The End of an Era

Hello-
I have been gone for a while.  Sometimes when you have nothing good to say, it is best to stay quiet.

You all may be aware that the governor came in and replaced five members of the Dekalb school Board.  Our system is broken.  Our teachers need support.  Hopefully with the intervention from the state our board will start to change their ways.

I am retiring from teaching.  I really could stay in the profession longer-just not in Dekalb county.  I believe that when you breed a culture of fear, instead a system that encourages opinions, that this is very harmful to our actual customers- the students.  Dekalb County does whatever it takes to satisfy a certain clientele and that is not helping the students.  I know other professionals in other counties and their nightmare is a parent enrolling their child into their county.  The parents have trained to think they have the power to tell school officials what to do.  This is pretty much the standard in Dekalb County, but it is not the philosophy in the surrounding counties in Georgia.  If you go to school in Rockdale, Gwinnett or Cobb counties, the school decides what your class schedule should be.

Last week I had a parent of a student that had been placed in jail two months ago, ask me to have him make up his work.  Now- he was in jail for a week and he threatened the life of another teacher at my school.  He came back to school and did nothing in class(as he had done the whole year).  He had four weeks to try to make up his work missed and did not.  Now he has transferred to another school and his mother wants him to have a passing transfer grade.  So next Friday I get to stay after school and administer a test he missed in January-because he refused to take it then.  Does any of this make sense?  Don't you think that the most important lesson at school should be that if you make the wrong choices that there should be consequences for your actions?

I refuse to fight.  The reason for this is I will get no support from my administrators if I refuse to let him make up his work.  The truth is:  he was a special ed (Behavior Disorder-go figure) student in a class of 40 other students.  He never did his work on his own.  He copied all the time and he was always disruptive in class.  Did he deserve to pass last semester- no!  He made a 70 then because his special ed teacher and I did what we could to make him turn in his work.

I feel helpless as a teacher as far as discipline and attendance are concerned.  I have students that have 15-20 days tardy and i have assigned them detention and they don't show up.  I have called home and the parents are generally supportive but they really don't have any answers or suggestions. The only thing that matters is that their child passes my class.

Don't get me wrong- I love a majority of my students.  I love engaging them and challenging them to learn new material.  The problem is that when you have 15 students in a class that want a challenge, 15 more that do not care to think and 10 that are disruptive, that is a recipe for disaster.

What are the most important things that Dekalb Schools need to do?  Get tough on discipline, ignore the parents who are enabling their children and focus on attendance issues.  Support your teachers!!!!

Oh sorry- I guess I ignored the first line in my little story!  Oh well-it needed to be said!
Momma T

Time for a Change in Dekalb?

Faced with the threat of the loss of accreditation, Governor Nathan Deal has decided to de-throne six members of the Dekalb County School Board.  First of all-aren't we all proud of Mr. Deal for finally making the news after his election two years ago.  It is about time that you got involved in some big news-making event other than the take down of the toll booth on Georgia 400.

Everyone is asking me what I think about this upheaval in the school system.  The truth is that I have never really thought much about the school board.  I don't think you are ever going to have a set of nine individuals that vote on education be successful when they have no idea about what it is like inside the actual classroom.  Our accreditation problem does not stem from how the schools are doing, it is a result of the mismanagement of our money. 

It is no secret that money has been mismanaged.  Teacher salaries have bee cut by at least 10%. Classroom size has risen from 28-36.  The school year has been cut by at least 10 days. There is a set of vague standards for each class and this is actually reducing the rigor in the classroom by forcing the teachers to only teach the standards. I know that my school's renovations were included in the SPLOST finance pool of funds.  When we were finished- no new supplies were awarded to any departments.  The gym and science classes received no new equipment.  Our lap top computers are so out of date, they are laughable. I know that other high schools were given money from SPLOST for new supplies and equipment prior to the economic crash of 2007.  Where did the money go?

Why can't our students have textbooks to take home this year?  Our former superintendent( three superintendents ago or in other words 2010!) is still facing trial for embezzling money. The superintendent before Lewis left his contract early and was paid for two years he didn't actually work. Meanwhile, we plebeian teachers are struggling each and every day trying to make something out of nothing.

I am so ashamed of our county.  I am fortunate enough to remember when this county was truly "premiere Dekalb".  That by the way was in the 1980's.  Things have gone down hill ever since. Our leadership has been top- heavy for 25 years now and we are all suffering from cronyism as a result.

But seriously- is the country doing any better?  We have the Fiscal cliff and sequestration. Did you know that every government service will be cut, but the congress will not take a pay cut?  How could you vote on the most difficult cuts in history and not take a cut for yourself?  Wake up losers!

What can you do for me?

Just in case I may have had a fleeting thought of staying in the classroom for one more year, there occurred an event this week that sealed the retirement deal for good. 

We were called in to a series of SST and 504 plan meetings.  Somehow the teachers are responsible for getting our classes covered to be able to attend these meetings.  Do you think that anyone really wants to lose their planning period to babysit another class?

In one of the five meetings I had with parents last week, the mother had decided that the school wasn't doing enough for her child.  Her child has an SST plan that says she has trouble learning math.  Apparently this involves sitting down and giving her private tutoring while ignoring the other 36 students in her class.  I suggested that she come after school for tutorial and that was out of the question. Apparently the child had not given her mother any progress reports and the school's parent portal which lists all grades in every class,never works for this mother.  Now- I have never had a problem with this student.  I had no idea that there was any animosity about her grade.  She has a C in class. She isn't able to succeed on her tests.  She gets good grades on any assignment that involves  group work.

