The Silence of Our Friends

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Bullying Chatboard

The Silence of Our Friends

by Debra Karr

Nov 17, 2011

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Student Teaching Bullying By: Debra Karr

It was 11:00 AM on this Thursday morning, one month into my student teaching semester. I had just finished teaching Charlotte Evensen’s freshman English class at Warren High School in the Downey Unified School District. Evensen was one of two master teachers who supervised me and had been in the room during my entire lesson. The students had just left the classroom and Evensen called me to her desk. “Please come back and see me at 6th period” she said. 6th period was nearly three hours away, so I presumed that what she needed to tell me wasn’t that pressing. I obliged, and came back to see her during 6th period. It was now roughly 2PM. Evensen and I stood in her empty classroom. She began, “You will no longer be doing group work in my classroom.” “Fine” I said, “but may I ask why? The group...See More"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Student Teaching Bullying By: Debra Karr

It was 11:00 AM on this Thursday morning, one month into my student teaching semester. I had just finished teaching Charlotte Evensen’s freshman English class at Warren High School in the Downey Unified School District. Evensen was one of two master teachers who supervised me and had been in the room during my entire lesson. The students had just left the classroom and Evensen called me to her desk. “Please come back and see me at 6th period” she said. 6th period was nearly three hours away, so I presumed that what she needed to tell me wasn’t that pressing. I obliged, and came back to see her during 6th period. It was now roughly 2PM. Evensen and I stood in her empty classroom. She began, “You will no longer be doing group work in my classroom.” “Fine” I said, “but may I ask why? The group work was a teaching strategy strongly suggested by my teaching credential program at California State University Long Beach (CSULB) and I was just implementing it.” “Well you will not be doing it here”, she continued, “Because while you were teaching with group work this morning, students were being sexually harassed and bullied.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Really?” I asked, “Which students were being bullied and sexually harassed ? And where were they sitting?” Evensen did not give me specific names-just gestured vaguely to one side of the room and barked, “those kids over there.” I then said, “Let me get this straight… if students were being bullied and sexually harassed almost 3 hours ago, as you allege, why did you sit there and let it happen?” Like a politician that dodges a question, she responded with some general rant about how she was trying to help me. I wrote down this conversation between her and I immediately and put it into my journal, which is required by CSULB’s credential program. I then went home and copied this conversation into an email to my University Supervisor Dianne Vipond. I then received an email from Vipond telling me that I would no longer be working with Evanson, but to continue my student teaching and report to work on Monday. That Monday I sat in an English Teacher meeting with my other Master Teacher-Monica Shulman. 20 minutes into the meeting, there was a knock at the door. The principal of the school John Harris and the English Department Chair Shirley Stewart stood in the door jamb. Ms. Stewart said, “Ms. Karr collect your things and come with us”. I went outside with them, and Harris said, “We need you to leave campus until this thing is straightened out. We’ll call you when it’s time to come back.” Feeling criminalized, I went around the corner to the Starbucks. Two hours later I received a call from Vipond telling me that I should just go home and that I’ll be hearing from her later. 7PM that evening I was told by Vipond that I am no longer allowed on the Warren Campus and that I’m not allowed to contact any staff member, student or parent of Warren HS or the Downey Unified School District. I wrote an email to Dr. Karen Hakim Butt the now interim Associate Dean of the College of Education at CSULB requesting further clarification and all I got back was an email from Downey Unified and CSULB saying that I was “not a proper fit”. In sum, they kicked me out of student teaching with no investigation, no inquiry as to what transpired; no due diligence, no recourse. I tried to get my money back for the last student teaching semester, but the accounting office told me they needed some special code from Dr. Hakim Butt who was out of the office during the refund period, so CSULB still charged me. 3 years of blood, sweat, tears, precious time and a mountain of student loans with no teaching license to show for it all (I've been told that Lesson Planet has me listed as having one- that's an error, I only have a Certificate of Clearance and a Master of Arts). Unfortunately, my experience is not the only one. This is how these corrupt academics earn their bloated salaries.

