As I report in today's paper, W.E.B. DuBois High in Baltimore has been awarded a $3.7 federal grant to improve mentoring and student work opportunities. It is one of nine "persistently dangerous" high schools nationwide to receive a multi-million-dollar grant from the federal labor department.

No Child Left Behind leaves it to the states to define what it means to be a "persistently dangerous" school.   In Maryland in general and Baltimore in particular (where all of Maryland's persistently dangerous schools are located), people complain a lot that the state makes it easier than most for a school to earn the dubious label. There are several downsides to that: Schools have an incentive not to suspend students for violent offenses (here, it's the suspension numbers that count against you). If violent schools do report their numbers accurately, they are rewarded with public humiliation.

In this case, though, it paid to be persistently dangerous. While many schools could use a grant for mentoring and internships, only persistently dangerous schools were eligible to apply.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Parents in the Towson area are hot under the collar after Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. decided yesterday that $12 million that had been budgeted for the expansion of Loch Raven High School will instead go toward other projects after the county school board unanimously voted to rescind its approval of the proposed addition (as reported in my story today).

Some have questioned why the money wouldn't instead be put toward adding air condition to the many schools that lack it. On Monday, Baltimore County closed all its schools three hours early because of the heat. While other counties closed a school here or there, Baltimore County closed all its schools because so many --- about half of them --- lack air conditioning that it made little sense to keep any of them open.

One community activist, Laurie Taylor-Mitchell, whose son attends Ridgely Middle School (which recently completed a $13 million renovation, but still lacks air conditioning), drove home this point in a WBAL radio interview this week:

"They need just $900,000 to add air conditioning," she said. "They now have windows that don't open at all or that open only six inches. The temperatures are 10 degrees hotter than it is outside."

On Smith's role, she added that his decision to put the $12 million into other projects without seeing whether the school board might support adding air conditioning to some of these school, "creates resentment."

"There's a feeling he is not thinking about the people in these schools, about the students and the teachers that are suffering much more with the lack of air conditioning, which is a health issue as well as an education issue, rather than repaving parking lots, loading dock replacements and footbridge replacements," Taylor-Mitchell said on the WBAL radio show.

In an interview yesterday, Smith said he is directing the $12 million toward these "site improvement" projects because the school board wants them done. He said the projects, part of a list that totals $20 million, were requested early in the budget process and only $2 million was able to be allocated for them. Scrapping the Loch Raven addition frees up that money, he said.

I have a call into the school system officials to find out if it would have been an option for the school board --- had they been consulted yesterday before Smith's decision --- to suggest using that freed up $12 million toward air conditioning projects in the coming year. Are there logistical or technical constraints? Is it as simple as, If only he had first asked the board what they wanted to do with the "found" money?

I'll update this post later with whatever response the school system is able to offer.

UPDATE:

5:56 pm. Thursday --- I just finished talking to Kara Calder, spokeswoman for the school system. She confirmed that, to her knowledge, the county executive did not contact school system officials before announcing his decision yesterday.

As for whether the money could've instead been targeted at adding air condition to schools, Calder explained that before any changes (such as adding projects not previously equested) could be made to the school system's capital improvements program list of projects for the fiscal year that starts July 1, all parties --- meaning the school board, county executive and county council --- would have to agree.

About the projects that Smith has recommended, Calder said, "The site improvements are much-needed projects. Some have been carried over for two or three years. There are definitely some significant needs there."

Posted by Gina Davis at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Much of the debate on suspensions in Baltimore this year stemmed from the fact that different schools -- and different people within the same school -- doled out different consequences for the same offenses. Cutting class could lead to a phone call home at School A and a suspension at School B. Then Dr. Alonso said he didn't want schools suspending students for non-violent offenses, raising several questions: What is grounds for suspension? What other responses are appropriate and when?

Now we have some answers. The school system has released a proposed code of conduct outlining four categories of offenses, which offenses fall into each category and what punishments are appropriate at each level. Appropriate responses to a Level 1 offense (examples include an unexcused absense and minor bullying) include parent notification, a seat change or an in-class time out. Level 2 (say, cheating or habitual truancy) could mean in-school suspension. Short-term suspension out of school doesn't come into play until Level 3 (attack on student with bodily injury, drug possession), while Level 4 (attack on student with serious bodily injury, bomb threat) could involve long-term suspension or expulsion. There's also a list of offenses where it's mandatory for school police to be contacted.

Despite the code's specificity, many offenses could fall into multiple categories. Classroom disruption could be a 1, 2 or 3, but at its most extreme, Level 3, the proposal says that out-of-school suspension can be only for one day.

