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Plea from a hell of a classroom
BY JOE WILLIAMS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, February 9th, 2005
Somebody help!
A desperate Bronx teacher fired off an anonymous letter to the City Council describing hellish conditions at a violent middle school.
"Words cannot describe the nonsense and abuse that has to be put up with to just stand in these classes," the exasperated teacher wrote. "Forget about teaching."
The short but startling letter - read aloud during a two-day city hearing on student safety - reveals how unruly kids make it impossible for other children to learn.
In her plea for help, the teacher recounted a recent day when she spent an entire 45-minute class trying to gain control of misbehaving kids.
She told the Council a berserk boy "the size of an overweight man" grabbed a large ruler off her desk and ran around the classroom refusing to give it back. He ended up hiding it in his pants "so I could not get it," she said.
Another student took off his pants - he was wearing shorts underneath - and "proceeded to apply cream to his arms and legs for the entire period."
"He also managed to throw a soda bottle across the room three times, just missing me on one of those occasions," she wrote.
After a particularly violent day, the teacher was forced to call 35 to 40 parents to complain about their kids' behavior.
"Can you imagine that many students acting inappropriately in one day, in one subject class?" she wrote.
Feeling helpless, the teacher said she tried repeatedly to call the dean's office, only to get no help. "I am so fed up with this place," she fumed.
Her misery is not unique.
"It just encapsulates what teachers all over the city have told me," said City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz (D-Manhattan), chairwoman of the Education Committee.
Moskowitz said the hearings, which ended yesterday, were held because of complaints from teachers who cited violence as a big reason they leave their jobs.
The hearings investigated whether get-tough discipline policies started by school officials are making a difference in classrooms. Parents, teachers and students repeatedly complained that city educrats do not know how to deal with out-of-control classrooms.
Adding to that perception, school officials announced yesterday that they will combat bullying by creating five days of "interactive theater instruction" for 5,000 kids this month.
Moskowitz dismissed the idea, saying "putting on plays about bullying would not be at the top of my list" of ways to deal with school rowdies.
School safety czar Rose Albanese DePinto offered parents and students little hope. She said she believes city classrooms will never be completely safe despite attempts to enforce a strict code of discipline.
"We will never see the day when school safety and student discipline is no longer an issue," DePinto said."
Plea from a hell of a classroom
BY JOE WILLIAMS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, February 9th, 2005
Somebody help!
A desperate Bronx teacher fired off an anonymous letter to the City Council describing hellish conditions at a violent middle school.
"Words cannot describe the nonsense and abuse that has to be put up with to just stand in these classes," the exasperated teacher wrote. "Forget about teaching."
The short but startling letter - read aloud during a two-day city hearing on student safety - reveals how unruly kids make it impossible for other children to learn.
In her plea for help, the teacher recounted a recent day when she spent an entire 45-minute class trying to gain control of misbehaving kids.
She told the Council a berserk boy "the size of an overweight man" grabbed a large ruler off her desk and ran around the classroom refusing to give it back. He ended up hiding it in his pants "so I could not get it," she said.
Another student took off his pants - he was wearing shorts underneath - and "proceeded to apply cream to his arms and legs for the entire period."
"He also managed to throw a soda bottle across the room three times, just missing me on one of those occasions," she wrote.
After a particularly violent day, the teacher was forced to call 35 to 40 parents to complain about their kids' behavior.
"Can you imagine that many students acting inappropriately in one day, in one subject class?" she wrote.
Feeling helpless, the teacher said she tried repeatedly to call the dean's office, only to get no help. "I am so fed up with this place," she fumed.
Her misery is not unique.
"It just encapsulates what teachers all over the city have told me," said City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz (D-Manhattan), chairwoman of the Education Committee.
Moskowitz said the hearings, which ended yesterday, were held because of complaints from teachers who cited violence as a big reason they leave their jobs.
The hearings investigated whether get-tough discipline policies started by school officials are making a difference in classrooms. Parents, teachers and students repeatedly complained that city educrats do not know how to deal with out-of-control classrooms.
Adding to that perception, school officials announced yesterday that they will combat bullying by creating five days of "interactive theater instruction" for 5,000 kids this month.
Moskowitz dismissed the idea, saying "putting on plays about bullying would not be at the top of my list" of ways to deal with school rowdies.
School safety czar Rose Albanese DePinto offered parents and students little hope. She said she believes city classrooms will never be completely safe despite attempts to enforce a strict code of discipline.
"We will never see the day when school safety and student discipline is no longer an issue," DePinto said."
