Must Love the ACLU

Why I Dislike the ACLU these days...

Sadly, this is just one of the many cases I've heard about in the last few years where the ACLU gets involved in something and it all goes to hell. This excerpt is from http://www.asktheprincipal.blogspot.com/ and is from his blog dated June 6th, 2006. It is an account of his experience with a Bully's parents in his school district.

The teacher or administrator often becomes "gun-shy" when it comes to getting on the phone to the parent of the bully to report another episode. Administering discipline becomes an arduous process and the skill of the attorney in describing why the bully needs to spend a day or two at home is needed. Then of course the savvy parent brings in other resources claiming that their bully is being mistreated by the school and his/her civil rights and right to a "Free and Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE) is being infringed.I had a student whose "guardian" had the ACLU fax me a letter stating that I was giving the student an inadequate educational opportunity because I was wanting to limit his exposure to other students at the school. The superintendent didn't want a confrontation and so we just put everyone at school, staff and student alike, in a place where we had to "tolerate" this student's antics. As long as the student didn't physically hurt someone. The mockery endured by the staff resulted in anger and even tears of frustration. Thanks ACLU for being such a great reason for homeschool parents to continue homeschooling!

That quote reminds me of my last fabulous run-in with an administrator and how parents and the threat of litigation has changed the face of education. ..
My last day substitute teaching in the 4J District effectively ended my desire to work as a full time teacher. I was "guest teaching" for an art teacher in an upper class middle school on a Friday in late October. Here is the set up: My written lesson plans for the class amounted to about two sentences per class. Mostly, the day appears to be a complete wash because most of the plans are to just play word games. Add to that the speaker system is way too loud in the classroom and every time it goes off the class jumps from the blaring announcements from the office. That would have been alright except that it was the rewards day from their recent magazine drive and so students were called out over the speaker system every 40 minutes to report to the office for limousine rides. If that didn't make the kids excited and squirrelly already. Add to that the day was the picture retake day and so kids were called out over the 95db speaker system for that as well. I couldn't get through 2 sentences without an interruption.

My first class was full of 7th grade boys and the assignment was really lame...the kids knew it too. So a group of 5 boys were in full swing. All my years of classroom management was lost on them. I finally pulled out referral forms and wrote their names on the top (or pretended to) and they were corralled into making it to the end of the class. I noticed on my roll sheet that some of the "famous five" boys were in another class before a lunch period...more on that later.

My second and third classes were also very lame in terms of content. We had a video to watch for the third period that I was to show the 6th period as well. What the regular teacher failed to mention was that the video on Greek art contained a whole section on the homosexual tendencies of men in ancient Greece replete with sculptures to back up the point. It was Lovely. Like that isn't going to get around school...

That brought us up to the class just before lunch. This was the "famous five" class and I knew I had at least 2 of those guys back in the class. Again, the lesson was simplistic-even for an art class. I was supposed to read an ancient Greek myth and then the kids were to draw about it afterward. All that is fine except a lunch period is going on out in the hall and the noise is really loud. Apparently the student store was across from the art class. So kids kept asking to go to the bathroom. Nothing an issue there, but since we only had about 20 minutes left I said no. I was worried that kids would leave class to supposedly go to the bathroom and then never come back. How do you explain that to the office...much worse..can you imagine what happens the rest of the day when that gets around? It would be a zoo..and I'd be doomed with later classes. So I said no, even though one of the famous five asked me twice and then tried to get another girl to ask in an effort to try and trick me into saying yes. It was silly...we only had 9 minutes left in the class. So I picked up the Greek myth book and walked around reading another story out loud in an effort to entertain then for the last few minutes until their lunch period. When I got about 1/2 the way through the story I noticed my "famous five" guy was gone. So I asked and the kids said he just got up and left the room. Yeah, he snuck out while my back was turned. Again, lovely. The class ended and he walked back in. I asked him where he went and he said he went to the bathroom. I told him he couldn't leave the classroom without a teacher's permission and that I had to write it up as a referral. I told him I wished it wasn't that way, and that he only had about 5 minutes of class left when he walked out. He seemed to understand and didn't seem fazed by the referral at all. So I had to send him off to the office with the carbon copy of the referral at the beginning of his lunch.

I made it to the teachers lounge which was completely empty..that's a little weird since the school was too far away for someone to drive to a restaurant. It was just empty. I didn't' have anywhere else to go so I just ate my lunch and tried to think of games and tricks I could use for the rest of the day. In walks the assistant principal. He asks me about the referral. So I told him about Mr. Famous Five and his behavior first period and his behavior the fourth period. I told him how we walked out of class and how the school policy states I had to write it up. I didn't trust that kid as his actions proved him untrustworthy. Besides, the kid had about 4 chances to go to the bathroom before that class, and he only had to wait 5 more minutes. 5 little minutes.

Well the assistant principal seemed to be upset with me about the whole thing. He said the mom had called about it. I thought to myself, "How does the mom know about this like...not even 30 minutes later?" Anyway, I told my version of events and he walked out. I was alone again in the staff room...where was the staff anyway? Weird.

The next period was an advanced art class and we had a good time. It was a small class of kids who were mostly the counter culture type and we just had a good time talking about their works of art. That left me with only one class left...the fated 7th period.

Again, this was a class full of 7th grade boys. The teacher had on the lesson plans a game I didn't know but the kids really wanted to play...so I let them do two rounds so I could learn the game. As if to cue, both rounds were veiled sexual references, so I commandeered the game and made the kids ell me the answer before they started their round. Things were really cookin ' along with the class and we had a good game going. The kids were getting loud as they were excited and involved with the game. It was bordering on out of hand...but I kept it in check so the kids would stay excited about the game. Just then the principal shows up and asks me to come out of the classroom into the hall. I came out but I kept the door open so we could see the kids. I was worried that if I shut the door, all hell would break loose in the competition. Well, the principal was MAD. He said he had the mom on the phone and she was furious about her son getting a referral for going to the bathroom. I must admit, that would look bizarre at first glance, but the referral was for leaving the classroom...not for going to the restroom. So I explained the event to him, starting with Mr. Famous Five's behavior first period and the principal didn't seem to take any of my explanation seriously. Which was weird...since most principals back you up. Moreover, I had previously guest taught two periods of choir at that school and it was a good success. The principal even came in and watched me while I directed the girls choir. I must say, I had the kids singing and involved the whole time. It was a fun and full class.

The principal told me he had a very angry parent on him and so I told him, "If you disagree with the referral, just toss it. It doesn't matter to me since it's in your hands. If you think I was wrong, then delete the referral." This seemed the most logical to me, but apparently not to the principal.

He left, I went back into the war zone and we finished the day. At the end of the last class I went to the office and I asked if there was anything I could help with since I had 45 minutes left of my 8 hour contract. There isn't anything to correct in the art room and cleaning it up was a loss as the room was cluttered and and general mess to begin with. I was told by the assistant principal, "No, you've done enough already. Just leave."

That's 4J for you folks. The following Monday I went to work for AGI inc.