Strollerderby : student

Girl Arrested for Text Messaging in Class

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:00:00 GMT

A 14-year-old girl in a Wisconsin high school paid the price for ignoring her teacher with a court date and $298 in bail. The student was reportedly text messaging throughout math class, despite her teacher’s requests to stop texting and to hand over her cellphone.

She was sent to campus security, where she repeatedly stated that she did not have a phone on her. A female police officer was called to arrest the student for disorderly conduct. Upon frisking the student, the officer found the phone hidden in the girl’s “buttocks area.” (That’s certainly all the detail we need on that point.) The girl was barred from school property for a week and has a court date set to answer to the misdemeanor charge against her.

There’s no question that this girl has serious behavioral problems and needs to understand that there are consequences to her actions. But it seems like the school should have other remedial tools in place before getting the police involved. If we called the cops every time a kid ignored a teacher, we’d have one clogged justice system. For instance, if the school had enacted an outright ban on cellphones on school property (as many school districts have already done), the girl would have to deal with peer shaming for her misbehavior, perhaps the most effective disciplinary action for teenagers.

Then again, without knowing the full story, it’s impossible to judge whether or not the girl was so out of line that school officials felt law enforcement was the only option.

What do you think? Does some classroom misbehavior warrant arrest?

Do Cellphones Belong in the Classroom?

Should Students Attend Parent-Teacher Meetings?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:30:00 GMT

In an effort to boost participation in parent-teacher meetings, many schools have started including an unlikely facilitator in the talks: the student. According to The New York Times, attendance at parent-teacher meetings at a middle school outside Chicago increased sevenfold after administrators started letting students sit in on the conferences. The principal speculated that parents from low-income and immigrant families are more likely to attend a discussion with their child and her teacher than a traditional meeting in which they listen politely to a 15-minute teacher monologue. I would guess that parents are also more likely to attend conferences when they don’t have to pay for childcare.

Candidly discussing your child’s performance and challenges in front of him may seem like a joke of a conference (and doubtless it sometimes is), but, if led well, such a conference does have the potential to improve more than just attendance. Allowing the student to present her own academic successes and concerns makes kids feel in charge of their learning process. As one parent put it, “My daughter is learning that the teacher is not responsible for her learning. Cierra knows that she is responsible for her own success.”

On the other hand, parent-teacher conferences can be vital times for both parent and teacher to fill each other in on important behavioral concerns that neither party would be comfortable discussing in front of the student—perhaps your child is having trouble sleeping, for instance, affecting her engagement in the classroom. To address this need for privacy, some schools offer parents the opportunity for closed parent-teacher meetings by appointment. Every school opting for a student-inclusive meeting should—quite clearly and vocally—offer parents this option.

Photo: New York Times

Teacher Beats Student to Death for Late Homework

Cole Gamble — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT

There are few things I am certain about. Okay, there is nothing I am certain about...except this. My kids will never, ever attend public school in Egypt. Was this ever a consideration? Probably not, but after hearing this bit of news I am sure it will never happen. What news, you ask? The news an Egyptian teacher beat a student to death for turning in math homework late.

Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, 23, is accused of beating Islam Badr Ibrahim with a ruler before taking him outside the class and hitting him savagely in the stomach.

The boy then collapsed in a faint and was taken to hospital - but he died of heart failure.

The attack, which took place in October at the Saad Othman primary school near the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, caused national outrage in a country where people are already skeptical about the state.

Many believe this horrific incident is a product of Egypt not having enough teachers. So take note, politicians. If you don't fund education evidentially the teachers will start murdering our kids.

UPDATE:

Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid was found guilty on Christmas Day and sentenced to just six years in prison.

Students Make Rev. Phelps Followers Run Away

Kelly Mills — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:35:00 GMT

Feel-good story? Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, gathered a small protest near Omaha Central High School. The church is led by the Reverend Fred Phelps, and I'm sure you know who these folks are. They became famous when they protested at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, and have gone on to protest everywhere it would horrify you to see picketers, including the funerals of slain service members. You know, the "God Hates Fags" people. (Biting tongue now...)

However, when the group held up anti-homosexuality and anti-Obama signs near the high school last Friday, they were met by hundreds of student counter-protesters. The students chanted "Diversity" and "Gay is OK" and even busted out the Pledge of Allegiance. And, well, the kids got a little riled up, and they threw hamburgers and lemonade bottles and milk at the Westboro protesters. Ahem. Maybe I'm supposed to feel bad about the sort of violent reaction, but I really don't.

The police then advised the Phelps folks that the situation was getting a little out of hand and they might want to leave for their own personal safety. And so they did, ahem. So far no students have been disciplined, and the school spokeswoman said, "This hate group came to Central High at dismissal to provoke students... To some extent, we need to understand that these are young people, and we have to take into consideration this kind of extreme provocation." Totally. I'm with you, lady.

Prop 8 Protests Spawn Hope and Great Photos

Morning News: Anti-Gay Church Lays Off Workers (After Spending Gobs on Prop 8)

No Child Left Behind Sets Impossible Goals

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:20:00 GMT

Yet another of the Bush administration’s chickens has come home to roost, this time in the arena of early education. The No Child Left Behind law has begun creating problems for schools that are not unlike the balloon payments dogging many homeowners.

This past year, more schools failed to meet the federal law’s testing requirements than ever before, in large part because, for many states, NCLB required relatively small improvements in the first few years, followed by gigantic leaps in the next few years.

In California, for instance, many schools were making good progress, increasing test scores by about 3 percent a year. But this year, these solid schools are required to up student performance by a whopping 11 percent; for most of them, it has proven impossible. One study estimated that every single elementary school in California would fail to meet the NCLB requirements by 2014, the year in which the law aims to have every American school achieve 100 percent proficiency in math and reading—a goal which many experts have long argued is impossible.

“And they’re asking for another 11 percent increase next year and the next, and that’s where I’m saying I just don’t know how,” said a California school principal (pictured). “I’m spending sleepless nights.”

Perhaps most worrisome, NCLB (unintentionally) mandates harsher punishments for schools in states with harder tests and higher academic standards; schools with lower standards, on the other hand, stand a better chance of meeting NCLB’s improvement requirements.

School administrators have been counting on Congress to change the law to reflect more realistic standards of achievement. But with war, environmental degradation, and economic disaster to contend with, it’s unlikely that early education laws will be seriously revisited anytime soon.

Photo: New York Times