The Rise of Teacher Approved Bullying (Video)

August 31, 2012

When a teacher decides to be circus ringmaster to a bullying free for all, one wonders how the authorities can do anything less than ban him from the classroom indefinitely.

Instead, they point out his record. This is his first blemish.

I would argue that this is not a blemish – it’s a gaping scar.

Click here to watch video.

 The parents of a Washington state teen want their son’s teacher fired after learning that the student was terrorized in a bullying attack by peers — and at some points, by the teacher.

The incidents occurred in February at Gig Harbor Middle School, but cell phone video of the attacks surfaced just this week. Footage shows more than a dozen students dragging the then-eighth-grade boy around the classroom, carrying him by his arms and legs, burying him under chairs, writing on his feet and stuffing his socks in his mouth. The antics last about 15 minutes while teacher John Rosi watches, and later joins in.

Rosi pokes the teen in the stomach and pretends to sit on him, chiding, “I’m feeling kind of gassy.” The class Rosi was supposed to be teaching is a half-hour course for reading and math preparation, The News Tribune reports.

After district officials learned of the incident in February, Rosi was suspended for 10 days without pay, given new classroom management training and moved to a different middle school.

But that’s not enough for the boy’s parents, Randall and Karla Kinney, who have requested a criminal investigation and are calling for Rosi’s termination. Joan Mell is representing the victim, who was 13 at the time of the incident.

“It was a teacher-led bullying incident of epic proportions,” Mell told KIRO 7.

Acting Superintendent Chuck Cuzzetto said he was horrified by what he saw in the video, but contends that while Rosi displayed “inappropriate classroom management,” it was an isolated incident in an 18-year career, and the district acted appropriately in disciplining Rosi.

“We took what we think is pretty significant disciplinary action against the teacher,” Cuzzetto told the station.

 

Click on the link to read Explaining the Colorado Movie Theater Shooting to Children

Click on the link to read Don’t Even Try to Huminise James Holmes

Click on the link to read How Can Facebook Allow James Holmes Tribute Pages?

Click on the link to read The Need to Blame Anything and Everything for the Colorado Shootings

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Posted in Bullying, Professional Conduct | 4 Comments »

An Educated Form of Graffiti

August 30, 2012

This could be the first word “arbitrary” has been used in an act of vandalism:

Victims of graffiti commonly find themselves painting over misspelled profanities or scrubbing out obscene drawings.

But when the residents of Northumberland Gardens woke to find their luxury cars had been vandalised, the tone was rather more – polite.

Words including ‘very silly’, ‘really wrong’ and ‘arbitrary’ had been scratched into the paintwork with a screwdriver.

Not that the choice of vocabulary will be much consolation. The late-night wrecking spree caused £20,000 damage to the 24 cars targeted in the affluent suburb of Jesmond, Newcastle.

Hours later, Professor Stephen Graham, 47, was arrested and questioned by police. An academic at Newcastle University, he lives in the next street from Northumberland Gardens, where most of the attacks were carried out.

Professor Graham, a graduate of Southampton University, is based at Newcastle University’s school of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, and specialises in the study of cities and society.

The author, editor or co-author of seven books, he  also looks at the sociology of technology, researching urban aspects of surveillance.

Click on the link to read Who Said Grammar Isn’t Important?

Click on the link to read Why Spelling is Important

Click on the link to read No Wonder Children Hate School

Click on the link to read the Lenient Punishments for Teachers Who Have Sex With Under-Aged Students

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Posted in Professional Conduct | 1 Comment »

Teachers Who Cheat are “as Dumb as Hell”

August 30, 2012

Maths teacher Shayla Smith is accused of providing the worst excuse for allegedly giving her students the answers on their state exams – they were “dumb as hell.”

Atlanta math teacher Shayla Smith is accused of giving students answers to state exams because they were “dumb as hell.”

A tribunal hired to investigate a widespread cheating scandal among Atlanta Public School teachers and administrators is recommending that the school board fire Smith by not renewing her contract. She was a fifth-grade teacher at Dobbs Elementary School, and is one of about 180 Atlanta educators accused of various improprieties related to the administration of state exams — including erasing wrong answers on students’ multiple choice exams and replacing them with correct ones.

Dobbs fourth grade teacher Schajuan Jones taught in a classroom across from Smith, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. Jones testified during the hearing that she had overheard Smith speaking with a teacher in the hallway about administering a test for her students.

“The words were, ‘I had to give your kids, or your students, the answers because they’re dumb as hell,'” Jones said.

 

Click on the link to read Standardized Tests for Teachers!

Click on the link to read Oops, We Seem to Have Lost Your Exams

Click on the link to read I’m Just Gonna Say It: Standardised Tests Suck!

