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"It's Time to Knock off the Education Conspiracy Theories"

by Kathleen

Jan 10, 2014

In the January issue of Teachers.Net Gazette, teacher Sharon Thomas writes:

Conspiracy theories are sexy. They are mysterious, complex, and brooding. They make film (and books and television and family reunions) fun. As with JFK, however, they rarely hold up in the light of day.

In schools (surrounded by the smell of overcooked l...See More

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Students Smoking At School

by Kristine

Dec 17, 2013

I have to vent, but I'd also like people to comment if so inclined. Yesterday, while doing hall duty, I noticed a girl heading to the girls' room. After about 10 minutes, she still hadn't come out, so I went to check on her. It's a small bathroom (3 stalls), and I could immediately see and smell cigarette smoke when I went in. This particular stude...See More

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Kristine It's actually 10 hours detention not 6 when you include the 4 hours of Saturday School. Trust me, our kids don't want to get that. And detention at our school comes with repetitive writing assignments. For each hour of detention, a student has to write an assigned sentence 100 times. So with a total of 10 hours of detention, that girl would have ha...See MoreIt's actually 10 hours detention not 6 when you include the 4 hours of Saturday School. Trust me, our kids don't want to get that. And detention at our school comes with repetitive writing assignments. For each hour of detention, a student has to write an assigned sentence 100 times. So with a total of 10 hours of detention, that girl would have had to write a sentence 1,000 times. But now since it's only 1 hour for loitering she gets off with just 100 times.

But even more so than the punishment, the so-called crackdown is supposed to be about enforcement. The admiminstration is really pushing us to be more vigilant in catching and actually reporting smokers. Furthermore, we have a lot more staff assigned to hall duty and other forms of supervision designed to catch smokers. But that only makes it more frustrating that I put in the effort and nothing really happens when a girl is caught is smoking in the girls' room.

On 12/18/13, Trying again wrote: > 6 hours of detention is "cracking down"? In my county, smoking is > a 3-day suspension. > > On 12/18/13, Teri wrote: >> On 12/17/13, Kristine wrote: >>> I have to vent, but I'd also like people to comment if >>> so inclined. Yesterday, while doing hall duty, I noticed a >>> girl heading to the girls' room. After about 10 minutes, >>> she still hadn't come out, so I went to check on her. It's >>> a small bathroom (3 stalls), and I could immediately see >>> and smell cigarette smoke when I went in. This particular >>> student was the only one in the girls' room at the time. Of >>> course, I immediately wrote her up for smoking in the >>> girls' room. This year, we are supposed to be cracking down >>> on students smoking in school bathrooms, and the punishment >>> is supposed to be 3 days extended detention (that's 2 hours >>> after school each day) and a Saturday school detention (4 >>> hours Saturday morning). >>> >>> But this girl vehemently denied that she was smoking >>> in the girls' room. She said she didn't smoke at all, even >>> though she got written up for it twice last year. She said >>> she was just "haning out" in the girls' room to get out of >>> class for a while. So the Vice-Principal changes it to >>> simply "Loitering in the Girls' Room" and she'll have to >>> serve a regular detention (1 hour) after school today. >>> >>> And one more thing. Did I mention that the girl's >>> mother is Vice-President of the Board of Education?

Dec 19, 2013

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JJ I can understand your frustration, but you did the right thing by writing her up, and after that there is nothing else you can do, it is in the Admin's hands. There are double standards all of the time, whether it be school, business, politics. Frustrating. Doesn't the parent care the kid is smoking? If you saw the cigarette smoke, I would say that...See More