Oklahoma School suspends most sixth-graders for mass rowdiness; 'You'd be shocked,' principal says

Associated Press ^ | 3-26-04

[Oldeconomybuyer]

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A public school suspended nearly all of its sixth-graders for class disruptions and a cafeteria ruckus this week, though many of the students were allowed to return after their parents met with school officials.

Sixteen of the 147 sixth-graders at F.D. Moon Academy were suspended Monday for class disruptions, and 120 students were suspended Wednesday after they picked up cafeteria tables, slammed them to the floor and talked back to faculty, school officials said.

[Old Student]

Heck, most of them don't seem to know they have the RESPONSIBILITY to show up once or twice a year at school. They could care less. I did an informal study in the school I was working in a couple of years ago, (not actually in OKCPS, but next door) and only about a third of the students had a parent show up for parent-teacher conferences.

[Old Student]

"Nah. Just kill them. It's quicker, easier, and more likely to get through to the hard cases.
:^)"

Make sure you line them up so the hardcases are the ones who get it, ok? That will insure they get it, don'ch know?

[cynicom]

We need bigger schools, warehousing students, better education and all that. Neighborhood schools gave way to the campus style, now the schools cannot handle them. Tuff

[Old Student]

Absolutely right! More guys would help, too, although that isn't essential. I'm working on my degree now (and have been for the past 5 years... one and a half to go.)

There are a fair number of good schools, and good administrators around, too. OKCPS has been a hellhole for a couple of decades, from what I've been told. Maybe longer. I know that there are people in there TRYING to make it better. I observed last semester in one of the middle-schools, and the administration there was pretty no-nonsense with the kids. Not so good with the teachers, who were rather tired of being treated like kids, however.

[MississippiMan]

In the masses today, there's no such thing as meaningful discipline at home or at school. The fruit of that trend will be is ugly.

MM

[gitmo]

You don't need webcams, just parents that show up once or twice a year at school. Most people don't realize that they have the RIGHT to be in the school to observe their child's education.

I did that at my son's school a couple of years ago here in Charlotte. We were informed that you have to petition the school board and have someone from the school system accompany you if you want to enter your child's classroom during instruction time. He is now home schooled.

[Ann Archy]

These kids have parents that have NEVER grown up....OKLA.....Yikes...it really IS end times.

[LisaMalia]

I bash teachers, and will continue to do so until they do something about their unions

Do something about their unions? My daughter doesn't even have the choice of not paying union dues. She is charged the 900 dollars per year whether she chooses to be in the teacher's union or not.

[Senator Pardek]

I had 14 Tequila Greens the night before my college grad ceremony - almost didn't make it.

[NYC GOP Chick]

I was *way* too chicken to act up in school -- at least like that!

Did I miss out on all the fun? ;D

[NYC GOP Chick]

I can't believe a parent actually named their child "Tequila Green".

Go to some of the outer boroughs of NYC (and parts of upper Manhattan), and that name will soon seem downright normal.

[sauropod]

You are so right.

Kneejerk "conservatism" is no better than kneejerk "liberalism."

[sauropod]

Wrong bobo.

[sauropod]

You need to apologize. You might have been castigating your sisters or brothers in Christ.

Blessings, 'Pod.

[LisaMalia]

among which are a bunch of parents who seem to think that the teachers are supposed to teach their kids how to behave without bothering the parents.

Very good point! I know when my daughter has parent/teacher conferences, she is thrilled if she get's 2 or 3 to even bother to show up.

One of the parents that did show was saying that her child (mind you these are high school kids) always told her she didn't have math homework. My daughter assured her that she did, in fact, assign homework on a regular basis. She went the extra mile, as she does for other students/parents, and said she could sent a note home everytime homework was assigned, and what the assignment is, to alert the parent to sign, and send back to her. The parent replied, "oh, it wouldn't do any good, she just wouldn't give it to me anyway".

[sauropod]

Walk a mile in their moccasins first (under the current rules).

[sauropod]

"Blanket condemnation of people who are doing their jobs is more like a democratic ploy."

Yes it is.

[j7gly]

i am going to be a teacher in the public schools to be a positive influence in their lives! Because a lot of them don't have good influences to go home to (the TV or parents) Maybe you should pray for the teachers in the public school system that do want to teach kids to have morals and to do something with their lives...they will be the ones who affect society the most!!! Do you know that in a lot of public districts there are teacher groups that meet before or after school to PRAY for kids?

[cyborg]

Wow! The most rebellious thing I did was get kicked out friday mass at school for making fart noises with my armpit.

[PureSolace]

I get soooo sick of the teacher bashing in these threads.

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa... I myself am a teacher, but I bash teachers all the time. When people bash teachers, they're not targeting your family in particular... but rather the 80% or so of teachers out there in the public school system who don't give a damn about education anymore, and don't even try to wrangle kids back to sanity because of one of these reasons... (1) They're burnt out with teaching, (2) The current laws and policies won't allow teachers to enforce the rules put in place because they might get sued or caught in the crossfire (literally), (3) They're old fossils and out of date and are only interested in job security and could care less about the childrens well being, (4) Some are even the cause of the problems and encourage children these days to be morons and feed off of the system...

So don't be offended by people teacher bashing. This problem should be fixed, and it will take several things... kids respecting parents and teachers, parents being more involved in their childrens lives, zero tolerance policies abolished, and allowing the teachers and administration to deal with problems and handle trouble makers through the proper channels.

Most people just want to throw money at the problem... but when the core of the problem is people... it takes those people wanting the change... You can throw GAZILLIONS of dollars at the problem and it won't fix anything until all parties involved are willing to change.