Click on the link to read Too Many Tests, Not Enough Teaching

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Posted in Professional Conduct, Standardised Testing | 1 Comment »

Top Ten Funny Excuses For Being Late To School

August 30, 2012

Courtesy of funny.com:

1. They’re always ringing the bell before I get there.

2. I saw a sign that read “School Ahead. Go Slow.”, so I did.

3. My watch was set to Tokyo time.4. I had to feed my pet piranha.

5. My alarm clock kept going off while I was asleep.

6. Sorry–usually my punctuation skills are excellent.

7. I was dreaming about a basketball ball game, and it went into overtime.

8. I’m on time–everyone else is early.

9. I told you if I wasn’t here, you should go ahead and start without me.

10. What? I thought this place was open until three thirty!

 

Click on the link to read Who Said Grammar Isn’t Important?

Click on the link to read Why Spelling is Important

Click on the link to read 2 Kids Outsmart 3 Robbers

Click on the link to read the 100 Skills Parents Should Teach Their Children

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Posted in Education Matters | Leave a Comment »

No Wonder Children Hate School

August 29, 2012

Political correctness and stringent regulations are further stifling young children. Some of these schools rules are so bizarre and so out-of-touch. one wonders what lame brained soul conjured them up.

Any school that tries to persuade a young deaf boy to change his name because the hand signal for his name looks too much like a gun, has serious problems:

In a move blasted by rights groups, a 3-year-old-deaf boy has been told by his Nebraska school district to change the way he signs his name because the gesture resembles shooting a gun.

Hunter Spanjer uses the standard S.E.E., Signing Exact English. He crosses his index and middle fingers and waves them slightly to signify his name. And, Grand Island Public Schools’ policy forbids any “instrument” that “looks like a weapon,” reported NCN (see video above).

While crossing his fingers is a slight modification to the standard gesture, one meant to give it the personal touch, according to NCN, Hunter’s family is outraged by the district’s reaction.

“Anybody that I have talked to thinks this is absolutely ridiculous,” Hunter’s grandmother Janet Logue told NCN. “This is not threatening in any way.”

Hunter’s dad, Brian Spanjer, told The Huffington Post on Tuesday: “I feel like it was an overreach on their part and I expected a lot better from the local school district.”

 

 

Click on the link to read The Cartwheel Revolution

Click on the link to read Proof You Can Be Suspended for Anything

Click on the link to read The Case of a Teacher Suspended for Showing Integrity

Click on the link to read Primary School Introduces Insane No-Touching Policy

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Posted in Political Correctness, School Rules | 1 Comment »

The Cartwheel Revolution

August 29, 2012

I love the idea of cartwheel and somersault friendly schools. I want to do something similar at my school:

ONE Victorian school is defying the national trend to ban activities like cartwheels in the schoolyard saying concerns over safety are “overkill”.

Belmont Primary School in Geelong has declared itself a cartwheel and handstand friendly zone, according to The Geelong Advertiser.

Principal Mark Arkinstall described the recent ban on cartwheels at one Sydney primary school, which can only be  performed under the direct supervision of a trained gymnastics teacher, as “ridiculous”. He said concerns about the safety of children was just “overkill”.

“It seems to be a bit silly, you’d never get out of bed in the morning if you took that attitude,” Mr Arkinstall said.

“We’ve never even thought of it (a ban). All kids need to be developed, not just academically but socially, emotionally and physically,” he said.

Mr Arkinstall’s comments come on the back of a series of bans on cartwheels, tiggy, high fives and hugging which top the list of activities outlawed by overzealous Australian schools during the past few years.

 

Let’s revisit some school bans from the last 12 months:

Click on the link to read Banning Home-Made Lunches is a Dreadful Policy

 

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Posted in School Rules | Leave a Comment »

Lenient Punishments for Teachers Who Have Sex With Under-Aged Students

August 29, 2012

I have argued, and will continue to argue that teachers who have sexual relations with their students should be sent to prison. It is a terrible breach of trust and must be stamped out.

But our courts don’t seem to want to deter teachers from committing this crime. Time and time again they give out nothing more than a slap on the wrist,

Take the case of a PE teacher who was unrepentant when found to have been involved with his 15-year old student. Did he get a prison sentence?

Nope.

What about the maximum suspension of 5 years?

Nope.

Why not?

The court ruled that he was provided with an “insufficient ethical training.“

A HIGH school physical education teacher who had an intense sexual relationship with a female student has received a softer punishment because of insufficient ethical training.

Queensland’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal has resisted imposing a full five-year suspension on Daniel Kyei, 25, despite the teacher expressing little remorse for the 19-month affair, which began with kissing and sexually charged text messages when the girl was only 15.

Mr Kyei admitted arranging sexual encounters with the girl around her 16th birthday in December 2010, which took place at the teacher’s home, at school during school hours, by webcam on the internet and at a park near Mr Kyei’s Brisbane home.

The Queensland College of Teachers lobbied the tribunal to impose a five-year suspension on the man, but the tribunal argued there were “mitigating factors” and suspended him for three years only.

“These include Mr Kyei’s youth and inexperience as a teacher combined with an apparent lack of practical support and ethical training provided to him, and his co-operation with . . . this disciplinary action,” the tribunal said on Monday.

