Friday, October 12: backpack letter re: school dance (see below)
Saturday, October 13: principal passes buck to Director of Health & P.E.
Monday, October 15: students report to cafeteria at lunchtime to serve group
Monday, October 15: Director of P.E. apologizes and explains to middle school parents
Wednesday, October 17: t/k
October 12, 2007
Dear Parents,
The first dance of the year for the students of IMS is on Friday, October 19, 2007. The dance runs from 7:30 to 9:30 P.M. These dances are chaperoned by the administration and staff of IMS. Only students living in the district who are in middle school may attend (a permission slip is required for students who are not at IMS). Contact the main office for further information.
The dance will take place in the Maher gym. Students should enter and exit through the door located by the student drop off area in front of the gym. The doors open at 7:20 and the dance begins at 7:30. Doors are normally closed at 7:45 and no one else will be admitted after 7:45 unless arrangements have been made via a note given to the principal prior to the evening of the dance.
The students are not permitted to leave the dance before 9:30 unless they are personally picked up by a parent or guardian who comes into the gym hallway to meet the child. Once a student leaves the dance he or she will not be readmitted. Parents should pick up students promptly at 9:30 P.M. at the drop off area in front of the gym building.
Admission to the dance is $3.00. Students may purchase tickets beginning Monday, October 15th in the morning at the school store or during lunch in the school lobby. Students may also purchase tickets at the dance, but they will have to wait in line to do so. Students who purchase tickets ahead of time must present the ticket at the dance in order to be admitted. They will not have to wait in line unless they have lost their ticket. However, if a ticket is lost, a new one will have to be purchased. Beverages and baked goods will be on sale. Children do not need more than $5.00 for the evening and should keep the money with them during the dance. All proceeds from the dance are used for Student Activity projects.
Backpacks are not allowed into the dance. Coats will be left in the library for the duration of the dance and students will not be allowed to return to the library at any time during the dance. Since there is no safe place for valuables to be left, students should leave valuables at home. The school cannot be responsible for money and/or valuables left in coat pockets.
Our dances are well supervised by the staff from 7:20 to 9:30. Parents are asked to pick up children promptly. Also, your child needs to know how to contact you while at the dance should the need arise for you to be called. If you have questions please feel free to call the school office.
Sincerely,
J.W.
Principal
black and Hispanic students in a Natl School of Excellence
news from nowhere, redux
meanwhile, somewhere in a parallel universe
things my child learned about gay women in school this week
also playing in a parallel universe
email to the principal, part 2
further
ktm-2 readers make up a word problem for IMS
profiles in courage
new talent at the forum
my tax dollars at work
character education emergency
invitation to the dance
healthfair
I count 18 rules inside this letter, but I lost count after awhile, so I may be off.
ReplyDeleteI sent an email to the principal asking him if parents are allowed to chaperone the dance.
ReplyDeleteHe sent an email back asking me to set up an appointment to discuss.
Nearly all of that seems reasonable, though poorly presented. Had the material been presented as a normal advertising flyer, I doubt you would have had a problem:
ReplyDelete"Tickets are $3.00. To avoid standing in line, buy them in the school store or in the lobby. Don't lose your ticket or you'll have to buy another one.
"Drop off and pick up: Drop your kids off at the school between 7:20 and 7:45 and pick them up between 9:15 and 9:30 in front of the gym building. Let us know if you need to arrange for a later drop off."
... and so on.
The actual security precautions are all common, and probably mostly reasonable. To my mind, the only real problem is one of tone, not content. To be fair, this tone problem may reflect the other problems at the school.
While I agree that your principal has
ReplyDeletediscipline issues and blew it with the Health Fair fiasco, I really don't see anything wrong with this particular letter. In fact I kind of like it. If I was sending my middle school daughter off to a dance I would want to know most of this information and I wouldn't send her unless I knew they were going to be supervised and not allowed to leave without my knowledge to wander around in the dark. I think middle schoolers still need rules. I remember middle school and what I remember isn't pleasant.
Rebecca
"Doors are normally closed at 7:45 and no one else will be admitted after 7:45 ... The students are not permitted to leave the dance before 9:30 unless ..."
ReplyDeleteThey can call it the Lockdown Dance.
"To be fair, this tone problem may reflect the other problems at the school."
To me, the tone is a big arrow pointing to other problems, such as the need to rely on a legal document rather than chaparones with common sense.
It sounds like you live in a very bad neighborhood.
