Susan Burke acquitted of choking students...even though there were multiple witnesses

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/susan-lee-burke-ex-montgomery-teacher-acquitted-of-several-charges-of-choking-punching-first-graders/2011/10/21/gIQAJLqj4L_story.html

The tendency to believe that a group of  kids would not all be lying is dangerous.  I saw them get real saavy once they knew they could run to the office to complain.

The surreal world of discipline within an American public school Part II

This kid, who had a D or so, was now a TA for some teacher. He could spend the rest of the trimester (about 3 weeks) sitting on his duff, stapling papers, for an A. 
Despite covering my bases,  I was the one being blamed for this debacle.  I had made my classroom rules clear, given warnings, taken abuse from this kid.  I had let the parents know, hoping to head off any escalation in the conflict, and they had continued to go after me.   I had contacted the principal and let her know that I had been on top of this and despite that, this "child" had continued to disrupt the class and misbehave.  Furthermore, he seemed hellbent on creating issues for me.

I emailed the principal that summer and asked what her protocol was for complaints.  Normally, the first person parents should talk to is the teacher.  That's exactly what she told me and I let her know AGAIN; that the parents had gone straight to her and never spoke to me.  When the Summer ended, I sent copies of this jerk's papers to the parents.  These were the papers where he bragged about misbehaving and was unnecessarily critical of me.  It was addressed to the father.  I wrote "If this was my child, I would want to know what was going on."  Approximately a month later, I received an envelope in my classroom from the parents.  The writing was so poor, I presumed that the kid might have written it.  Nope.  Mommy, the reading teacher, was no scholar.  Now she was telling me that I had waited too long to send their child's "work," and that this now constituted harassment of their child.

Let's see.  She was telling me that she would have actually responded to any indication that her angel was misbehaving.  Well.  I assume she knew he was working on the yearbook.  Wouldn't she have wanted to see the pages he contributed to?  Hmmmm......no 8th grade boy's basketball pics.  God.  The hypocrisy of it all. This letter indicated the parents would go to the school district's board meeting to attempt to have me removed as I "didn't belong in a classroom with children." If you care to see this teenager in action, google "mr. jingles goes boom."  It shows this young man blowing up a frog with a fire cracker.  They are real pillars of the community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7hrg1ZmfmI

It was disgusting to me, after all I had been through. I contacted Karen Horwitz, from NAPTA.  She asked if she could use the story for her book, White Chalk Crime.  It's there on page 166 or so.

The surreal world of discipline within an American public school Part I

I knew the kid disliked me.  He told me to get out of his chair one morning after walking into the computer lab while I worked on the school's yearbook.  I asked him to go outside to discuss his rude behavior where he told me his mother "didn't even like me."  I emailed his mother, an elementary school teacher in the district.  I never heard back from her.  This young man was on the 8th grade basketball team and had chosen to get photographs of the team for the yearbook.  Since he had sprained an ankle or something of that nature.  He should have had plenty of opportunity to comply.  But he was disruptive and almost sadistic in flaunting his disdain for me or the rules of the computer lab.  One day he sat there and took apart a keyboard right next to me as if daring me to take action.  His behavior deteriorated even more as the year began to wind down.  I called his father who told me he would "ask one of Michael's classmates whether I was accurate in my assessment or not."

I received an apology letter from him saying he would try and improve his behavior.  I knew it did not jive with his earlier behavior and waited for the next attack.  A week later I heard "M is on the warpath" from a colleague of mine.  His mother was after me. Yep....should have known.  The kid was well behaved for about 3 more days.  I could see these people thought they could do whatever they wanted with impunity by the actions I had seen so far.  The boy had never completed his pictures of the 8th grade boys basketball team. As a matter of fact, he had not submitted a single picture. He had not showed up for detention due to his poor behavior and been given As despite not showing much work. ( He was given credit for work he said he did that he claimed had been lost due to computer difficulties).  By the time we finished the yearbook, I asked students to include everything they had done in a small booklet.  He had nothing to enter but went so far as to blame me for the class when asked what particular projects he had worked on.  He mentioned spending time texting on his cell phone and playing video games online in this resume as well.  He wrote an essay blaming me for issues that arose in the class and was quite vindictive.  I had inherited a computer lab that was basically dysfunctional for 3 months and we still managed to put out an improved yearbook over the previous year's product.

Now he was being held accountable and still behaving poorly.  His grade was a C- or D and moving towards an F very quickly.  I handed out a worksheet students were supposed to work on one day and found that he claimed I had never given him one on collecting this homework.  I knew this was an attempt to bait me.  If a student is paying attention and something like this happened, they would let the teacher know.  This was ridiculous to believe.  I had a talk with him outside and left him out there.  My class moved to the computer lab and instead of following us, he stayed outside of my regular classroom, attempting to do whatever he could to not comply with feigned lack of understanding.  I sent someone to get him and had a heart to heart.  When I walked out of the lab, seeing his face bout 3 week from the opening, I felt his foot under mine as I stepped towards him.  He was now going to play the physical abuse game.  "Get your foot out from under mine." I said.  I told him he had not done his work and had been doing whatever he could to get under my skin.  He told me he wasn't responsible for the basketball pictures because I hadn't "written it down."  When he asked how coud he have taken the pictures when he was in the games, I replied he probably sat on the bench, referring to his injury.  He gave me an F-U and I sent him with a referral.  He never went there.

