Caroline Alphonso, in today’s Globe and Mail, writes about a draft internal document from the Toronto District School Board that suggests officials are more concerned over ‘damage control’ than anything else when it comes to violence in their schools. This simply reinforces my contention that some of the biggest problems in education today are aggravated by the types of people that tend to hold positions of power – quasi-politicians, a label I think appropriate not only for elected officials, but also principals, superintendents, education bureaucrats, and directors of education . Read and decide for yourself. I have bolded parts I feel are especially relevant:
SCHOOL VIOLENCE
Board had a plan to limit safety-report backlash
CAROLINE ALPHONSO
January 29, 2008
TORONTO -- The Toronto District School Board prepared for the release of a damning report on school safety with a media strategy designed to "minimize and contain the damage to the board's reputation," including a press conference late enough to "pre-empt" views that may "contradict or detract" from its position.
An internal draft document obtained by The Globe and Mail yesterday links the expected findings of the report, commissioned after the shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Manners last May at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in North York, with plans for a black-focused school.
Public-school trustees will meet today to decide whether to proceed with a staff proposal on opening a black-focused alternative school in 2009.
"The board must position itself with unified and integrated messaging as it deals with the final report and other related issues in the public/media area, including Africentric schools ...," says the communications strategy document dated November 29.
The final massive report on school safety, written chiefly by Toronto lawyer Julian Falconer, was hastily made public earlier this month after it was leaked to most of the city's major news media. It described Canada's largest school system as rife with weapons, violence and sexual assaults, many of which go unreported because teachers and staff fear that speaking out will bring down the displeasure of their superiors.
The school board was scheduled to release the report earlier this month, with a media lockup in the afternoon and evening news conference.
"The timing of the press conference is critical as it will allow the chair and director to demonstrate leadership, anticipate questions that may arise from the findings, and take advantage of the opportunity to establish TDSB positioning to pre-empt individual stakeholders' views, which may contradict or detract from TDSB's position," the internal document says.
A separate document obtained by The Globe yesterday and dated Dec. 3 suggests that a school board committee already had hints of what would be in Mr. Falconer's report. "How will we address 'code of silence' concerns from the School Community Safety Advisory Panel?" asks the summary notes from a meeting of the school safety work.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Scared Sacred
As a teacher, I always felt that it wasn’t enough just to be current and well-versed in my own subject area; I therefore made it a point to read as much as possible, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as to keep current with national and international events through the Globe and Mail. Of course, as anyone in education knows, time was always my greatest enemy. How does one keep engaged in the community and the world when there are the demands that we place on ourselves as classroom teachers, not the least of which is to return assignments in a reasonably timely fashion?
Even though I am now retired and in a much better position time wise (at least in theory) to read as much as I want to, lately I have been exploring the world of documentaries which, at the very least, seem a relatively time efficient way to expand one’s knowledge and open up a variety of avenues for further inquiry. One that I recently watched and recommend is Scared Sacred, by Canadian filmmaker Velcro ipper. The film’s basic goal is to determine if and how people can respond positively to tragedy. To answer this question, Ripper traveled to parts of the world all too well-known for their share of tragedy: Bhopal, India, the killing fields of Cambodia, Bosnia, Hiroshima, Afghanistan, ground zero in New York, Israel and Palestine.
What Ripper discovers is that some people are able to overcome the natural impulse to simply sink into bitterness and despair, seeking revenge, and instead try to turn the tragedies of their lives into something positive. The underlying idea is that catastrophe, no matter how great, offers the opportunity to recognize the common elements of humanity we all share. With that recognition comes the opportunity for reconciliation and renewal.
You can find out more information about the film
here.
Even though I am now retired and in a much better position time wise (at least in theory) to read as much as I want to, lately I have been exploring the world of documentaries which, at the very least, seem a relatively time efficient way to expand one’s knowledge and open up a variety of avenues for further inquiry. One that I recently watched and recommend is Scared Sacred, by Canadian filmmaker Velcro ipper. The film’s basic goal is to determine if and how people can respond positively to tragedy. To answer this question, Ripper traveled to parts of the world all too well-known for their share of tragedy: Bhopal, India, the killing fields of Cambodia, Bosnia, Hiroshima, Afghanistan, ground zero in New York, Israel and Palestine.
What Ripper discovers is that some people are able to overcome the natural impulse to simply sink into bitterness and despair, seeking revenge, and instead try to turn the tragedies of their lives into something positive. The underlying idea is that catastrophe, no matter how great, offers the opportunity to recognize the common elements of humanity we all share. With that recognition comes the opportunity for reconciliation and renewal.
You can find out more information about the film
here.
Friday, January 25, 2008
What Can the Young Teach Us?
Every so often, something occurs to bolster our faith in human nature. I had one of those moments the other day, while working at the food bank. A woman brought in a large shipment of food (well over 300 lbs.), and when I inquired of her if the source was a school, her answer surprised me. She told me that her daughter had just had a party to celebrate her 13th birthday, and instead of presents, she asked her guests to bring food, to be donated to our food bank.
