Yes.
Yes it had, ever since they wrote up the policy after the Virginia Tech scare.
"Zero Tolerance" came to my attention right after Virginia Tech, when a misunderstanding had me sent to the Assis. Principal's office. Of course, I was outraged, so angry in fact that I cried right there-- and I only cry when I'm deeply infuriated.
Ever since Virginia Tech, students have been more scrutinized than ever. But you musn't get me wrong-- we should be. In the right way. Consistent behavior and serious weaponry, not "suspicious" actions and toy guns, are your red alarms.
A straight-A student cannot be suspended for plastic sporks. It just looks ridiculous on a suspension report, and if it looks that way, chances are that the teacher filing the report should stop and take a moment to reconsider. And maybe find another job to fill that black, cold pebble she/he calls a heart.
Its one of those great moments where I seriously wonder.. if the educational authority in this country simply chucked their childhood memories away when they took the job. That's the only explanation I can think of to explain how anyone with a brain could support "Zero Tolerance."
Out-of-control fear and paranoia, people. Look what it does to us.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Northeast High to Danza
For some inane reason, I couldn't bring myself to write about our resident celebrity, even though we knew since August that he was coming.
Maybe its because I was sick of the media blowing out the Jon & Kate ordeal (who are not celebrities-- and thus should not be treated as such by tabloids-- ), or maybe I was afraid of the release/contract form we signed, which basically stated that I cannot talk about the show to anyone outside of ourselves.
But I feel that I should address it, because I've noticed a large number of parents (who, I'll repeat again, should not meddle in our education, ever), distressed and quite upset about having cameras in a classroom/school.
Tony Danza decided to play teacher for a while, about a whole school year I've gathered, at Northeast High School. He picked our school because, "it gives you a real look at urban education, and it gives you a look at middle America more than New York does."
(The pilot was shot in a NY school.)
I, on the other-hand, believe he picked us because we are safer than most Philadelphia schools, but real -- what with our intense school spirit and such. And if the production team had researched a bit, which I suspect that they had, they'd know that we had shot a documentary in 1968.
Danza is currently teaching one class of 10th grade English, for two periods. My younger brother is in it. He signed up for the class because he thought it would bring a little excitement for the Sophomore year. Everyone knows that being a Sophomore is pretty much the most boring and uneventful grade in high school experiences.
From what he told me, Danza is a fairly good teacher, and he's certainly following the District curriculum for English. Recently, they were studying myths, which I did in 10th grade as well.
I won't go further into the details of his class, such as his teaching methods, for fear of contract violations.
The whole student body's reaction to Danza was exhilarating ("Tony! Tony! Tony!"), opposed to the school's staff's-- namely the higher-ups. You could really tell that they're on the edge, first noted by how Lindenberg Carroll extra-sugar'd her words when explaining the new uniform policy's purpose to the Seniors, and then leaving promptly.
(Which, by the way, I am still aggravated about. "Best for you"? She never mentioned how. Not that time nor the assembly before that.)
When Danza spoke, he sounded like your average joe. He sounded genuinely bewildered.
(You'll see why he's so surprised when the show premieres on A&E during the Spring.)
Danza's presence is not yet significant in the school. Occasionally, we might spot him here or there, but we've gotten used to him by now and we haven't allowed ourselves to become completely star-dazzled. The camera/sound team are only about five people, maximum, and only one or two are with him at a time.
Recently, I've noticed that a lone cameraman would film transition scenes in the hallways. In an overcrowded school that mobs between bells, its amazing how the cameraman could be totally avoidable and ignorable.
In closing, I truly believe that there is no harm, even remotely, in this production. As I've said for Jon & Kate, I'll say this for Teach: Its not a reality show. Its a documentary.
Maybe its because I was sick of the media blowing out the Jon & Kate ordeal (who are not celebrities-- and thus should not be treated as such by tabloids-- ), or maybe I was afraid of the release/contract form we signed, which basically stated that I cannot talk about the show to anyone outside of ourselves.
But I feel that I should address it, because I've noticed a large number of parents (who, I'll repeat again, should not meddle in our education, ever), distressed and quite upset about having cameras in a classroom/school.
Tony Danza decided to play teacher for a while, about a whole school year I've gathered, at Northeast High School. He picked our school because, "it gives you a real look at urban education, and it gives you a look at middle America more than New York does."
(The pilot was shot in a NY school.)