What has education come to?  Shouldn't a parent be embarrassed by the fact that they haven't any idea what their child's grade is?  Shouldn't the parent be embarrassed that the daughter lied about when progress reports were given?    Should the parent and student bear any responsibility for the process of learning? 

Well thank you Mrs. #######.  You are able to reaffirm my decision to retire.  I have toyed with the idea of staying one more year.  There is no chance in Hell that I will be teaching next year! 

Have you seen the Eagles documentary?

What a nice way to spend a rainy Saturday.  I remember every word to every song that they played.  I had no idea that they were close with Jackson Browne.  I have always loved Jackson Browne.  I saw both of them in concert when I was young and I saw the Hell Freezes over tour ( for a whopping ticket price of $140).  I think that I'd rather hear the music than to listen to their stories.  I think they are all pretty full of themselves, but I have always loved all of their music.  The documentary is on Showtime and if you were around in the 70's, you will love the music and the memories!

Take a step back and allow history to teach you something!

 

 

 

We have really made a concerted effort to see all the movies that have been nominated for academy awards for 2012.  This was a really terrific year for film.  We just saw the Lincoln movie last night.  I have to say that Daniel- Day Lewis really deserves the award for best actor.  He was Lincoln.  I liked the way the film showed the Lincoln and all the people around him-flaws and all.  I believe Bradley Cooper, Denzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck were all extremely great in their respective lead-acting roles.  I haven't seen The Master, Les Miz,or  the movie about the tsunami with Naomi Watts. We actually tried to see Les Miz last night , but it was sold out and there were no parking places.  I guess everyone has Oscar fever.

I wish that we could lock every member of congress in a theater and make them all watch the Lincoln
movie.  Sometimes you just need to visualize the differences in our standard of living and our past struggle with prejudice in order to appreciate what we are blessed with currently. But can you honestly believe that any amendment could ever be passed in our Congress today?  They can't even pass laws that involve a simple majority vote.  They have trouble passing laws that are no- brainers like flood relief for Sandy victims or monetary reliefs for our war veterans.  Do you think they could ever pass campaign spending reforms, gun control or any common sense amendments?  Can you believe the party that passed the 13th amendment and ended slavery is now the party that it is today?

 It is nice to visualize how far we have come by watching this movie - but remember there is a long way to go.  My friend told me that last week one of her high school friends just passed away and he was in hospice for weeks with very few visitors.  She went to the funeral and it was well-attended by his high school and college classmates.  He died alone because he had HIV and was gay.  He couldn't bring himself to allow his hometown friends and family know this fact.  Isn't it sad that in this day we can't be honest about our lifestyle?  Are we a truly free and democratic society when some people aren't allowed to have a legal marriage?

You would think that the people that suffered the most from prejudice would be the proponents of tolerance for all, but that is simply not the case.  Sometimes it seems that they are actually some of the worst offenders. 

Do me a favor and go see Lincoln.  It is a great movie and I know you will know what the ending will be - but you may be surprised about how much you can learn that you have forgotten!

I have had it with the idiots at the NRA.  Their ad that claims the president doesn't care about protecting our children, while his daughters are protected at their school is completely offensive.  They Suck! 

I am so proud of President Obama for finally taking a stand on gun control.  It is one of those organizations that are very difficult to make a stand against because the idiots that are on the fringe will probably try some crazy action.  Also the lobby is so strong that most congressmen wouldn't ever have the balls to stand up to them or they would not get re-elected.

Thank you Mr. President for having the guts to at least START a conversation about gun control.  I am worried about you and your family because these NRA crazies are not even able to start a conversation that is coherent, let alone intelligent.

Is there a difference between a militia from the early 1800's and today? Oh duh- muskets were not very "rapid" fire.  ( by the way the 2nd amendment calls for the right to arm a militia- not teens or twenty-somethings that have nothing better to do then shoot defenseless children in their kindergarten class.)  Lets get real here- way too many innocent people have been killed in mass shootings.  Something has to be done to make weapons less accessible and the dip shits at the NRA don't want to even admit that we need better background checks or less access to assault weapons. 





 

silver linings-go see it!

I was so happy to hear that this movie received 8 nominations for the Oscars.  If you haven't seen it- I highly recommend that you do. We saw it after a bad week and it really helped us to heal.  It seems as though it would be a sad, tragic story.  Bradley Cooper has just been released from a mental hospital and he has been cast out of almost everything in his life.  The actors are all great.  They are completely believable as Philly style folks.  Jennifer Lawrence has also faced a life tragedy and is also a little nutty.  The interaction between them is very raw.  Robert De Niro plays Bradley's Eagles fanatic father.  I mean I think he reminds me of quite a few Philly natives.  Even Julia Stiles and the actor who plays her husband are totally believable in their perspectives roles.

I was sorry that Ben Affleck didn't receive any personal nominations, but his movie Argo was a great movie.  We knew the outcome because it was a true story and it was still very intense.  Alan Arkin and John Goodman made that movie.  John Goodman also injected a left into the Flight movie.  I think Denzel was perfect in his self-destructive role.  I was also happy to hear that Quvenzhane' Wallis was nominated fro Beasts of the Southern Wild.  She was spectacular in that role and I loved the movie. 

This was a great year for movies.  There were so many interesting stories out there.  I loved Life of Pi,Perks of a Wallflower and Robot and Frank.  Many of the movies didn't have a completely happy ending, but there was always a silver lining!