On another post Anonymous wrote about a high school:
"Three more fights Today,"
Has any sort of investigation been done into the cause of all these fights? Understanding the cause would help in deciding how to address the problem. While neighborhood issues are a well known cause, some say that boy-girl issues are an even bigger reason (girls fighting over a boy or boys fighting over a girl).
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16 comments:
I think the implication at the high school in question, Allderdice, is that discipline has suffered because the principal is on leave and the interim school leader is inexperienced.
So more experience for principals may be part of the answer- although getting an experienced principal to just fill in could be difficult. Maybe retired principals could help out. But understanding the cause of all this fighting would also be helpful.
I understand that Allderdice is "down" (short) 1 security guard. There is no all-school detention system like there once was. Some teachers just don't bother assigning their own detentions anymore. If the student is a no-show, the administration does nothing so why bother?
It is only April and students are already on the prowl. Imagine as the weather gets warmer and the school year gets later what will happen.
I was also told that even when Melissa Friez was there, there was no law and order.
I have heard the Boy-girl issues have caused physical confrontations at other high schools. Can someone tell these young ladies that kids are supposed to date freely at their age. This "I dated him for two weeks at the beginning of the school year and she should not be talking to him because..."
In the same way that kids who would have had a fist fight in the past now have guns, now it's more like "she shouldn't have slept with him" instead of "she shouldn't be talking to him."
Or what you lookin at b....?
Yep. It could be that some Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello movies are needed or...is that where all the craziness started? Beyond the boy/girl issues fights also seem to start about even less important things. "I don't like that color on her."
An Allderdice parent just told me that the feeling among some teachers is that it's better for the kids to be fighting in school, rather than out on the street, because the fights are "time-limited", there's an audience, and security isn't too far away. I thought that was a funny, but realistic, way to look at it, although I seem to remember when a school building was for learning, not providing a safe venue for fistfights.
Teachers probably won't feel this way if they get caught in the middle of one of the fights.
From today's PG, pregnant teacher (not PPS) is punched while trying to stop a fight:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10097/1048493-100.stm
Oh yeah, there are no guns or knives allowed in school, another point in favor of school-based scuffles.
Looks like it won't be too long until Pittsburgh has a "flash mob" riot, like they've recently experienced in Philly and NYC. Hope my kid is at home, not school, when it happens.
Not enough Security for a building that size, Plus the Ivory Tower frowns on Principals or PELA who suspend to much
That's interesting. I know an Allderdice student who very recently fought back after repeated teasing by another student. He got a 3 day suspension, his tormentor got 1 day for bad language. I wonder which ethnic groups, on a percentage basis (days of suspension/number of incidents), get more detention.
Looking around at what is happening in other states makes one think somebody had better start taking all this much more seriously. I am more interested in how many repeat offenders we have getting suspensions than in whether or not we have ethnic balance, at least at this point. That debate will go on regularly.
Another interesting issue is whether CEP has made any difference at all. It was supposed to provide help for the offenders, while leaving everyong else free to learn. That sounded good. Now almost 2 school years out, is there a noticeable difference in the classrooms? The one report that was issued had some data on grades and suspension of those returned to their home schools, but no real information on whether the situation in the schools has improved.
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