Lots going on at PS 154 in the Bronx that sources have shared with The Crack Team.

Dr Alison Coviello; PhD. and Principal of PS 154 has begun a groovy peace bus. What is a peace
bus?  A peace bus is a big, cute, groovy, faux bus located on the wall by the office. Every day that PS 154 is violence free, a day is marked. When 5 days are marked, the students of the school win a prize!! YAY!!!

Where does such a groovy idea come from? Those wonderful people at Responsive Classroom, that's who. Go look at Responsive Classroom's website and find them on YouTube. See how much inner city videos they have. How many students get free lunch. Remember, not everything works in Peoria.

As actual reality based, non liberal, educator shared with me recently about Responsive Classroom;

"...find it frustrating that we don't hold kids accountable anymore - my admins believe the kids who act out need 'a hug and a cookie'. How about a suspension and a boot in the butt (figuratively, of course). My classroom was student centered, but there were rules and there were consequences. We deal with many on free lunch, very dysfunctional homes, but that's all the more reason why they need some discipline in school - some lack any structure at home"

I guess when one is liberal and one doesn't understand the workings of children of the inner city and when one believes that since one is white, has a Ivy League pedigree, and was raised in opulence and without want, one can be condescending enough to the families and children of color. 

Back to the peace bus. The peace bus was christened on October 7. How well did it work? It worked so well that the first day without violence was October 15!! YAY!!! A week of violence, followed by a lull? Keep reading. 

There was a lull, but it the violence returned to the school, October 16-22, yet resumed October 25. Oooh, a two day lull. Gee, that peace bus really is working wonders.

But of course this is to be expected. But as Anthony Cody wrote in "Punished by Rewards,"

"....rewards can be seen as punishment in the sense that rewards both manipulate behavior and are a form of doing things to students rather than with students"

 Yeah, it is really nice to have meeting with students and explain to them how in the professional world fighting will not cut it. But when you are sharing this with 3rd graders, or dare I say, 5th graders, you are giving them a concept that is far too in the future for them to genuinely comprehend. Not saying that none of them will absorb it, but at that age in which students live in the moment, does it hit home?

Even more so, especially as the students get older, there is a certain pride in not being one of those that needs to be rewarded, that they do not care about momentary rewards. It is a source of pride for them to be the "bad kid," the kid that will get in trouble or ruin the rewards for everybody else. 

From the Psycho-Educational Teacher blog; 

External rewards may temporarily inhibit disruptive behaviors but they do not teach appropriate behavior and will not help children outgrow the disruptive behavior. Teachers need to be aware that rewards appeal exclusively to students’ extrinsic motivation (“I do _____ so that I can get _____”) having little or no effect in strengthening children’s intrinsic motivation (i.e. self-pride, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and a sense of accomplishment among others). Consequently, even when the teacher uses rewards consistently, a discipline system that only takes into consideration giving rewards while ignoring children’s perceptions, attitudes, and feelings may have a strong short-term effect in winning compliance, but no long-term effect in helping habitually disruptive students learn new and more productive ways of behaving. 

In my opinion, rewards do serve their purpose, but only once the teacher has established themselves as no nonsense and has the respect of the students that are the most troublesome. The rest of the students in the class, believe it or not, look to those students on how to behave. The most troublesome students must be won over first. 

But talking to these students in a patronizing, condescending voice won't work. They see through the bull. They know when they are being conned. Stickers and rewards won't cut it with them, unless it is right there in the moment. And even that is daunting for I believe that their behavior will adjust just for that reward, for that momentary grasp of getting something. But long term, rewards won't work alone.

I know these kids are hurting inside. I feel for them. But what they need more than anything else are boundaries. Not stickers, no pizza or ice cream parties, but boundaries.

But this is how Dr Alison Coviello; PhD. and Principal of PS 154in the Bronx wants it. Kind of like socialism, All students must be treated the same, and all teachers must respond in the same manner.

So with that, the violence will prevail at PS 154 and students will not learn nor will they be safe.

Remember The Dude? If you need refreshing click here. Anyway The Dude is about to be officially mainstreamed. I am all for mainstreaming a student. When it is for the right reasons. But unfortunately mainstreaming The Dude is for the wrong reasons. He is being moved because he is a behavior problem. But more because of personality conflicts within the class.

The Dude's mother will be coming in to sign the papers so he is no longer in special ed. Mom is sweet, but needs someone to advocate for her. The Dude and his sister are the adults in that home. In fact Sister is the one that cooks, gets The Dude ready for school and so on. Mom is going to be met with a full court press and told that The Dude has progressed and he is ready to move on. Also, why aren't teachers being asked to join in on the meeting with mom? But what, you may ask yourself, is the problem?

