District employee: Consider chaotic conditions when reporting FCAT scores

C. Roberts, a Hillsborough School District employee, shares observations on student discipline problems from working in schools  in a letter published on ItsYourTimes.com.

Roberts describes lunchtime as a "chaotic, social hour with mishaps just waiting to happen."

And the students ignore any nutritious food that is served in the cafeteria, Roberts writes. "Schools cook enough vegetables to feed just one grade, and still have several portions left over daily."

Then, after lunch, "students return to class with a sugar high, cell phones, i-Pods, and a bad attitude."

Read Roberts' letter, share your views.

Comments

[Ray]

Keep following the "Bush Way" and blame it on the teachers. By the way, how's that working for ya?

[St Pete]

I work at an Elementary high poverty school in S.St.Pete. Majority on free/reduced lunch. Our Cafe sells cookies, ice cream and chips at lunch. After the kids go through the line and MUST get the required lunch, they spend $ daily on the junk. When I walk by the table to pick them up, their "free" lunch is untouched; however, their purchased junk is gone. The lunch is thrown in the garbage. Tax money at work!! Teachers have long complained that if a student can afford $1 a day for ice cream, they should have to pay for the free lunch that they dispose of.

[John]

Am I having a utopian dream, or is it time for a change of leadership, from top to bottom.

[Only The Good Stuff Is Said About The Gulag]

To Ms. Pencil and John:

Today, we also see that valedictorians, even those from Springstead that are going to Harvard, are not authorized to speak.

The stuff that happens in the education gulag, stays in the education gulag.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jun/03/031902/valedictorian-ordered-rewrite-speech/news-metro/

[Ms. Pencil]

I think Mr. Eraser is learning how it all "works"...have a great day sir!

[Mr. Eraser]

To Ms. Pencil:

Teachers, counselors and public school students are not authorized to speak.

Along with this, there is some mythical procedure one must follow in order to lodge a complaint that will be recognized.

[John]

But, it does get done, Timmy! Springstead High's Valedictorian was accepted at Harvard.

[Ms. Pencil]

PRO - ask any ADMIN? Please. Ask a teacher, a counselor, a public school student, but an administrator? And I followed your link. Yes, any public forum will have differing opinions - it is called different perspectives, and the public has the right to express it - that would be called freedom of speech.

[Timmy!]

A truly powerful, accurate description of how student life has evolved.

Add the bus ride, bathroom/locker room conditions, air quality, plus the inherent stress of an environment similar to a tourette's clinic and it's a wonder how anyone gets anything done.

-and we are to blame.

[PRO on HCPS]

oops - it should have been "these kind of conditions..."

[John]

Welcome to the world of education! In the US, that is the cross we have to bear. In other countries only the elite chosen few get the chance at an education. If you are a smart underpriviledged youngster you get to watch as the chosen few get to wear their uniforms and go on to higher educational institutes (oh yeah and come to the US for college training). In the US we have invented the public education system. Along with that we get all the various agendas brought by each of the participants. The students want to grow up and practice independence. The parents want what they feel is "best" for their children. The administrators want to tell everybody how they could do this job with their hands tied behind their back and how teachers didn't fill out their IPDP properly if anyone complains, just call me I'll be in my office for the next 8 hours filling out nonexistent paperwork. All the teachers want to do is to share the knowlege they have aquired over the years using the tools they have learned with the students who eventually will learn and those who won't ever learn. And, yes, we do this in front of everybody, and everybody knows how to share this information better than the trained teachers.

[PRO on HCPS]

There must be some mistake.

These kinds of conditions just don't happen in Hillsborough.

Ask any administrator.

Check the website.

Ask any real investigative media source.

Jeff, expect a call:
(http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/2008/12/comments-vs-con.html

This is just another one of those examples of hateful speech.

[!]

Schools profit from children who "choose" fatty foods, sugar and ice cream. Check the finance reports.

Children NEED balanced meals.

Teaching children not to eat until after the "work day" is over is not healthy.

Schools should take lessons from other "venues" serving large numbers of people. Think about events with a couple thousand people in attendance. What do they do differently (and, maybe more effectively) than schools do? How are they staffed? What are the expectations? The consequences?

School days run much more smoothly when children are not there. EVERY teacher and administrator can attest to that.

However...

[getsmart]

He's right on... and there are even more problems than that...

[Goader]

I can vouch for the overall accuracy of what Mr. Roberts contends.