Are Students safe in Middletown Schools?
Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Schools
Forum Name: Other School Issues
Forum Description: Discuss other issues such as school security, student activities, etc.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1486
Printed Date: Nov 21 2024 at 5:08pm
Topic: Are Students safe in Middletown Schools?
Posted By: Pacman
Subject: Are Students safe in Middletown Schools?
Date Posted: Jun 26 2009 at 9:32pm
Replies:
Posted By: Pacman
Date Posted: Jun 28 2009 at 7:46am
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http://www.middletownjournal.com/ - I have to say this article was a let down after the Build up it got in the above post. On the other hand a Committee of 42 People to discuss saftey and discipline in schools and we end up with what we have seen in the press in the last 6-8 weeks I personally would say you need to disband this committee and start over again with a smaller committee. For 42 people to not see what has been going on in the schools and not say a word about it until it shows up in the press is a disgrace and would seem people are turning a blind eye to the problems.
Middletown Journal Are city’s schools safe?The Middletown district lists safety and discipline as its top priority for the upcoming school year.By Meagan Engle, Staff Writer
6:43 AM Sunday, June 28, 2009
Improving safety and discipline in the classroom and hallways will be a top priority for Middletown City Schools during the upcoming school year. The district’s Discipline and Safety Committee has been meeting since March 2008 to explore ways to get the district’s 6,700 students more engaged at school. The 42-member committee, composed of teachers, principals and residents, examined test scores, discipline rates, attendance and other data to come up with its recommendation for the Board of Education. “What we heard from the committee over and over is that there needs to be a greater connection between teachers and kids,” said Betsy Carter, the district’s senior director of learning. Student discipline in the district has been a hot topic in recent weeks. Board member John Sauter, who is a member of the Discipline and Safety Committee, has said student discipline is “the number one issue that needs to be addressed.” Results from the district’s annual survey of students at Central Academy, Verity and Vail middle schools and Middletown High School gave insights into how they feel about the climate at their schools. Forty-three percent of students said they feel safe in school, according to the survey. Meanwhile, 52 percent said that students threaten to hurt others and 46 percent said they feel students are violent. The Discipline and Safety Committee had several areas it wanted to address to help improve discipline, but because of state guidelines, members could only pick one. Carter said focusing on “climate” will encompass discipline, safety, communication and other issues. The committee wants to improve on providing behavior intervention for students who have been disciplined, decrease discipline incidents and the suspension rate of economically disadvantaged and black students and improve attendance among economically disadvantaged students. Rosa Parks Principal Kee Edwards, who served on the committee, said he believes in building relationships, which is why his staff did home visits last year. Edwards credited that for increasing attendance to its highest level since Rosa Parks opened and reducing suspensions. He’s optimistic it will also result in higher test scores.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or mengle@coxohio.com. |
Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Jun 28 2009 at 9:34am
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Article observations- out of 100% of the students- all 6700 of them, 46%reported violence, 52% reported threats and 43% felt safe. 100% asked- 141% responded ?????? OR, were these asked as individual questions and these are the %'s from each question from the 100% asked? That would make sense. Isn't clear to me how this was set up as the article was written.
46% of the students said that the adults "try to understand them" What is this all about? What's to "understand"? The adults are there to instruct and the students are there to learn. Simple concept isn't it? Why the concentration on "personal relations" and "feel good about one another"??? The schools aren't "mom and dad". Why the kid glove treatment? Let 'em grow up and face the old cruel world. Gonna have to sometime. You're not doing them any favors by treating them in a "delicate" fashion. They'll get "eaten alive" out there in competition land. Might be too harsh on my part- but- maybe not. "Extracurriculars build positive connections between students, prevent student violence and substance abuse"- maybe, but the targeted troublemakers usually don't participate in these "positive" activities do they? If not, this does nothing to get the problem students more involved to occupy their time in a positive way. It might, however, prevent others from going over to the "dark side of behavior". There are tables from this survey from 2005. That's 4 years ago. What has been the activity by the schools based on the last 3 years of data? Did they just look at the numbers and shrug their shoulders or did they attempt to act on the data received? If they shrugged, this whole thing is another example of people gathering for a purpose and then doing nothing as to the outcome of the gathering. A waste of effort. "Continued attention to violence and bullying prevention is warranted" No kidding! Great generalized statement that means nothing unless they develop and implement SPECIFIC rules to engage the violence and bullying. Otherwise, just empty meaningless words. This applies to all of their "strategies" in finding solutions. "Connectedness" What is that? Is that really a word Meagan? Isn't it more connected? Bottom line- stop coddling these kids. Place a level of acceptable achievement before them, make the rules strict, structured and demand ( stop the "feel good" crap) that they stay in line or this is what happens to you. If you give them expectations and apply firm hard rules and give them the proper tools to succeed, they will grow. Look at the parochial schools and service academies that still have a semblance of discipline. They seem to have better control of the classroom and they produce much better results. Military basic training converts any and all types into conformity. Control by authority from the parochial school mentality to the military mentality , produces structured, trained, competent people who will succeed in this competitive world of working. Even the discipline problems will work their way into conforming with the proper motivation. The military has been doing it for generations. JMO |
Posted By: spiderjohn
Date Posted: Jun 28 2009 at 9:43am
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I am a huge fan of Mr.Edwards(principal at Rosa Parks).
He is a born local, married a fine local lady(who works in admin for Ms.G). and absolutely cares about his city, neighborhood, and ALL of the local children. He shows this care through his positive involvement in many ventures, and with his efforts at Rosa Parks. Things SEEM to be changing for the better there. I expect to see discipline,attendance and results of educational opportunities improve consistently as long as Mr.Edwards has proper authority.
I put considerably more weight in the thinking and comments of people like Mr.Edwards than I do towards the actions and press releases from the school board and their admin.
Kee Edwards can be a key player in the re-surgence of our community, especially when augmented by the efforts of his wife. To me--they are a very inspirational team, and as I mentioned, a strong reason to have faith in our local future.
jmo
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Posted By: Pacman
Date Posted: Jun 28 2009 at 10:51am
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Someone explain this comment to me, "The Discipline and Safety Committee had several areas it wanted to address to help improve discipline, but because of state guidelines, members could only pick one."
Why only one, if the District feels it can handle two or three whatever they may be why can't they go for it?
"The committee wants to improve on providing behavior intervention for students who have been disciplined, decrease discipline incidents and the suspension rate of economically disadvantaged and black students and improve attendance among economically disadvantaged students."
This to me sounds like they will turn a blind eye to problem children who fall into these categories, as I have seen it done in the past in a Middletown school. When my son was in the Middletown School system they had a student that disrupted the Class day after day and was sent to the Office day after day only to return to the class and disrupt it once again. Nothing was ever done with this child and the whole class suffered for it. Now if this is their way to, "decrease discipline incidents and the suspension rate of economically disadvantaged and black students and improve attendance among economically disadvantaged students." Good luck as it does not work and only enforces the ides among other students that there are no consequences for bad or poor behavior and this was in elementary school. |
Posted By: AKBobby
Date Posted: Jun 29 2009 at 8:28am
Gotta disagree with you. Ask the staff what they think of Mr. Edwards? Some really good teachers who bust their butt are retiring or trying to leave because of his condescending attitude toward them and lack of discipline with certain students. Ask around the district and you will see what I mean. I think he does care about the students, but I disagree with "he is a key player in the resurgence" - he is not as well thought of as you think. ------------- AK - What is going on with that? |
spiderjohn wrote: