Should schools spend time chasing after truant children and non-caring parents or just use our limited resources and focus on the ones who want to be there?
They should spend some time chasing the ' truant' because I can just hear some of them crying in five year, " IPS didn't even care!"
On that same note, I worked at a school last year that had a family of children who never came to school. Social workers at two schools had dragged the family to court two years in a row, with no change. That is where the breakdown in, the juvenile court system. I really think they should stop Mom's check and see what happens.
Well, as long as the student attends three days of school per month, they are not "truant". I agree, too many lazy mothers are sitting at home, with their caller ID, and we need to stop the Section Eight payments, EBT, and Hoosier Health Wise. Not one more dime until they act like a proper parent.
But its hard to tell a child that they have to get up, make some kind of breakfast, find some clothes that are not real dirty, and run to the bus stop. All this time the "welfare mama" is still in bed, we need good role models, not just antoher parent waiting on a check.
"Well, as long as the student attends three days of school per month, they are not "truant". I agree, too many lazy mothers are sitting at home, with their caller ID, and we need to stop the Section Eight payments, EBT, and Hoosier Health Wise. Not one more dime until they act like a proper parent." AMEN!
They are actually more of a problem when they show up the three days a month, they have no idea what is going on and don't want to be there, so they are just a disruption.
The whole truancy court system is backwards, instead of allocating court time based on need they only set a specific amount of resources and then deal it out, so if there is a family with five kids, all truant, it is a better use of resources then one kid. Five with one stone. Anyone over the age of 16 isn't even considered so there is no legal way to force or even check on attendance.
Educational neglect should be dealt with as an adult crime, jail the parents.
You guys are scary. Not one of you has enough respect for the cycle of poverty or the impact of prejudice and racism to hold the jobs you do. You are poison to these kids and to the public education system as a whole. I have inifinitely more respect for a crack-addicted welfare mother than elitist and racist schoolteachers. Both suck taxpayer money without working a real job, but at least the welfare moms are only fucking up their own kids.
No, they are screwing up a whole generation of young adults with their drug use and accepting their social economic status/lives. My family worked its way out of poverty and I will not accept anything less from my students, that would be prejudice and racism. You are the type that never wants the cycle of poverty broken, why? Most of the people on wlefare are white, so you have no idea about the subject. Those you don't speak up are led around like sheep and you accept the bad behavior from the parents, that is wrong in any culture. Keeping a child from an education (simple grade level reading) is wrong.
Are you kidding me??? Teachers suck up taxpayer money??? Do you have any idea of how underpaid we are and how much we spend on our own to help our students? Many of my colleagues have chipped in to buy students clothing, coats, helped cover costs of educational trips, as well as provided food, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deoderant, etc. Elitist and racist I am not, sorry to disappoint you. My colleauges and I focus on our students and do not care how much their families make or what color they are. Unfortunately, the problems listed in above postings are often counterproductive to our efforts. Students need to be in every class on time, every day. Period.
Um, I am one of your colleagues, and I don't think you are better than them. And when you act like you are, they (the parents and the kids) lose respect for you and for the education system. Do a little bit of reasearch into the teachers who ARE succeeding with at-risk kids. And I guarantee not one of those teachers would agree with your comments about lazy welfare momma's. Not one.
"respect for the cycle of poverty" YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, this is what we are fighting everyday. We aren't educating children to stay in the cycle of poverty, we are working to get them out of this cycle. Find me even the even one parent who will tell you they want their child to live in poverty, I dare you. Even the parent with no skills, no idea how to parent their child, no ablity to manage their own life, there won't be a single one who says "I want my child to live in poverty"
I totally agree no parent wants their child to live in poverty. That's my point. These parents don't love their kids less than Carmel parents. And they're not poor because they're lazy. There are a million complex factors that play into it. So it's obnoxious to watch a bunch of "educated professionals" post ignorant garbage about how if we would just withhold welfare checks, then lazy mom would get some motivation and all would be well.
I can intellectually agree there's a cycle of poverty; however, I refuse to have 'respect for a cycle of poverty.'
My entire focus as an educator is to assist students out of that cycle of poverty, not to respect it! There are 'no excuses' anymore. I refuse to listen to excuses from the 'bleeding hearts' who've kept our students in this cycle of poverty.
