If you believe the DOE propaganda that the New York City schools are safer, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you, Sure, the DOE statistics do show a reduction in criminal actions but that's because many criminal actions are subject to the school Principal determining the severity of the crime.
For example, school weapon arrests have skyrocketed by 35% so far this year. A total of 746 weapons have been confiscated this year, compared to 552 last year. Despite the increase, the actual criminal arrests were down because under Bill de Blasio many students caught with knives and box cutters were not criminally charged, or even given a summons. Instead, it was left up to the discretion of the school administration to determine the punishment, if any. For example, "warning cards" rather than arrests are the newest fade and instead of suspension its restorative justice. No wonder, most students feel more unsafe than in previous years.
Despite the rise in weapons in schools, only 3 additional schools have metal detractors and only 6% of all schools have them. You can read more about this Here and Here.
The Bill de Blasio/Carmen Farina weakening of the student discipline code, the allowing of cellphones, and the reduction in suspendable offenses has resulted in schools being less safe. Just ask the students!
The school discipline code is "anything goes"!
ReplyDeleteThis is very dangerous.
All students and staff must have the right to feel safe at school!
A few years ago, our elementary school was placed on the "persistently dangerous schools list". The reason? We documented every single incident with a report filled with the DOE. After that happened the unspoken rule was to cut back on reporting. Guess what? Our school is no longer on that list.
ReplyDeleteI love the articles Chaz. You tell the truth like no other. With that said, I'm a high school teacher on top salary in an above average mini school in the Bronx. Some previous articles you wrote about concerning the college ready rate were from schools in Queens I guess. You should check out the scores in the Bronx. My God! It is a disaster here but the years go by and the administration comes and goes. I have learned to not care as much and it's really working for me. I read your articles and love the true facts but then I just laugh because I know that no one really cares and you can write these articles for the next 10 years. It just doesn't matter. What really matters is the maximum point of our contract this coming June where teachers will actually be making 120K, comparable to the suburbs at last! Combine that with the 7% TDA on a few hundred thousand which most top pay veterans like myself should have, and you have an additional 20K in interest nottomention whatever you are taking out as your own choice (I do 15%) which will be 18K when salary hits 120K). This is what saves me from the rest of the distractions Chaz. It's now time for me and others like me to earn a real salary and to do per session on top if we choose for even more. No one cares about the weapons, college ready comparison to grad rates, rigged surveys(great post by someone in yesterdays article on survey rigging), or any other stats. The parents certainly don't care. In my hometown which is out of da Bronx (ofmcourse), myself and the parents would destroy the smallest remote nonsense that ever came up. In the DOE, the parents just do not care or they simply cannot read, write, etc so they cannot interpret what's really going on. Most are happy that it's a baby sitting service. Anyway Chaz, 4 weeks until the Christmas break and then you know what January is like in high schools! The year is over and my administrators are happy with me because my scholarship pass rate was around 95% (whatever that means). But it looks great which is all that matters, just like the weapons data. It's all relative. I couldn't be happier.
ReplyDeleteThere has to be a mass shooting inside a school with multiple casualties before the DOE will take a common sense approach to discipline and safety. I hope that never happens, but the city has to be proactive and stop a disaster waiting to happen. Many ATRs have been rotated into battlegrounds - I guess they’re hoping that we will be the potential casualties.
ReplyDeleteThis "Restorative" Justice is pure BS..all it restores is the NYC of the 70s to thru the 80s....it's pure commie BS...the worst behaving students destroy the hopes and dreams of the majority who have some desire to improve their lot. Nothing is unacceptable, no standards of behavior, ...wish I could get out tomorrow...but I have a few more miles to go...if this is the future of our population....sad....really sad...mostly by design too....The New Feudal State...as long as they have their cell phones from cradle to grave....everything will be all right.
ReplyDeleteLast year we were taking students on a field trip. We had to walk to the subway. One of the students in the line dropped a pocket knife accidentally. He was taken back to the school but the incident was never recorded because he could potentially be deported. Nothing happened to him. How many times does this type of incident occur, where the student is found with a prohibited item and then let off? I dare say often.
ReplyDeleteTooo tooo often found a whole steak knife in my classroom one day had reported it and never heard anything of it ever after.
