Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Procedures/ kindergarten

On another post Anonymous wrote:

New Post

What new security provisions will be put in place to eliminate the risk of Kindergarten kids roaming away from school? At what age does the procedure of an automatic call notifying home of an absent kid kick in? I am sure budget cuts causing staff cuts contributed to the Mifflin incident. 

12 comments:

Questioner said...

Was there a recent incident at Mifflin?

Anonymous said...

It does seem like an automatic call system for absences could be implemented easily.

Attendance is required to be entered by a cut-off time -- the district could use its robocaller at that point to call all designated numbers to alert parents to an absence.

If anything, this would be most helpful to parents of older kids who might be inclined to cut. If anything happens to them during that school day, a parent might not be aware until late in the afternoon that their child had been missing all day.

Anonymous said...

It is absolutely unacceptable for it to be possible that three kindergarten students could leave the school without anyone knowing it.

How could this happen? Three little children out on the streets?

Who filmed the children? (Or was the film of three random children after school was dismissed?)

Who informed school officials? How did the parents learn of it?
How much time had passed?


Anonymous said...

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/11/27/kindergarteners-found-by-police-after-leaving-school/

The link above is to the story on KDKA last night at
6.

Questioner said...

Didn't something very similar happen at another school last year?

Anonymous said...

Please Post as another Blog entry:

Oh, the differences when I was in KDG


This is the second incidence this yeat for KDG students leaving their individual schools. The other incident at King-the impromtu-run for DAY at the Museum.

My serious concern-if the kids can get out as missing in action-any adult or teenager can come into our supposedly SECURE PPS Schools an become terroristic.

Think about it as serious consequence.

What is wrong with the Principals-safety comes FIRST.

PPS Security need to be in every KDG visit for a Safety Day. It is not PPS Security ffault-I blame the Principals mentality levels, Safety should be the Number One job goal for all.

Pittsburgh Public Schools officials promise security review

The Republic
P
ITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Public Schools officials are promising a security review after three kindergartners wandered away from school through an unlocked door, apparently with plans to have a sleepover at one of their homes. Jennifer Eisel says her


http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/dd38d415387b4fb198d6d4dddcbd7544/PA--Wandering-Kindergartners

Anonymous said...

I thought PPS was going to review security after 2 kindergarten students wandered away from MLK to the children's museum last spring?

Anonymous said...

I know that safety of all students is number one main concern, but why would 3 kdg students not be afraid to leave school. To blame it all on the schools, I don't think is completly appropriate. I know kdg students are young, but why weren't they afraid to leave?

Anonymous said...

Why would 5 year old children be afraid to leave the school?


Afraid of what and why?

And, you really do not see how the school personnel are responsible for the care and whereabouts of 5 year old children in their building?

Anonymous said...

It really does seem like there's room for blame on all sides. My son knows (and knew) that he's not supposed to leave somewhere without permission. You don't walk out of your house without telling a parent and you don't walk out of a classroom without telling (or more accurately asking) your teacher.

You don't leave a store without your parent. You don't leave a school without telling an adult.

Can you trust 5 yos to do what they're told all the time? No, of course not, but it does say that those 5 yos seemed to feel perfectly okay with just walking out of their school and wandering by themselves. And that's not a great thing for your kid to be okay doing!

Does the school need to make sure this doesn't happen again? Sure. It does seem that a door chime for every door opening and a camera on every door would help. But it still means that someone has to be there or to check every time they leave the desk that no one came or went (and must have the ability to rewind too without waiting for security).

Anonymous said...

Here's the problem. Principals are so caught up in the paperwork of RISE that they have little to no time in minding the school! The #1 focus of PPS is teacher effectiveness. My old school principal said the #1 focus is SAFETY, then everything else just fell into place.

The problem is that the folks who are running the district have minimal classroom or administrative experience as a school principal. It gets worse because many of the administrators who are now the principals in charge of our schools have no prior experience as an Assistant Principal. They were schooled in learning how to be a "principal" after one, yes one year of PELA training! I only wish that my retired old school principal was still on the job. Nothing got by her and this includes a child leaving the school. She had a plan and process to follow for just about anything you could think of. How I miss those days and her planning!

Anonymous said...

Students walk in and out of classrooms frequently because... they can. K has lots of what are called runners.
I have been faced w many students who walk out of the classroom to tell on the teacher or because they hate the class.
There were times I had no recourse but let a student leave the building.How is a teacher to get assistance on the spot? What of the rest of the class?
All the talk of school culture and climate needs to include respect for protocal and decorum and consequences for non-adherence.