Good luck with that. Because science has shown that your attitude is the one that perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Are you familiar with the work of Jane Elliott? Was she a bleeding heart too? Or the thousands of studies over the last 30 years that have echoed her findings. Treating families and students as "less than" hurts them. You know that defensive feeling you get when people badmouth teachers? Kind of angry, kind of sad, kind of defeated? Sucks the "fire" right out of you, doesn't it? Multiply that by 10,000 and you might get a tiny glimpse into what it must be like for a child who is viewed by his teacher to be just another ill-disciplined, slow-witted brat whose mother is a lazy welfare-queen.
When a person gives birth to a child, there are several implied responsibilities. One of those is helping your child get a good education. A parent who does not even care or know if his/her child is going to school and working in school is a failure as a parent. Quote all of your studies and your psychobabble that you wish but that is the plain simple truth.
Who are you guys to judge when you don't even know the family? Have you been in the home and talked to the mother that is working two deadbeat jobs to put food on the table? Do you know what she's up against when she can't afford to stay home from work to go to the doctor or to make sure her child is in school? Have you been in situations where you have NO outside support -- parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, anyone who could help out when the bottom falls out of ones world? BTW, the jobs out there are reserved for the wealthy. This economy is based on folks at the bottom being shut out of high paying jobs. Our students can pass the tests, go to college, graduate and jump through all the hoops but the system is stacked against them landing the better paying jobs because, if you haven't noticed, the better paying job pool for minorities and poor folk is dwindling, even with the credentials. Look at all the engineers out of work.
Studies and psychobabble? Are you for real? It's the whole basis for public education. If you don't believe in education, why on earth are you a teacher? Just so you can sit on your high horse and spread your ignorant hatred throughout IPS. What a disgusting legacy you are leaving for the students who are unlucky enough to get you. Students who likely already started with a pretty crappy hand. It's beyond sad.
No, you are sad...All of your excuse making and low expectations for our students do more harm but good....your crap of 'well, his mother is working two deadbeat jobs" etc....just gives you an excuse to lower your expectations and give the student a gift grade and perpetuate the cycle. You should have higher expectations and most of our students will respond to them. It may be a struggle at first but most WILL respond. This outdated, excuse making, lowered expectation setting is not only elitist but racist and harmful. You are damaging the future of our students. I know your type. You are the teacher down the hall who thinks that even though a student missed 40 days and did little or no work that you will give him a C and maybe he will like you better.
Years ago we sent home PIT day notices on Tuesday, announcing PIT day was the following week on Wednesday. The next day the parents of three special ed kids showed up, and the office summoned the special ed teacher out of lunch. Some teachers said something to the effect that the parents were doing this on purpose. I bet them the parents were special ed too. Sure enough the parents were both former special ed students, both what at the time was considered Mildly Mentally Handicapped. Both worked two full time jobs at minimum wage (four jobs total) to keep themselves and their five children fed and clothed. All five children were in the MI-MO range, and never truant from school. Even with almost everything stacked against them they still put forth every effort to be good parents.
My God, the post above made my heart miss a beat, those parents truly cared and made the effort to help their children. You are right the parents will set the pace and the teacher has to demand the same, without this the students will fail in the cold harsh business world.
There are also teachers who step into the breech, Parent of other kids, as well as neighbors, friends, grandparents, other students, people in churches; anyone who helps steps up to parent a child can make a difference.
However there are students who simply get so many messages from home that are in opposition to society that there is little you can do to change that path. When the parents are disenfranchised from society and actively plant in their children's psyche an opposition to the rules of society it is difficult to deal with.
It isn't hard to work with kids who are well parented, and you can influence those who simply lack parenting, but those who have received messages about the value of "getting over" on society, dishonesty, playing the system are really hard to reach.
First of all, there are at least two different people arguing with you -- I'm not sure if that's clear.
Second, I actually have way above-average results with my kids. I don't want to go into details, because it would give away my identity, but I have the same academic expectations for my students as I would in a private prep school, and my poor, inner-city kids meet and exceed those expectations. But they sure as hell wouldn't do it if I treated them and their families and their socioeconomic status and their chaotic home lives with hostility and judgment. Instead I treat them with respect, even when they make choices that I would not. After all, there but for the grace of God go I.