The 19-page proposal is posed on the system's Web site. There's also an e-mail address for the public to provide feedback: safeschools@bcps.k12.md.us. The code will need to be approved by the school board.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (27) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Want to talk about school safety? You'll have plenty of opportunities next week.

Nancy Grasmick and Elijah Cummings are co-hosting a daylong school safety summit at UMBC on Tuesday, an event planned in response to the Jolita Berry incident. Then on Tuesday night, the city school system hosts the first of three "Safe and Supportive Schools Family and Community Conversations." (Times and locations are below.)

Will any good come out of these forums? There surely have been a lot of them over the years, and the same problems remain. And yet, there's clearly still a strong appetite for more.

Continue reading "Week of the school safety forum" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

All the news reporters at The Sun are required to participate in a weekend work rotation, and last Friday, it was my turn to work the night police shift. Around 10 p.m., I heard from a city police department spokesman that a black juvenile male had been shot in the head. It didn't sound good, but we didn't know for sure if he was alive or dead. As midnight approached and with it the deadline for the paper's final edition, I was able to get enough details from the spokesman (some of them wrong, it later turned out) to squeak out a couple of sentences: A 17-year-old Baltimore resident was killed shortly after 9:30 p.m. at 28th Street and Hillen Road. As I left work early Saturday morning, I wondered about this boy: where he'd gone to school, what his life was like. I wondered, as I often do while writing homicide briefs on weekend shifts, how we would have treated his death if he were white and lived in Howard County.

At Tuesday night's school board meeting, I learned a bit more about him, about David Henderson, who was 18 and shot in the chest (or so the police later said). He was a student at Doris M. Johnson High School, where -- coincidentally -- I spoke to a few freshman English classes earlier this spring about how to write a newspaper profile. The students were writing profiles of the presidential candidates. To give them practice gathering information, I let them interview me about myself and my job. Their teachers were embarrassed when they asked how much money I make, how old I am and whether I'm married, but I told them that reporters have to ask uncomfortable questions and I answered everything they asked. They were a fun group.

The seniors at Doris Johnson were dancing at their prom Friday night when they learned their classmate had been murdered. And if that wasn't enough, four kids leaving the prom were in a car accident when their vehicle was struck by a drunken driver. One was injured seriously.

Speaking at the board meeting, a social worker from the school said David was a "really wonderful kid" who fell victim to senseless street violence. She said it would mean something to his mother that the school board had acknowledged his passing.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Disturbing reports from the two schools that have been in the news the past week: 

1) Calverton Elementary/Middle held a staff meeting after school yesterday. I'm told by multiple sources that it was the first time teachers were officially informed of what happened there on Sunday. I'm also told that the response by the school's administration was to blame the media for overblowing the situation. Meanwhile, teachers reported hearing a gunshot outside the building again yesterday morning, though police questioned whether the noise was something else, like a car backfiring or construction. Either way, staff, students and parents are scared, particularly the parents of the school's youngest children, whose classrooms are on the ground floor of the building and must be vacated when the school goes into lockdown mode.

2) Canton Middle had a regularly scheduled fire drill on Tuesday. Kim Kramer-Zamenski, the mother of two children at the school, says neighbors called the students standing outside "monkeys" and other inappropriate names, yelled at them to go back inside and moved their cars to get away from them. The mother wrote in an e-mail to me that, while she understands that a group of Canton students have caused problems for neighbors, "these are grown adults (and) they are asking for a problem when they act this way.  I think they are trying to get the kids to do something bad so they have something to complain about." 

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Great timing after the highly publicized attack on Baltimore art teacher Jolita Berry: A new book about assaults on educators. The press release in my inbox says it's "a perfect end of the school year gift for any teacher." Because any teacher would want to spend the summer vacation reading about getting beaten up...

According to "Attacking Our Educators," teacher assaults is not a problem that's unique to Baltimore or even the United States. The release says it's an "epidemic" happening all over the world. In American schools, around 1.3 million teachers were victims of nonfatal crimes at schools between 1997 and 2001, the book estimates. In Ontario, 40 percent of teachers report "being bullied by students." In the United Kingdom, a third of teachers "have faced physical aggression from students." And the UK's National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women’s Teachers found that a teacher is attacked every nine minutes.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

This time, the victim is ... a photographer from the Baltimore Examiner. The photographer was outside on the W.E.B. DuBois side of the building that also houses Reginald Lewis, scene of the infamous Jolita Berry beating. She was allegedly pushed to the ground by a student who didn't want his picture taken.

I wish I were joking. The Examiner story is here.

Meanwhile, Marc Steiner is back to work. He interviewed Dr. Alonso on school violence yesterday. You can listen to their conversation here.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Mayor Dixon and Dr. Alonso are hosting a forum this afternoon for city teachers to voice their concerns about school safety and suggest solutions -- no administrators allowed. Fliers for the session stress that it will be confidential, an apparent recognition of the culture of fear of retaliation that pervades the city school system. The forum comes after two weeks of repeated incidents of violence in and around Baltimore's schools.

