Kids, Guns, Schools -- I Hate Those Words Together

If you haven't been following the news lately, you may have missed this recent story about an 8th grade student who was shot and killed at his school on Wednesday.

Evidently, the student was carrying a pellet gun that looked like a real gun, walked into classroom, punched another student in the face, and wandered the halls with his gun in hand. When the police responded, they offered the student multiple opportunities to put the gun down but he didn't comply. The rest is sketchy right now, but it resulted in the student being shot and killed by police officers.

The boy's parents are understandably upset and enraged. They are claiming the boy should have been shot only once and simply disabled or taken down. The police have issued a preliminary statement saying that they believe the shots were justified.

So, this begs the inevitable question.... Who's right?

I can't imagine being the parents of a son or daughter who has been shot and killed at school by a police officer. I'm sure I would have a million questions and I'm sure my initial response would be one of anger and denial.

Likewise, I can't imagine being the police officers who had to shoot an 8th grade boy. I am friends with several police officers and I can tell you that they never, ever want to shoot anyone. They would much rather resolve the issue peacefully. The trauma of shooting someone is profound. It's not something they want to go through. Especially when that someone is a 15 year old boy.

Let's also consider the rest of the students in the school and the teachers, custodians, cooks, secretaries, counselors, paraprofessionals, aides, visitors and everyone else there. What a traumatic event this must have been for them. Many of them will probably require psychological counseling and will live with the sounds of those guns going off and of seeing the dead body of a classmate, friend, enemy, student.

All of this because one boy, aged 15, brought a damn pellet gun to school and refused to put it down when instructed by the police. Remember, the police could not identify it as a pellet gun and had to assume that it was a real gun capable of inflicting real damage.

I'm pissed off at the boy for being so stupid as to bring the gun in the first place. I'm pissed off at the boy for thinking that doing something like this would resolve some problem. I'm pissed off at the boy for refusing to put the gun down when instructed by police officers. Mostly, I'm pissed off at the boy for not giving a damn about anyone but himself.

Bringing a gun or any weapon to school is a selfish act. It is reprehensible and inexcusable. In the world we operate in, it's well known that bringing a gun to school is tantamount to walking into a firing squad. Unless this boy is mentally ill, he had to know that he carried the very real risk of dying that day. How sad and tragic that his life and the lives of others meant so little to him.

If the story is accurate, the police officers were justified in their shooting. Police officers do not draw their weapons with the intent to maim or injure. Once the weapon is drawn, the intent is to eliminate the threat the other person presents. I'm sure there will be a lawsuit, investigations, allegations, etc. However, the facts remain the same:
1. A boy brought a pellet gun to school.
2. He was asked to put it down several times.
3. He was shot and killed because of his refusal to comply.
4. Parents have lost a son.
5. Hundreds of lives have been impacted because of this boy's selfish decision.

Some days, I hate this world we live in.

I've been Snark Attacked!

I received the following comment from a blog reader:

Not to be snarky, but it's easy to sit on the outside, after having walked away from a great opportunity to make a difference, and take pot shots. So many of your posts so far have been extremely critical of education and those who are working in the field. But people like you who bail are just as much to blame. As they say, those who can to, those who can't write a blog and cast stones.

You can read my response in the the blog post on Settling for Mediocrity. Because, according to the poster, I'm a quitter, I'm partially responsible for the current state of education and am a stone caster, I feel the need to respond in a broader forum.

Statement 1: Not to be snarky, but it's easy to sit on the outside, after having walked away from a great opportunity to make a difference, and take pot shots.

My response: Starting a comment with the phrase: "Not to be snarky, but..." is an automatic RED FLAG for me. Your intent is clear, though, stated inversely: you intend to be snarky. My radar is up and I'm preparing for the attack. It's the two words "snarky" and "but" that gave you away. Next time, start off by complimenting me. That'll disarm me a bit and I wont be prepared for the attack.

As for the comment about sitting on the outside...that's a false statement. I'm inside schools almost daily. Most of the time I'm in several schools a day. I meet with principals, teachers, counselors, secretaries and others. As I discuss their school's needs, I consistently hear the same lamentations about the state of education. I've yet to meet someone who thinks it is fine as it is. You can call my posts "potshots" but I call them "the ugly truth." I do still make a difference in education. I just do it in a different way now. What is it that you do that makes a difference in the lives of children?