No offense, but they are hard for YOU to reach. Because they don't respect you. Many of us are reaching them every day. And we're telling you how we did it. And you're putting up blogs telling everyone why we're wrong and making it up and you shouldn't be accountable for reaching kids with troubled home lives. If you can't teach kids with uninvolved parents, you're in the wrong district or maybe even the wrong profession.
How do you hold these high standards and reach these students who aren't there? In my first period class I have a student who missed 34 days of school during the first nine weeks. Within the first week I realized there were significant problems and referred this child to the social worker. There is no working phone number. When the student shows up I give the student the work missed and ask that it be done and returned, and it never is, what more do you want me to do?
The prinicapl at Shortride suggested that you spend an evening in the student's home playing cards with the family. He believes that will enable you to bond and easier understand the dynamics of that student's family.
There's not much you can do to reach truant kids when they are not there. But when they are there, I treat with them with respect. I've also given students books to keep at home and I've given a couple of families with difficult circumstances information for homeschooling and virtual schooling. Obviously, these aren't the students that meet my high expectations. But I still think they do more than they would do if I dismissed them and their families as unworthy of respect and kindness.
I'e often wondered why IPS doesn't do outreach to families with young children. Teach parents that they are their children's first teacher, open "family school centers" in neighborhood elementary schools. Even if you can't read you can hold your child and "read" them a story. The child will not know you aren't reading. Work on both parenting skills and building parents self esteem. Provide a warm and comforting place for parents and children before they even reach school age.
The Juvenile Court judge is part of the problem. The state laws requires attendance until age 18 but the judge will only handle truancy charges until age 16. In addition, if a student is near 16, the process is so cumbersome that many turn 16 before the paperwork moves through the system. Basically we have 2 to 3 years where a student can legally be truant but the judge has decided that she does not have time to handle the case.
Truancy is a status offense. There are no "legal" consequences for not attending school. Absolutely NOTHING can be done if a child or parents do not follow the orders of the court. Truancy in this state is all smoke and mirrors. And, guess what? Kids and parnets have figured this out!!!
Uh, I beg to differ, truancy, when enforced, falls under educational neglect, a Class D felony. Proscutors in other counties prosecute parents/guardians routinely on this offense. Why doesn't Marion County?
I agree with the statement above. Truancy is a crime and the Juvenile Court Judge doesn't deal with these truancy cases. She or he should be thrown in jail if they don't follow the law. ( I am speaking about the judges)
Check the law. Truancy IS a status offense and is prosecuted differently than Ed. Neglect or Failure to Ensure the Education of a Minor Child. Ask your school social workers. They know the law and what's happening (or not!) in juvenile court!
Truancy is the crime that involves the child, Educational Neglect is a crime that involves the parent. I don't believe that juvenile court has jurisdiction over adults.
Kids will come to school if it is worth it to them. Stop saying what the kids "should" do. Start creating a classroom that they want to be part of. During my last 2 years of high school, I was seriously at risk. I really should have gone to jail, since I was bringing drugs to school and selling them to other kids. I had run away from home. I lived in a party house. Many mornings I just wanted to get high and watch TV all day with the dropouts. I went to school because there were certain teachers that I respected enough to please. I did homework for them and studied for tests because I knew they would ask me how I was doing. Some teachers wrote me off as a delinquent and a stoner, and the way they looked at me with such dislike is still vivid. The teachers that I respected did not give me "gift grades" or even give me very much of their time. One simply demanded that I follow the rules to the letter: no tardies, no sleeping, all work turned in. He did this without anger, and he treated everyone the same way. Another teacher noticed one of my hidden talents and asked me about it from time to time. I felt like she saw the real me, under the drugs and crimes. Still another asked me frankly if I was high. When I said yes, she warned me that I would turn 18 soon, and I would face adult consequences. I now have a bachelor's degree and work full time in a professional capacity. I am able to support my family, and I have been clean since I turned 18. It is because a few teachers treated me with dignity and respect. Thank you.