I, on the other-hand, believe he picked us because we are safer than most Philadelphia schools, but real -- what with our intense school spirit and such. And if the production team had researched a bit, which I suspect that they had, they'd know that we had shot a documentary in 1968.
Danza is currently teaching one class of 10th grade English, for two periods. My younger brother is in it. He signed up for the class because he thought it would bring a little excitement for the Sophomore year. Everyone knows that being a Sophomore is pretty much the most boring and uneventful grade in high school experiences.
From what he told me, Danza is a fairly good teacher, and he's certainly following the District curriculum for English. Recently, they were studying myths, which I did in 10th grade as well.
I won't go further into the details of his class, such as his teaching methods, for fear of contract violations.
The whole student body's reaction to Danza was exhilarating ("Tony! Tony! Tony!"), opposed to the school's staff's-- namely the higher-ups. You could really tell that they're on the edge, first noted by how Lindenberg Carroll extra-sugar'd her words when explaining the new uniform policy's purpose to the Seniors, and then leaving promptly.
(Which, by the way, I am still aggravated about. "Best for you"? She never mentioned how. Not that time nor the assembly before that.)
When Danza spoke, he sounded like your average joe. He sounded genuinely bewildered.
(You'll see why he's so surprised when the show premieres on A&E during the Spring.)
Danza's presence is not yet significant in the school. Occasionally, we might spot him here or there, but we've gotten used to him by now and we haven't allowed ourselves to become completely star-dazzled. The camera/sound team are only about five people, maximum, and only one or two are with him at a time.
Recently, I've noticed that a lone cameraman would film transition scenes in the hallways. In an overcrowded school that mobs between bells, its amazing how the cameraman could be totally avoidable and ignorable.
In closing, I truly believe that there is no harm, even remotely, in this production. As I've said for Jon & Kate, I'll say this for Teach: Its not a reality show. Its a documentary.
Friday, August 28, 2009
If you're a student or admin at Philadelphia's Northeast High School..
..let me take a moment to rub it in your face.
TOLDYOUSOTOLDYOUSOTOLDYOUSO.
Students-- I warned you, publically, that if you didn't get serious about the PSSA, we'd quite possibly recieve uniforms. You didn't believe me-- you laughed it off as I stared at you all, holding that blasted microphone that I more or less snatched from that-Jewish-guy-who-never-wore-the-pants.
And admins-- you leveled to bribing. Bribing! Guess we won't have that camping trip now, huh? For years you've covered your ears and told yourselves that it'd be okay- that maybe this year we'd do better than last year, instead of getting yourselves bullocks and telling us exactly what will be up if we failed horribly.
This does include you, Ms. Lindenburg Carroll. (In case you're looking around, pointing at yourself.)
Well, I've waited over the summer, hoping beyond hope that I won't recieve a uniform letter, but here we are.
I should be angry at our previous president, who signed the 'No Child Left Behind' Act in the first place, but its been eight years. That is a long time, certaintly enough to pull ourselves back together and stop producing this rubbish!
Sigh.
Moving on.
In case any of you haven't receieved the uniform letter, I've shortened it for your conveniency:
Uniform guidelines
Khaki (the material, not colour) black pants, skort, skirt;
white(or "Oxford" as they call it) blouse or shirt;
red(wine) or black pullover, cardigan, or vest with school logo to be purchased at flynnohara.com.
Note that they are all around $30 if you purchase on that site, plus a $9 S&H. Please, please buy the top and pants at Walmart or something! The pullover/cardigan/vest with logo is optional-- but you can't wear any other pullover/vest/cardigan if you won't wear theirs.
Boys require a tie that will be sold at the school, girls only optional.
An FAQ, complete with the disciplinary questions being once again divertly answered with "We expect you to obey"s, is posted on www.nehs.phila.k12.pa.us/.
Well, I hope you're happy.
Next step: corporation takeover.
TOLDYOUSOTOLDYOUSOTOLDYOUSO.
Students-- I warned you, publically, that if you didn't get serious about the PSSA, we'd quite possibly recieve uniforms. You didn't believe me-- you laughed it off as I stared at you all, holding that blasted microphone that I more or less snatched from that-Jewish-guy-who-never-wore-the-pants.
And admins-- you leveled to bribing. Bribing! Guess we won't have that camping trip now, huh? For years you've covered your ears and told yourselves that it'd be okay- that maybe this year we'd do better than last year, instead of getting yourselves bullocks and telling us exactly what will be up if we failed horribly.