Statement 2: But people like you who bail are just as much to blame. As they say, those who can to, those who can't write a blog and cast stones.

My Response: You call it bailing; I call it saving myself. I have a wife and two children who need me. My previous job was taking away a ton of my family time. It was also negatively impacting my health. I make no apologies and no excuses for the decision I made. If you meant to give me some sense of guilt, you failed. My wife and kids would look at you and say: EPIC FAIL! I would agree with them.

As for your attempt at rewriting the insulting statement: Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Again, I would give you the response: EPIC FAIL! In many ways, my new job gives me the ability to "do" more. I would also suggest that you proofread your final snark statement. It lost serious impact with the word "to" instead of "do"...just saying.

Finally, I would say to you... THANK YOU for responding and having an opinion! The purpose of this blog is to get people to think more about education and why we are failing to serve the vast majority of the students. It's time to change the system and to find something that truly prepares these students for the world that awaits them. Mediocrity is not acceptable!

Settling for Mediocrity

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following is my opinion. You don't have to agree with me. You should think for yourself, do some research, ask some questions and form your own opinion. You should also know that I'm speaking in broad generalities and about the majority of schools in America. It is also important to note that I'm not singling out public schools. I'm referencing what I believe to be the current state of education today.

No Child Left Behind is a great slogan. Who can argue with it? It's a noble idea and it resonates with all of us. NCLB became law on January 8, 2002. After 10 years, students are still being left behind. Why is that?

It seems to me that one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in revitalizing and revolutionizing the educational system in the United States is to begin by accepting the fact that the focus in most schools is two-fold:

1. Maintain or advance the average student.

2. Remediate and advance the poor student to a status of average and keep him/her there.

I know some of you will immediately start talking about gifted education and will assume that I've left it out of the mix by accident. I haven't. Quite simply put, the state of education for the gifted child is nothing short of abysmal.

Let's take a brief look at the purpose of education today. If you read most school mission statements, vision statements, values statements, goals, objectives, action plans, etc. you will predominately see rhetorical statements about making students "life-long learners" or about educating each child to his/her potential, or about ensuring each student receives an education that will prepare him/her for "the global workplace."

I want you to look at your local school's mission, vision, values, improvement plans and other documents. Most are available online. If they are not, you should be asking your school why they aren't. Most of what you will read will fall into one of the broader generalizations I listed above.

Now, ask yourself this question, "Is that what I want for my child?" Or, ask this, "Is that adequate?" Or, how about asking this one, "What, exactly, does that mean and what, exactly, does that look like at the central office, in the main office of each building, in each classroom, and elsewhere throughout the district?"

Next, go find some teachers in that district and ask them, "What is the district's Mission Statement? Vision Statement? Values Statement?" I'm willing to bet you your favorite drink at your favorite coffeehouse that no one you ask can answer that without looking it up. If you find someone who does know it, ask them this, "How does that relate to what you do as a teacher or administrator? How are you fulfilling that mission, vision, values, etc.?"

In a reformed educational system, I believe the Mission, Vision and Values of every school system ought to be stated similar to this:

Mission: The mission of this school system is to teach to each child as though he or she has a

genius I.Q.

Vision: In this school system, we recognize that all children, indeed all adults, have different strengths and weaknesses. In this school, each child is taught according to his/her strengths first and weaknesses second. We will focus on what that child does well and we will push him/her to excel in those areas. We will work on areas of weakness so that the student has a grasp of the key concepts and ideas so that an area of weakness cannot become an impediment to an area of strength.

Core Beliefs:

• Every student learns from successes and failures. Students will be allowed to fail at tasks so that they may try again and learn from mistakes. Making mistakes is essential to learning.
• Teachers will present essential information to students, but their primary role will be to guide each student as they embrace and hone their strengths and reduce their weaknesses
• Grade configurations are meaningless. We don't use them.
• Parents are the primary educator in their child's life and are expected to embrace that role and become active participants in their child's education.
• We will not give your child gratuitous and meaningless praise and accolades. Only excellence and exceptional achievements will be recognized and honored.
• Mediocrity is not acceptable. Everyone is capable of excellence.
• Truly gifted students will be given the most rigorous education possible. They will be pushed to their limits and more will be expected from them.
• Moral values and good character are essential attributes for all people. Administrators, teachers and students will be held to the highest standards.
• Like Physicians, we will do no harm.