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: By my count, about 300 teachers attended. I spoke to Dr. Alonso after the forum (which went until 7:30, an hour and a half past the time advertised), and he said he wants to start meeting with teachers on a monthly basis, like he does with principals. The purpose will be to get feedback on the system in general, not only on the issue of school violence. So to those of you who didn't know about this meeting or weren't able to attend, maybe there will be other opportunities.

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

The city school system is refusing to release the incident report on the altercation at Mervo last week that left both a student and a teacher hospitalized. Why? Other students in the class are alleging that the teacher started the fight.

This is a tricky situation. In a case where students and a teacher are the only witnesses, it could be easy for the students to band together and make up a story to protect one of their own. And in reporting on teacher assaults the past week, I've talked to more than one teacher frustrated that attacks on staff go unreported for lack of evidence. I also knew a teacher who once spent months out of his job waiting for the school system to conclude that, no, he did not assault a student as the child alleged.

But what if the teacher at Mervo really did strike first? What if it's the teacher's word against the students'? How do you know which side is telling the truth?

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Both yesterday and today, there have been lockdowns at Calverton Elementary/Middle School after shootings in the neighborhood. Yesterday, Alexander Hamilton Elementary was locked down as well, after a city police officer was shot just outside its walls. Nearby Empowerment Academy had already dismissed at the time, but today there was a lockdown there, too, after a 15-year-old boy outside was shot in the face. The shooting victim, who is expected to survive, is a student at Frederick Douglass High, where another student was arrested and charged with attempted murder this week in connection with a stabbing in a school bathroom.

A second thread: Our story Sunday reported that Booker T. Washington Middle has expelled students for teacher assaults eight times this academic year, more than any other school in the city. The 14-year-old girl who was fatally shot this week, allegedly by her 18-year-old boyfriend (who told police it was a mistake), was in seventh-grade at Booker T. Washington.

Under circumstances like these, how are students supposed to learn? And is it any wonder that violence is spilling over into school walls?

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Some people may be skeptical that the city school system will find 500 volunteers in the next two weeks. (I report on the campaign in today's paper.) But whether the initiative is successful may depend less on the number of people who step up to the plate than on how they're received at a school. System officials say the schools where they'll be deploying volunteers en masse will all have to ask for the assistance, and they'll have to give the volunteers something specific to do.

Historically, though, it's clear that some schools have struggled with parent involvement because they haven't made parents feel welcome. Letting parents into a school means more eyes on the adults running the place, as well as on the children.

If you haven't read Dr. Alonso's email to the community yet, I've pasted the text below.

Continue reading "Calling for 500 volunteers" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

The recent assault of a teacher by a student at Reginald F. Lewis High has highlighted a number of serious concerns facing schools right now. I have been most disturbed by the claims that administrators are not reporting certain disciplinary incidents to alter school statistics.

I must stress that the student in this recent case was suspended from school immediately following the incident. I am focusing more on the teachers union's claims that incidents like this are frequent and often unreported.

Marietta English, co-president of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said her office has been receiving two or three complaints a day of assaults on teachers, many of which are not reported to the school system or police, according to Sara Neufeld’s story.

The union has long claimed that administrators aren't reporting violent incidents or doing enough to punish children who are violent, for fear their schools will be labeled "persistently dangerous" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Sara’s story says.

A persistently dangerous school is defined in Maryland by the number of suspensions for violent offenses, not the number of offenses itself.

This isn’t just a problem in Baltimore.

My mother – a retired principal in Syracuse, New York – last night said she discussed this matter with some of her former peers, and it is common knowledge that some schools to not report certain disciplinary actions. (For the record, my mother detests this practice.)

Dr. Alonso has threatened to fire anyone in Baltimore city schools who does not report these incidents, Sara told me when I talked to her a few minutes ago.

The system says it has expelled students for assaults on staff members 112 times this school year, compared with 98 at this time last year.

School officials point to the slight increase in expulsions as a result of Dr. Alonso's policy, Sara told me.

Are schools are doctoring their discipline numbers to avoid: a negative community reaction, or an “unsafe schools” label?

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

My e-mail box was flooded this morning with messages from people outraged by my story today about a teacher assault at Reginald F. Lewis High that was captured on video on a student's cell phone. People are stunned by the statistic: the school system has expelled students 112 times so far this academic year for assault on staff, compared with 98 times at this time last year. And the teachers union is charging that more assaults were not reported.