This does include you, Ms. Lindenburg Carroll. (In case you're looking around, pointing at yourself.)
Well, I've waited over the summer, hoping beyond hope that I won't recieve a uniform letter, but here we are.
I should be angry at our previous president, who signed the 'No Child Left Behind' Act in the first place, but its been eight years. That is a long time, certaintly enough to pull ourselves back together and stop producing this rubbish!
Sigh.
Moving on.
In case any of you haven't receieved the uniform letter, I've shortened it for your conveniency:
Uniform guidelines
Khaki (the material, not colour) black pants, skort, skirt;
white(or "Oxford" as they call it) blouse or shirt;
red(wine) or black pullover, cardigan, or vest with school logo to be purchased at flynnohara.com.
Note that they are all around $30 if you purchase on that site, plus a $9 S&H. Please, please buy the top and pants at Walmart or something! The pullover/cardigan/vest with logo is optional-- but you can't wear any other pullover/vest/cardigan if you won't wear theirs.
Boys require a tie that will be sold at the school, girls only optional.
An FAQ, complete with the disciplinary questions being once again divertly answered with "We expect you to obey"s, is posted on www.nehs.phila.k12.pa.us/.
Well, I hope you're happy.
Next step: corporation takeover.
Friday, June 19, 2009
The Ackermonster's Demise is in Motion
I've always hated Arlene Ackerman-- the current Philadelphia School District Superintendent-- ever since she weaseled her way into our city, back in June 2008.
My first clue was when I scoured the District website during the start of the 08-09 school year. It told me absolutely nothing on what they were working on, only pages of propaganda, including their oh-so original mission statement of how "our mission is to encourage the growth.." and the usual bullshizz.
I came across the page dedicated to Ackerman. Her photo was pretty. Thinking back to how over-glorified my school's principal, Linda Carroll, was, I decided to do some research to get an idea about who this "Arlene Ackerman" really was. (I found that her real photo was not at all pretty.)
A simple Google search sufficed, and I quickly had two, very good articles from the San Francisco Bay Guardian:
http://www.sfbg.com/39/39/cover_ackerman.html
http://www.sfbg.com/39/39/x_oped.html
Arlene Ackerman had a horrible, quite recent history with the San Francisco and Washington DC school districts. Although she was somewhat sucessful in improving their academic statistics, she had literally destroyed their abilities to function whenever anyone disagreed with her, by her refusing to speak during meetings, or skip them altogether. It was like one childish tantrum after another.
Further, she refused to speak with the press, and had her lackeys "speak" with anyone that faintly expresses disaproval with her policies.
Ackerman has this dillusional mentality that anyone that isn't with her is working against her.
And the scary part is that this happened twice, consecutively, in San Francisco and Washington DC. Two years later, she's here in Philadelphia, after immaturely quitting her Superintendent jobs in those cities, and accepting a huge six-figure pay raise for herself.
At first, I was freaking out. I was hysterically muttering, "She is freakin' crazy. I can't let her do this! Not again. NOT AGAIN!"
I printed out about ten copies of each and placed them around my school auditorium, just in time for a parent meeting with none other than Ackerman. I knew that in the previous Districts, Ackerman had won over much of the parents' support, before she turned on them. I hoped to speed up the inevitable process.
I soon forgot about what I did, and eventually she ordered "weekly assessments", around March 2009. The assessments were multiple-choice math and English "quizes" that everyone had to take on Fridays. The teachers in my school were furious, because most of the questions either didn't make sense, or they were too advanced for us to attempt to answer. And they also took up class-time.
So. Teacher support? Slightly severed. They probably just thought, "Oh, its just the usual District screw-ups."
I slowly spread the word about Ackerman's craziness, and, coupled with the weekly assessments, I quickly felt that nearly every student in the school felt no sympathy or support for her. Even our genius all-A student despised the Ackermonster.
All the teachers, including me and some of the students, then heard about this plan:
Link to Imagine 2014:
http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/s/strategic-planning
No one of us supported it. Unless you're a parent.
So, student organization support-- Hacked off. Once again.
Of course, I was scared for myself. If I did something more drastic-- like ask her something provoking in a public meeting-- I might be in danger, like that Alan Wong, especially this early in the stage. But with teacher and student support being killed off as I write, the only thing left until Ackerman's destruction would be to kill off her overwhelming parent support.