In a nutshell, that's how I think schools ought to operate. Forget race, forget gender, forget socioeconomic status, forget the idea that getting everyone to average is the ideal state. The ideal state is excellence, regardless of race, gender, economics and even learning disabilities.

Right now, our schools are focused on churning out the future checkout people at WalMart, KMart, Target, etc. In most classrooms, teachers "teach to the middle" because it's safe. We need teachers teaching to the highest performers. The "middle" kids will love it because they will know they are being challenged and they will learn from the higher I Q kids. The low end kids and kids with true learning disabilities will learn more as well. They will be pushed to higher levels of understanding.

We swell with pride when we hear that a local high school has two National Merit Scholars. Two students and we get all warm and tingly and talk about how great our schools are. What about the 400 additional students who didn't make that list? Does that make us warm and tingly feeling? I'm willing to bet that there were more than two students in that class who were capable of being National Merit Scholars but didn't hit the mark because they sat in classes where "teaching to the middle" was the norm. In my opinion, that's doing great harm. Mediocrity begets mediocrity and it destroys excellence!

Let's take a look at the abysmal graduation rate in many schools. Does that give you a warm and tingly feeling, too? It makes my stomach hurt.

"The primary reason nearly half of the young adults gave for dropping out was that classes were uninteresting. Another major factor was that the students spent time with people who were uninterested in school. These were among the top reasons selected by students with high GPAs and those who were motivated to work hard.

In general, feeling unmotivated or uninspired to work hard was a significant factor in the drop outs’ discontent with school. In focus groups, the young adults said school was boring, they didn’t learn anything, and school was irrelevant. However, many of these respondents said they would have liked to have been inspired. Further, while a majority said their school’s graduation requirements were difficult, 66 percent said they would have worked harder if more, including higher academic standards and more studying and homework, had been demanded of them to earn a diploma."(Source: Center for Exceptional Children)

Does anyone else see the bigger picture here? I know, from firsthand experience, that we are not going to convince 100% of our students to graduate. Some are simply lazy or come from homes where education is seen as unimportant, or they suffer from a mental illness, drug addiction, etc. I know those kids are out there. But, what if 50% of the kids who dropped out in the last schol year were the respondents in the survey above and they don't suffer from any of the conditions I listed.

It's reported that up to 7,000 students drop out of school Every Day. You read that correctly. That's one student very 26 seconds. If that is accurate, and it should be since it comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, that's around 1.3MILLION students dropping out every year. If 50% of those students drop out because of the reasons listed by the CEC study, isn't that reason enough to completely rethink and transform education?

Don't we owe it to those 650,000 students who were disengaged, unmotivated and uninspired? Remember, too, that these students who dropped out did so because a parent or guardian let them. I'm sure there were a large number of students who didn't drop out but wanted to. They skated through with grades just above failing. Is that a quality education? Is that who you want working with, for or by you?

My point is this, the American educational system has decided to accept mediocrity. Instead, it should be striving for excellence. There is plenty of fault and blame to spread around. It doesn't matter who we blame, what matters is fixing the problem.

Go back and review your school's Mission, Vision and Values statements. Do they promote mediocrity or excellence? What are you going to do about it?

Technology and Transitions...Two Big Issues in Education Today

Are Computers the Answer to a Better Education: This NYTimes article looks at a Waldorf School that has NO TECHNOLOGY and educates the kids of some of Silicon Valley's Technogeniuses! After reading this article, what do you think about the use of technology in the classroom?

Transition Troubles: This article is from EDWeek. For a while now, there's been a focus on the transition issues associated with students when they leave middle or junior high schools and head into high schools. The solution, in many cases, has been to adopt a Freshman Academy model of some sort. Many of those have been quite successful. Ironically, while we've been so focused on the transition to high school, we've neglected to look at the impact of transitioning from elementary to middle or junior high. Give this a read. I've heard that the national Middle School Conference dealt with this issue quite extensively.

Education Pieces You Should Read

11 States Seek Relief from NCLB... President Obama and the DOE have offered states the opportunity to get relief from some of the expectations of NCLB in exchange for tightening their standards and some other concessions. This article, from The New York Times, briefly hits on the states that have applied so far and what they are doing to meet the requirements.

Middle School: The Critical Years... Is a series of articles from the New York Times worthy of the time to read them.

What if the Secret to Success is Failure... Is one of the most impactful pieces I've read in a while. This article is worthy of being read, reread, printed and distributed to all teachers, principals, school reformists, etc.