Such a selfless act needs no further comment from me.
Such a selfless act needs no further comment from me.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The War on Greed
Robert Greenwald has an interesting film on corporate takeovers. value="transparent">
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Some Reading Recommendations
For any of you who might be avid readers, I have posted four recommendations on my
book blog. There are mini-reviews of three novels and a comedic memoir.
book blog. There are mini-reviews of three novels and a comedic memoir.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Culture of Concealment - Part 2
In the last post I gave several examples demonstrating the administrative penchant for obscuring unpleasant truths. What are the effects of decisions prompted by policies of parental appeasement, avoidance, and concealment? Beyond the immediate impact of eroding student discipline and respect for rules, which makes the school less safe for everyone, there are much more insidious consequences negatively affecting the educational experience: staff demoralization, cynicism, and, in the case of impressionable younger teachers, the sense that educational principles are fluid and changeable, which, in turn, adversely affects their own judgment and development as educators. One final example will help to illustrate this.
In a specific department I will not identify, the practice existed of having a fieldtrip for the culminating task, which accounts for a certain percentage of the final mark. In this particular instance, because the students had performed so badly in the accompanying activities, the department head changed the assignment’s criteria so that everyone got at least 80%. Consequently, the teachers of students who did not go on the fieldtrip were instructed to make sure that their culminating task was designed so that those students would also achieve a minimum of 80%. Whether this perversion of education principles occurred with the knowledge and consent of the administration I cannot say, but the very fact that it happened should not be surprising, given the kind of environment and mentality arising from the weak leadership I have described here.
It would be easy for readers to dismiss each of my illustrations as isolated and insignificant events, but the truth is that most teachers have similar or worse stories to tell, but are not free to speak about them. Although boards would vehemently deny it, the pervasive organization ethos is that making things difficult or embarrassing for ‘the bosses’ is to invite, at the very least, career stagnation, and at the very worst, retribution, even dismissal. As we were often told by our local federation, criticizing your employer is grounds for dismissal. The fact that I am retired is the only reason I can bring these matters to light, and the reality is that I have presented only a highly selective version of what transpires in schools today; because I have no desire to jeopardize the careers of teachers who are still working, and the fact that some of the administrative transgressions I know of are based only on reliable second hand accounts, I have omitted much.
Without doubt, whenever misdeeds are brought to light, senior administrators and board officials will, as they always have, utter platitudes designed to placate the public, while ignoring opportunities for substantive change. The culture of concealment will, in one form or another, continue unless two things happen:
• Whistle-blower protection for teachers is enacted to spare them the retribution that normally ensues when people dare to speak out
• Board trustees begin to take back some of the responsibility for the day to day operation of schools they have abdicated to administrators and bureaucrats, both of whom often have an agenda at odds with quality education.
Unless and until there is a real desire for improvement at the top, things will, I fear, continue to deteriorate in our schools.
In a specific department I will not identify, the practice existed of having a fieldtrip for the culminating task, which accounts for a certain percentage of the final mark. In this particular instance, because the students had performed so badly in the accompanying activities, the department head changed the assignment’s criteria so that everyone got at least 80%. Consequently, the teachers of students who did not go on the fieldtrip were instructed to make sure that their culminating task was designed so that those students would also achieve a minimum of 80%. Whether this perversion of education principles occurred with the knowledge and consent of the administration I cannot say, but the very fact that it happened should not be surprising, given the kind of environment and mentality arising from the weak leadership I have described here.
It would be easy for readers to dismiss each of my illustrations as isolated and insignificant events, but the truth is that most teachers have similar or worse stories to tell, but are not free to speak about them. Although boards would vehemently deny it, the pervasive organization ethos is that making things difficult or embarrassing for ‘the bosses’ is to invite, at the very least, career stagnation, and at the very worst, retribution, even dismissal. As we were often told by our local federation, criticizing your employer is grounds for dismissal. The fact that I am retired is the only reason I can bring these matters to light, and the reality is that I have presented only a highly selective version of what transpires in schools today; because I have no desire to jeopardize the careers of teachers who are still working, and the fact that some of the administrative transgressions I know of are based only on reliable second hand accounts, I have omitted much.
Without doubt, whenever misdeeds are brought to light, senior administrators and board officials will, as they always have, utter platitudes designed to placate the public, while ignoring opportunities for substantive change. The culture of concealment will, in one form or another, continue unless two things happen:
• Whistle-blower protection for teachers is enacted to spare them the retribution that normally ensues when people dare to speak out
• Board trustees begin to take back some of the responsibility for the day to day operation of schools they have abdicated to administrators and bureaucrats, both of whom often have an agenda at odds with quality education.
Unless and until there is a real desire for improvement at the top, things will, I fear, continue to deteriorate in our schools.
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Culture of Concealment Part 1
Thanks to the recent publication of the school safety panel report investigating violence in Toronto schools, the general public has received a rare glimpse into some unpleasant truths about contemporary secondary education. One of the newspaper headlines, ‘Fears of career suicide stopped educators from reporting violence,’ was followed by the revelation of a board–wide staff failure to report problems due to fears that revealing anything reflecting badly on the board would be “a career-limiting move.” Unfortunately, however, people living outside of Toronto have little reason to feel smug. This culture of concealment is widespread in public education today.