(This is why I never supported parent involvement. They don't understand anything, less of all educational politics. They're too easily victims of propoganda.)
I figured, I can't do anything. The stage is set. I just have to wait and let history repeat itself.
So now, since the beginning of June, I've heard rumours that the public support of Ackerman was waning, and that she's causing trouble over there. "About time, though faster than the last two times," I thought. Maybe I had a bigger impact than I thought.
I Google'd her again, and I learned that the Philadelphia news media is changing their outlook of Ackerman to one of disgust-- which was exactly what happened in SF and WDC.
The past is repeating again, for the third time.
The next step is that Ackerman will publically comment about this, and then her support will really plumment.
Take that, Ackermonster. ..Shows you for meddling in our city.
My first clue was when I scoured the District website during the start of the 08-09 school year. It told me absolutely nothing on what they were working on, only pages of propaganda, including their oh-so original mission statement of how "our mission is to encourage the growth.." and the usual bullshizz.
I came across the page dedicated to Ackerman. Her photo was pretty. Thinking back to how over-glorified my school's principal, Linda Carroll, was, I decided to do some research to get an idea about who this "Arlene Ackerman" really was. (I found that her real photo was not at all pretty.)
A simple Google search sufficed, and I quickly had two, very good articles from the San Francisco Bay Guardian:
http://www.sfbg.com/39/39/cover_ackerman.html
http://www.sfbg.com/39/39/x_oped.html
Arlene Ackerman had a horrible, quite recent history with the San Francisco and Washington DC school districts. Although she was somewhat sucessful in improving their academic statistics, she had literally destroyed their abilities to function whenever anyone disagreed with her, by her refusing to speak during meetings, or skip them altogether. It was like one childish tantrum after another.
Further, she refused to speak with the press, and had her lackeys "speak" with anyone that faintly expresses disaproval with her policies.
Ackerman has this dillusional mentality that anyone that isn't with her is working against her.
And the scary part is that this happened twice, consecutively, in San Francisco and Washington DC. Two years later, she's here in Philadelphia, after immaturely quitting her Superintendent jobs in those cities, and accepting a huge six-figure pay raise for herself.
At first, I was freaking out. I was hysterically muttering, "She is freakin' crazy. I can't let her do this! Not again. NOT AGAIN!"
I printed out about ten copies of each and placed them around my school auditorium, just in time for a parent meeting with none other than Ackerman. I knew that in the previous Districts, Ackerman had won over much of the parents' support, before she turned on them. I hoped to speed up the inevitable process.
I soon forgot about what I did, and eventually she ordered "weekly assessments", around March 2009. The assessments were multiple-choice math and English "quizes" that everyone had to take on Fridays. The teachers in my school were furious, because most of the questions either didn't make sense, or they were too advanced for us to attempt to answer. And they also took up class-time.
So. Teacher support? Slightly severed. They probably just thought, "Oh, its just the usual District screw-ups."
I slowly spread the word about Ackerman's craziness, and, coupled with the weekly assessments, I quickly felt that nearly every student in the school felt no sympathy or support for her. Even our genius all-A student despised the Ackermonster.
All the teachers, including me and some of the students, then heard about this plan:
Link to Imagine 2014:
http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/s/strategic-planning
No one of us supported it. Unless you're a parent.
So, student organization support-- Hacked off. Once again.
Of course, I was scared for myself. If I did something more drastic-- like ask her something provoking in a public meeting-- I might be in danger, like that Alan Wong, especially this early in the stage. But with teacher and student support being killed off as I write, the only thing left until Ackerman's destruction would be to kill off her overwhelming parent support.
(This is why I never supported parent involvement. They don't understand anything, less of all educational politics. They're too easily victims of propoganda.)
I figured, I can't do anything. The stage is set. I just have to wait and let history repeat itself.
So now, since the beginning of June, I've heard rumours that the public support of Ackerman was waning, and that she's causing trouble over there. "About time, though faster than the last two times," I thought. Maybe I had a bigger impact than I thought.
I Google'd her again, and I learned that the Philadelphia news media is changing their outlook of Ackerman to one of disgust-- which was exactly what happened in SF and WDC.
The past is repeating again, for the third time.
The next step is that Ackerman will publically comment about this, and then her support will really plumment.
Take that, Ackermonster. ..Shows you for meddling in our city.
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