Sunday, January 19, 2020

Mayor De Blasio And Chancellor Carranza's Student Discipline Policy Is A Disaster



























One of the worst policies of the Bill de Blasio administration is his student discipline policy.  Principals are no longer are allowed to suspend violent and misbehaving students without approval by Tweed and since the Mayor and Chancellor frowns on suspensions, far too many students are sent back to class to continue the reign of terror,  Instead the violent or misbehaving student is required to attend the useless restorative justice session which they find as a joke.

To hide the unsafe climate at schools, the Mayor and Chancellor have made it clear that school administrators are not to report incidents and to quietly handle it at the school.  The result is that fewer incidents are reported and the Mayor and Chancellor can claim that the schools are safer.  Of course, if you ask students and teachers you would hear a different story. They would tell you that there is widespread bullying and intimidation as well as threats to students and staff.

The latest incident that school administrators tried to cover up was a middle school girl fight in the cafeteria at MS 158 in Bayside Queens.  The school administration never reported the fight and it was only after a parent of the girl who was beaten up and reported the attack to the police who then arrested the other girl, did the school administration report the incident.  You can see the fight Here.  In another incident, last year,at the same school a girl was sexually harassed numerous times and groped by a boy who exposed himself to her and the school administration did not take any action.  The boy decided he could sexually harass the girl whenever he wanted and finally the girl told her parents who called the police and he boy was arrested.  The school also failed to suspend a male student who sexually molested another male student.

At the District 26 meeting, a teacher cited the new discipline code for lowering morale and leaving teachers unable “to effectively manage classrooms,” adding that staff are “no longer respected and supported.”  Even the head of the usually dead-quiet principals’ union, Mark Cannizzaro, recently sounded the alarm, writing Carranza: “In many schools, misconduct is on the rise, leading some students to believe there are little or no consequences for disruptive, openly defiant and even violent behavior.” Principals and staff feel “unsupported” by system higher-ups, he complained.

Chancellor Carranza went to the District 26 Town Hall at MS 74 and when parents confronted him about the lax student discipline policy he refused to respond and quickly left the meeting without addressing the parent concerns.  The Chancellor's cowardly action shows that it may be time to find a new Chancellor who puts school safety first.  Read the New York Post opinion article on the Chancellor's cowardly action at the MS 74 Town Hall.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

It’s incredibly bad. It’s really just a matter of time before a teacher is killed by a student inside a school. In my high school there are no metal detectors. A kid came to me a couple of months ago and told me there was a girl loading a gun in the restroom to shoot her teacher, that had called her home to complain about her conduct. The deans went in, got the gun and the girl wasn’t suspended or arrested. They did move her out of that teachers class though. I think they may be trying to get the teacher a safety transfer. I don’t know though because the administration doesn’t want teachers talking to one another. I went to the UFT Chapter Leader and he said never bring this up again if I wanted to keep my job. I got another year to get tenure, so I’m keeping silent. I do however pay dues and am wondering why the UFT is allowing this? Does a teacher have to get killed? Or if a teacher is killed, like that student was in Wildlife HS, will they do the same and just close down the school and make believe nothing happened? I’m thinking teaching for the NYCDOE just isn’t worth the stress and abuse on my psyche. I also want to get out of NYC and NYS, it’s really a nasty place to have to live and work. The students are like something out of a hardcore porn-horror show and everybody makes believe everything is normal. Maybe the normal people are crazy. I tell you one thing if I stay for next year, I’m dropping my UFT dues in June. That be my last stand at self respect in this putrid job.

Anonymous said...

Useless and a racist. That's carranza. Fire him now. And teachers, do not break up fights. Call your crisis team. You will be persecuted if you touch anyone. And it will cost you $$$$
It has become one of the top dangerous jobs in the city. Just try to teach and go home. Trust me

Retired July. 55/30

Anonymous said...

This Chancellor and his team are only concerned about the political and ideological agendas they are supporting. One is, school discipline. As we can see, the ideological position is that students [of color] have been mistreated in the past, so now there is a more just system and, voila, behavior is the best it as ever been, incidents are down.

Yes, students of color were mistreated with the old way - but also in this new way. Both, unrestrained and disconnected from reality, lead to abuse. The problem now is, we are back to "brush it under the rug." We lived through this in the Bloomberg/Klein years too. Eventually there will be breaking points - a rape covered up, maybe a child killed. This leadership team will run and hide from scrutiny and, probably, will all be gone as the Mayor wraps up his second term.