In reporting a story like this, my fear is that the public will view all city students as "running wild" (as Dr. Alonso said at the board meeting last month, when he asked the union to talk in specifics rather than generalizations). My perception is that at many schools, a few disruptive kids can make the numbers look bad for everyone. It's also important to keep in mind that if a teacher or other staff member tries to break up a fight and a student hits that adult accidentally, that's grounds for expulsion, and those incidents are included in the 112 figure.

At the same time, I hear from a lot of folks who believe that our schools are sending kids the message that inappropriate behavior won't be punished. Now there's a school system-teachers union task force to address the issue of teacher assaults in particular and school violence in general. Members will try to come up with strategies to improve the situation.

Any ideas?

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (48) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

A 7-year-old boy at Randallstown Elementary School was caught yesterday with two loaded handguns in a classroom, Baltimore County police said this morning.

The guns, which were fully loaded, were discovered after a 9mm Kahr handgun fell from the child's pocket about 10:30 a.m. The gun that fell had one round in the chamber.

A search of the boy's backpack revealed a second weapon, a 40-caliber Glock handgun.

The boy was detained and then turned over to his parents, according to The Sun's article. It is unknown whether or not the boy will face any charges.

This isn’t the first time that an elementary student has brought in a loaded gun to school. In October 2006, an 8-year-old at Grove Park Elementary in Baltimore accidentally discharged a loaded revolver in a desk in his third-grade class. Another 8-year-old had brought the gun to school. Since then, the city schools have allowed principals to install metal detectors in schools where the community wants them. 

I’m beyond shocked this most recent incident occurred. I can only assume that the boy got the weapons from home. If that is the case, what punishment/responsibility do the parents face?

In addition, what do you do with the kid? I certainly would be extremely apprehensive to allow the kid back into my classroom. Do you put him in an alternative education class? Do you simply sweep this situation under the rug? And, what about metal detectors? Are they the answer?

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

My colleague Nick Madigan attended a meeting this week where Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy talked to students from Robert Poole Middle School about the criminal justice system. Five of the students' classmates are on trial in connection with a December incident where two passengers on a city bus were brutally attacked while the kids were riding home from school.

The session was trying to get the students "scared straight," giving them a tour of former juvenile holding cells. Yet only a few of them raised their hands when Jessamy asked who would commit to avoiding a life of crime. One of the boys readily confessed that he'd been locked up before.

In response to his story, Nick got a number of e-mails from readers suggesting that all city students be given the opportunity to witness what the kids at Robert Poole did. And Jessamy said she conducts such sessions regularly. But clearly, the students from Poole are already incredibly jaded by middle school. Is it too late to scare them off from engaging in crime? To those of you who work in the city, do you think a "scared straight" program would be effective with your students?

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 6:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

In today's paper, I write about 15-year-old Tyisha M. Brown, a Woodlawn High School student who was found shot to death in a high-crime area of the city. Tyisha was never reported missing by family members and it took three weeks for police to learn her identity.

The circumstances surrounding Tyisha's death raise questions about the obligation of school officials to raise a red flag when students abruptly stop showing up. According to a school official, she was neither chronically absent nor a disciplinary problem. But her long absence did not prompt the school to look into her whereabouts because school officials wait about three weeks before investigating. "Unfortunately, schools deal with kids who get up and move and don't tell us," the school officials explained.

Should school officials move quicker when a student abruptly stops showing up for classes and remains absent for a long time?

Posted by Gina Davis at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

I’m sure, by now, you’ve already heard the story about the Prince George’s County school bus that flipped on its side Wednesday morning when the driver made a fast turn. The driver and five children were injured as a result.

All 44 students onboard were taken to area hospitals for precautionary evaluations.

While I’m glad there were no fatalities, I am concerned with the recklessness of the driver. (He’s been charged with taking the turn at a "speed greater than reasonable," police said.)

I’m also wondering whether there were seatbelts on the bus. (Both articles did not reveal this.) A little-known reality is that some school buses are not equipped with seatbelts.

Should all school buses be equipped with seatbelts? And, should students then be required to wear seatbelts? 

Posted by John-John Williams IV at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
                    

Read on to find out ...

The Baltimore school system has released the list of 40 schools scheduled to have walk-through metal detectors installed this month. These are all schools where the principals requested metal detectors, supposedly after gathering community input. The list is subject to change if more principals decide they want metal detectors or if principals who have requested the devices change their minds.

Employees from the 40 schools are scheduled to undergo training in a few weeks, at which point installation will begin (starting, I'm told, with the Walbrook campus, which is top priority). In the weeks and months ahead, I'll be interested to hear from those of you in these schools about how the metal detectors work out.

And now for that list ...

Continue reading "Is your school getting a metal detector?" »

Posted by Sara Neufeld at 9:49 AM |