“He has not expressed in his submissions to QCAT any remorse for the impact that his conduct may have had on (the student) or any regret over his conduct. However, in the course of interviews during the investigation . . . he acknowledged that his actions are ‘inexcusable’.”

Mr Kyei taught the girl in Year 9 in 2009 and Year 10 in 2010 at a Christian-affiliated school in suburban Brisbane.

This story makes me so angry!

 

Click on the link to read Child Commits Suicide Due to Alleged Systematic Bullying and Inept Teachers

Click on the link to read The Cure for Suicide Isn’t Another Educational Program 

Click on the link to read Sick Teachers Need to be Arrested not Fired!

 

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Posted in Professional Conduct | Leave a Comment »

A Long School Day With No Time to Eat

August 28, 2012

It is just bewildering how some schools struggle to provide enough time for children to finish their lunches:

Two sixth-graders at a Minneapolis public school say kids in the district are being forced to gobble down food at lunch because they have only 15 minutes to eat — which in reality is more like 10 — and that schedules like this are making kids feel sick and contributing to the country’s obesity epidemic.

Talia Bradley and Antonia Ritter, students at Seward Montessori School, wrote about the problem in the Star Tribune, saying:

“Having to rush to eat is part of the reason for the obesity epidemic, eating disorders, indigestion and kids not doing well in school. There is research that proves all of these points. Kids just need more time to eat at school.

Rushing to eat high-calorie meals at school, or at home, is the cause for the gastroesophageal reflux. This is often called heartburn. Heartburn feels bad — the symptoms are burning in the chest, overall chest pain, burning in the throat, difficulty swallowing, food sticking in middle of the chest or throat, sore throat and cough.”

Click on the link to read my post on 6 Strategies for Promoting Healthy Food to Kids.

Click on the link to read 5 Ways to Get Kids Active

Click on the link to read Food Giants Marketing Unhealthy Kids Foods as Healthy

Click on the link to read Good Heavens! It’s the Lunch Box Police!

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Posted in Nutrition | Leave a Comment »

A Mother’s Punishment For Her Pot Smoking Son (Video)

August 28, 2012

Good on April Mathison for doing her best to get her son on the right track:

“Smoked Pot, got caught. Don’t I look cool? Not.”

That’s what was written on the sandwich board-style sign that Brandon Mathison, 13, wore as he walked back and forth along an intersection in South Carolina, Wave3.com reports.

“Time outs and taking things away just doesn’t work any more. Sometimes a little public humility is what they need nowadays to get a point across,” the boy’s mother, April Mathison, told the news outlet.

Mathison said that if the display prevents even one child from thinking about smoking marijuana, then she will feel she has done her job as a parent. But she’s not the only parent to use the tactic on her child.

Click on the link to read Inspirational Dad Competes In Triathlon With Daughter Who Has Cerebral Palsy

Click on the link to read Brilliant Rap Song By Parents About Parenting

Click on the link to read 20 Tips to Ensuring Your Kids Find You Embarrassing

Click on the link to read This is What You Get for Doing Your Homework

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Posted in Parenting | 5 Comments »

The Time When I Don’t Care About Bullying

August 28, 2012

If you are being bullied, or have been bullied, you are entitled to the greatest of sympathy and support. But there is a scenario where bullying doesn’t entitle you to the least bit of sympathy. People who take out their hardships on others by shooting them in cold blood deserve no sympathy for their actions.

I’m sick of bullying used as an excuse for evil and repulsive behaviour:

A suspect is in custody following a shooting at Perry Hall High School in Maryland Monday morning, and sources say the incident may have been motivated by school bullying.

“It appears this was a one-on-one grudge situation,” a police source told CBS News.

A student reportedly entered the school cafeteria and shot another student in the back by firing at random, according to WJZ-TV. Students report that teachers tackled the suspect, and an estimated 200 students were in the cafeteria at the time. One student was shot and has been flown to a hospital for treatment.

One Facebook page that is being passed around as belonging to the suspect bias this last update: “First day of school, last day of my life. t(~_~t), f— the world.”

An unconfirmed post on a Democratic Underground forum notes that the suspect was bullied over the summer, and “was one of the all-in-black/trenchcoat types.“

“We send our students to school to be safe and this is a horrible way to start a school year,” Maryland State Schools Superintendent Lillian Lowery told Perry Hall Patch.

Click on the link to read Explaining the Colorado Movie Theater Shooting to Children

Click on the link to read Don’t Even Try to Huminise James Holmes

Click on the link to read How Can Facebook Allow James Holmes Tribute Pages?

Click on the link to read The Need to Blame Anything and Everything for the Colorado Shootings

Click on the link to read Insensitive ‘Parent Bashers’ Take Aim at Grieving Colorado Parents

Click on the link to read Leave Imperfect Parents Alone!

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Posted in Bullying | Leave a Comment »

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