I am lucky to work in a school with pretty nice kids. But even my kids can sense that we are passing them in all classes, and it is almost impossible to get in trouble. This creates an erosion of everything that makes a school a good and functioning community. When we add in the other ideological problems bubbling in the system today in NYC, this can really become toxic.

CSA should speak up - ultimately their members are responsible for discipline. Since Tweed won't take responsibility, school based staff will be blamed if anything bad happens. Tweedies and their ilk think anyone actually working in a school is a schmuck and a fool who wasn't smart enough to play the system. The leftovers from Bloomberg/Klein still are anti-teacher and are just in it for themselves, most have never or rarely done any real work in a real school.

Anonymous said...

Mostly correct, However as a dean in a middle school i can tell you first hand we input EVERYTHING into oors. the last thing our principal wants is for a parent to come in with a . complaint or a situation that you described above. The coverup is far worse then inputting incidents. Do bsd really think that a middle school or a high school have ZERO incidents(not even a pushing match) in a week??

Anon2323 said...

WE NEED STRONG REPUBLICANS IN THIS STATE, NOT PUSSY LIBERALS LIKE DI BLASIO, CUOMO, CARRANZA!


If a student is suspended, they should be doing 3-4 hours of school work and 2-3 hours of community service. The DOE should be able to partner up to these suspension/community service schools. Next time they get suspended they will hopefully think twice before they are cleaning up neighborhoods.

Teaching is becoming one of the worst professions would not recommend to my worst enemy. Tier 6 are treated like sewer rats thank goodness tier IV.

They closed a suspension school in bronx recently because lack of suspensions.

Prehistoric pedagogue said...

This violent acting-out behavior is , in many cases, the only rational response to the institutional racism faced by our students of color.
The fairness and equality that will be the ultimate result of the Chancellor’s desegregation policies will bring about a concomitant improvement in student behavior
That ought to hold you until Deblasio term is
Over and you can start this crap all over again with the new guy

Anonymous said...

I would never get involved in a fight. Recently there was a fight in front of me. I simply turned the corner, went into the restroom and stayed there till everything had settled down. I know a teacher who got involved and he was brought up on charges. Never , ever , ever get involved.

Anonymous said...

This past December in District 10 two Assistant Principal were seriously injured in an elementary school by third grader. Student tried to choked the AP with a scarf. The AP has been out since then. AP will need PT and surgery. Damage neck and spine issues. Amazingly Superintendent Hulla denied a suspension. What chance does a teacher have if AP gets no respect.

Anonymous said...

Saw the video. Bad move by the teacher. In attempting to break up the fight he put his hand around the girl. He could have been brought up on charges. Never, ever , ever attempt to break up a fight.

Anonymous said...

I agree with everyone. We need to also discourage young people from becoming educators. Then the doe will learn its lesson when there are no teachers left. We also need to speak up more. For example, why hasn't anybody really called out Carranza and Di Blasio about the bogus graduation rate. It should be called the giving out diplomas rate. Look at Maspeth H.S. You are now threatened with bad ratings if you fail more than 2-3 students in your class. Everyone cares about looking good but nobody cares about the kids. You are not a teacher if you are passing kids for doing nothing and not going to class. You really need to leave the profession. If we all just gave honest grades, they won't be able to do anything. What are they going to do? Fire everyone? Let's all bring back integrity to the profession once and for all and show the kids we care about them. Administration certainly doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Look at High School for Energy & Technology. 2018 on a field trip a freshman got caught giving fellatio to a senior. The principal Marie Guillaume and several staff members encountered this and after a few statements written. NOTHING. No student suspended. NOTHING. In fact Marie went on to threaten staff to keep the situation under wraps.

Anonymous said...

