During Tuesday night's meeting, following a presentation by Executive Director of Secondary Education Jason Cravens and Safety Director Jim Hounschell on the recently conducted safety audit of district facilities, Ridder talked about the importance of improving behavior, including disciplinary issues and bullying in improving safety.
I waited to write this because I wanted to see how it was handled in the Joplin Globe. As I expected, just like the other times Ridder has mentioned the behavior problems in the district, not one word was printed, despite numerous details being offered about other parts of the safety audit.
This is not a case of simply leaving out one part of the story because there is not room for everything. Ridder made it clear how important the discipline issue is.
Discipline in the school district has been a factor in many of the problems the district has faced the past few years. I have talked with teachers, good teachers, who left Joplin R-8 because their administrators did not back them when it came to disciplinary issues.
Ridder says solving the discipline problem will take care of a lot of the safety problems in the school district. It has played a major role in the departure of more than half of the district's teachers.
And yet it is not mentioned in the Joplin Globe.
Is the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce making the editorial decisions for Joplin's newspaper of record? Is there a fear that businesses won't locate here if they know the Joplin Schools have problems when it comes to student behavior?
Or has it reached the point where the Globe no longer reports news and prefers to create its own version of reality?
Someone needs to seriously check in to the behavior issues at McKinley Elementary. So many times things happen and a brought up to the principal by title only Terry Hart. She discounts them as not an issue. Ask the teachers if there is a problem. Main reason is that she does not allow referrals. She needs to be removed. Not qualified and is putting children and teachers and staff at risk.
ReplyDeleteI wonder at what level the decision is made to ignore the struggle with discipline issues in Joplin R-8. The school administration seems finally to be open about the problems and their efforts to fix things. Do the reporters leave it out, knowing what the editor wants? Or does the editor remove it--kowtowing to "community leaders"--or because she is every bit as clueless as she seems to be when I have met her in social situations?
ReplyDeleteI wonder at what level the decision is made to ignore the struggle with discipline issues in Joplin R-8.
ReplyDeleteWhat I've gathered is that Huff focused on one metric, graduation rates, and everything else was subordinated to that.
As for our "community leaders", either they simply don't care if local children get an education. which strikes me as very stupid (who are you going to employ, or sell thing to?), or they're clueless.
People still read the Globe?
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny they say they're worried about students bullying when they let their hateful little coach bully the girls. Hypocrites. They ought to hold the adults to a higher standard than the kids even.
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ReplyDeleteMcKinley has always had students with discipline issues. The current administration has gone along with some strange idea that discipining a child is wrong. Terri Hart is one of those believers and so was Jennifer Doshier.
School should be about the kids. Sacrificing their education, other students' education and safety on top of making it hard for teachers to work.
Time for some common sense and people with a clue about kids and education.
Is the Glob's motto "No News Is Good News"? Because if it isn't...maybe it could be...
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