Danville, Va Public Schools has more problems than just O.T Bonner!
February 21, 2014 by merletrutledge | Edit
“Danville, Va Public Schools has more problems than just O.T Bonner!”
Today, Merle Rutledge went to Woodberry Hills Middle School in Danville, Va I was there to address issue about teachers being aware of issues with students and allowing the problems to continue in the classroom. I was there with a parent which invited me to the meeting to see what is going on! Her child had recently been suspended for a fight, in which before the fight, he had told two adults/teachers that a issue was brewing with another child. The result was a fight because of their custom to ignore a problem reports, and allowed a situation to spiral out of control.
I met with Assistant Principal Woody and the child and the parent to see the school’s position on the issue. I was shocked to hear a principal state that the fight would have never happen if there was never a punch thrown. My rebuttal was a fight would have never happen if the teacher would have done her job and resolved the matter. What educators must realize a fight can happen at anytime and there may not be enough time to go to the principal office to tell him what is going. A fight doesn’t give out a exact time when it is going to happen, but once you are warned by a student that a fight is about to happen, than immediate action should be taken to resolve the matter. Jails are built because our children are taught to fight, but forget the legitimate reasons for doing so!
It appears that the schools has the children come second policy custom while putting teachers that lack proper training, supervision, and oversight allow things to spiral out of control instead of being preventive. Three kids are out of school because of 2 adults that did not take action or responsibility. To go along with the meeting, I was told about the complaints the teachers made about the student, but none of the complaints the student filed against the teachers was in the file The reason is the policy is to allow teachers to give out there side of their story in writing while not leaving a section on the same paper for the student to respond to why something happen, preventing decision makers from properly and fully investigating the incidents that are reported.
When you get a warning at a job, you are giving a comments area to give your side of the story before signing the form and a disclaimer that states you do not admit fault because you signed the warning. It just means that you know a complaint has been filed and it is your turn to tell your side of the story.
After the meeting, I went to the Danville, Va School Board to talk to their personnel. They heard the child story and acourse the details of our meeting and the administration feel a review is needed and it was hard for them to understand that after a teacher was notify of a problem, that they failed to act and was shocked that the principal was blaming everything on the child. I was the only one that was not shocked because it happens all the time and not just at O.T Bonner.
So, I came up with these recommendations. 1) Parents and a child should all have a copy of the Student Code of Conduct and know how to appeal a wronged done by the schools in a timely manner. 2) The policy of protect teacher first than the child needs to change. 3) A zero policy for teachers that are reported problems that deal with safety and a disruption to the educational environment to decision makers at the school to include principal, guidance counselor, and parent. 4) If the schools are aware of a child and parent that have disclose information on the child medical or mental status than immediate priority should be made to remove the child or the issue immediately and to send the issue to those qualified to resolve the matter responsibly or sanction and discipline the teacher for failure of due diligence to report the problem, should be promptly discipline. 5) A independent review board that reviews disciplinary problems with students and teacher for schools that are already being labeled by the state and local oversight for failure to train, discipline, and have proper oversight of the particular school. Until proper mechanisms are put in place to correct the defects in the system. 6) A policy that all written complaints made by students against teachers are put in a file and not left at the discretion of the teacher and also a personnel to accept all complaints instead of leaving it at the discretion of the teachers. 7) A self defense policy which immune students from disciplinary issues by notifying staff of a problem and if problem continues without any corrective action than altercations that happens should not penalize the student that notified decision makers and adults in the school. 8) Mandatory reporting by email, phone, or letter to parents when any disciplinary issue occurs because even though its not reported by policy because of the level of offense by the child to the parents. The disciplinary report is still kept in your child file and sometimes the first time parents know that their child has been having issues in school is when they are notified to be there with their child after a suspension. This is a complete denial of due process and keeping parents not informed about the environment that our children are learning in. 8) Make sure parents and children are aware that a suspension is not final and they have a right to a review / appeal with the Danville, Va School Board. The child should have a fair and impartial hearing in which both parties have the right to speak freely and express their defense to disciplinary problems.
In conclusion, 3 students are at home and not in a classroom because of the teachers at this school decision making skills. The schools needs a complete overhaul on policy and decision making skills when it comes down to student and adult interaction. When the teachers are no longer the first line of defense to prevent problems than they become sole barriers of injustice for students and school administration officials whom are trying to improve the education in the population that it effects demographically. I was shocked and alarmed at the meeting and how a adult school decision maker handled resolving problems that is a educator and decision maker at the school. It shows clearly why the schools are out of control and it is about time we start putting in place methods to bring a environment to learn back to our schools.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged board, bully, city, danville, fights, hills, merle, middle, public, rutledge, school, schools, students, visit, woodberry | Leave a comment