How to Get Fired... This is an example of one principal who lost his mind and got fired because of it. Quite frankly, he deserved it.

Fixing the Graduation Rate... This article takes a look at the disparity between states in graduation rate reporting. Missouri's system is pretty insane and very difficult to follow. Basically, if a student drops out as a sophomore, comes back to school six months later, then drops out again, he/she is counted in both the sophomore graduating class and in the junior graduating class. In theory, a student could be counted in four different graduation cohorts. It's a crazy formula that has needed revision for a long time. Unfortunately, this "fix" seems to be just as confusing as the old formula.

A Unique Way for Schools to Increase Cash Flow... How do you feel about schools placing advertising on their school buses, buildings, etc?

TED - The Video Site for Geeks, Nerds and Really Smart People Like Me and You

TED.com is one of my favorite websites. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. There are TED conferences hosted all over the world. The idea behind TED is to invite the greatest minds of the current age to a stage and have them give a 20 minute or less talk on a topic they are passionate about.

While some of the videos are mind-numbingly complex and/or boring, most of the ones I've watched have been nothing short of fascinating, motivational, thought-provoking, mind-bending, thought-altering and absolutely worth the 20 minutes it takes to watch one.

If you are in the field of education and are not watching some of these videos, I would strongly recommend that you give them a try. Most are absolutely usable in a classroom. Some will be more appropriate for older kids, but there are certainly videos on here that will appeal to elementary and middle school-aged students.
Give it a try and let me know what you find.



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More Educational Foolishness: Why Math Sucks!

If you've read my earlier post about not harming the boy child, this will make a bit more sense.

Math is the bane of my existence. I can add, subtract, multiply, divide, and even handle simple fractions. However, when you start giving me word problems, I FREAK! I also do not understand algebra, geometry, trigonometry, or calculus. Calculus is that nasty stuff that builds up on your teeth no matter how obsessive/compulsive you are about dental hygiene. What does that have to do with math? Does my dentist count up the little calculus pieces for some research project? I have no earthly idea what Trigonometry is.

Here's an example of a problem The Boy Child needed help with: Bob bought 41 apples and oranges. He bought 14 more apples than oranges. How many apples and oranges did he buy?

Before we try to solve this, I have some questions:
1. Why does Bob need 41 apples and oranges? Is there an impending fruit shortage?
2. Why does Bob favor the apple over the orange? Is Bob secretly prejudiced against the orange but bought them because he wanted to look like he's not an anti-orangite?
3. If Bob is making fruit salad, that's a hell of a salad and it's going to be a boring fruit salad!
4. Why was some dude who writes math problems stalking Bob in the fruit aisle? Somebody needs to get a life!
5. When Bob checked out at the grocery store, did the checker question him about his excessive fruit purchase?
6. Is Bob attempting to make some form of new meth that doesn't require pseudoephedrine?
7. Will state and federal lawmakers begin discussing placing fruit behind locked doors and limit the number of apples and oranges you can buy?
8. Why is it anyone else's business what kind and how many apples and oranges Bob bought?

Bob needs to watch his back! People are stalking him and reporting his fruit purchases. Personally, I think Bob needs to make a public statement explaining his behavior!

Now, on to solving the problem. I took one look at that problem, rebuked it, and called The Spouse in!

Here's what I don't get...when will I or my children ever give a fat rat's tail about how many more apples than oranges some man buys? Bob bought them. He knows how many he has of each. Just ask him and move on. When will I or my children ever be in a situation where figuring out something like this will matter? I defy you to give me a real life instance where this is applicable.

I think we need to focus on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing! Leave Bob and his apples and oranges alone! (After he issues that public explanation!)

Back to Some Education Related Nonsense

It's time to get back to a little education related nonsense. One of the factors in my decision to leave as a principal involved the incredible amount of paperwork I had to push around and fill out.

When I left the classroom to become an assistant principal, I had this dream that I would spend the vast majority of my day moving in and out of classrooms. I wanted to be a true Educational Leader in my building. I had plenty of knowledge and I'd had some of the best professional development and training one could ever get.

I'd also had several outstanding examples of leadership in the likes of Brother David Migliorino, principal of Notre Dame Regional High School, Mr. Dennis Parham, principal of Jackson Junior High and Mr. Cory Crosnoe, current principal of Jackson Junior High. All three had different styles and I envisioned myself as being able to take the very best of each of them, add it to my own style and making myself "Super Principal/Educational Leader".

