As previously stated in this blog, there is a trend among some teachers to either allow student bullying under the guise of “teacher-induced peer pressure“, which is what I’m going to label that, or direct cursing and name-calling. I saw and addressed this issue in the prisons. Either offense should result in severe consequences when it is just another form of child abuse. However the problem lies in that the district often protects the teacher rather than addresses the parents‘ concerns–at least that is the case where I live.
It got so bad that a parent had her son take HER cell phone into the classroom to film the abusive behavior. When she then brought it to the attention of the principal, instead of focusing on what was done to her child, they were more concerned that the rule in the school handbook about the cell phone was violated and threatened severe consequences for her son, banned her from coming onto campus over it, etc. Listen up, people…Schools are not prisons and nor should the districts be allowed to run them as such. As long as a parent is not creating a disturbance, there is no reason why the person cannot visit the classroom. This district is trying to cover up the real problem here and that is more teachers manipulating students into bullying one another–OR they are directly bullying themselves under the sanction of the district.
This cannot be tolerated. Parents MUST speak up and start making their voices heard in the district. These people do not OWN your children! These children are not inmates and it is time to return our classrooms in this country into sanctuaries of learning. Children must be taught BY parents to report this. Parents need to sit down with their children and explain to them that teachers are NOT ALLOWED to act in a certain way.
It is time to put a stop to this and rid our districts of people who are behind it. Parents, this is the usual “chain of command” when faced with any issue requiring state involvement in TX. 1. Principal 2. Superintendent 3. School board meeting (get scheduled to speak if necessary prior to the meeting) 4. Texas Education Agency.
I promise you if TEA gets it, they won’t take the case lightly. They will investigate it thoroughly so keep recordings, journals, etc…but it is imperative that you go through the chain of command PRIOR to going to TEA. The reason many teachers still get away with this is because parents are often too afraid of being harassed by local authorities and/or administrators in their district. IT is time to fight back for the sake our the children, people. Do no tolerate it! It is the taxpayers (meaning us) that sign their paychecks with the taxes taken out every year so these issues MUST be effectively handled.
Also, someone put forth a proposal in this district to allow teachers to conceal/carry on campus this week. This is ludicrous. Until the last teacher who is bullying is gone, they are the last persons I want to see with a gun.
I am not sure what the chain of command is in other states, but it is best to follow this to avoid state boards from asking, “Why didn’t you go to (the principal, board, etc…)?” As long as you have taken proper steps prior, there should be no problem with getting this issue addressed.
The Haunted Pen 
With all due respect, not all teachers are this bad, and the ones who are need to be removed. I’m glad the kid was able to record the abuse on video. Someone should put it on YouTube and send a link to the proper authorities since the school didn’t seem interested in doing anything about it.
Teaching seems to attract mostly two kinds of people: First, good people who are strained to the max trying to do right by the kids in a totally screwed up system. The other kind seems to be sociopaths. I’ve had both kinds of teachers in school in Kentucky. The sociopaths also seem to be largely bullet proof in ways that boggle my mind to this day. My fiancee is a teacher. She taught English at Roosevelt High School in Dallas and she taught drama at a middle school here in Kentucky before she and 18 fellow teachers were let go because they were about to get tenure. I’ve seen my fiancee put in insane hours and spend too much of her own money to see her drama students get what they need. She literally had 208 kids a day. The good teachers carry an insane burden. The bad teachers and especially administrators create an insane burden. It is a profession in America that has completely lost its mind.
But if you want to turn this around, find a way to get schools to forsake the stupid corporate factory model they’ve adopted in the last 10-20 years and also to put an end to the sports-industrial complex that has hi-jacked all of the schools. The modern American education system seems designed to grind up kids, ruin good teachers and reward corporate sociopaths who find a way to both game the system and profit from it. From what I’ve heard about TEA, I agree if they get the case, they’ll investigate. I don’t think Kentucky is anywhere near that good. Their teachers’ union is worthless compared to the union in Texas.
I never said all were bad. I also pointed out that this is happening where I reside. I have also known they tend to run off first year teachers who try to address the issue due to the good ‘ole boy network around here…I also stated that this is a trend among SOME teachers, Patrick. I agree that the ones doing this should be removed–and if kids talk at the lunch table, the kids shouldn’t be punished for it since teachers do this. Heck, even in the prisons, the offenders were allowed to talk at the table. This is something else that district gets petty on. Schools should not be ran like that either.
I saw that later when I re-read it. Forgive me if I’m a little defensive where teachers are concerned. I see my fiancee’ go through hell and see some of my friends either become former teachers or just burned out from all the crap they endure.
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Thank you so much. That was a good post that you wrote!
Thank you. I feel pretty protective of my fiancee so the lunacy of the modern American education system tends to get me fired up a bit.
@Patrick. Did you know most new teachers burn out within 5 years because of that…Sad isn’t it?
Sadly, I knew that. My fiancee has somewhat beaten the odds with the burnout because she’s very aware of the trend but I think had her contract been renewed this year combined with the looney bin of non support from her school, that would have probably have finally done it. She’s in grad school at the moment and the time away from teaching may end up helping. However to continue to be a teacher in Kentucky, teachers are required to get a near useless degree in education instead of their subject areas. My fiancee chose the technology aspect of it because the corporate b.s. is otherwise nearly unpalatable.