Although now retired, as a teacher for thirty years I witnessed my own share of questionable decisions and behaviour based more on political expedience than educational principle, and most seemed to spring from the almost pathological fear many administrators have of dealing with unhappy parents or having their schools look in any way less than perfect. Sadly, such a short-sighted philosophy incurs both immediate and long- term consequences. A few of my own experiences may help to illustrate.
Years ago I broke up a game of hackey sack in which one student was being physically assaulted by two others; after delivering them to the office with a full report, I was dismayed to later learn that no discipline had been meted out, as the physical abuse had “been part of the game.” When I insisted to the vice-principal that suspension was warranted, he protested that such action would require him “to answer some hard questions from the parents.”
For several years now, smoking has been banned on school property. It is the practice of bylaw officials to inform schools of the date they will be visiting for enforcement purposes. For a time at my school, however, when such a visit was pending, daily announcements were made warning the students that the ‘smoke police’ would soon be arriving. The common perception amongst staff was that these announcements were made to ensure that no student would receive a citation, thereby minimizing the chance of parental outrage.
A strategy of containment is at times practiced by wary administrators. On one occasion, a student who had urinated on the floor outside of the school’s photo developing lab was apprehended by a custodian. I subsequently learned that the perpetrator was ‘punished’ with a week of cafeteria clean-up duty, and when I complained that such an egregious violation of the school merited a suspension, I was shocked to learn that the offender’s parents hadn’t even been notified, as administrators were concerned that there might be “home issues.”
Bullying, despite board rhetoric about zero tolerance, is another problem compounded by administrative ineptitude. In one incident, a vice-principal told me I would be receiving a new student, three weeks into the semester, as she had been the victim of bullying in one of her classes. When I inquired as to why the administrator was victimizing her a second time by revamping her entire academic schedule instead of punishing the bullies, I was told that the identity of her tormentors was unknown. Two days later, I learned from a very reliable source that the administration did, in fact, know who they were.
Perhaps the worst example of administrative indifference to school safety occurred several years ago. A colleague was threatened with death by one of her students, which she immediately reported to the office. The student who made the threat was told that if he ever did it again, he would face suspension. The victim suffered tremendous psychological distress as a result of this event, and was off on a sick leave for a significant amount of time afterwards, fearful that the student would, in fact, carry out his threat.
In Part 2, I will discuss some of the effects of decisions prompted by policies of parental appeasement, avoidance, and concealment.
Although now retired, as a teacher for thirty years I witnessed my own share of questionable decisions and behaviour based more on political expedience than educational principle, and most seemed to spring from the almost pathological fear many administrators have of dealing with unhappy parents or having their schools look in any way less than perfect. Sadly, such a short-sighted philosophy incurs both immediate and long- term consequences. A few of my own experiences may help to illustrate.
Years ago I broke up a game of hackey sack in which one student was being physically assaulted by two others; after delivering them to the office with a full report, I was dismayed to later learn that no discipline had been meted out, as the physical abuse had “been part of the game.” When I insisted to the vice-principal that suspension was warranted, he protested that such action would require him “to answer some hard questions from the parents.”
For several years now, smoking has been banned on school property. It is the practice of bylaw officials to inform schools of the date they will be visiting for enforcement purposes. For a time at my school, however, when such a visit was pending, daily announcements were made warning the students that the ‘smoke police’ would soon be arriving. The common perception amongst staff was that these announcements were made to ensure that no student would receive a citation, thereby minimizing the chance of parental outrage.
A strategy of containment is at times practiced by wary administrators. On one occasion, a student who had urinated on the floor outside of the school’s photo developing lab was apprehended by a custodian. I subsequently learned that the perpetrator was ‘punished’ with a week of cafeteria clean-up duty, and when I complained that such an egregious violation of the school merited a suspension, I was shocked to learn that the offender’s parents hadn’t even been notified, as administrators were concerned that there might be “home issues.”
Bullying, despite board rhetoric about zero tolerance, is another problem compounded by administrative ineptitude. In one incident, a vice-principal told me I would be receiving a new student, three weeks into the semester, as she had been the victim of bullying in one of her classes. When I inquired as to why the administrator was victimizing her a second time by revamping her entire academic schedule instead of punishing the bullies, I was told that the identity of her tormentors was unknown. Two days later, I learned from a very reliable source that the administration did, in fact, know who they were.
Perhaps the worst example of administrative indifference to school safety occurred several years ago. A colleague was threatened with death by one of her students, which she immediately reported to the office. The student who made the threat was told that if he ever did it again, he would face suspension. The victim suffered tremendous psychological distress as a result of this event, and was off on a sick leave for a significant amount of time afterwards, fearful that the student would, in fact, carry out his threat.
In Part 2, I will discuss some of the effects of decisions prompted by policies of parental appeasement, avoidance, and concealment.
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