My Days Teaching in the Chancellor District Schools in New York

My Days Teaching in the Chancellor District Schools in New York

I taught at various school in New York.

One school was in the Chancellor’s School District. 

I remember standing to take attendance in class.

I had a maximum of 5 students in my class, and, on most days one to three would show up.

The attendance roster had 17, hum?  17 students not present

So, when my daughter relayed that the name of her deceased best friend is still being called in her Wake County Middle school, that was a surprise by self, given the child died about three months ago. 

I started to wonder how many times she was been marked as present since her death.  How many times she got a zero for a test mark, or passed a test since her death? 

Then, even to more horror, my daughter and school mates had to explain the circumstances of the death of their friend to a Caucasian Substitute Teacher.  Once they finished explaining, the comments being reported as being said by that teacher was, “well, all White kids commit suicide”.  That sent my child into a spiral that caused her to leave the classroom and go to THE BATHROOM.  The reported comment was not “I am sorry for your loss” ……. “you all are in my prayers”.  I do not have a PHD as some, but can see how comments and actions like these contribute to a bad state of mind in a PTSD survivor. 

THE BATHROOM is a memorial place where the child last tried to commit suicide while on school property (the deceased best friend).  My daughter was joined by more than two of her best friends to console her.  As a teacher, how to do you miss people going to the bathroom?  As an administrator, how do you not guard or close the bathrooms that are being used as a memorial sites and “counseling rooms” by child (young adults), and for other deplorable purposes. 

Your school is too big, you say.  They can hide anywhere on campus you say.  Of course, the reason is the school is too overcrowded due to all the dead children attending.  If the school is too big, then close portions and sections.  Too many bathrooms, then, keep one open and the rest locked.  Let them walk clear across campus to the bathroom.  It is called door knobs with locks.  You give teachers and custodians keys.  You have a policy, like the military, to restrict access to certain known problem areas.  Your answer cannot be “we just cannot be everywhere all the time …….. the campus is too big ……… they have too many places to hide at”.   It is called hall monitors; it is called roaming and roving teachers.  It is called scattered lunch and break schedules.  It is not brain surgery or engineering tasks here. 

What do you do when children (young adults) target “survivors” with PTSD?  Do you allow the bullying, egging one, and teasing to continue.  No; as an administrator and school employee, you join the teasers and the insensitive and  the incompetence (no employee warnings or heads up to subs, just do and say what you want).  You call deceased, transferred, movedout of state,  moved out of county children on the attendance rolls.  A child is a tax dollars, and “We must get all the tax dollars we can”, at any cost. 

Then, the almighty tax dollars are so important.  A person with a Learning Disability will not generate or qualify the school for additional funding.  So, you place barriers towards children receiving, qualifying for, and participating in LD services.  Instead, you withhold services until a parent comes in with paperwork showing a ADD, ADHD, or Anxiety Disorder, etc.  So, for five years a child goes without needed services, although the child meet DSM Criteria for LD, but, your policies are not up-to-date to conform to current clinical standards, because an LD diagnosis is not profitable.  Wow. 

From the 1990, my teaching days, it seems like little has changed, and, I still have multiple experiences with different school, doing the same “ca-cas”.  Let us do something.  God Bless.  

We pay our taxes and teachers and administrators for a reason, and that reason is not so they can commit fraud.

Let us say, you work a third shift job.

You get off at 6, 7, or 8AM, you are tired.

You visit your frail and ailing parent in the morning before heading home

You get home and go to bed.

Do you have time to deal with a 11AM call from the Wake County School to see about your daughter?

Do you have time to to take your child after meeting with an administrator at 12 PM to a clinic?

Let us say, the clinic sends you to an emergency room. 

You wait for hours at a time there to be told your child is okay after dealing with the insensitivity and bullying at school; and are told the clinic your child attends should have taken care of.  

Do you have time to tend to walking the dog, cooking meals, doing homework, when, additionally, your car breaks down on the way to the emergency room and needs towing 9PM? 

You borrow someone's car and day ends and 12AM?  

Let us say this is the typical single parent.  DO YOU WANT TO OR SHOULD DEAL WITH THE ADMINISTRATIVE SCHOOL NONSENSE/Negligence?  is that fair for most or all single parent, and start the process again the next day.   

Can you feel ill then?  Should a two parent working family have to deal with things like this?  What makes a family eligible for continued racism and incompetence?