Delete@10:43 I cant agree with you more! This is all by design to spread a Leftist Agenda, Im retiring in 3 days! Hang in there I wish all of my colleagues the best!
ReplyDeleteThe nyc doe cooks the books by useijg ioclassroom / skedula and various other thrid patry software to have teacher log complaints too and the admins will cherry pick ancedotals to log into oors if they ever do. I have onver 4000 fights / assaults / bullying and other issues download from wildlife skedula from 2013 to sept 2017 and according to nyc doe state reports we at wildlife bronx ny only had a total of 22 suspensions in all that time ��
ReplyDelete@10:17 is right, it will take a mass shooting/stabbing for anything to change. Sadly I think something tragic will happen sooner than later because too many sick and evil students are getting bolder by the day. It's ridiculous that schools get in trouble for what weapon a student chooses to bring in, as if lying about it or ignoring it improves anything.
ReplyDelete8:45, Your post really helped me put things in perspective. Thanks. It's only about the money now and the DOE- UFT have created it.
ReplyDeletecan't sleep just thinking about going to that hell hole in a few hours. the schools are a total mess - like 845 described. students curse out teachers, deans and admins. Nothing happens. Refuse to go to class. nothing happens. Gambling for money, nothing happens. 18, 19,20,21, years old walking around not going to class, most likely dealing drugs in the building, nothing happens. Solution: progress disciple...Have a parent conference, parents are worse than the kids...
ReplyDeleteDeBlasio's doctrine: don't give detentions and cut down on suspensions and under no circumstances no suspensions of Black SPED males. insanity! Warning to Tier VI - GET OUT, NOW! Tier IV we have to push for a buyout 20/50 @ 40%. I would gladly forgo every raise for a buyout, today.
8 45 is right, do not care about all the DOE bullshit. It just does not matter. Every day is another day of pensionable earnings. Everyday I go to work, I earn money for the rest of my life. Affordable Health care, TDA, Sick days, Summers off - this is what gets us through and keeps us coming back. This is why Tier 6 signed up for this - economy is not creating good jobs. But make no mistake about it, we risk our life and potentially ruin out health every day we walk into these toxic dangerous buildings. People who don't teach are clueless about the horrendous working conditions. No one cares - not the public, not the parents,
most of all not the DOE or the UFT! 20 lesson to winter break! Just get me a buyout - that is my #1 wish! 20/50/40% - not greedy, just fair.
Just last week at John Bowne HS, Queens, kids arrested for gun possession. How was that addressed?
ReplyDeleteChaz, the multitudinous problems facing the NYC School System need to be brought up at the monthly public meetings of the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP). People can sign up for two minutes of speaking time per meeting. The meetings are video recorded, archived, and made public.
ReplyDeleteThere will be a 6:00 P.M. meeting on Tuesday, November 28th at Long Island City HS.
http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/default.htm
Its the Wild Wild West without a damned Sheriff, complete stupidity! Meetings of Educational Reformy Bullshit as Kids go F-ing Crazy throughout the building. In my 25 years of Teaching I have never seen it so bad! I said something to the Principal.... here is the BS answer I get....Well kids have changed they have cell phones and WE as Educators have to find different ways and strategies to reach them, or we are going to lose them! In my mind I was thinking to myself.... "Sir You are Lost" This System is Lost! And Im retiring!
ReplyDeleteDwarka is not reporting anything but the school is getting worse.
ReplyDeleteChaz,
ReplyDeleteWill an ATR continue to receive weekly placement updates even after being told by his principal that he has been placed at the school for the remainder of the year?
5:06AM - Aim higher: 20/50/current with full % pension for Tier IV and access to health plan, etc. There would be an exodus. If DOE wants the exodus, need to make it attractive.
ReplyDeleteReport in the news today documenting 48 million people in the US struggling with hunger. We have almost 50 million people in the US starving! Where are the fuken billionaires like the scum Koch Bros or even mikey bloomberg?? How bout Gates? If these freaks are so concerned about the welfare of this country then why do we have so many people starving!!