To the above poster...that is great! Thank you for sharing that. It is interesting to note that the teachers who challenged you did not necessary do anything out of the ordinary but communicated respect for you as a person and set standards. I would like to hear more about what you remember what was done to make those classrooms places you wanted to be a part of. I have just returned from a difficult day of subbing in a class where the kids were a handful but I still felt like they were not "ugly" toward me...just loud, silly and off-task. How to deal with that when you really don't know the kids...but I know there must be something I can do..
Juvenile courts should not only mandate attendance. They should mandate actually doing something while in attendance. I have kids who have been mandated to attend. I have to sign papers saying they are there. I usually put comments down behavior and work. I think they are ignored.
School is more than attendance. It is participation. The courts in this instance are almost like the parent I spoke with last night. "(Name) is there every day. It should not matter what he is doing in class. You should at least give him a D for showing up!"
Wake up there parents and courts there is more than just showing up.
I agree that some students will attend if they believe that there is something to attend for. Imgaine going to your work all day, not knowing what to do (because no one taught you the skills), having to ask permission to use the restroom, and be asked not to talk to anyone beside you all day. We adults tend to forget that school is a hard job-for everyone involved. We as teachers (if we had the right to choose the curriculum, which we don't) would do well to remember that kids don't waste time on irrelevent information. They have to know it will benefit them. If you teach it-they will come.
for what it's worth, knowing kids is important. Setting standards is important. Being human is important. Not every kid likes me, but every kid knows that I care because I do the simple stuff...greet them at the door, ask about their families, ask if they ate breakfast, ask if they're ok. Keep it simple. Keep it human.
The two posts above are refreshing...these reflect professionalism and are a welcome change from the ridiculous middle school comments about how people look and gossip about liasions.
Focus on those who show up.
ReplyDeleteThey should spend some time chasing the ' truant' because I can just hear some of them crying in five year, " IPS didn't even care!"
ReplyDeleteOn that same note, I worked at a school last year that had a family of children who never came to school. Social workers at two schools had dragged the family to court two years in a row, with no change. That is where the breakdown in, the juvenile court system. I really think they should stop Mom's check and see what happens.
Well, as long as the student attends three days of school per month, they are not "truant". I agree, too many lazy mothers are sitting at home, with their caller ID, and we need to stop the Section Eight payments, EBT, and Hoosier Health Wise. Not one more dime until they act like a proper parent.
ReplyDeleteBut its hard to tell a child that they have to get up, make some kind of breakfast, find some clothes that are not real dirty, and run to the bus stop. All this time the "welfare mama" is still in bed, we need good role models, not just antoher parent waiting on a check.
ReplyDelete"Well, as long as the student attends three days of school per month, they are not "truant". I agree, too many lazy mothers are sitting at home, with their caller ID, and we need to stop the Section Eight payments, EBT, and Hoosier Health Wise. Not one more dime until they act like a proper parent." AMEN!
ReplyDeleteThey are actually more of a problem when they show up the three days a month, they have no idea what is going on and don't want to be there, so they are just a disruption.
ReplyDeleteThe whole truancy court system is backwards, instead of allocating court time based on need they only set a specific amount of resources and then deal it out, so if there is a family with five kids, all truant, it is a better use of resources then one kid. Five with one stone. Anyone over the age of 16 isn't even considered so there is no legal way to force or even check on attendance.
Educational neglect should be dealt with as an adult crime, jail the parents.
I think it is time for some parents to spend some time in jail for neglect. That would maybe sink in with some of these non caring parents.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are scary. Not one of you has enough respect for the cycle of poverty or the impact of prejudice and racism to hold the jobs you do. You are poison to these kids and to the public education system as a whole. I have inifinitely more respect for a crack-addicted welfare mother than elitist and racist schoolteachers. Both suck taxpayer money without working a real job, but at least the welfare moms are only fucking up their own kids.
ReplyDeleteNo, they are screwing up a whole generation of young adults with their drug use and accepting their social economic status/lives. My family worked its way out of poverty and I will not accept anything less from my students, that would be prejudice and racism. You are the type that never wants the cycle of poverty broken, why? Most of the people on wlefare are white, so you have no idea about the subject. Those you don't speak up are led around like sheep and you accept the bad behavior from the parents, that is wrong in any culture. Keeping a child from an education (simple grade level reading) is wrong.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me??? Teachers suck up taxpayer money??? Do you have any idea of how underpaid we are and how much we spend on our own to help our students? Many of my colleagues have chipped in to buy students clothing, coats, helped cover costs of educational trips, as well as provided food, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deoderant, etc. Elitist and racist I am not, sorry to disappoint you. My colleauges and I focus on our students and do not care how much their families make or what color they are. Unfortunately, the problems listed in above postings are often counterproductive to our efforts. Students need to be in every class on time, every day. Period.