It's overly wordy and unclear, but I don't see anything out of order on this. If anything, the particular policies seem to be well-thought out to handle the normal contingencies: backpacks and jackets kept separately are standard for keeping out drugs and weapons and for preventing theft. (If you don't believe those are actually problems in middle schools, think again.)
ReplyDeleteAs for parents chaperoning the dance, if your state law is anything like mine, parents (or anybody outside of the school) cannot be chaperones UNLESS they have gone through a criminal background check through the state police and are on an approved list. You may not like that, but we live in a litigious age, and as a teacher and coach, I am frankly more comfortable having things this way. (The background check is available for free, and thus is hardly an onerous burden.)
I've had a background check.
ReplyDeleteThis letter is completely unacceptable.
ReplyDelete18 rules, including one brand new rule (park and come to the door) - all imposed with zero consultation with parents.
There isn't a WORD of welcome here.
This guy is an enforcer.
That's all he is; that's all he does.
What new rule can I cook up today to impose on unwilling parents?
This letter came home in the backpacks on the same day as the Health Fair.
There's not going to be any background check.
ReplyDeleteOur schools have a "Parents Stay Out" sign plastered all over them.
Parents stay out; send money.
$22,000 per pupil spending and every year, year in, year out, they expect more.
We're supposed to do a lot of fundraising, too.
And teach math.
And writing.
And hire the teachers at $100/hr to tutor our kids.
Nope.
I don't want to get a list of 18 rules covering my school, the school I pay for and I support, home in the backpack on the same day the principal hands my kid a brochure on anal-hand touching, fails to take responsibility for this, THEN imposes another group punishment.
To my mind, the only real problem is one of tone, not content. To be fair, this tone problem may reflect the other problems at the school.
ReplyDeleteThe tone is a HUGE problem.
This man is an enforcer.
That's it.
That's what he does.
That and plot to "implement" the middle school model in the face of mass community objection.
He has never utter a word - not one word - to me concerning student achievement.
Bring up the black kids' achievement, which I have done, and his face goes blank.
I've never seen anything like it.
He can put on a blank face the way actors can cry on cue.
And, as I say, I've had a criminal background check; I've been fingerprinted, etc.
ReplyDeleteI can't even get an answer from the principal as to whether parents can chaperone.
Our school "welcomes parent involvement" - that's on the ads.
The principal has now been working on "increasing parent involvement" for over a year now.
But he can't tell me whether parents can chaperone.
I have to make an appointment with his secretary.
So, if he isn't being asked to resign, I will do that!
I will take time out of my day to meet with the principal and either be told 'no, parents can't chaperone the dance' in person.
I understand the litigious justification, but there are different ways to deal with the problem.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of a friend of mine who used to be called into businesses to run them on a temporary basis. He said that, surprisingly, he liked unions because everything was spelled out in great detail. It made his job easier. But then again, his job wasn't to do much more than keep things moving along - babysitting.
If my son is going to be part of a union school, then I (a parent) want a place at the negotiating table. Schools say they want involved parents, but it's only on their own inscrutable terms. If a school can't be run without video cameras in the halls, metal detectors at the doors, or random locker searches, then I want the option of sending my son to some other school. I don't want a black and white, legalistic school for my son who might get caught in some sort of Kafkaesque punishment scenario. I want a school run by adults who use common sense and can deal with the ambiguities of kids who are just beginning to mature. Isn't that what schools are all about these days - child centered discovery learning? Discovery doesn't work well with three strikes your out. I don't want a school that caves in to litigation threats or uses the threats as justification for rules that make their jobs black and white.
Speaking of minimizing litigation, this doesn't sound like a school board that's worried.
"PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening."
Your completely out of control. Let your child live his life and i hope that when he enters high school you stop this nonsense behavior. He needs to be exposed to sex at some point,and its reality that STD's can be contracted(he will learn about that in 8th grade health). Life is not always a fairy tale. Also, the only reason the school doesnt allow the children to leave is to avoid any possible trouble that they could be getting into. After all, during that time your child is the responsibility of Irvington.
ReplyDelete"Let your child live his life and i hope that when he enters high school you stop this nonsense behavior."
ReplyDeleteYeah! Let the schools be the sole provider of nonsense.
"He needs to be exposed to sex at some point,... "
And middle school is just the place for that.
"Life is not always a fairy tale."
Middle school guarantees that too.
Most parents are quite capable of dealing with sex and character issues without school nonsense, thank you.