What do you know?  His mother had scheduled an appointment with the principal that morning. I sent the principal information stating I had never spoken to the mother and had been trying to resolve the issue for some time.  A week later I was asked to show up for a meeting with union rep.  God.....it figured I was in hot water after putting up with this bully.  I brought all the paperwork I had trying to defend my behavior.  It was futile.  The mother claimed I had kicked her kid and when I told the administrators that he baited me the way he had I got a sarcastic "yeah right" from the principal.  The principal told me she wanted to put me in the program improvement which is a euphemism for the teacher exit door.  "You have never even watched me teach I retorted."  She said she was unimpressed with the way kids just threw down their backpacks as they entered the lab, on a day when she covered for me.  I was incensed by the injustice in this.

That summer I found a site called NAPTA (National Association for the Prevention of Teacher Abuse). I bought the book on principal mistreatment of teachers and joined.  Little did I know that this travesty of justice was only the beginning of my nightmare in this snake bit district.

(to be continued)

How to conduct a valid investigation-from untamed teacher blog

http://untamedteacher.blogspot.com/2011/11/chancellors-bogus-investigator.html

This is what you do if you are a Real Investigator:

First of all, you make sure that the parents of all children involved have been informed about the incident and that they be given the opportunity to be present during at least part of the interview. 

In K.N.'s case, the parents of the children who were being used to corroborate J.F.'s story were not informed about their children's statements.  I know.  I called them and asked. 

Second, you interview both parent and child separately and together.  It's no joke to bring false allegations against a teacher.  You make sure that everyone knows that you expect the truth and nothing but the truth and that liars will be delt with severely.

J.F. would have caved.  The six children who gave false testimony in support of J.F. would have caved.  Karl, the boy who couldn't get to the bathroom in time would have provided enough testimony for you to bring several people up on charges, none of whom were K.N.  For that reason alone, the principal would never have given you the opportunity to interview Karl, because she would have been the first person to be brought up on charges for locking the bathroom doors.

Third, you interview the teacher.  Union representatives often tell teachers not to say anything, but if you are a Real Investigator, everyone knows that you will do everything in your power to protect teachers from false allegations.

K.N. would have given her version of events and might even have shared with you that a custodian could corroborate her version of events on the day J.F. said she had tripped him. Mr. E., one of the custodians was talking to her as she stood in the hall.  She was asking Mr. E.  if he could give her some plastic bags for an experiment she planned to do later in the week.  Mr. E. saw J.F. push past her.  He saw the children run up as the bell rang.  Why hadn't she mentioned Mr. E. to the principal?  He was a nice man. She didn't want to make trouble for him.

Fourth, you interview other people not included in the principal's report.

Mr. E. would have backed up K.N.  He was shocked that she was in trouble.  Such a nice woman.  He saw the boy push her out of the way as he ran into the classroom, tripping and almost falling as he did so.  Children these days don't know how to show respect for their teachers.  The other children?  Oh they ran up as the bell was ringing and had to stand in line as Ms. K.N. marked them late.  You should have heard them complaining! Children these days!

Then you interview the entire Leadership Team that came up with the rules about locking the bathroom doors.  You also interview Karl's Math teacher, Ms.  B.,  who taught Karl during the first two periods of the day he had the bathroom accident.  She admits that she didn't allow him access to the bathroom in spite of repeated requests because of Principal S.T. didn't allow children to go to the bathroom during those periods (The accident occurred at the beginning of third period).

How many principals would want a Real Investigator in their building?

No, B.F. was not expected to carry out a real investigation.  If he had, he wouldn't have remained a Chancellor's Investigator for long.  He was expected to help fortify a case against a targeted teacher--  someone the principal wanted to get rid of.

All of B.F.'s investigations are a matter of public record. A researcher should look for a clear pattern of bias in favor of the DOE.  It would also be a good idea to interview the children.

By now, J.F. has graduated from high school.  It would be interesting to interview him about his role in destroying a teacher's career.  Does he still think there was no harm, no foul?

Dept of Ed. on false accusations

The strange thing is that only a few times were the accusations completely fabricated.  Usually, it was someone taking something I did and twisting it when it fit their agenda.  Hmmmm....your grade is low.  Why is this?  Hmmmm well the teacher did x, y or z 2 months ago.

