Thanks for pointing out this article, Erica. I'm looking forward to reading it through.

I'm interested to know what statistics you turn up about Baltimore. As a teacher, I've been shocked over and over again at the level of violence in our schools-- the vaseline-smearing, scarf-donning, earring and bracelet-removing ritual is just as common in my experience here in Baltimore, as it seems to be in Philly.

I make note when a normally well-dressed girl shows up to school unmade up with no jewelry or makeup. It can be a sign that she has a certain violent appointment at some point during the day.

The lingo might be different in Baltimore-- here the kids call it 'being banked,' but the extent to which these incidents happen on a regular basis, and are planned out is shocking.

A few examples: I had a student who was pregnant in the eighth grade. (I taught her during the ninth grade, so the incident happened at her previous school.)

The girls who 'banked' her drew a map of the lobby where she would be passing on the way to class, then staked it out while one student threw the fire alarm during the passing period. The ensuing chaos gave them the perfect opportunity to converge on her and kick her in the stomach over and over again, causing her to miscarry the baby.

Another student I had was banked in the exact same way as Tesheda. Fortunately it was not my classroom where this occurred, but it easily could have been. The teacher had both classroom doors unlocked, as is regulation in our school, and the girls who walked in to make their attack were able to take their victim (and the rest of the class) from behind, and completely by surprise. High school girls can be very large, and one teacher is not going to have a whole lot of physical prowess to defend her students.

The school where I currently teach has a fancy new door-locking system which makes it so students cannot go to the bathroom without a special key, provided to them by a teacher. This means the bathroom doors remain locked at all times and open only for a pre-authorized entry. In theory this helps with safety, as there are so many possible things that can happen in the bathroom (fires in trashcans, smoking, fights, etc.)

However, the system has been turned against itself. Kids ask for the special key, and then go stuff toilet paper in the bathroom lock hole to keep them from being locked. Then they agree to meet there (or spring on an unsuspecting victim there) With someone video-taping the fight on their cell phone, they will proceed to beat each other to bits with the doors locked so adults cannot get in or even know the fight is happening.

I found out about this only when I confiscated a phone from a student who was showing off the most recent scuffle to his friends. No adult would have otherwise known that particular fight had happened at all, and it is unknown how long this had actually been going on.

It annoys me greatly that Philadelphia's superintendent is blaming 'bad teachers' (again) for this sort of event. The quality of one's teaching is not going to have any effect on such a systemic and wide-spread problem. In fact, a teacher such as Tesheda's, whose teaching might have fostered the kind of trust and peacefulness necessary to allow for unlocked doors and a relaxed and peaceful classroom culture, would only lay students open for the kind of attack Tesheda experienced from outside the class.

And the kids mentioned in the story by Moffett who 'bounce from class to class' disrupting are present in droves in Baltimore. We call them hallwalkers, and I would wager that every single high school in Baltimore has them.

The school where my child is slated to go to elementary school, (she is now 2, so it will be a few years) is Coldstream Park Elementary. In the last climate survey, only 67% of teachers felt safe there. At an elementary school, this surprises me and worries me greatly. What are teachers afraid of at an elementary school?

The problem, though, is reporting this stuff makes the school look bad, and rather than solving what is a system-wide problem, we end up with a lot of pointing fingers, ruined administrator and teacher reputations, and eventually, lost jobs. The climate we teach in right now makes it extremely difficult to have open conversations that foster problem-solving. Instead, we end up with as much covering up as possible and the things that would foster buy-in and engagement and serious study on the part of our student body are lost.

The descriptions of city students' behaviors remind me of working in Baltimore schools fifteen years ago. I escaped to teach in the 'burbs. But now I am increasingly experiencing the kinds of chronic disruptions to learning that I attempted to leave behind...

Same in Baltimore we just cover it up. Better yet, have a Code of Conduct that let's schools cover it up. First threat to a teacher, you get a stern talking too. The climates in our schools continues to slide. Lucky for us everyone wants AAA to succeed so no real reporting happens. Stabbings, shots fired, guns, School Police being beaten and jumped all goes under the radar of the media in Baltimore. But hey, suspensions are down.

I've seen and broken up as much violence as anyone... this isn't news to a BCPS teacher, it's day to day.

Side note: you might want to remove the student's name from second post. I'm sure 'parent and teacher' didn't mean to put it in, but without the girl's permission I think dropping her name violates a system wide policy. Better safe than sorry.

@Brandon -
The name referenced in"parent and teacher"'s post, "Teshada Herring", comes from the Philadeliphia Inquirer story.

Ha! Oops. Proving once again that reading is important. Thank you Parent

Recently,violence among youngster have increased a lot.Few year back when I was in Oxford University a boy tried to killed his own friend but fortunately the boy was saved ,he suffered minor injuries.It's really terrifying to see today's kid much interested in violence .