Published: January 16, 2008 10:00 pm      

Disruptive students cheat others of one day a week

CHARLESTON — Rowdy students who disrupt classrooms are robbing mannerly West Virginia students of an average of one day a week of learning time, and the problem of student discipline is worsening.

That was the thrust Wednesday of a lengthy news conference by the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia.

One element exacerbating the issue is a reluctance of some administrators to deal with unruly behavior because it gives schools a bad mark in the No Child Left Behind program, AFT President Judy Hale told reporters.

Based on a scientific survey of teachers and support personnel, Hale said, 36 percent feel as much as 20 percent of teaching time is forfeited a day by having to cope with miscreants in the classroom.

“That is totally unacceptable and must be reversed if we are ever to raise the academic achievements of our students,” she told reporters.

Hale attributed the growing menace in schools largely to the under reporting of problems because of the prevalent fear schools could be assigned negative marks under the federal education act.

“Under No Child, when you have a critical number of expulsions or there are disciplinary actions, then your school becomes defined as a persistently dangerous school,” she said.

“No one wants their school to be persistently dangerous. As a result of that, over the last two or three years, people have begun to seriously under report the disciplinary problems in our classrooms and in the entire school complex and on the school bus. It has become increasingly more difficult in each of the last few years for teachers to control and to discipline students in the classroom.”

Within the last year, 64 percent of teachers and service personnel believed matters have grown worse, Hale said. “There are more disruptions,” she said. “We know that is an issue that needs to be dealt with now.”

Bob Brown, executive secretary of the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association, told how a bus driver, in tears, found a 9mm bullet on a seat and was rebuked by a supervisor when she sought to report the incident.

The supervisor feared another bad mark under No Child Left Behind, the tearful woman explained to Brown.

A week later, at a private residence, one of the students involved in the bullet incident shot and killed another with a 9mm pistol, Brown said, adding that prompt intervention might have saved a youngster’s life.

Hale said the latest poll nearly paralleled one taken of parents two years ago, in that 58 percent feel misbehavior is a “significant problem” in schools. Fifty-six percent of teachers have at times felt intimidated by students, while 45 percent of support personnel believed they were under such pressure.

Twenty-four percent of all education employees see bullying as a “major” problem, while 68 percent view it as “somewhat” of an issue, and a mere 8 percent consider it “not much of a problem.”

Within the past two years, 30 percent found weapons, 71 percent said verbal abuse was a problem, while 28 percent reported physical assault on teachers and 72 percent saw attacks on students. Thirty-nine percent claimed physical threats against employees, 40 percent reported alcohol and drug abuse by students, 53 percent said vandalism had occurred, and 50 percent alluded to thefts.

Hale and Brown teamed to promote “Discipline Without Delay,” a multi-point plan aimed at countering the problems.

First is a proposed “Bill of Rights and Responsibilities” that says students and employees alike are entitled to a safe, orderly and drug-free environment in which to learn and be taught in schools with clear codes of conduct that are enforced fairly and consistently.

A second point is that the issue must be shared by the Legislature and governor to either encourage or mandate each school board conduct at least two town hall-style meetings annually, bringing all in for discussions.

Gov. Joe Manchin already has called for a special panel to investigate bullying in classrooms, asking for approval last week in his State of the State address.

Brown said 90 percent of those filling out the survey feel that things would improve immensely if school administrators provided more support.

“If you take a disruptive student to the office and stopped on the way back to the classroom or bus, they’ll beat you back to the bus and they’ll beat you back to the classroom because we simply don’t have any place or any method to deal with those disruptive students,” he said.

Not only should administrators get tougher, he felt, but more money needs to be pumped into alternative settings to segregate and deal with problem students.

Another major point is formation of a special disciplinary committee of teachers and service personnel to monthly review problems, Brown said.

Last week, Sen. Shirley Love, D-Fayette, reflecting on the classroom bullying situation, called for a return to corporal punishment. Love said the response to his support of the paddle was voluminous and strongly supportive.

But Hale disagreed, saying, “I don’t think that’s the answer to our disciplinary problems. We’re not prepared to go back to the days of paddling.””

Rather, she said, more intervention is needed in the early, formative years, noting worse problems are found in the middle schools.

“Some children need to be taught social skills,” Hale said. “They don’t pick that up at home.”

She agreed with House Majority Leader Joe DeLong, D-Hancock, who said children must be admonished to know that choices always bring consequences.

“The fact of the matter is,” DeLong said, after noting much time is devoted in the Legislature to curriculum and test scores, “it all begins with the environment.

“If we do not have the appropriate environment for learning, none of those things happen.”

— E-mail:

mannix@register-herald.com