The problem is that the IEP/PPT team (school psych, etc...) have not tested him out of special ed. Nor was there any conference or anything to discuss it with IEP/PPT team. The Dude is two grades behind where he should be in reading and several teachers have mentioned that there might be dyslexia. Shouldn't he be tested for this? Seems to me that the law, if not the spirit of the law is being broken. Time to call in the school cops?

So another example of the "Children First" philosophy gone awry. More of the "cover your ass and hide your head in the sand and hope the problem either goes away or becomes someone else's" philosophy.

Oh Numb Nuts what can I say? You are a source of infinite material. You make Principal Skinner look like Joe Clark. Your tenure as an assistant principal would make a great sitcom or better yet a Shakespearean tragedy. This should be no surprise. I think the last eight years of having W as president has shown that competency is not a requirement for a leadership position.

I get a call from Numb Nuts today that the 12:1:1 class I written about yesterday was out of control. "It's an emergency, get down here ASAP!", his shrill voice beckons me over the phone. I could picture in mind him hiding under a desk as a full blown revolt is taking place.

So I meander my way to the class and lo and behold the students are running wild. I realize why I was sent down. The teacher had to go on her prep. Hey, I don't begrudge her that. But Numb Nuts could have told me that instead of being shrill with me. But I wondered what he told the other teachers who were there as well. Because I wasn't the only one there.

The other teacher sent there for the "red alert" took several students to her office. I along with the para quickly restored order. Yes we had some problems. One student thought it would be fun to keep running out of the room. I solved this problem by using common sense. I parked myself in front of the door. No way this student was going to move me. He did get out once I admit because there was a flare up in the class that needed my attention.

Most times when a student runs out of a room they want attention. They want to see you chase them and then see how you will get them back to class. I am not going to run through the school unless there is a danger of the student running outside. Short of that, notify security, and just walk briskly. But that is easy. The hard part is to get the student back to the classroom. Each kid is different. Sometimes you have to talk to them, talk tough, walk with them, block their way, but never drag them through the hall. Never.

This is what Numb Nuts did today. The student who ran out of the classroom ran around the corner and basically ran into Numb Nuts numb nuts. Numb Nuts to the student by the hand and started walking with him when the student just flopped on the floor. Must have gotten that tactic out of some 1960's protest march. So what does Numb Nuts do? Starts dragging him down the hall. If memory serves this violates Chancellor's Regulation A-420. The student wasn't a danger to himself or others, he was just being a pain in the ass. There is not, as of yet, any regulation about pains in the asses.

All these students needed was to be redirected, and have someone take control of the situation. I do not blame the teacher at all! She is a new teacher thrown into a mess that IEP's were not adhered to and worse she still has not seen the IEP's! . She asked how she can properly teach these children without knowing anything about them. How can she know what strategies she can use in changing the students negative behavior.

This all falls on Numb Nuts. Like President Truman the buck stops with him in these matters. This is his grade, his responsibility. You can't shirk your responsibility off on others and then run away. And if things get out of hand, improvise, adapt, and overcome!

I hate to paraphrase FDR, but I shall anyway. Here goes: "Yesterday, Sept 26, 2008 - a date which will live in infamy - my school was suddenly and deliberately taken over by the students." Yes folks you are reading correctly, it has hit the fan.

The students know that there are absolutely zero consequences to fighting, disrespecting a teacher, throwing chairs, leaving the classroom. Its like the French Revolution which I have been reading about this past week. No one wants to take responsibility for what his going on except a few select few and for those it is being met by resistance at every step. Instead of correcting the behavior, the problem is passed along to someone else to deal with. And it is a person who should not deal with it or someone who is incapable of dealing with it. Louis XIV had ample opportunity not to have the Reign of Terror ignite. There is ample opportunity as well at my school to prevent it.

Why are we told, "the students should not have to feel fear of getting in trouble" if they misbehave? Will this totally fuck up their lives? Children want discipline, they want limits. Now I am not advocating every student should be getting in trouble for misdeeds, but there are ways to cajole students, to co-opt them to your way of thinking. Unfortunately the higher ups, and I need to replace one AP I had previously discussed because now this AP sees the lunacy happening but Numb Nuts is still a problem, wish to hide their heads in the sand and hope the problems will go away. Where is does the "Children First" philosophy fit in? Don't the students who are there to learn and who behave have a right to an education without fear of disruption??? Does it take a serious injury for someone to see the light?