Letters to the Editor...
Accountability
I work in a school environment where
parent accountability is demanded (by
order of the Unit commander) and the
results are dramatic. I teach in a DoDEA
school and when there is a problem or
concern, the first contact is the
sponsoror (parent); the second is to the
parent's unit commander. No parent wants
to be "standing tall" in front of his or
her commander explaining why they didn't
respond to the school's request for
action. The other side of the coin is
that there are lots of free resources
available to the parents to get help with
the child. Serious discipline problems are rare and
delt with swiftly and decisively. The
Base Support Batallion Commmander (in our
case) has sole discretion as "Judge, Jury
and executioner". If a student is
completely out of control and the parent
can't "fix" the problem, the student is
barred from the school, military post and
becomes IYP (It's your problem) to the
parent. The student loses his or her
status as a "sponsored dependent" and has
to go live with a stateside relative or
attend a boarding school for the remainder
of the parent's tour. The majority of our students have two
parents in the home and all of them have a
reasonable family income. The Army does
not have high educational requirements for
enlisted personnel, so not all parents are
well equipped to help students academicly,
but they are very supportive of the
teachers and often very involved with the
school activities. If I "invite" a parent to come and
unobtrusively observe their son or
daughter's behavior in class, their
supervisor willingly lets them off to be
there. The parents thank me for making
them aware of problems before they become
serious. What a contrast from my last school where
the majority of the students were
considered "at risk" and parents would
often be members of the same gangs as the
kids. I am not afraid that my house will
be "shot" up if I discipline a student or
that a parent will curse and threaten me
for picking on his kid. I feel safe in my
classrooom and can direct my energies to
my real job, teaching. I won't say that my students are perfect
or always behave. After all they are
teenagers and testing the limits of
society. The difference is that the
society in which they live has much more
rigid limits and the parents must keep
their children within those limits (by
order of the BSB commander). Ron Keeler (aka Whitebeard)
Whitebeard, ronkeeler@hotmail.com,
1/19/02
This month's letters:
Accountability, 1/31/02, by keccles.
Accountability, 1/26/02, by Margaret.
Parent Accountability, 1/24/02, by Lori.
Accountability, 1/24/02, by Keccles.
Accountability, 1/19/02, by Whitebeard.
Proven Research, 1/09/02, by Kara Sherfick.
Keccles, 1/08/02, by Stacy.
Parent Accountability, 1/08/02, by Marilyn Treuil.
school auction, 1/08/02, by ginger taylor /canaan elementary pto.
Parent Accountability, 1/07/02, by Bill Page.
Accountability, 1/07/02, by Keccles.
It's about time we make them accountable!, 1/06/02, by Mkocar.
Do we need them to be accountable?, 1/06/02, by Stacy.
Parent Accountability, 1/06/02, by Little John.
Parent accountability; teacher responsibility, 1/06/02, by Bill Page.
Parent Accountability - the overachiever, 1/05/02, by Don.
Parent accountability, 1/05/02, by Doodah.
Parent Accountability, 1/05/02, by Jacque/WA/K-1.
Parent accountability, 1/05/02, by Bill T.
parent accountability, 1/05/02, by sandy m.s..
Parent accountability, 1/05/02, by JoAnn.
Parent Accountability, 1/05/02, by a middle school teacher.
Parent Accountability, 1/05/02, by another 5th grade teacher.
Parent Accountability, 1/05/02, by Julie.
No tax rebate, surcharge them, or tuition refund incentive, 1/05/02, by George.
parent accountability, 1/05/02, by jen.
Parent accountability, 1/05/02, by MaryBeth.
Parent accountability, 1/05/02, by cato.
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