ReplyDeleteUm, I am one of your colleagues, and I don't think you are better than them. And when you act like you are, they (the parents and the kids) lose respect for you and for the education system. Do a little bit of reasearch into the teachers who ARE succeeding with at-risk kids. And I guarantee not one of those teachers would agree with your comments about lazy welfare momma's. Not one.
ReplyDelete"respect for the cycle of poverty" YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, this is what we are fighting everyday. We aren't educating children to stay in the cycle of poverty, we are working to get them out of this cycle. Find me even the even one parent who will tell you they want their child to live in poverty, I dare you. Even the parent with no skills, no idea how to parent their child, no ablity to manage their own life, there won't be a single one who says "I want my child to live in poverty"
ReplyDeleteI totally agree no parent wants their child to live in poverty. That's my point. These parents don't love their kids less than Carmel parents. And they're not poor because they're lazy. There are a million complex factors that play into it. So it's obnoxious to watch a bunch of "educated professionals" post ignorant garbage about how if we would just withhold welfare checks, then lazy mom would get some motivation and all would be well.
ReplyDeleteI can intellectually agree there's a cycle of poverty; however, I refuse to have 'respect for a cycle of poverty.'
ReplyDeleteMy entire focus as an educator is to assist students out of that cycle of poverty, not to respect it! There are 'no excuses' anymore. I refuse to listen to excuses from the 'bleeding hearts' who've kept our students in this cycle of poverty.
Good luck with that. Because science has shown that your attitude is the one that perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Are you familiar with the work of Jane Elliott? Was she a bleeding heart too? Or the thousands of studies over the last 30 years that have echoed her findings. Treating families and students as "less than" hurts them. You know that defensive feeling you get when people badmouth teachers? Kind of angry, kind of sad, kind of defeated? Sucks the "fire" right out of you, doesn't it? Multiply that by 10,000 and you might get a tiny glimpse into what it must be like for a child who is viewed by his teacher to be just another ill-disciplined, slow-witted brat whose mother is a lazy welfare-queen.
ReplyDeleteWhen a person gives birth to a child, there are several implied responsibilities. One of those is helping your child get a good education. A parent who does not even care or know if his/her child is going to school and working in school is a failure as a parent. Quote all of your studies and your psychobabble that you wish but that is the plain simple truth.
ReplyDeleteWho are you guys to judge when you don't even know the family? Have you been in the home and talked to the mother that is working two deadbeat jobs to put food on the table? Do you know what she's up against when she can't afford to stay home from work to go to the doctor or to make sure her child is in school? Have you been in situations where you have NO outside support -- parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, anyone who could help out when the bottom falls out of ones world? BTW, the jobs out there are reserved for the wealthy. This economy is based on folks at the bottom being shut out of high paying jobs. Our students can pass the tests, go to college, graduate and jump through all the hoops but the system is stacked against them landing the better paying jobs because, if you haven't noticed, the better paying job pool for minorities and poor folk is dwindling, even with the credentials. Look at all the engineers out of work.
ReplyDeleteStudies and psychobabble? Are you for real? It's the whole basis for public education. If you don't believe in education, why on earth are you a teacher? Just so you can sit on your high horse and spread your ignorant hatred throughout IPS. What a disgusting legacy you are leaving for the students who are unlucky enough to get you. Students who likely already started with a pretty crappy hand. It's beyond sad.
ReplyDeleteNo, you are sad...All of your excuse making and low expectations for our students do more harm but good....your crap of 'well, his mother is working two deadbeat jobs" etc....just gives you an excuse to lower your expectations and give the student a gift grade and perpetuate the cycle. You should have higher expectations and most of our students will respond to them. It may be a struggle at first but most WILL respond. This outdated, excuse making, lowered expectation setting is not only elitist but racist and harmful. You are damaging the future of our students. I know your type. You are the teacher down the hall who thinks that even though a student missed 40 days and did little or no work that you will give him a C and maybe he will like you better.
