our children are being taught in inner city schools is A Lord of The Flies philosophy. The person with the worst behavior and the meanest or most negligient parents gets the most attention and usually gets his way.
Moving on to my thought #2. The superintendent saying that our kids were safe is like saying that we have the best education America has to offer. Don’t you think that there is a correlation between the behavior of students and the amount of learning that actually takes place?
I almost died in our meeting at our old No Child Left Behind school. The County administration came in and told all the parents all of the reasons that they should keep their kids at the school. “We will have this kind of money. We will have this new program. We will be getting better teaching staff.” I had seen the frustrations of the already great staff. It was as if their hands were tied…what were new teachers really going to be able to do?
After a year of our very bright and obedient daughter coming home in tears of frustration from the other children’s frequent outbursts, I knew that these promises would mean absolutely nothing. It was as if they thought the hype over all these new funds would convince the parents of poverty to stay because our school was going to become the golden school overnight.
I posed the question. “I have learned through experience that it is the behavior problems that are not allowing learning to take place, what is your plan to remedy this?” I was almost laughed at by every administer there. They acted as if I was the crazy one. They assumed no reponsibility for bad behavior and they acted as if it never took place.
I have been told that our schools’ administrations don’t like to properly discipline through suspension or expulsion because it makes their competant reputation questioned.
This is EXACTLY what is wrong with our society as a whole. Everyone just seems to turn a blind eye. I really don’t know what to do to help fix it except for raise children who are GOOD. Right now, our kids lucked into a great school where it seems we have rewound about 20 years and the people are all still pretty decent and good. The parents care about learning and they don’t need the school to teach character to their kids. Thank God that I have found that for my kids. And, I have every realization that depending on the parents of our society this utopia may or may not last.
It’s when the parents who don’t care outnumber the parents who do that we will all be in even bigger trouble.
Totally agree with Ryan….let’s start a revolution to take our schools back. It starts by every individual taking personal responsibility….both parent and student…and then giving the schools the right to NOT educate the ones who do not want to comply!
August 24th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful comments, Alice. You are a good mama, and sounds like you really did the right thing to move your child(/ren?) to another school. You raise a lot of really good questions and frustrations that I think many of us share. (and yes, I *did* like your word “thug!”)
I wonder what we shall do with all the bad children?
August 25th, 2008 at 8:22 am
A few final thoughts:
1. “I WISH I had 32 sets of eyes or a camera on every desk to determine what children say to one another.”—Marsquat
Here’s a thought: How about 15 kids in the classroom instead of 32?
2. “In terms of relevant training (discipline, best practices, special needs, counseling) public school teachers and administrators are BY FAR more highly trained than private school staff.”—Marsquat
I agree, but not every public school teacher in our system gets the training; enrichment teachers (at least at the middle school our child attended) do not. What good is the training if only some teachers are getting it, when needy children receive instruction from all of them over the course of the school day?
3. “Do public schools have more “problem students” to handle- possibly, but not necessarily.”—Marsquat
Yes, public schools do have more “problem students” to handle, because the private school solution to the so-called “problem student” is expulsion. That way the child can be someone else’s problem.
4. “After a year of our very bright and obedient daughter coming home in tears of frustration from the other children’s frequent outbursts….” and “I really don’t know what to do to help fix it except for raise children who are GOOD.”—Alice Gold
A fix for the problems raised in Almostgotit’s post, and the brilliant article she referenced, and in these comments, must include the not-so-bright, disobedient, and “bad” among us. Rounding them all up and sending them somewhere is no kind of solution. And by the way: sometimes, in spite of our best efforts as parents, we do not end up with the “bright and obedient” child we had hoped for. Count your blessings.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Thursday morning one child lost his life, another lost his freedom and an entire school of children lost their innocence–too early. As a parent of two Central students, Thursday’s shooting shook me to the core. Like any parent in Knoxville, I wanted to just keep them in my sight the next several days. While I don’t believe school officials could have prevented this shooting, I do believe all schools in Knox County have room for improvement in the areas of safety and discipline (wonder how many backpacks have guns in them on a daily basis at our middle and high schools?)
When the initial shock and terror begin to fade and an incredibly busy schedule takes command of life–what am I going to do to make a difference? What will any of us do to make a difference? Will we try to eek out the time to become more active in our schools or will we all sit in stunned silence the next time something liket his happens?
August 25th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
In response Sandra H’s comment “I don’t believe school officials could have prevented this shooting”
A national security expert that has been advising schools for over 20 years on safety looked at the circumstances of this particular shooting and said it could have easily been prevented. The past records of these two boys involved were major red flags. No one likes to believe a child is capable of murder, but talk to any inner city elementary school teacher and they can point out the kids that are capable of exactly that. I don’t want to place blame either (especially since super McIntyre is new on the job), but why can’t the administration have the guts to say we missed the red flags, we are going to do everything we can to change that, instead of Knox County schools are safe, isolated incident..blah blah. Sounds like a politician, for sure.
August 26th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
“Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” – Charles Dickens