I have allegedly: slammed a head into the wall, poked a kid with my finger, kicked a child in the leg, hit a child with a chair, squeezed a girl by her shoulder, purposely short changed students on their grades, told a student to shut up, berated a student in front of their peers, got in the "face" of a student, told a parent I would no longer harass their child and then did so, came on sexually by calling a student "sweet heart" and licking my lips, sang love songs, baited children to come into my room alone, kept a girl in at lunch and did not respond to her panic attack,  showed video of myself naked, ogled girls' chests, attempted to film girls' chests....the list could go on.  I admit I have a temper when pushed too far.  I was worried that my tendencies might one day push me too far after being baited the way I have been (remember the tiger that got lose in the san fran zoo?).  By the time I got to my final year, I rarely raised my voice despite the behavior of the students.  I noticed that as my self control became greater, that the tactic students used switched from physical abuse to being some sort of sexual predator.  I am a heterosexual male but I am happy to say that I have absolutely no interest in 13 or 14 year old girls.  When you add that these were insipid, narcissists I can only say that I would not have ever found them interesting....not at 47 and not at 13.  I suppose that on first take one might see the anger in my talk, but at its core there is a great sadness.  I am sad for myself and for this society that seems to have lost its way.

False accusations

If you are accused of sexual misconduct or physical abuse involving students and it is determined that the allegations were knowingly false when they were made, the DOE must remove all references to the allegations from your DOE personnel file, restore any lost pay with interest and permanently reassign the student from your class absent compelling and extraordinary circumstances.
The agreement makes clear that the disciplinary process should never be used to retaliate against whistle-blowers or for any other illegal reason. It goes on to state that all employees who make a knowingly false allegation shall be subject to discipline.

Barrus speaks out

http://truthinjustice.org/barrus.htm

Teacher had been accused of sexual relations with a student and the students word was taken at face value.

I still don't understand how authorities can do this.  It is very frustrating when you have had to deal with the same student's lies and obfuscations in class and then  watch them go over your head with accusations.

Do College Students Lie on Evaluations? Some of them do.

student evaluations

It seems if education is the only commodity where the consumer asks for less considering what they've paid, then one could make a case that they don't really ask for less.  They have, rather, changed the paradigm and are not after the education but the GRADE.  This is the elephant in the living room.  For a majority of students, unfortunately, the idea is to run the gauntlet and jump through the hoops to get a grade, and learning something along the way is incidental.  Professors who don't read into this run the risk of becoming unpopular and jeopardizing their future.  Welcome to the shopping mall of grades.  The same student that lies to their self  in terms of their reason for attending college is probably apt to twist things where necessary because the teacher did not respond in kind.

Do people who have less empathy make false accusations?

Gen Me and empathy
The last year I taught reminded me of the line from the yeat's poem "the worst are full of passionate intensity while the best lack all conviction."  It is normal for teens to test social boundaries and it is up to adults to discriminate between legitimate accusations and those that are attempts to see what happens when they "light the fire crackers."  How do these administrators hold two opposing viewpoints at the same time?

Kids lie-"They are kids and kids will lie...and obfuscate."

Kids are truthful- "Oh.  There's a complaint ...let's meet with the teacher and see what they did to provoke this."

Honesty and today's students

Many are decent and hard working but the prevalence of dishonesty is out of control.  I still remember one of my students blaming me after she failed a test. Why?  She copied the wrong answers off the board thinking I had written them up to be used for copying.  We are at a stage where those in authority are often afraid to call a student's actions dishonest and students are often brazen liars.  They know the system is a sham.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/teen-ya/story/2011/02/Survey-Cheating-lying-widespread-among-high-school-students/43627926/1

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081201214432.rjut4n2u

Steve Bell
A teacher accused of molesting a student.  Notice that he mentions that the victim/ witness went from saying there was nothing provocative in what he did, to turning him into some sort of monster in a later interview.  I believe that children, in particular, are more prone to this inconsistent and hyperbolic behavior, because they want to please certain adults.  After they see all the attention that greets some admission that the teacher did something inappropriate, they may feel pressure to enhance their version of things.  After all, it might feel like they are crying "wolf" if after weeks of cps and police interviews, they think "well....I'm not too sure that the events that occurred were that egregious.

Are we justifying cheating?

I bought Jean Twenge's book, "The Narcissism Epidemic," a few years back as I couldn't help but notice that more of my students seemed self absorbed, shallow and entitled.  It started to feel like I was no longer in my own country.  The following article posits the question of whether illegal acts such as cheating on SATs for money reflects on current changes in our values in light of the fact that many of those viewing from the sidelines seem to believe such behavior is tolerable. 






http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-narcissism-epidemic/201111/are-we-justifying-cheating

student inventor projects 2

I was placed on administrative leave the following day for doing this.  There were 5 parent complaints.  My union appointed lawyer was little help.  The word of the students (guess which ones?) were taken at face value while my defense was ignored. Some parents were so rabid about this video that the district went to the local police.   Typical of the district kangaroo courts where admin plays judge and jury and often have a vested interest in a teacher leaving.