ReplyDeleteYears ago we sent home PIT day notices on Tuesday, announcing PIT day was the following week on Wednesday. The next day the parents of three special ed kids showed up, and the office summoned the special ed teacher out of lunch. Some teachers said something to the effect that the parents were doing this on purpose. I bet them the parents were special ed too. Sure enough the parents were both former special ed students, both what at the time was considered Mildly Mentally Handicapped. Both worked two full time jobs at minimum wage (four jobs total) to keep themselves and their five children fed and clothed. All five children were in the MI-MO range, and never truant from school. Even with almost everything stacked against them they still put forth every effort to be good parents.
ReplyDeleteMy God, the post above made my heart miss a beat, those parents truly cared and made the effort to help their children. You are right the parents will set the pace and the teacher has to demand the same, without this the students will fail in the cold harsh business world.
ReplyDeleteThere are also teachers who step into the breech, Parent of other kids, as well as neighbors, friends, grandparents, other students, people in churches; anyone who helps steps up to parent a child can make a difference.
ReplyDeleteHowever there are students who simply get so many messages from home that are in opposition to society that there is little you can do to change that path. When the parents are disenfranchised from society and actively plant in their children's psyche an opposition to the rules of society it is difficult to deal with.
It isn't hard to work with kids who are well parented, and you can influence those who simply lack parenting, but those who have received messages about the value of "getting over" on society, dishonesty, playing the system are really hard to reach.
First of all, there are at least two different people arguing with you -- I'm not sure if that's clear.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I actually have way above-average results with my kids. I don't want to go into details, because it would give away my identity, but I have the same academic expectations for my students as I would in a private prep school, and my poor, inner-city kids meet and exceed those expectations. But they sure as hell wouldn't do it if I treated them and their families and their socioeconomic status and their chaotic home lives with hostility and judgment. Instead I treat them with respect, even when they make choices that I would not. After all, there but for the grace of God go I.
No offense, but they are hard for YOU to reach. Because they don't respect you. Many of us are reaching them every day. And we're telling you how we did it. And you're putting up blogs telling everyone why we're wrong and making it up and you shouldn't be accountable for reaching kids with troubled home lives. If you can't teach kids with uninvolved parents, you're in the wrong district or maybe even the wrong profession.
ReplyDelete"And we're telling you how we did it."
ReplyDeleteHow do you hold these high standards and reach these students who aren't there? In my first period class I have a student who missed 34 days of school during the first nine weeks. Within the first week I realized there were significant problems and referred this child to the social worker. There is no working phone number. When the student shows up I give the student the work missed and ask that it be done and returned, and it never is, what more do you want me to do?
The prinicapl at Shortride suggested that you spend an evening in the student's home playing cards with the family. He believes that will enable you to bond and easier understand the dynamics of that student's family.
ReplyDeleteThere's not much you can do to reach truant kids when they are not there. But when they are there, I treat with them with respect. I've also given students books to keep at home and I've given a couple of families with difficult circumstances information for homeschooling and virtual schooling. Obviously, these aren't the students that meet my high expectations. But I still think they do more than they would do if I dismissed them and their families as unworthy of respect and kindness.
ReplyDeleteI'e often wondered why IPS doesn't do outreach to families with young children. Teach parents that they are their children's first teacher, open "family school centers" in neighborhood elementary schools. Even if you can't read you can hold your child and "read" them a story. The child will not know you aren't reading. Work on both parenting skills and building parents self esteem. Provide a warm and comforting place for parents and children before they even reach school age.
ReplyDeleteThe Juvenile Court judge is part of the problem. The state laws requires attendance until age 18 but the judge will only handle truancy charges until age 16. In addition, if a student is near 16, the process is so cumbersome that many turn 16 before the paperwork moves through the system. Basically we have 2 to 3 years where a student can legally be truant but the judge has decided that she does not have time to handle the case.
ReplyDeleteTruancy is a status offense. There are no "legal" consequences for not attending school. Absolutely NOTHING can be done if a child or parents do not follow the orders of the court. Truancy in this state is all smoke and mirrors. And, guess what? Kids and parnets have figured this out!!!