The realty was, I spent that first year breaking up fights, dealing with emerging gangs, working with crazy parents and monitoring every sort of athletic and extra-curricular event. Precious little of my time was actually spent in the classrooms. With each fight I had to break up or each crazy parent I had to deal with came a pile of paperwork. Each incident had to be recorded on paper and in the computer. Parents wanted to come and talk about why their child was getting a detention or suspension or whatever. Each meeting required documentation. I soon learned that when I wasn't breaking up an argument or dealing with a student in crisis, I was filling out all the paperwork necessary to document it.

At the time, I was younger and more ambitious and kept hoping and thinking that once I got the discipline business settled, I would have more time for the classroom visits. I was hired, after all, because I had a ton of experience with the MAP test. I'd done everything from content/bias review, item analysis, item writing, reading selection, setting scoring guides, scoring the test. I'd worked on every imaginable piece of the MAP Communication Arts test. I had even spent three weeks that summer in Sacramento, California working with a few others from the state and CTB McGraw/Hill on developing future tests. I knew how that test worked inside and out and I knew how to defeat it!

All I needed was time. Time with the Communication Arts teachers and time in the classrooms. That time was never there.

I gave some inservices to the Comm Arts staff and I encouraged them to change their instruction. As in most schools, some tried it and liked the suggestions, others tried it and didn't like it and others simply hoped I would go away. That was to be expected, though. Change is hard and change in a school system is like rolling a 20 ton boulder up a moss-covered hill. It's hard work and you tend to slide back almost more than you progress forward.

As my first year turned into my second and third and fourth, I found that the discipline and other paperwork stayed the same and it became compounded by reports for the central office, reports for the board of education, reports for the state and reports for the staff. In my last year and a half or so, I felt like I sat in my office for 8-10 hours per day churning out paperwork.

One example of the ridiculous paperwork: We were a non-Title 1 school. As such, the sanctions of NCLB really didn't affect us. But, because we were an underperforming school, "we" (read "I") was responsible for writing a Non-Title 1 School Improvement Plan. It was required by the NCLB and the state. When I and another principal went to a meeting to find out how to write it, we were told that no one really knew how to write one because there was no form and really no guidelines. We knew we had to examine our scores, disaggregate our data and develop some plan to improve but we had no idea how to format it or what, exactly, "they" were looking for.

As it turns out, "they" were a nonentity. I worked hard to put together a plan that I thought would benefit my school and I held meetings with department chairs, parents, students and community members. I wrote and wrote and wrote. I had data analysis, explanations, suggestions for improvements, goals, strategies, action steps, measurable outcomes.... I had it all. Finally, I submitted my plan to the board office. It was reviewed, rubber-stamped and passed on up the chain. I felt good! I had a plan and I could defend it if needed.

At a meeting with some state department folks, someone asked about those Non-Title 1 School Improvement Plans and who was reading them at the state level and how would we know if they were acceptable or not. The state person stumbled around and finally admitted that, since they were not tied to federal dollars, no one was looking at them or monitoring them. Only the Title 1 plans were being reviewed and monitored.

It was at that moment that I realized I was merely a mouse on a treadmill. I was running as hard and as fast as I could and I was doing the best I could and I was going nowhere!

Each year, I had to crank one of those out. And, each year, in spite of it being an exercise in futility, I did my best. To my knowledge, the only people who looked at them were my superiors at the central office. No one held me accountable for the plan and no one looked at it after the board approved it. I doubt that the board members looked at it.

This post is getting long, but I think you get a small glimpse of the amount of paperwork I found myself under. Each year, something new was added: Principal's Action Plan, Building Improvement Plan, District Improvement Plan, discipline reports by grade, gender, ethnicity, event, reports to the school board on various activities and special classes in the building, reports to the central office on emergency procedure drills, event reports if we had an emergency, police reports, witness statements, truancy reports, suspension letters, and MAP Test Plans, MAP Data Analysis reports by grade, subject tested, sub-group, etc.

The paperwork caused paralysis in the running of the school and, because of that, I became caught in a vicious cycle of trying to juggle the paperwork with the other demands of the job. More on that, later.

I intended for this to be a short post but it's turned out to be rather lengthy. If you stayed with me, I thank you. I'll be posting more about the trials and tribulations of trying to be an Educationl Leader. Stay tuned!