ReplyDeleteOrganizations like the fake so called non profits are spending millions of dollars in advertising bashing NYC schools and teachers while we have people in this country starving!! If Bill Gates is so concerned about the well being of our "children" then why doesn't he end starvation in this country!!!! Its not that hard!!! Yet, I received a call asking for a donation to feed the kids foundation!!! Me! A hard working educator making living wage salary!!!! What the fuc.
To all the people lamenting the craziness in the schools - it is not just an NYC phenomenon, it is in every urban area in the U.S. We all know the demographics principally involved, and we know the push against discipline because 'it is racist.'
ReplyDeleteWe are a society in decline. We are not growing. We are not getting better. There is no hope in the population. As a people, we Americans (you know, the people who were commonly thought of as Americans before the 1990s) are in decline also. We are only about 60% of the population now, and media outlets celebrate our coming minority status all the time.
Our culture is passing away. New cultures are rising and will be ascendant in a decade or so. What you see is the clash of declining vs rising cultures. If you pay attention, we are called (by them) people of 'Ice' because were are 'cold,' demand things on time, have rigid structures and discipline codes. They call themselves people of the 'sun' because, as they explain it, they are emotive, full of life and have a looser way of doing things.
The tension in the schools with us is that we demand 'Ice' while they want the 'Sun.' We cannot win this fight. In NYC they are now the majority, and they are now the majority of our admins too. Why do you think discipline is being weakened with things like 'restorative circles' and all that? Care less. Do your job, but don't take it personally. You cannot stop the flamethrower from destroying the iceberg. Enjoy the decline, don't lose your mind over it.
It is sickening. Inflated graduation rates, incidents that are not reported, principals running their schools as dictators, and a useless UFT.
ReplyDeleteLibtards method of reducing school crime...? Make everything acceptable...with an understanding pat on the back for the loser who is destroying fitures of other poor souls who wont receive the education they deserve...its a crime, really...one size fits all ...fits no one but the coddled criminal class
ReplyDeleteAll hail the Millenials they are taking over and they will control the market! they don't want Harley Davidsons the stock and sales are falling. They want pick-up trucks the prices are sky high. They also want progressive school reform, its coming. Learn to follow or get clobbered! I retired, I just love watching you cower. I can smell the fear in your words.
ReplyDeleteTo 6:36: Last year I was placed for the year but continued to get weekly email. Principle was nice enough to tell me placement was for the year. HR never told me anything!
ReplyDeleteThe system is designed to try to keep us in a state of limbo! But ATRS know the deal! Keep strong and positive!
Glad you are in one school for the year!
Thank you 5:19 am. Happy holidays to you and your loved ones!
DeleteGee, thanks. How'd you like to be in Wildlife for the year?
ReplyDeleteI take a hard pass , i was in wildlife for three full years. Astrid Jacobo turned that placed into a choatic joke. Had both students aswell . Rip Mccree
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of schools like Wildlife- total shitholes. Every one turns a blind eye to everything. Teachers call in sick every single day because they can't teach out of control classes. It's all a big front. McDonalds won't even hire these graduates and there's no way they'll finish even one semester in college. The US is going down the toilet. People are going to be leaving this country, not coming to it. If it weren't for foreign kids the schools would be totally intolerable.
ReplyDelete7:32,
ReplyDeleteI'm right behind you. I can't take anymore. Life has to be better than this.
To 11:20 who noted all the starving people we have, that is a great argument to end and reverse immigration. Why import more and more poor people with stone age skills who just add to the ranks of the hungry? Can we take the whole world in? When does it end?
ReplyDeleteThey are in our classes and we have to pretend they are at or near grade level, and that we can make them college ready in a semester or two even though they haven't been to school for years in some cases and just hopped over the border looking for the land of gold they heard about.
The thing is the Stone Age student immigrants are better behaved and smarter that the average ghetto rats I usually have to babysit.
ReplyDeleteHi Dear,
ReplyDeletei Like Your Blog Very Much..I see Daily Your Blog ,is A Very Useful For me.
Certified Financial Planners Queens Looking Certified Financial Planners Company in Queens, Brooklyn & Staten Island? Find newsletter articles, calculators, and research reports at LPS Financial.
Visit site :- http://www.lpsfinancial.com/