ReplyDeleteUh, I beg to differ, truancy, when enforced, falls under educational neglect, a Class D felony. Proscutors in other counties prosecute parents/guardians routinely on this offense. Why doesn't Marion County?
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is all the other crime?
ReplyDeleteI agree. Truancy is a crime and we have a lazy Juvenile Court Judge who doesn't want to deal with the truancy cases. So She doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement above. Truancy is a crime and the Juvenile Court Judge doesn't deal with these truancy cases. She or he should be thrown in jail if they don't follow the law. ( I am speaking about the judges)
ReplyDeleteThe Judge is a She!!
ReplyDeleteCheck the law. Truancy IS a status offense and is prosecuted differently than Ed. Neglect or Failure to Ensure the Education of a Minor Child. Ask your school social workers. They know the law and what's happening (or not!) in juvenile court!
ReplyDeleteTruancy is the crime that involves the child, Educational Neglect is a crime that involves the parent. I don't believe that juvenile court has jurisdiction over adults.
ReplyDeleteDoes it matter? The juvenile court has jurisdiciton over truancy but the judge chooses to ignore it?
ReplyDeleteKids will come to school if it is worth it to them. Stop saying what the kids "should" do. Start creating a classroom that they want to be part of.
ReplyDeleteDuring my last 2 years of high school, I was seriously at risk. I really should have gone to jail, since I was bringing drugs to school and selling them to other kids. I had run away from home. I lived in a party house. Many mornings I just wanted to get high and watch TV all day with the dropouts.
I went to school because there were certain teachers that I respected enough to please. I did homework for them and studied for tests because I knew they would ask me how I was doing. Some teachers wrote me off as a delinquent and a stoner, and the way they looked at me with such dislike is still vivid.
The teachers that I respected did not give me "gift grades" or even give me very much of their time. One simply demanded that I follow the rules to the letter: no tardies, no sleeping, all work turned in. He did this without anger, and he treated everyone the same way. Another teacher noticed one of my hidden talents and asked me about it from time to time. I felt like she saw the real me, under the drugs and crimes. Still another asked me frankly if I was high. When I said yes, she warned me that I would turn 18 soon, and I would face adult consequences.
I now have a bachelor's degree and work full time in a professional capacity. I am able to support my family, and I have been clean since I turned 18. It is because a few teachers treated me with dignity and respect. Thank you.
To the above poster...that is great! Thank you for sharing that. It is interesting to note that the teachers who challenged you did not necessary do anything out of the ordinary but communicated respect for you as a person and set standards. I would like to hear more about what you remember what was done to make those classrooms places you wanted to be a part of. I have just returned from a difficult day of subbing in a class where the kids were a handful but I still felt like they were not "ugly" toward me...just loud, silly and off-task. How to deal with that when you really don't know the kids...but I know there must be something I can do..
ReplyDeleteJuvenile courts should not only mandate attendance. They should mandate actually doing something while in attendance. I have kids who have been mandated to attend. I have to sign papers saying they are there. I usually put comments down behavior and work. I think they are ignored.
ReplyDeleteSchool is more than attendance. It is participation. The courts in this instance are almost like the parent I spoke with last night. "(Name) is there every day. It should not matter what he is doing in class. You should at least give him a D for showing up!"
Wake up there parents and courts there is more than just showing up.
I agree that some students will attend if they believe that there is something to attend for. Imgaine going to your work all day, not knowing what to do (because no one taught you the skills), having to ask permission to use the restroom, and be asked not to talk to anyone beside you all day. We adults tend to forget that school is a hard job-for everyone involved. We as teachers (if we had the right to choose the curriculum, which we don't) would do well to remember that kids don't waste time on irrelevent information. They have to know it will benefit them. If you teach it-they will come.
ReplyDeletefor what it's worth, knowing kids is important. Setting standards is important. Being human is important. Not every kid likes me, but every kid knows that I care because I do the simple stuff...greet them at the door, ask about their families, ask if they ate breakfast, ask if they're ok. Keep it simple. Keep it human.
ReplyDeleteThe two posts above are refreshing...these reflect professionalism and are a welcome change from the ridiculous middle school comments about how people look and gossip about liasions.
ReplyDelete