I WOULDN'T TELL MY WORST ENEMY TO TEACH IN A NYC PUBLIC SCHOOL.
PAY IS SH**-iT TAKES 20 YEARS TO GET TO DECENT, JUST DECENT PAY
CRAPPY TEIR 6 PENSION-NO THANKS
NO SUPPORT WITH STUDENTS-BLAME THE TEACHER
DANIELSON/LAZY ADMINS WHO DON'T DO THEIR JOB
MY BUILDING HAS 3 ADMINS AND LESS THAN 550 STUDENTS NOT WANT TO BE IN THE LUNCHROOM JUST DUMP THE JOB ON SCHOOL ADS AND PARAS THEY ILLEGALLY PULL FROM THEIR PROGRAMS. IF PRINCIPALS ACTIVLY SUPERVISED THE LUNCHROOMS FIGHTS LIKE THE ONE AT MS 158 WOULD NOT HAPPEN.
WHERE IS THE CRAPPY UFT IN THIS???TEACHERS ARE NOT SUPPORTED BY THE UNION AND ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BREAK UP FIGHTS ADMINS ARE SUPPOSED TO SUPERVISE THE LUNCHROOM, THE UNION AND PARENTS NEED TO DEMAND THE ADMINS DO THEIR JOBS

Anonymous said...

What is the solution to all of this?

I get that administrators lie and hide the truth to keep their jobs. If they tell the truth, they will be replaced by someone who will lie and go along with the Deblasio's and Carranza's directives. Dignity and morality totally evaporated during the Bloomberg era. I am quite concerned that all this lying by administrators is becoming pathological. My administrators can lie without batting an eye. It is rather intriguing to witness.

If teachers and administrators were on the same side, perhaps that would lead to some improvements. Years ago, teachers and administrators had the same objective: to educate children. I do think this is still the primary goal of most teachers, although staying healthy and sane may have surpassed the goal of educating children. Clearly, educating children is not the goal of most administrators and I do believe mental illness may be a prerequisite for attaining an administrative position.

Clearly, the UFT is useless. I don't know enough about the CSA but I doubt they can get anything done.


Anonymous said...

In my school students went missing off campus and there were no oors reports. I know tis because I FOILed the pots reports and saw that they did not report the incidents. They never reported anything for at least a year.
If you are targeted, FOIL them! Its a resource teachers need to use when retaliated.

waitingforsupport said...

@5:25...much respect for you!"Let's all bring back integrity..." Many folks on this blog ^itch and moan. They spend endless hours complaining about black and brown kids and their parents. To teachers I say: Stand up together and fight back. If one of you are being attacked by admin, ALL of you should speak up. STAND TOGETHER. Don't let your colleague stand alone. Much respect for you @5:25

Anonymous said...

3:02

Do you work at Spring Creek Community in Brooklyn?

7:34

Rape cover up already happen with million dollar settlement. This happened at Spring Creek. Google it.

Anonymous said...

What does it mean to FOIL them?

Anonymous said...

A teacher would have to be out of his mind to break up a fight. Grabbing, pulling, or shoving a kid off another might stop a fight, but your 3020-a would begin quite fast. Placing your hands on a student for ANY reason lands you in trouble, let alone forceful contact which would be required to break up a fight. And if you're a male teacher who makes physical contact with a female student, it's over. The sexual harassment charges would certainly land you in the ATR pool or terminated. I was always taught to simply scream as loudly as I can "stop fighting" over and over again and remain at the scene. Never leave kids unsupervised to get SSA's. Instead, send kids to get the SSA's while you remain at the scene and continue to shout "stop fighting". Your career will be safe if you follow those simple steps. OSI cannot get you on any charges if you follow those steps. How do I know? From experience!!

Anonymous said...

I broke up a fight in 97 - my first year of teaching. I actually got cut on the cheek and was told to take the day off the next day by a very strong Chapter leader. I, of course, said, "Please. Take a day off from a cut on the cheek? Get lost, my father would laugh his ass off if I told him that." Anyway, point being, if it happened to me who I know to be street smart and savvy, it can happen to anyone. Sometimes one's instinct just takes over but most likely not the best thing to do when breaking up these things. Agree with your post - the discipline policy the system has is an absolute joke.

#StopTheSingleStory said...

The NYCDOE and UFT are corrupt.
Everyone is complaining but no one is doing anything.
Want change? Parents pull children from school and teachers call 911 for incidents

waitingforsupport said...

@7:01pm...I think you're on to something.

Anonymous said...

Freedom Of Information Law

You are free to FOIL your supervisors and school records. On a city website. Expense reports, incident reports, professional records. Etc. Its a very powerful tool for teachers who fell they need evidence in the event they are harassed and or investigated. I used it effectively. Its your right to attain the records.

