Sunday, April 10, 2016

School Safety Incidents Increase As Bill de Blasio Weakens The Student Discipline Code.



















Mayor Michael Bloomberg was terrible for the New York City Public School system as he allowed class sizes to increase, shortchanged the schools of badly needed resources, and waged a continuous war with the teacher union that hurt students and staff alike.  Moreover, he was responsible for closing 163 schools, many of them large comprehensive high schools that the neighborhood revolved around and his favoritism to charter schools hurt the remaining neighborhood schools as he "robbed Peter to pay Paul" principle by taking funds from the Public School sector to support the charter schools.  Finally, his "education on the cheap" policy encouraged principals to hire "the cheapest and not the best teachers" for their school and most schools were funded at only 82% to 86% of their allocation under "fair student funding". To say the least, the New York City Public Schools suffered greatly under Michael Bloomberg.  However, one of the few bright spots was the Mayor's policy on student discipline.  No cellphones, suspensions for repeat offenders or violent incidents and an overall "zero tolerance policy" for student misconduct.  This made for a safer school environment and a culture of respect for school staff since the students realized there were serious consequences for their misbehavior.

When Bill de Blasio became Mayor, he brought with him a progressive agenda that included promises of lower class size, more school funding, and no more school closings,  All of these promises have been unmet as school budgets have remain frozen at 2012 levels and at 86% of allocated funding, class sizes have actually increased, and schools are still closing.  The one promise he kept was weakening the student discipline code and the results for school safety and on student learning has been disastrous.. According to the news media student misbehavior has increased as many minor offenses go unpunished.  Teachers are complaining that their classrooms have become unmanageable as students are distracted by cellphone use and their school's failure to remove disruptive or tardy students.  Moreover, student insubordination is a major issue as students know there is little consequence for disrespecting staff instructions.  An analysis done by a pro charter school group found a 23% rise in violent incidents under Mayor Bill de Blasio,  Worse yet, was the reported spike in violent incidents at the 48 Renewal schools.

The De Blasio solution is restorative justice rather than suspension and as suspensions have gone down significantly, violent incidents have risen as student misbehavior has been met, instead with a restorative justice hearing that theoretically will guide the misbehaving student to positive outcomes.  Unfortunately,  most of the students consider restorative justice a joke and soon repeat their misbehavior, be it insubordination, disruption, or lateness.  With the support of the UFT "Unity" leadership and also of MORE who actually has a social justice plank that includes restorative justice, I don't look for leadership by the union on this issue anytime soon.  Therefore, look for violent incidents to continue to increase as the De Blasio administration weakens the student discipline code further and student disrespect of staff increases accordingly.


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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

How out of touch with reality is MORE? They need to visit the Bronx.

Ms. Tsouris said...

The weakening of the discipline code and the allowing of cell phones in schools proves that DeBlasio is just too incompetent to maintain mayoral control of the schools. That should be returned to career educators who know actual children, not stupid misguided social theories or ideologies.

Anonymous said...

The large campus buildings are dangerous. Do not take the stairs. The students are on them all day long, smoking weed and having sex. Everything is completely lax. No patrols, no sweeps, no confiscation of cell phones or drugs, no suspensions, no arrests, no detention. Teachers and students are afraid. The worst schools are the ones with inexperienced principals. Some of the leadership academy principals are actually better than Farina's, because they realize the importance of keeping the staff and students safe. DeBlasio should not be in charge of the schools. Anyone who would allow cellphones into all public schools to make his teenage son happy has no business heading our schools.

SPED4LYFE said...

Teaching for over 18 years. 16 years at a very large high school. This year, the hallways are the WORST I've ever seen. Blatant cellphone use is rampant, even among the good students. The bad ones take it a step further and blast their music from their cellphones over portable speakers, as they roam the hallways in packs and disrupt any chance of learning for the nearby affected classrooms. The fish stinks at the head. Social justices theory doesn't pan out when confronted with reality. For this reason, I can not in good conscience vote for More/New Action or Unity. Portelos if you're reading this, you have this lowly teachers vote and I will do what I can to influence all those in my circle and group do the same.

Anonymous said...

I dont know if anyone on here knows Columbus high school in the Bronx but Ive been here a while and I can tell you that this school building was once a gem. Now with the 5 "principals" in this campus its a total mess. What a great school it was. A true neighborhood school serving the community. Now its just a disaster what they did. So very sad but what can you do.

Anonymous said...

No one I know is voting for MORE or Unity. I'm an ATR. If they don't know that restorative justice is awful, they don't get my vote.

Anonymous said...

For a chancellor and mayor so interested in "restorative justice" then why are there so many guidance counselors in the atr pool?? How can you even implement restorative justice with so many guidance counselors walking through my school as atrs?? Diblasio is a friend to the UFT so lets keep our senses here. Diblasio was a much better choice for us rather than christine quinn!!! So, although diblas might not be perfect he is the best we are going to get. I just am waiting for him to put the atrs back into the classrooms especially the guidance counselors and social workers

Anonymous said...

A vote for Solidarity is a wasted vote.

Mayoral control should be ended. Give control back to educators and parents.

Anonymous said...

There's an empowerment meeting happening on May 14th. You should attend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nyc-education-empowerment-forum-2016-battling-corruption-harassment-tickets-24492917977

Anonymous said...

Hey 7:43 Columbus was a great school indeed. Some excellent people were at that building and then the small schools came and were good for a while. Now I hear it's total chaos. This is what most large comprehensive neighborhood schools have become. That Bill Gates Foundation came and went real quick. LOL!

Francesco Portelos said...

I was on MORE's leadership and in many other meetings and phone conferences. I assure you they are very out of touch with reality. That's why I left and that's why everyone should vote UFT Solidarity this May. www.UFT2016.com

Francesco Portelos said...

Hear you loud and clear. Please email us at Help@uftsolidarity.org

Anonymous said...

Who wants to start a lawsuit against Starke?

Anonymous said...

Success Academy reports drop in applications

Sooo, politico reports that success academy has had a drop in applications to their ill fated schools. Funny thing though how the daily rag news and ny fake post failed to report this. What a corrupted, insane city we live in.