As for the Lockdown Dance, kids won't have to know anything. They're dancing in jail.
Well, anonymous, the issue here is: parents want to chaperone the dance, as they do in schools across the country.
ReplyDeleteIn my case, I have had a criminal background check; I have been fingerprinted.
I did both of these things in order to teach in the afterschool program (actually, in order to be paid by the state for the afterschool program.)
So....what's the problem?
And, btw, as to what my child needs to "know," the Woman to Woman brochure is anti-gay and false in every last detail.
I personally do not feel that my child needs to "know" that lesbians are at high risk of contracting HIV from oral sex.
I personally do not feel that a school with a 10% black and Hispanic population needs to be given a brochure with a color photo of two black people with arrows pointing to each one with the legend "He needs to be tested for HIV" and "She needs to be tested for HIV."
These brochures were cr**. One of them is blatantly false in every respect and anti-gay women to boot; the rest of them are "junk mail," as one dad put it.
My taxes, each and every year, are $22,000.
For that, I expect a real health ed curriculum, not a bunch of old brochures lying around the County health Department.
Yeah! Let the schools be the sole provider of nonsense.
ReplyDeleteIt is just chronic nonsense around there.
Chronic, non-stop.
Endless.
"Life is not always a fairy tale."
ReplyDeleteMiddle school guarantees that too.
I love it!
I have a friend who mostly homeschooled 3 kids in IL.
She told all 3 of them that the one thing she absolutely forbid was any attendance at all at Middle School.
I must say that Anonymous has a point.
ReplyDeleteIf sex ed were left up to me, I would never have thought to tell my kid to wear latex gloves when he plans to engage in hand-anal touching.
Catherine Johnson said:
ReplyDelete"My taxes, each and every year, are $22,000."
Yes, and that pays for Witazek et. al. to pay for the Delphi training. Without it they might tell you the truth, and you can't handle the truth!
So it's money well spent, don't you think?
"If sex ed were left up to me, I would never have thought to tell my kid to wear latex gloves when he plans to engage in hand-anal touching."
ReplyDeleteGood point! And don't forget dental dams; yet more useful information that we want our kids to know about while they are still in junior high.
So, what's left for high school when dental dams and latex gloves have been covered? What's the high school response if this is okay for the middle school?
ReplyDeleteI think they have just run out topics.
Goodness, I sure hope so.
ReplyDeleteWith all the negative information, one wonders where the next cohort of middle-school students will be coming from. Wait, maybe that's what high school health class is for -- encouragement.
ReplyDeleteThe dance rules are spelled out clearly (except they ran out of room for the custodial parent swap issue). Since I'm in a district that never communicates, I would look upon this flyer as a positive. I would be happy to know for sure that the predator parents, those with mental health issues, and those with felony convictions won't be allowed near my child unless we accidently walk near them in the parking lot. I have actually not sent my child on field trips in the elementary because the teachers did not guarantee that certain parents would not be on the trip as chaperones. The law, as stated by our principal, is that a felon parent must be treated like any other parent as far as access to school events, regardless of the nature of the conviction. Remember some of the s. predators are not in the NY state data base because of the timing, location, and/or level of their offense.
ReplyDeleteI would be happy to know for sure that the predator parents, those with mental health issues, and those with felony convictions won't be allowed near my child unless we accidently walk near them in the parking lot.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have any predator parents!
I've looked at the data bases!
This is a village of 6500 people including children, babies, and old folks.
We barely have any adults who could be predator parents----
No one wants these rules, and there is no reason on earth for parents to park their cars and walk into the gym to get their kids.
We've never, ever had that particular rule - the whole thing is ridiculous. (And how is it safer to park and walk through the parking lot, etc., anyway? It's not.)
Anyway, the problem isn't (most of) the rules.
The problem is that on the same day the principal exposed 10 year olds to dental dams he sent home this letter.
He failed to protect the kids, and this isn't the first time.
HE has been a danger to the kids' well-being.
This letter is what he does; it's how he sees his job. We don't get letters about academics; we don't get letters about sports achievement; we don't get letters about children's arts education.
We get letters about rules we better not break or else.
This principal has come to an affluent town of 6500 people and turned the middle school into a medium security prison where 450 middle schoolers are being held without being apprised of the charges against them.
I know that sounds "over the top," but that's the way it is.
The students routinely receive group punishment for the sins of 1 or 2.
They are all suspects, and so are we.