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Muhamad Hasan Rafiq On 11/17/11, Debra Karr wrote: > "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, > but the silence of our friends." - Dr. Martin Luther King > Jr. > > Student Teaching Bullying By: Debra Karr > > It was 11:00 AM on this Thursday morning, one month into my > student teaching semester. I had just finished teaching...See MoreOn 11/17/11, Debra Karr wrote: > "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, > but the silence of our friends." - Dr. Martin Luther King > Jr. > > Student Teaching Bullying By: Debra Karr > > It was 11:00 AM on this Thursday morning, one month into my > student teaching semester. I had just finished teaching > Charlotte Evensen’s freshman English class at Warren High > School in the Downey Unified School District. Evensen was > one of two master teachers who supervised me and had been > in the room during my entire lesson. The students had just > left the classroom and Evensen called me to her > desk. “Please come back and see me at 6th period” she said. > 6th period was nearly three hours away, so I presumed that > what she needed to tell me wasn’t that pressing. I obliged, > and came back to see her during 6th period. > It was now roughly 2PM. Evensen and I stood in her empty > classroom. She began, “You will no longer be doing group > work in my classroom.” > “Fine” I said, “but may I ask why? The group work was a > teaching strategy strongly suggested by my teaching > credential program at California State University Long > Beach (CSULB) and I was just implementing it.” > “Well you will not be doing it here”, she > continued, “Because while you were teaching with group work > this morning, students were being sexually harassed and > bullied.” > I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Really?” I > asked, “Which students were being bullied and sexually > harassed ? And where were they sitting?” > Evensen did not give me specific names-just gestured > vaguely to one side of the room and barked, “those kids > over there.” > I then said, “Let me get this straight… if students were > being bullied and sexually harassed almost 3 hours ago, as > you allege, why did you sit there and let it happen?” > Like a politician that dodges a question, she responded > with some general rant about how she was trying to help me. > I wrote down this conversation between her and I > immediately and put it into my journal, which is required > by CSULB’s credential program. I then went home and copied > this conversation into an email to my University Supervisor > Dianne Vipond. > I then received an email from Vipond telling me that I > would no longer be working with Evanson, but to continue my > student teaching and report to work on Monday. > That Monday I sat in an English Teacher meeting with my > other Master Teacher-Monica Shulman. 20 minutes into the > meeting, there was a knock at the door. The principal of > the school John Harris and the English Department Chair > Shirley Stewart stood in the door jamb. Ms. Stewart > said, “Ms. Karr collect your things and come with us”. I > went outside with them, and Harris said, “We need you to > leave campus until this thing is straightened out. We’ll > call you when it’s time to come back.” Feeling > criminalized, I went around the corner to the Starbucks. > Two hours later I received a call from Vipond telling me > that I should just go home and that I’ll be hearing from > her later. > 7PM that evening I was told by Vipond that I am no longer > allowed on the Warren Campus and that I’m not allowed to > contact any staff member, student or parent of Warren HS or > the Downey Unified School District. > I wrote an email to Dr. Karen Hakim Butt the now interim > Associate Dean of the College of Education at CSULB > requesting further clarification and all I got back was an > email from Downey Unified and CSULB saying that I was “not > a proper fit”. In sum, they kicked me out of student > teaching with no investigation, no inquiry as to what > transpired; no due diligence, no recourse. > I tried to get my money back for the last student teaching > semester, but the accounting office told me they needed > some special code from Dr. Hakim Butt who was out of the > office during the refund period, so CSULB still charged me. > 3 years of blood, sweat, tears, precious time and a > mountain of student loans with no teaching license to show > for it all (I've been told that Lesson Planet has me listed > as having one- that's an error, I only have a Certificate > of Clearance and a Master of Arts). Unfortunately, my > experience is not the only > one. This is how these corrupt academics earn their bloated > salaries. > > > > > Hi I'm Hasan I also have almost the same experience like you my friends also keep silence about all the things that happen in our school. All the silence eventually made our school for closing down, maybe if there were people who want to speak up all this would never be happen. > > >

Dec 1, 2011

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