Anonymous said...

https://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/Right_to_know.html

Anonymous said...

Step 5: FOIL (My Favorite): Because our schools are funded by tax dollars, you have the right to request documents. Look up the Freedom of Information Law. Then check out my post on easy it is to obtain information. Now I don’t know if the NYC DOE FOIL unit lets the administrators know you are looking into this, but you may want to have a friend make the request. I wasn’t hiding and have been using my name to FOIL time cards, incident reports, school credit card bills, audits etc. Read my How To FOIL. Be prepared for delays. Step

Anonymous said...

http://dtoe.org/2018/04/02/what-is-foil-how-can-i-use-foil-to-help-me/

Anonymous said...

The reporters also commented that the teachers just stood by and didn't intervene.making them look like culprits.

Anonymous said...

I must say it was quite sad to view the video of the two young female students fighting and one beating on the other. The sad part is watching the teachers just pretending to want to stop the fight and others not doing anything.

We need real change in our system regarding treatment of teachers and their authority regarding students. When will the powers to be realize this and step up to the plate. So sad we need a change and we need the change immediately.

Anonymous said...

8:41, they didn't do anything because NYC kids are doing that all day. Half the time they are laughing and palling around right after. There is a violent culture being curated by the gangs and all these little monsters want to be a part of. Not to mention the music they hear, and games and youtube fight videos they watch. Go to the parks in the Bronx and elsewhere were gang bangers are pitting elementary and middle school kids against each other like dogs and betting on it. FIX THE GHETTO CULTURE and you won't see this shit anymore. Did you see the "winner" of the fight laughing and jumping up on the table like Rocky?! She was lauded by her peers. In the not to distant future these parts of the city will be off limits to normal acting people like they were from the 80's back. Remember when it was scary to go to certain sections of the city? Wait till it's all like that. Crips on the east side and bloods on the west and everyone else fleeing to the burbs and only Snake Pliskin willing to enter the city. The end is nigh.

Anonymous said...

A few things to keep in mind - the most serious incidents in schools are caught on school cameras about 75% of the time. A copy of the incident is ( preDB days) obtained on a disk for a suspension hearing and/ or arrest, along with an Oors report. I believe most of those disks now aren’t requested and film is intentionally scrubbed. I’ve even heard of some principals requesting cameras be removed from their schools, as well as metal detectors. Contact President Floyd at the School Safety’s Union - he knows what’s going on and has been vocal about it.
As for teachers breaking up fights - the UFT specifically warned us, even as deans, that if we got hurt we would not be covered for our injuries or time off. I broke up every fight I could and I was covered for several LODI (line of duty injuries). I can understand the UFT saying that to protect us, but the DOE was decent about it. The only times I didn’t step in was when knives were out - which happened about four times during my 8 year career in the ‘deanery’.
Things were also very, very terrible under Bloomberg. He didn’t sweep incidents under the rug for one reason only - to close the largest schools, especially in the Bronx.

Anonymous said...

I can only speak of the Bronx, but one would assume the rest of the city’s Burroughs are most likely in the same situation and that is of utter denial. These are my assessments

1.) First, the UFT is a fucking joke. They are most certainly in bed with the Mayor. There is no way anyone organization could be more inept. They know exactly what’s going on and yet Mulgrew and his sycophants haven’t lifted a finger to help anyone but themselves.

2.) Second: The liberal, love everybody policy of the Mayor and the Chancellor have back fired big time. At know time in the last 20 years have the schools been this violent.
3.) Third: Mayor DeBlassio was not the guy to run the city. If you don’t think the Education is screwed up see what his wife did to the mental health system in NYC.
4.) Fourth: Carranza was not the right guy for the job either. He came in with anti-white rhetoric and spent millions of dollars re-educating when the focus should have been on students.
5.) Fifth: Students have no fear. And why should they.
6.) Sixth: Teachers have no power what so ever.

Anonymous said...

Carranza could care less about Hispanic students, when the parents are illegal and immigrants he turns a blind eye. Just look at district 24 data under Madelene Chan, largest Hispanic district in the city where special ed and ELL student data highest suspensions suspensions in the city while the superintendent does nothing to help these students! 718-592-3357

Anonymous said...

NYC is a sanctuary city. I thought we were supposed to turn a blind eye.