Playing catch up

I have been busy and have not kept up with my blog lately. So I am going to try to catch up on some top issues.

Abridging the first amendment
The school board chair has dropped the no name rule. I did bring up my concerns at the first available opportunity, and was told then that there was no statute supporting that rule. At the following board meeting the chair placed the approval of these board guidelines on the agenda.

I was very concerned about number four on the guidelines being too stringent and made an amendment to the motion to accept the guidelines. My amendment was to strike the word 'require' in the third sentence of number four and replaced it with the word 'request'. It passed unanimously.

Read the Tampa Tribune editorial here and the SP Times editorial by Sue Carlton here.

SpringBoard
I am still listening to teachers and bringing up SpringBoard at board meetings and in one on one meetings with upper level staff. I have concerns that we are going to push students out of career and technical classes into college prep classes. I have always said I want more students going into college, however our sole focus can not be college bound. We have to prepare those who do not want or unable to go to college with trades and skills that can help them become productive citizens.

I am also concerned that teachers are losing even more flexibility in the classroom. I have been assured that SpringBoard days are going to be revised and we are going to re-vamp the schedule which will give creativity and flexibility back to teachers. There have been many changes over the last decade and we need to be aware that the classroom environment is very different. Between NCLB (No Child Left Behind for non-educators), FCAT (everyone knows this four letter word, there is no need to explain this one) and all of the other state and federal mandates, people downtown need to realize how important it is to get buy in from teachers and allow some flexibility and freedom in the classroom.

Cell phones in the classroom
My statements in reference to cell phones and electronics in the Tampa Tribune were taken out of context.

This is what I said. “My son took his PSP to school it was wrong I admit that, I didn’t know he had it. It was taken away. His teacher did not secure it. It was stolen. The school offered to pay for it, but I didn’t hold them responsible, and I didn't hold the teacher responsible. His consequence was that his father and I did not replace it.” He does not have it to this day and it was taken last school year.

I understand we have a serious problem with cell phones. On a day-to-day basis, they are disruptive to the educational environment. Cheating, taking pictures and videos and posting them on MySpace. Texting is causing major distractions in the class room. These are just a few examples. We need to solve these problems. I want to work with the board, administration, and teachers to figure out how to do this with common sense, keeping both teachers and parents in mind. I want more consequences for students who break the rules than just having their phone taken away.

I do not think teachers need to be held financial responsible if the proper chain of custody is followed. In my opinion the problem is that there is no clear procedure for chain of custody.

What would teachers and administrators think of students violating the rules getting ISS or some type of detention? I know there are some teachers that don't want to deal with taking student's cell phones away because of a lack of time to go to the office and turn it in. They also may not have locking drawers or cabinets in their room and don't want to be responsible. I also know students sometimes become disruptive when their phone is taken away. I have spoken to some of these students and they don't understand why there is not consistency. We must have consistency from teachers enforcing the rules and administrators must support teachers who enforce the school board policy.

What would teachers and administrators think calling the office when there is a violation and have the office send a student volunteer with a pre-printed form that the teacher signs when they turn over the phone? When the student volunteer turns the phone over to someone in the office that responsible adult signs the form and puts the equipment in a safe place in the front office until it is picked up.

This would eliminate teachers having to leave their room when they don't have enough time and it takes the burden of responsibility off teachers. That way there is a standard procedure in every school, so when teachers leave one school for another there won't be any confusion. This would also eliminate teachers having to deal with irate parents because they would go to the office to retrieve the equipment.